Punitive Damages

by Charlotte Byrd

  “I’m sorry. I’m staring. You just have very intense eyes.” I could not believe that I had just said that out loud. What was wrong with me? I think I was finally losing the plot. I smiled and tried to pretend as if what I had just said was normal.

  “Good intense or bad intense?” He asked and grinned at me. A mischievous and cocky grin that turned him from good looking to sexy all at once.

  “Oh good of course.”

  “Oh you’re just saying that because I’m sitting right here.”

  “No, no. I promise you. It’s very good.” I looked into my cup of coffee now, aware that I was flirting with this cute stranger. Perhaps this day hadn’t started out so bad after all.

  “Well, thank you. You have most certainly made my day. Getting a compliment from a cute girl should be imperative to any man’s day. And, I got a cup of coffee out of it too. I am a lucky man indeed. I should probably play on the slots today. I’ll probably hit the jackpot. And look, you’re wearing a little horseshoe – you must be my lucky charm.” He reached over and picked up the horseshoe, his hands briefly sweeping across my breast. The gesture did not go unnoticed to either of us. I smiled and looked down at the necklace, mortified to see that my nipples were standing erect. Why had Danielle not told me that my shirt was slightly transparent? And was this man actually flirting with me. I caught him looking at my breasts and I blushed.

  “You most certainly should play then. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to buy me the next drink.”

  He laughed at that and I smiled. Maybe I wasn’t so bad at this flirting thing after all. Take that Justin! I can do this. I don’t need you. I felt my spirits rising the longer that I sat with this man and I felt more than ready to take on the job after this. I was definitely ready for it.

  “I’m sorry to bother you Ma’am,” interrupted the barman, “I’m switching shifts so I just need to round everything off here. Do you mind paying for the coffees before I go?”

  “Of course!” I fished out my card and handed it to him and then proceeded to type in my pin.

  “I’m sorry. It says it’s been declined.”

  I felt mortified. I could feel Sebastian watching me and I felt my face start to flush. “Really? That’s strange.”

  “It happens sometimes. Maybe it’s the machine. Let me get another one and we can try again.”

  “Okay, great. Thank you.” I was trying to remain calm but I wanted the whole earth to swallow me whole. We tried again but the barman looked up at me uncomfortably.

  “I’m so sorry. It still says declined.” I was sure that I still had some money left in my account. Had I really let it get that bad? Or was there just something wrong with my card? Either way I was so embarrassed and I didn’t know what to do. Not only had I ordered two cups of coffee for myself – one that I spilled – but I also ordered one for a complete stranger. And now I couldn’t pay for it.

  “Uh… this is so strange. It’s never happened before.” I stuttered.

  “Look, don’t worry about it. Matthew, it’s fine.” He smiled at the barman and that was that. I supposed he had just put it on his account which made me feel even worse.

  “I’m so sorry Sebastian. What a bad impression I have just made of myself. Honestly, this was not my intention at all. I really do have the money. Please let me buy you another drink.”

  “No, no. Look, don’t worry, it’s okay. These things happen. But I have to go. I actually have a meeting in a few minutes that I can’t be late for.”

  And off he went. I looked at my watched and realized that I also had a meeting that I couldn’t be late for. I took a deep breath and willed myself to forget about the whole morning.

  Chapter 9 - Sebastian

  Dear Sebastian.

  I’m so sorry to be sending this message. Unfortunately my family had to leave early which means that I do too. I wanted to see you before you left but I wasn’t allowed up to the penthouse without your permission and I didn’t know how to get hold of you. I ran around the whole casino trying to find you but you must’ve been busy. I just wanted you to know what a wonderful time I had with you and how amazing it was to meet you. You are just so great and I’ll never forget the time I had with you. I would love to see you again. You can get me on this email address but I’ll also leave my phone number and my home address below. Come visit me anytime. I miss you already.

  Your Susie the Cutie.

  * * *

  I cringed and quickly typed back a response.

  Thanks for the email Susie. I’m sorry you had to leave so early. I had a wonderful time with you. Of course I’ll keep in touch. I’m just about to go into another meeting – like I told you, I’m a busy man. So, unfortunately, I have to cut this short. Have a lovely trip back and thanks for the memories.

  I sent the email to Susie – who I had deliberately stopped calling Susie Cutie – and sighed. Girls like this infuriated me. I had only met her once and she had already sent me an email. I regretted the decision of giving her my business card but I supposed she would’ve found a way regardless. Didn’t they see that I wasn’t looking for anything serious? Surely I wouldn’t want something serious from a quickie up in my room. Especially since I had just met the girl. But some girls had no sense of patience and no idea on how to really get a man. Susie was great but she had a shelf life for me which had already expired. I put her out of my mind – after all there were plenty other women at the casino for me to focus on. I thought about the girl sitting on my lap while I worked the other night and how her breasts had bounced up and down in front of me. That was the one great thing about working in a place like this. The girls were generally only around for a few days or a few weeks at most. It was easy to woo them while they were here and then move to the next one when they left. And some of them, some of the good ones, didn’t mind sharing. I smiled at the prospect of walking around the casino that evening looking for another target. Although, they usually came to me first.

  Now, despite a rather frustrating morning, I had to endure another meeting. I wasn’t at all in the mood for it today but there was nothing that I could do. At least I had a few moments to catch my breath before she was due to come in. I liked sitting alone in my office. It was my version of a ‘man-cave’ – a place that was all mine. A place that was all me. It was quite large for an office, with most of the space going unused, but I had always hated clutter and I knew that this would be the office for me the moment I saw it. Back then there were two people working in the space, but I had found room for them elsewhere. I wanted this room all to myself. I had taken everything out and refurnished it. The walls were a light grey and everything screamed modern and simplicity. My desk was large and of the finest oak and on it stood a large computer screen and a laptop – each connected to one another. I wouldn’t lie if I said I used that screen for other purposes on the odd occasion. It was easy when you were all alone – and a locked door and closed blinds went a long way. I’d even had sex in this office before – against my big oak desk. It had been in broad daylight and that day I hadn’t bothered to lock the door. There was something exciting about knowing that anyone could walk in at any time. When my phone rang I jumped up in surprise. I had been so lost in memory that I had almost forgotten where I was.

  “Sebastian, Jane Greiner is here to see you.” It was Alison, my assistant. Alison had a gruff voice which was immediately recognizable - like someone that had smoked too much in her life. I had hired her a year ago based on her age and her looks. Which was to say, she was in her sixties and not the most attractive looking lady. The only reason I had done so was because I couldn’t stop sleeping with the other assistants. And then when they got too close to me I’d have to let them go. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing to go though and I knew that it wasn’t the nicest thing for me to be doing to them. Also, I was worried about ruining my reputation at the casino. Alison was perfect for the job.

  “Who?”

  “Jane Greiner. The new social media lady that won t
hat competition. She’s the one you chose remember. The one that you fought to have over the other guy.” Alison sounded annoyed with me. She was always reminding me about things that I had forgotten. But that was her job. That was why I hired her.

  “Oh of course. Sorry, I was daydreaming. Yes, please send her in.” I hoped that this wasn’t going to go on for too long. I had far more important things to do that day.

  Alison walked in with Jane and I nearly fell off my chair. It was the same Jane that had spilled coffee all over me not so long ago. I hadn’t for one minute put two and two together when she said her name and from the look on her face I could see that she hadn’t either.

  “Thank you Alison. Jane, please sit down.” I waited until Alison closed the door before continuing. “Goodness, I did not realize you were the one coming in today. Well, we’ve already met then. But like I said before, I’m Sebastian.”

  “YOU run this casino?” She asked and sounded incredulous.

  “Yes. Why? You look surprised.”

  “I guess I just thought that somebody older would be running it. I don’t know – that’s silly I guess. Well, what an entrance I made then. Again, apologies for the coffee spilling and the card not working. I promise that things will get much better after that.” I couldn’t figure out what to make of her then. She seemed a bit stand-offish suddenly and I wasn’t sure if it was because she was embarrassed about what had happened earlier or whether she wasn’t too pleased that her boss was a man her age.

  “Well, like I said, it’s no problem at all. I had a clean shirt at the ready and as you can now see, a cup of coffee is the least of my worries. Before we get into it, I’d like you to please read through these papers. I know it’s a bit long but it details exactly what you can expect from the job and what we expect from you. If you’re happy with it all please just sign your name on each of the pages. We can continue after that.” I handed her the pages and watched as she carefully read through each page one at a time. Most people that came for a job skimmed through these pages quickly but Jane was looking at each word at a time – making sure that everything was in order. I was both frustrated and impressed by this. I sat back and watched her. I was glad that I had a moment to assess her without her looking at me. She certainly wasn’t striking and by no means would she win any modelling contest. In fact, if I had to use one word to describe her I’d probably use the word average. Or plain. Yes, plain Jane. But yet, there was certainly something about her. She was pretty and she had some edge about her that I couldn’t quite place. She was… Interesting. Yes, very interesting. I was surprised not to see her in a suit – as seemed to be the case with most people on their first day, but I quite liked what she was wearing. Her jeans were tight and her green shirt looked good against her skin. Her best asset was definitely her breasts – which were clearly visible through her shirt under certain lighting, and I was lucky enough to be able to see them clearly at that moment. I looked up and said a little silent thank you to my bright light bulbs. They were very big for her otherwise small frame. When she looked up I quickly looked her in the eyes so that she wouldn’t see me staring down and I smiled.

  “All done? You happy with everything? Let me know if there is anything that you think might be missing or anything that is wrong.” I asked. I truly didn’t want to hear that anything was wrong but I needed to be polite. I was the boss after all and this was her first day.

  “All done. Sorry I took so long. I’m a little bit obsessive with details. Yeah, everything looks to be in order. Abbie actually ran through everything with me on the phone when she told me that I’d gotten the job and this is all in line with what she said. I’m very happy with this.”

  “Ah… Abbie. Always on the ball that one. She gets so annoyed with the rest of us so it looks like the two of you are going to get on just fine. So, Jane, I just wanted to tell you that I was very impressed with your proposal. We whittled it down to three people and after that it was a fight between two. Both Abbie and I both wanted you and, of course, as the boss I got to make the final decision. So… don’t let me down, okay?”

  “Oh I definitely won’t let you down. I wanted this job very badly.” And something in her voice made me believe her.

  “As you can see, the casino is running very well at the moment. The only area that we are lacking in is our social media side of things. Which is why we needed someone with a good head on their shoulders to come in and take charge. What I especially liked was your idea to start interacting with the public more and your examples of how well this has worked for your other clients in the past. You say that the public don’t want to see us as just a company but they want to see us a people who run a company. It sounds like you want to personalize us a bit more in order for the public to relate to us. Am I right in that assessment?”

  “Absolutely. And I have tons of ideas on how to make it happen. Most of the time it’s really just being available behind the computer to not only market the company but to also listen to what the public are saying. Companies just don’t listen enough these days – and something like that can make all the difference.”

  “I like you Jane. I think this is going to work well.

  “Thank you Sir, me too.”

  “Sir? Since when am I Sir. No, call me Sebastian.”

  She laughed, and suddenly she didn’t seem nervous any more to be around me. I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not. “Sebastian. Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.” She had a twinkle in her eye and I wondered if there was a little more to this plain Jane than I first thought.

  Chapter 10 - Jane

  After going through the papers meticulously, I finally handed them over to Sebastian, telling him that everything looked perfect. I tried to sound nonchalant about it all but the truth was that I was doing somersaults in my mind at what I had just read. Abbie hadn’t quite finalized the final pay amount to me, only giving me a rough idea at the time. But the amount that I just saw on the paperwork showed that I would be getting twice the amount that I had initially expected. Which meant no more cards getting declined in front of cute men.

  “Okay Jane, I think that’s it then. Abbie, who you spoke to on the phone, will come in and take over from here. She’s going to help get you all set up today. Thanks for coming in. Lovely to meet you and I look forward to seeing all the great work that you do for us.” Sebastian said. I could swear I caught him looking quickly at my breasts but I couldn’t be sure. Probably not. But why did I almost wish that he was? I would normally be very upset if I saw somebody looking at my breasts instead of at my face – and yet something about this gave me pleasure.

  I smiled at him, still trying desperately to keep my composure. I still couldn’t believe that this was the man that I had been flirting with not so long ago. Worse, this was the man that I had spilled coffee all over and the man that had seen my card get declined. The man that I could barely look at because he was so damn hot. “Thank you Sebastian. I’m looking forward to working here. I already have some great ideas. It’s hard not to have ideas in a place like this.” I hoped that I sounded professional and worthy of the job.

  I watched as he picked up the phone, trying not to stare at his perfection and yet at the same time desperate to find something imperfect about him. “Alison, please call Abbie into my office. Thank you.”

  We waited in silence until Abbie came in and I breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of getting out of his office. His office might have been big but I felt the walls closing in on me the longer I sat there. I was glad that I wouldn’t be working alongside him because he was far too much of a distraction. I still couldn’t believe that my new boss was the man that had seen me make such a fool of myself. I knew that if Danielle was in my place something like that never would have happened. Abbie walked in with a slight jump to her step and I felt an immediate liking to her. She was short, slightly plump in all the good ways, and had a smile on her face that was definitely genuine. I felt myself relaxing around her.

>   “Right, I’ll take over from here Sebastian. Hi Jane, I’m Abbie – lovely to meet you.” She came straight over and shook my hand. It was a firm handshake and I could see that she was used to doing business and to dealing with people. There was nothing nervous about the way she moved. She was confident in a very friendly and easy going way.

  “Are you pretending to be the boss now Abbie?” Sebastian asked her with a cocky voice and I wasn’t sure if he was mocking her or teasing her.

  “Eat your words Sebastian. One day I’ll be the boss of you.” She laughed, not in the least bit nervous around Sebastian. Perhaps one day I’d be able to be that cool around him too.

  “Come on Jane, this way.” She motioned for me to follow her and I nodded awkwardly at Sebastian as I walked out. He grinned at me and again I couldn’t be sure if he was laughing at me or simply being nice. He was definitely a very hard person to read – unlike Abbie who seemed like an open book.

  I walked out with Abbie and listened while she talked about the office and where I would be sitting. “I’m so excited to have you here Jane. We were blown away by your proposal and I knew from the moment that I spoke with you that you were going to be the one for this job. And luckily I didn’t have to convince the big man himself – he agreed with me from the start. But listen; don’t worry too much today or even tomorrow. I know how overwhelming first days can be. So I want you to use this time to just get to know the place and the people and I want you to feel comfortable. I always find that I work so much better when I feel comfortable and I know that is not going to happen on day one. Okay, so this is your desk.”

  I almost whistled out loud at it. That’s how impressed I was by my new working space. I was used to always getting a small little corner office or cubicle to do my work and this looked like luxury to me. The space was big and fit a desk, a chair, a couch, a book shelf and another little table with ease. I looked around the room and saw four other spaces similar to my own. Most companies would squeeze in at least ten people, if not more, into a space like this. This one only had five. Abbie caught me staring and smiled.