“Hello, Ruby,” Cameron says. “Asher wanted to ask you something.”
He sees my expression and adds, “You’re not in any trouble.”
But it sure feels like I am.
“What’s this?” Asher asks, reaching above me and pulling something off the shelf.
He holds his hand out to Cameron to see.
It’s Katie’s vape pen. Great.
“I don’t know,” Cameron says. “Ruby?”
I look at it, silently willing him to just trust me. But he’s looking back at me as if I’ve betrayed him.
I know that older guys are weird about pot but I didn’t know that a vape pen was still that huge of a deal to them these days. Even if it was mine. Which it isn’t. But I’m not about to rat out Katie.
I’m really not sure what to say. I don’t want to pretend I have no idea what it is, because that would be an outright lie. I’ve already lied to Cameron enough by omission, and other people here directly. I’m sick of all the lies. But I’m also not about to be a snitch.
I try to take a middle road.
“It appears to be a vape pen,” I say.
It’s a technically correct answer.
“For tobacco?” Asher asks.
“Could be.”
Again, a technically correct answer.
Asher smells it.
“It doesn’t smell like a vape pen,” Asher says. “It smells like marijuana.”
I look at him, and at Cameron who is still searching my face.
“Could be for that too,” I tell them. “All I know is, it isn’t mine, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Ruby, come on,” Cameron explodes, obviously upset with me. “You really expect us to believe that?”
“Yes,” I tell him.
Although why should he? There are other things I’ve said that he shouldn’t believe. So I don’t really blame him for not believing me, even if it’s about the wrong thing.
“We come down here and find you just sitting in the corner reading a book and there’s a vape pen on the shelf right above you,” Cameron says. “How do you think that looks?”
“Not good,” I answer.
Which is a very, very technically correct answer.
“If it’s not yours, whose is it then?” Cameron asks.
“I… can’t answer that,” I tell him.
“If you can’t answer that then you are going to find yourself out of a job,” Asher says.
I look at Cameron. Now I’m getting a little upset. Sure, I know whose vape pen it is but what if I didn’t? How could I prove a negative?
“I’m not going to be able to answer that,” I tell them.
Asher shakes his head as if he’s dumbfounded and Cameron shakes his as if he can’t believe he trusted me. I don’t really blame him.
“Ruby, get your things,” Cameron says.
His fists are clenched as tightly as his jaw. I know he doesn’t want to do this. But neither does he want to stand by and let Asher do it without being able to protest or save my job.
He’s a man of decision and action, which are traits I’ve always admired about him. I can’t exactly be mad at him for exercising those traits now.
I nod at him and he walks out the door with Asher.
I’m left alone, near the same spot he tied me up and took me. Trained me. Taught me what it was like to really be with a man.
And now it’s all over.
I guess it was better off this way. I don’t belong here anyway. I can’t believe I even managed to pass myself off as a suitable law firm employee and get the gig. It was all temporary and now it’s over and luckily I don’t even need the job like I once did.
But I do need Cameron. And I feel as if I belonged with him. Belonged to him.
I guess I was wrong.
Chapter 22 – Cameron
A FEW DAYS LATER
Where the fuck is Ruby? Where did she go?
I spent the whole weekend mad at myself for how I handled things with Ruby. And worried that I’ve lost her forever. I’ve been trying to call her but I only have the cell phone number she listed on her application and it goes straight to a voicemail with a generic greeting.
I know I have to find her somehow. I’m not sure what I’ll say when I do but I know that she has to forgive me. For being so stupid as to let Asher fire her without proof that she’s even done anything wrong. For not standing up for her.
For letting her leave my life when I need her in it so fucking bad.
I’m in my office doing my best to prepare arguments for my appeal of the Baez decision when I hear a feminine-sounding clearing of the throat. I look up right away, hoping that it’s Ruby. Maybe she got my messages and came back to the office to hear me out.
But no. It’s Jim’s secretary.
“Katie?” I ask, hoping that I’m remembering her name right.
I’ve never talked to her much. She seems to stick to herself and not be at her desk a lot even though Jim says she’s an efficient and fast worker.
“Yo, Mr. Sanchez,” she says, craning her neck around the opening of my doorway.
“Katie, come in,” I tell her, a little surprised by her brazenness.
In that way she reminds me of Ruby. She’s not as pretty— or at least, I obviously don’t think so— but she seems to have the same quirky, spunky personality traits.
She walks right in and flops down in the chair on the other side of my desk. I can’t help thinking of how I tied up Ruby to that very chair. I wish she was here sitting in it right now instead of Katie.
“So where’s Ruby?” she asks me.
“I can’t discuss the status of a former employee,” I say automatically.
I’ve been trained well by HR, who just had a little sit-down with Asher and Madilyn about accusations regarding their relationship. It turns out that everything is okay because they are both okay with the relationship. Still, I can’t be too careful. I doubt that Ruby is okay with the state of our relationship, or lack thereof, right now. And neither, for that matter, am I.
“A former employee?” she asks. “Wow. She finally figured out she was too good for this place and left, huh? I wish she would have at least stopped on her way out to say goodbye to poor little old me.”
“I’m sure she would have, had she had the opportunity,” I say, too fucking quickly.
It’s probably not HR approved. But it’s just the first thing I thought of to say, and it’s honest.
“What?” Katie demands. “Was she fired? That’s bullshit.”
“Katie.”
I would tell her to watch her language but then I’d be the biggest fucking hypocrite of all time.
“Well it is,” she says, slouching further into my chair and pouting.
“I didn’t know you and Ruby were friends,” I tell her, wondering why any of this matters so much to her.
“Yeah, well, I know a lot more about you and Ruby than you’d think I do,” she says. “And I can’t believe you had the balls to fire her. That’s just straight up asking for a sexual harassment suit.”
I stare at her, incredulous that she’d say such a thing.
And then it dawns on me.
At first I thought she was just here wanting office gossip. Now I find out how close she and Ruby apparently were. And I put two and two together. I don’t know how I didn’t figure it out earlier, with the stench wafting from Katie’s clothes as soon as she walked into my office. Ruby can be redeemed. But I need a confession.
“You know, Katie,” I tell her, pretending to shuffle some paperwork on my desk as if I need to get back to work. “There are certain things that employees can be fired for that have absolutely nothing to do with sexual harassment.”
“Oh yeah?” she asks, shrugging. “Like what? Because I’ve done a lot of things that are supposed to be considered no-no’s and I’ve never been fired. I know a lot of people are here that are the same way. No one seems to notice or care. So, like, what could be a fireable
offense around here? I’d love to know.”
“If an employee is doing drugs, for instance,” I tell her. “Especially on the job.”
“What the hell?”
Katie looks at me like she doesn’t even know what I’m talking about.
“Ruby doesn’t even do any drugs,” Katie says, defensively. “Or at least she doesn’t anymore. She hasn’t even heard of ‘Puncture.’ She doesn’t even have time to watch movies because she’s so busy coding.”
I look at her. Wow. They really were friends.
I’m glad, because that means Katie won’t let Ruby take the fall for her.
“Well, I’m just saying. An employee doing drugs, especially at work, would be a fireable offense for sure. And if they leave their drug paraphernalia lying around, at the office, that’s an especially clear cut case. There’s really no choice for us to do anything but fire them, in that instance.”
“Leave drug paraphernalia… oh.”
She looks at me, comprehending now. I expect her to act shady or perhaps break down in to a tearful confession. But instead she starts bursting out laughing. That’s definitely not a reaction I was anticipating.
“Oh, Mr. Sanchez,” she says, laughing so much there are tears rolling down her eyes. “You’re talking about weed. The way you made it sound… so serious… I thought you were talking about, like crack or something. ‘Drug paraphernalia.’ Oh my god. So funny.”
She’s still laughing. But I’m not. I don’t see how she thinks any of this is very funny. But more importantly, she still hasn’t confessed that the vape pen was hers.
“Well, Katie, you shouldn’t be laughing because it’s a very serious matter.”
“Oh, I know, Mr. Sanchez, I know,” she says, straightening up in her chair. “But you have to admit, you made it sound a bit more serious and scary than it really is. A vape pen is ‘drug paraphernalia?’ Really?”
Ah-fucking-ha. Got her.
Now I can save Ruby’s ass. And hopefully claim it as my own.
Chapter 23 – Cameron
“How do you know it was a vape pen?” I ask Katie.
“Oh, all right, it was mine and you seem to know that,” she says, cutting through the bullshit. I admire that about her. It’s another Ruby-like trait. “And I shouldn’t have left it there. I must have gotten a bit too… medicated… and forgotten.”
“Medicated?”
“Yeah. I have a weed card.”
“A weed card?”
“Mr. Sanchez,” she sighs, as if explaining something to a kindergartner. “I have a medical marijuana card. For health conditions.”
“For what health conditions?”
This is a new one. I wasn’t expecting this.
“Actually, Mr. Sanchez, I don’t have to tell you. But since you’re so curious, anxiety and ADHD. I’ve consulted with a weed attorney who tells me it’s really no different than if I’m on Prozac for depression or Xanaz for anxiety, or a host of other prescriptions for a bunch of other conditions. And honestly, would you rather me be unable to focus or calm down all day? Or have to quit or get fired because I can’t function well enough to do my job based on my disability? My attorney says that when viewed that way, most employers would rather their employees medicate than the alternatives…”
“You’ve consulted with a… okay, never mind,” I tell her. “I didn’t mean to ask about your medical conditions or medications. That’s private, of course.”
Oh shit.
I’ve probably violated HIPAA.
Then I realize I have no idea how any of this will be viewed. HIPAA is a Federal law and medicinal marijuana is still illegal federally. Still. It’s not a battle I want to fight in court. Especially not with super liberal judges like Baez taking over the bench these days.
“Katie, I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I didn’t mean to imply…”
“It’s fine,” she says. “I won’t sue you. Just don’t fire me.”
“You really can’t be hitting your vape pen in the filing room though.”
As soon as I say it I realize what a fucking hypocrite I am. I’m expecting her to say that she’s heard I hit more than that in there. But if she’s heard about that little rendezvous, she doesn’t say anything.
Instead, she says, “Vaping.”
“What?”
“I can’t be vaping in the filing room. There’s no need to say ‘hitting my vape pen,’ Mr. Sanchez. It’s redundant. You can just say ‘vaping.’”
“Okay. Got it,” I tell her. If this is what Jim has to put up with Katie proofreads his documents, I feel bad for the guy. “You can’t be vaping in the filing room. Is there any place you can… medicate… in your own space? On your own time? Like the other legal assistants do when they go outside and take smoke breaks?”
She smiles.
“Sure, Mr. Sanchez. I’ll figure it out. Just don’t fire me. And get Ruby back. And I won’t sue you.”
“I would love to get Ruby back,” I tell her. In every fucking sense of the word. “But I don’t even know where she is.”
“You can’t find her?” she asks. “You lost Ruby?”
“I’ve tried to find her but I guess she doesn’t want to talk to me anymore.”
“That can’t be true. Ruby was a little into you. A little too into you. I had to talk her out of being that into you. It’s not good for a sweet girl like that to get caught up with a player like you.”
I stare at her.
Player?
So that’s what they think about me around here.
Well, I guess it’s fucking true. At least it was true. Before I met Ruby. And she rocked my fucking world and turned it all the way upside down. Just like I’ve been turning her upside down on my desk and in the filing room. Just like I want to keep turning her upside down, if she’ll let me.
“Oh, I know you think she’s edgy and alternative and stuff like that,” Katie continues. “And she alludes to some kind of bad ass past. But underneath she’s a good girl. Very sweet and innocent. You can’t go breaking her heart.”
“That’s not at all what I intend to do,” I tell her. “I just don’t know where she is. If I could find out, I would definitely go get her.”
“Mr. Sanchez, I know you didn’t become one of the founding partners of one of the best law firms in the country by not using your noggin,” she says. The nerve of this girl. Lecturing me like she’s twice my age instead of the other way around. But she does have a point. “Put on your thinking cap and go find her.”
“I will, Katie. You have a good day. Remember to vape on your own time.”
“I’ll vape on my own time,” she agrees, getting up to leave. “And you go find Ruby and get her back.”
Chapter 24 – Cameron
No sooner had Katie left my office than Asher and Madilyn are entering. Fuck. It’s like a revolving door in here. I really don’t want to deal with them right now.
Asher is convinced that Ruby did something illegal to get the information about the toy company client. But he was also convinced that the vape pen belonged to her as well.
“Hey guys,” I tell them, as they approach my desk.
I think about telling them that I’ve found out it wasn’t Ruby’s vape pen. But I don’t want to get Katie into trouble. I need to think about the best way to approach it. Maybe a partners’ meeting where we look into the intricacies of medical marijuana in the workplace.
That’s the last of my problems right now anyway. First on my agenda is using my noggin to find out where Ruby might be.
“Hi Ron,” Asher says.
He seems to be in a jovial mood. I look over at Madilyn and she’s smiling.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“I came to ask my best man to stand up beside me at our wedding,” Asher says.
“Really?”
I look back and forth between him and Madilyn. They’re both nodding enthusiastically.
“Of course,” I say, but I’m still a bit shocked.
> I knew they were really into each other but I didn’t know things had gotten this serious.
“It won’t be for a while and we’re keeping it on the down low but I wanted you to be one of the first to know,” Asher says.
“That’s great. Congratulations.”
I’m truly smiling now, happy for them despite my surprise. I wish that Ruby and I could turn out to have a similar fate. But I don’t even know where she is.
As if reading my mind, Asher says, “Now don’t go thinking this means we made the wrong decision in firing Ruby. That was nothing like this.”
“Asher told me about that,” Madilyn says, shaking her head and looking sad. “I think it’s a shame. I think she was a nice girl and that you two had a good thing going on. Much like Asher and me.”
“Well, honey, you never smoked an electronic weed cigarette in the office,” Asher jokes.
“Yeah, but I’ve done a lot of other naughty things in the office,” she says back, winking at him.
“Vaping,” I say, mostly just to get them to stop flirting with each other right in front me. I love them and all, but it’s fucking obnoxious. Especially when I’m not able to do it myself with Ruby.
“What?” Asher asks.
“It’s called vaping. You don’t have to say ‘smoke an electronic weed cigarette’ because you can just say vaping.”
“Wow, looks like Ruby taught you a thing or two,” Madilyn laughs.
“You know, I was wanting to talk to you about,” I say. “I don’t think Ruby did it. I don’t think it was her vape pen.”
“Sure,” Asher says. “Whatever you want to believe. But I wouldn’t bet on believing her. The toy company people think she’s not even who they say she is.”
“What?”
“Honey,” Madilyn says, pulling on the sleeve of Asher’s suit jacket. “You don’t need to go into all of this right now. Let Cameron make his own decisions.”
“He deserves to know,” Asher says. “Especially since she’s not exactly sticking around to explain herself.”
Please Boss: A Bad Boy Office Romance Page 9