“You’re particularly cranky today. Sounds like you need to get laid.” She giggled to herself, and I rolled my eyes, turning to stare around the café. It was usually filled with workers from the city, including interns I was very familiar with. Some of them nodded at me when they caught my eye, and I did the same. I didn’t like most of them, because like Kalinski, they came from families of money and influence, but at least they didn’t annoy me as much as that idiot Kalinski.
“I got laid.”
Elsie was halfway through a sip of her pop when she snorted in surprise, the sugary drink going everywhere over the table. I laughed because I couldn’t help it. She wasn’t wearing her punk gear today, and instead she actually looked professional, in a black pantsuit with heels the same color. Her blonde curls were tied up neatly behind her head, and her makeup was lighter than her usual dark stuff. She looked like what you’d expect from an entry-level engineer.
She glared. “Don’t do that to me.”
I grunted out a laugh and took a drink of my sweet tea, humming at the taste on my tongue. I probably needed something stronger, like a coffee, but I was trying to cut back.Tryingbeing the operative word.
Elsie dropped her pop back on the table and leaned forward like an eager schoolgirl. “Was it that deputy mayor?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.” I winked at her.
“Liar, you do so. Tell me.” The request came out as more of a whine and she pouted at me.
“No.” I frowned at the pop in front of her for a moment. She told me she was cutting back on sugary drinks, but she hadn’t done so, as far as I could tell. Vane’s strange… kink had made me think about Elsie and her pregnancy. Herrealpregnancy. “Should you be drinking that? Isn’t it bad for the baby?”
She frowned at the can and then back at me, popping her lips. “Why do you care? You’ve never cared about my wiggly parasite before.”
“I don’t,” I grumbled, but I glared harder at the can of pop.Goddamn it.I didn’t care, but Vane’s jibe at me yesterday about the bus being dangerous forthe babyhad me thinking in ways that were completely stupid. It’d been an unusual night, and I should have run for the hills after theweirdness, but that was some fucking fantastic sex we’d had. I didn’t want to make my exit. As strange as what he’d said was, I loved his cock. He worked me in ways other guys hadn’t.
She tapped my arm, which rested on the table, with her fingernail. She’d had black polish on yesterday, but not today. Obviously she’d taken it off for work. “When I told you I was pregnant, your only response wasew. I didn’t think you’d give a shit what I put in my body while I’m having a baby. I mean, I figured maybe you’d judge if I guzzled a gallon of vodka, but other than that….”
“I don’t,” I repeated with a shrug. “I just thought you’d want to be more careful, that’s all.”
She squinted at me with suspicion before she let it drop when the waitress in a frilly pink dress brought over our meals. We thanked her, and she smiled at us before she bounded off again.
“You’ve always told me about your lays. Why is this one different?” She grabbed one side of her toasted sandwich and took a large bite out of it, chewing noisily.
I cringed. “Because he’s my boss and the deputy mayor.”
“So?” She reached over and nabbed one of my fries from my plate. I glared at her, and she giggled. “Come on. Is he into bizzaro shit or something?”
I shoved a couple of fries in my mouth so I wouldn’t make a face at that. I guess I could call it bizarre, but strangely, I didn’t mind as much as I thought I should. The way he touched me… was nice. As though he actually cared, which was stupid because he was like every other guy. He wanted to get off, just like I did. We had an arrangement, and I wasn’t going to look too much into it after one day. I’d run from guys before when I could tell they were feelingtoomuch, but Vane didn’t seem like the type to latch on and catch feelings.
“I’d rather not talk about it here,” I mumbled, glaring at a couple of my fellow interns who were close to us. It didn’t even look like they were paying attention, but I couldn’t risk it. My job, and Vane’s, depended on discretion.
“Whatever.” She shrugged and nabbed a couple more fries, but I grabbed her hand before she could retreat.
“Why are you eating my food? You have your own.” I nodded at her sandwich with a glare.
Shrugging, she laughed. “You’ve got your burger. You won’t eat all the fries.”
I rolled my eyes. We spent the next half hour eating and talking, or mostly I listened to Elsie complain about her stupid fiancé, Andy, and how he wouldn’t help her around the house. It sounded all very trivial to me, but I was a good friend, so I nodded and commiserated with her, but when it came time to return to work, I was excited for once.
By the time I made my way back to city hall and up to Vane’s floor, I was ready to get back to work. Jean-Paul was waiting for me at his desk, and when he saw me, he nodded curtly and stood, passing me a pile of folders without so much as a hello. One thing I’d learned about Vane’s assistant since yesterday was that he didn’t want to make friends; he wanted to do his job. I liked that about him. I was the same way.
“We’re converting to digital, so those will need to be scanned into our server and then shredded. They’re potential contributors. Make sure you study the list while you do it, so you know whose ass to kiss.” He nodded at a closed laptop on his desk. “You can work on that. It’s new. Vane had me set it up for you.” When he turned his pensive gaze on me, I found myself suddenly uncomfortable. While I liked Jean-Paul, I’d quickly noticed how perceptive he could be. Nothing got past him, and that worried me. Did he know about the arrangement I had with Vane? “The boss is away for the rest of the day for meetings. He told me that you can use his office and desk while you work.”
“His office?” I sounded dumb with how I repeated it back to him, but I couldn’t help the shock that filtered through me at his words.
Jean-Paul—not JP, I’d heard him tell someone else off in the office for calling him that, because only Vane could—let out a long sigh and waved toward Vane’s door. “In there. Go. Get to work.”
I nodded in thanks when he opened the door for me, and then I strode into the wide office that Vane called his. Pausing just inside, I winced when Jean-Paul slammed the door closed harder than necessary. On my right were couches clearly arranged to allow conversation… or other things. I glanced around, taking in the neat bookshelf to my left against the wall beside a table, with a mixture of classic fiction, law books, and political bibles, to the wide desk that Vane usually sat at, made from dark, polished wood, that looked like it cost a fortune.
I settled the laptop and files on the desk before I ran my hand over the edge, and the wood was smooth against my fingers. When I took a seat, I sighed and fell back into the monstrous leather chair that encompassed me. This is what I imagined my future like. The same kind of office, my own underlings, with power I only dreamed about. I wanted what Vane had.
Glancing around again, I wondered what Vane did in here. Did he jack off? The idea made me shiver. I thought about Vane in this very chair, zipper open and cock in his hand, his cum splattering over the surface. I wouldn’t put it past the kinky bastard to do exactly that, but that only made me want something else—him to fuck me over this desk, or maybeonit.
