“Steve worked for Baker some years ago and although grateful professionally he reckons he’s a slimy bastard,” revealed Jon. “Now tell me why Rosie is unemployed and why you are shaking like a leaf and look like you’ve been through the wringer.”
“They’re one and the same really. I was avoiding all contact with you this morning in order to avoid revealing my whereabouts and Jack’s plan. I was in my office very early and after Eddie called Jack appeared and was acting weird.”
“Weird how?” interrupted Jon.
“Weird, lecherous, pervy,” she said as Jon’s face began to contort with disgust and anger. “He began getting closer to me and then started making comments about what he’d like todo to me. I told him that I was in no way interested. Rosie appeared and he basically told her to sod off and shut the door on her before continuing to tell me what he wanted and got even closer,” she said with a distinct wobble to her voice now.
“Did he touch you?” asked Jon as he gripped her hands in his and gently brushed a kiss across her forehead.
“Kind of,” she said obviously annoying him now as he raised his voice at her.
“Nokind of, Stephanie. It’s a yes or a no question. Did he touch you? Did that bastard dare to lay a fucking finger on you?” he repeated, his tone low with anger.
“Yes,” replied Steph almost in a whisper. “Just once,” she added trying to play down the whole thing, but realised she was actually crying and knew she was going to struggle with that plan.
“Bastard!” shouted Jon who was now standing up and pacing in front of her. “Then what?” he asked slightly softer as he turned and realised that not only was she still shaking but continued to cry.
Returning to sit next to her, he took her hand in his.
“He just brushed a hand across me really.” She replicated his touch herself making him flinch.
“Is that what happened, really?” He freed one of his hands and brushed her hair back.
“Yes. He moved as though he was going to kiss me and I could already smell his breath so pushed him away. He came back so I pushed him again and that’s when Rosie appeared. He said I was fired and I told him I quit and somehow demanded a month’s pay, holiday and a reference or I said I’d go to H.R. and the police. That’s when Rosie said she’d be a witness and quit too. It wasn’t until we were escorted from the building that Rosie fully realised what she’d done and thought that she may not beable to pay her mortgage or her wedding next year, although I had already called you by then.” She offered him a weak smile.
“Fucking hell! You really need to work for me,” he said seriously.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
He frowned at her. “Correction, I need you to work for me to avoid these situations. Trust me though, Steph, Jack Baker will get his.”
“I would rather just forget it,” she protested.
“I don’t think I’m capable of forgetting it,” he mused quietly. “I am still considering going over there and putting him back on his arse, but that would give him some kind of advantage over me,” Jon said with a grimace.
“He did offer me a promotion.” She attempted a smile. Forcing all thoughts of Jack and the memories of Simon he’d evoked in her from her mind, Steph felt relieved that she hadn’t shared the finer details or the reminder of a similar situation with Jon.
“I bet he did. What did he say to you? You said he’d said what he’d like to do to you,” Jon expanded.
“He started by saying that he found me attractive and that when I called him Mr Baker it made him horny.”
Steph figured she was being honest in what she was saying. Yes, she was cutting many details from her recount but knew the specifics of what had been said were likely to infuriate Jon even more than he was already and she didn’t want to be responsible for him getting himself into trouble with Jack, the police or Lucy. Her stomach lurched and she wasn’t entirely sure that her breakfast wasn’t going to make a reappearance at the thought and memory of seeing Mrs Brooker in the flesh.
“What else Steph, what else did he say to you?”
“It doesn’t matter . . .” she began but clearly that was the wrong answer for Jon.
“Like fuck it doesn’t. What else did he say because if he has gone this far with no clear motive after all this time, I doubt he was aiming for subtlety or holding back, so, what, did, he, say?” Jon asked, each word of his question was punctuated.
“I don’t know why he chose to act like he did today and I swear I never suspected or encouraged it.”
“I know that, darling, but I need to know what he said and did, what he might be capable of in the future,” Jon told her, rubbing his thumb over her hand, her knuckles, soothing her but scaring her too as she hadn’t considered that Jack might be capable of doing anything else in the future.
She told him what Jack had said, almost choking on the words as she explained his arousal. Taking a deep, calming breath as she tried to remain composed, Steph realised she had curled up around Jon on the sofa now; her feet, minus their shoes tucked beneath her and her head resting on his chest with one arm around his back and her shoulder under his arm, while her other arm was across his chest, her hand nestled beneath his jacket.
She felt safe again enveloped within his arms, his embrace and as she inhaled his heavenly smell she felt as though she belonged here until she remembered Lucy. In that moment awareness washed over her. Awareness that this was not her place of safety. He was not hers to lean on. The person who could make those claims had been here before she arrived. Then she wondered why she’d been there and allowed her mind to wander so far that she could imagine them here, on the sofa together, kissing, touching and it hurt more than she thought it should for someone who had entered into an affair with a married man. Knowingly. Willingly. What had she been thinking when she’d agreed to this and what was she going to do now she was stuck in the middle of it?
Twenty-One
