Kelly backtracked toward the door. “You just let us know when they leave, and we’ll come over.”
I drew in a deep breath. “Trust me, I will.”
And as they both slipped out of my office, I checked my email for the first time that morning.
It felt nice to be honest with people. It felt nice to admit that I didn’t feel in control of things. But I didn’t have the balls to tell anyone that the only time I felt in control was when JoJo had a grip on me. Figuratively, and literally. Whenever it was just me and him, I felt on top of the world. With his hand wrapped around my throat, I knew my exact purpose and I welcomed it with open arms.
I just didn’t know how to thread that kind of stability throughout my entire life.
16
Rebecca
Despite the peptalk at the beginning of the week, though, the stares of my nameless co-workers started getting beneath my skin. I thought that getting my parents out of the city and headed back home would take a great deal of stress off my shoulders, but instead it gave my mind more empty caverns to fill with that same stress. So, I did what any reasonable, grounded woman would do.
I started avoiding JoJo at all costs.
Every morning, I started answering his emails instead of leaving them unanswered. Every time he beckoned me up to his office, I came up with some excuse about having too much work and putting whatever it was in an email. It caused a couple of fights where he demanded my presence in his office, but I stood my ground and found ways to get him to communicate with me electronically.
Until he showed up at my door Thursday morning.
“Miss Loren,” he said as he rapped his knuckles against my door, “open up.”
I froze at the sound of his voice. “The door’s open.”
Everyone gathered outside and stared as he came into my office. He closed the door behind him, and I cringed when he flipped the lock. People gawked as he sat in front of my desk, and I couldn’t stop staring over his shoulder at the throng of people staring through the slim piece of glass that ran directly down the middle of my fucking office door.
And after he peered over his shoulder, it finally clicked.
“So, that’s why you won’t come up to my office,” he said.
I leaned back and settled my hands in my lap. “Could this have been an email?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure it could have, but I own this company. When I tell someone to get up to my office--.”
“You and I both know why you want me in your office.”
His eye twitched. “Well then, since you know so much about me, why don’t you tell me why you believe I want you in my office?”
I watched as Kelly and Brit worked to dispel the curious crowd of people that weren’t even trying to hide their curiosity at that point. I drew in silent, deep breaths through my nose, trying to gird myself for this conversation. It wasn’t business appropriate, and I realized that it was the argument I needed to make.
The issue was whether or not JoJo would accept the argument in and of itself.
“While I appreciate you coming down to visit me,” I said as politely as possible, “if this isn’t work related and it can be done in an email, I’d prefer that method.”
He smirked. “Really, now.”
I nodded. “I have a boss that breathes down my neck constantly. He’s piled work into my lap and my nights are getting longer. So, every second I’m pulled away from my desk cuts into my personal time.”
He crossed his leg over his knee. “And what do you do with this personal time?”
I shrugged. “It’s none of anyone’s business when I’m not clocked in at work.”
He sucked air through his teeth. “Whenever I ask you to come to my office--.”
“You and I both know that the office is starting to talk. Your secretary is apparently one of the vehicles carrying the gossip in the first place.”
When he didn’t answer, I knew I had him.
