I was overloaded, though, and I had to dip out on the girls’ standing lunch invitation. Apparently, JoJo was late in preparing for a board meeting Monday morning and I needed to get all the pie graphs and bar charts into a PDF document he could print out and hand out to everyone. So, I scrambled to piece something together that remotely resembled a professional, Fortune 500 company board meeting document.
Then, I sent it off and spent the last hour of work watching the clock tick down.
I stood to my feet and paced the floor of my office as I waited for Tommy to come pick me up. With my purse slung over my shoulder and my pencil skirt clinging to a set of thighs that took me a very long time to love, nerves started taking over. My hands shook at the thought of going on a date, especially since I hadn’t been on one in so damn long. I mean, what if he wanted to have sex? I wasn’t a “first date sex” kind of gal. Would that upset him? Did I need to be upfront with that?
The phone ringing on my desk pulled me from my trance, however, and I raced to pick it up.
“This is Rebecca speaking.”
JoJo’s voice sounded harsh from the first syllable. “My office. Now.”
And that was all he said as the line disconnected.
“Fuck,” I groaned.
I checked the clock and found that I still had thirty minutes to spare, so I raced out of my office and headed for the stairs. I climbed them, two by two, ready to get this out of the way so I could go enjoy my weekend. I stopped just shy of JoJo’s door and gave myself a few seconds to catch my breath. After all, hiking steps in heels really took it out of a gal, especially when she was rushing.
Then, I drew in a deep breath and entered his office.
“You rang?” I asked as I closed the door behind me.
His face told me everything about his mood. “That document you sent me? Was it rushed?”
I paused. “I mean, you did ask me for it this morning. So, I suppose--.”
He marched toward me with a dark stare on his face. “Do you think your job is a joke?”
I straightened my back. “No, I don’t, sir.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Do you think you can send me some bullshit excuse for a board meeting document, and it actually be okay? It looks like shit, Becca. It looks like something someone slapped together in ClipArt or Microsoft Paint, for fuck’s sake. How the hell am I supposed to give this to the millionaire and billionaire tycoons that sit on our board in the first place!?”
I shrugged. “If you give me the weekend, I’ll have it spic and span for you.”
A growl came through in the tone of his voice. “The work is just as disgusting as you are. Just as lazy and half-assed as you’ve always been.”
Dear God, just fire me already. “Are you going to fire me over this? Over something that’s technically your fault for waiting to do?”
He slammed his hand into the door. “Backtalk me one more time and I’ll blacklist you from every accounting job in the fucking state. You work for me, Becca, and that means you follow my lead. You do as I say, when I say it, and you don’t question it. Understood?”
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“And when you hand over shit work, you get your ass chewed off until your back sits on your fat, breathless thighs. Got it?”
I smiled softly. “I didn’t know you found me breathtaking. Thank you, JoJo.”
He straightened his back and ran his hands down his suit coat. “While you’re working on that document this weekend, you can also gather all of this quarter’s documents and have them sent to me, in order by date. Then, I want you to take those documents and make financial projections for the next five years.”
“I’ll have it all on your desk by Monday--.”
“I want it on my desk before you leave tonight.”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
He turned his back to me and walked toward his desk. “You heard me. Get it on my desk before you leave tonight or you’re fucking fired. And if you so much as think about backtalking me right now, I’ll make your life a living nightmare until the day you die.”
I don’t doubt that one bit.“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now get the hell out of my sight.”
