Jessica
“We need to figure out the best way to frame this—”
“What do you mean ‘frame this’?” Kenneth turns to look at Kelly, his head of PR, with a scowl. “We’re dating. There is no framing—”
“Yes, but—”
“And just how are we going to explain that to the court?” Patrick interjects, his normally neutral face set into a serious frown.
“There’s no law against dating an employee.” Hamish, the additional legal counsel Patrick brought in, points out.
“That’s not the point. This whole case is an infuriating mix of he-said-she-said - and you know how this is going to look. We need to work out the best defense—what we’re going to say in court—”
He says the last with another glance in Kenneth’s direction. I wasn’t there for the semi-furious discussion they had when Kenneth revealed just what had been going on between us - Kenneth shielded me from that much at least - but I’ve got a good idea what he thinks about not being informed.
“I’m going to say we’re dating—”
“Why not ask her to give testimony—” Hamish suggests, to a withering glance from Kenneth.
“Absolutely not—”
“I don’t mind—” I try to put in, but my quiet voice gets lost in the chaos.
“You don’t know that the other side won’t try to get her into court anyway.” Patrick says, looking over at Kenneth. “We need to prepare her for that—”
“It’s late for that.” Hamish says, frowning. “The court date is in two weeks. They’d have to petition the judge—”
“Doesn’t mean they won’t—”
“But for an unfriendly witness?” He shakes his head. “Seems unlikely. They’ll just bring it out in Kenneth’s testimony instead.”
“You know, half of this would go away if we just settled the case.” Kelly interrupts. “Not all of it, but it would be much easier to deal with ‘CEO dating his secretary’ than ‘CEO wrapped up in sexual harassment lawsuit is dating his secretary’.”
“Any deal they give us now is going to be hard to swallow—”
“It’s not all about the money, you know. We’re not going to have anything to pay with if this goes the wrong way for us. Just what is the chance we actually win this thing?”
The lawyers don’t quite meet her gaze and my stomach clenches as it continues, everyone talking over each other as they try to sort through everything we need to deal with now. They’ve been at this for half an hour, talking in circles and seemingly no closer to an answer.
My face has been flushed with embarrassment this whole time and even Kenneth’s attempts to squeeze my hand in reassurance can’t change how awkward I feel about having caused all this.
What all the people in this room must think.
I haven’t even been able to even look at Tyler Adams - the head of HR who recommended me for this position in the first place. It’s stupid, but it feels like I betrayed him in some way, even with Kenneth sitting here defending me in every possible way.
“What do we do until then, anyway?” Kelly asks.
“About what?”
“About…this.” She gestures toward us and my cheeks burn again. “You can’t be working together anymore. We need to minimize the exposure on this—”
“You mean a transfer?” Tyler frowns, tapping his pen against the table. “Or…a leave of absence?”
That unpleasant sinking feeling in my gut intensifies. I know the only reason he’s saying leave of absence instead of something more like fire her is because I’m sitting right here - with Kenneth next to me.
“Surely changing things would be admitting something is wrong?” Felix, her PR deputy, asks. So far he’s been pretty quiet, looking a little overwhelmed by all the strong personalities in the room.
“Well now that we know, we have to be seen to doing something about it—”
“It would be against our HR policies to allow that to continue.” Tyler nods, with a slightly apologetic glance in Kenneth’s direction.
“I’ve started looking for other jobs.” I say, finally finding a small lull to speak up in and saying the only thing I can to defend myself. I’m pretty sure it won’t change what they think of me right now, but at least I know that I’ve tried my best to do the right thing here. I glance over at Kenneth. “Once we got together, we knew we couldn’t continue—”
“You can’t do that!” Kelly exclaims and I blink at her sudden fervor. “If you get another job, it will look like we pushed you out - that we’ve fired you—”
Which is sort of what you’re talking about doing.
I think it, but I don’t even try to say it out loud - and I wouldn’t have a chance as Patrick speaks up too.
“That’s true.” Patrick agrees slowly, his deep voice covering her own. “It would look exactly like what Danielle is accusing us of - firing someone after inappropriate sexual advances.”
“They’re not sexual advances.” Kenneth growls. “We’re dating.”
“Whatever you want to call it.” Kelly says, obviously irritated. “And however it happened - it’s still not appropriate workplace behavior. Especially as the CEO—”
The arguing peaks again as everyone starts speaking and I feel myself sinking slowly into my seat, my head buzzing and churning with all the thoughts and ideas and opinions. It becomes a storm of noise and I stop trying to pick any one individual voice out of it or follow what they’re saying.
Whatever they’re debating about what I should do, I already know some of the answers.
I can’t work here anymore.
I’ll do whatever they ask to help with the lawsuit - testify, not testify, whatever they want - but there’s no way Kenneth and I can keep working together. Not now that our secret relationship isn’t so secret anymore.
After a few minutes of sitting there, my ears ringing and everything feeling totally overwhelming - I push back my chair and slip outside the room. I’m not sure anyone notices, all caught up in arguing with each other about anything and everything.
The moment I get outside, it’s like a breath of fresh air as blissful quiet washes over my ears. I walk back to my desk - my former desk, I guess - and lean against it, my hands palm down and fingers splayed as I bend over and take several deep breaths.
I can’t shake the sinking feeling inside me. Whatever else comes of this, I’m pretty sure the damage to my career is already done. Kenneth is powerful and important enough that he might be able to get away with it - a year from now, everyone will have forgotten as other scandals wash this one away and he returns to the work everyone wants him to do.
But me?
The secretary who slept with her boss?
I close my eyes tightly, the anxiety twisting through my stomach - then jump when an arm comes around my shoulders.
“Are you okay?” Kenneth asks from beside me, his deep voice reaching all the way into me. “I’m sorry about all that, back there.”
I sigh and turn toward him, letting him tuck me up into his arms and burying my head against his neck. I breathe him in deeply as he strokes my back. The back of my mind questions whether we should be doing this right here in the open, after everything, but I ignore it. Everyone already knows - this can’t make it any worse, can it?
So I might as well take the comfort.
“You shouldn’t be caught up in this whole mess at all.” He says, his voice obviously pained.
I shrug as I look up at him, sighing softly. “I got involved with you just as much as you got involved with me.”
I might be the secretary and he might be the big impressive CEO, but I can at least claim my own choices in all this.
“It’s not your fault anymore than mine, I don’t want you thinking that.” I add.
“All this lawsuit stuff is on me.”
My mouth twists at that and I press against his chest just enough to make my point. “No, that’s on Danielle. You didn’t cause all this, she did.”
He sighs too, his hands trailing down my back and settling on my hips, fingers playing there almost idly. I like it even if it isn’t conscious - just being in his embrace helps, no matter how screwed everything else is right now.
We stand like that for a few minutes and then I finally say it.
“I’m going to quit, Kenneth. I don’t see any other option - I can’t keep working here after all this.”
“I know.” He nods. “Don’t listen to anything they said, though. You look for whatever job you like - it doesn’t matter how that affects things here, we’ll deal with it. That’s not something for you to worry about.”
“Yeah, because anyone really needs to worry about me walking into a job after this.” I can’t help the slightly bitter response and when he frowns at me, I sigh again, letting my head fall back to his shoulder. “Who’s going to employ me after all this? A girl who left her last job because she slept with the boss…yeah…that’s going to go down really well.”
“Shit.” He mutters, his hold tightening on me. “Jessica…”
“It’s okay.” I say, before he can start feeling bad. “I brought it on myself—”
“Everything that happened, we did together.” He says, his voice firm. “So we’ll deal with it together. We’ll figure this out, Jessica. I promise you.”
I close my eyes again, not really wanting to think about it. Maybe he’s right, but it’s hard to feel like anything will be easy right now.
“This whole thing will blow over.” He continues, his tone softening as he tries to reassure me.
“Maybe.” I say. “I don’t know. But either way, I don’t think I’m going to have a job fast enough for any of you to worry about.”
“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, you know. You weren’t quite sure what you wanted to do next anyway - this could give you some time to think about it.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I say, feeling bad that I sound so negative about it all when he’s only trying to reassure and support me. It’s not like it’s just me affected by all this. We have no idea how this lawsuit is going to end or what it will do to his job either.
I look up, trying to give him a small smile.
“It’s okay.” I say, putting a little more certainty into it than I probably feel. “We’ll work it out, Kenneth. It’ll be okay.”
He smiles back, leaning in to kiss me. I get that slight-panic-appropriateness thought again, but what the hell. I meet him with all the passion he puts into it and by the time we part, we’re both breathless and little bit dazed.
“So long as I have you, I don’t really care about the rest of it.” He says softly. “None of that matters when I think about you.”
I flush slightly, but he’s not done, raising a hand to stroke my cheek.
“Move in with me, Jessica.”
I blink, the suggestion coming out of nowhere.
“What?”
“Move in with me.” He repeats, brushing his lips across mine. “I’m not going to get to see you everyday at the office anymore…so at least let me see you everyday somehow—”
“But—”
“I’ll talk to Abbie. We’ll work it out, I promise.” He says, sounding like he’s already thought about this a lot more than I have, before he continues with a murmur. “I don’t want to think of you sitting alone at home, Jessie. Suddenly not working…that can be tough if you’re all alone.”
Shit.
I hadn’t thought about that. Another tremor of anxiety goes through me and I wonder whether he might have a point.
“Okay…I’ll…think about it.” I finally say, unable to look away from the intensity in his eyes.
His mouth curves up into a half-smile. “I’ll take that.”
I can’t help but smile slightly too, his own expression infectious. And even though I don’t know what’s going to happen and I’m worried about not working - and not being able to work - it warms something inside me that he’s already thinking about it, already coming up with ways to make me feel better about problems I haven’t even thought of yet.
“I love you, Kenneth.”
His smile lights up even further. “I love you too, Jessica. And I’ll make this right - we’ll figure it out.”
I nod, then frown slightly, my eyes drifting to the clock on the wall behind him as I wonder how long he’s been out here with me.
“Don’t you have to go back to the meeting? They might not notice if I disappear, but…”
He shakes his head. “We weren’t getting anywhere. We agreed on the most important issues we need to address and everyone has gone away to come up with potential solutions and the pros and cons of them. Hopefully when we’ve at least worked out individually what the right course of action is, tomorrow’s discussion will be a little less…”
“Chaotic?” I suggest and he smiles slightly.
“Yeah, that.”
“Okay.” I say, nodding, then I glance at my desk. “I should probably pack my desk up this afternoon, right?”
He nods slowly. “I guess so.”
I don’t miss the look of disappointment on his face.
“Damn, I’m going to miss having you around.”
“Yeah…”
I don’t really want to think about it, but I’m going to miss the job too. Even apart from being around Kenneth all the time, being this close to someone at the center of the business was just so much more interesting than any other secretary job I’ve had.
I sigh, leaning back to perch on the desk, and raise a hand to rub my forehead.
“I might go and get coffee first. And probably something sugary and bad for me. I think I’ve got a headache from that meeting.”
“I know that feeling. Do you want me to come with you?”
I shake my head. “Thanks, but…I think I could use a little bit of air, a chance to think. Do you want me to pick you anything up?”
“No, thanks. I’ve…got a lot to work out right now.”
I nod, rising to give him another hug before grabbing my bag and coat.
That makes two of us.
At least, I guess, we’ve got each other while we do it.
* * *
“Hey, are you..Jessica? Jessica Reynolds?”
Hearing my name pulls me out of the reverie I was in and I turn toward the voice, my bear claw pastry in my hands as I wait for the extra-shot latte I ordered.
The woman I come face-to-face with looks like she’s a little bit older than me - maybe in her thirties - with dirty-blond hair cut into a bob and blue eyes that look a little bit earnest, a little bit uncertain as they look over at me. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her before in my life, but the friendly smile on her face that makes me want to at least question that - that, and the way she seems to know me.
“Um, yes.”
“Could I…talk to you for a moment?”
I glance back at the chaotic noise and bustle of over-stretched staff making drinks and figure I’m going to be waiting for a little while anyway.
“Err, sure…” I step back from the counter and crowd of people around it, keeping it within sight but moving out of the way and toward the other woman. I look at her again. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“Oh, sorry. My name is Amanda - Amanda Speed. I work for ExVenture too, in the Sales department.”
She didn’t need to add that. The moment she says her name, I know exactly who she is, and I can’t help looking back at her in shock.
I’ve never seen her before - sure, I might have arranged some meetings and calls between Kenneth and the sales team, so I’ve seen her name on emails, but never her face in person. That’s not why I’m shocked.
Kenneth mentioned her a while back - wondering out loud why someone who actually worked for him would be willing to make up or go along with these vicious lies about him. In the end we figured Danielle must be offering to split some of the settlement with her if they won, and dismissed her as yet another person with more greed than morals.
Why the hell does she want to talk to me?!
I almost tell her to fuck off right then and there, rage suddenly boiling up inside me. After everything that happened this morning as well - after the pictures of Abbie and I - the fucked up tactics they’re using to try and win this thing and the very real effect of it all…it takes all my self control not to cussing her out and demanding answers.
She continues before I can quite get over my surprise, my tongue still tied up in knots.
“I know you work closely with Kenneth Stark and I heard…well…I just, I know you don’t know me, but sometimes it can be hard, working under someone like…that. I wanted you to know that if you ever wanted to talk…or needed support or anything like that…there are people you could talk to.”
I blink, my confusion swamping the anger as I try to work out what on earth she’s saying.
“I…what?”
She shrugs, giving me a gentle smile that seems - as far as I can work it out - like it’s genuine. “I’m sorry if it’s out of line of me to say, but I just…I know what he can be like sometimes. I’m sure you’ve heard things about this lawsuit he’s currently defending and I—well, I used to work with Danielle. So I know—I know what it can be like.”
“Latte, extra-shot.”
The call startles me and I turn away for a moment, looking back over to my coffee, my head still buzzing.
“I—sorry, that’s mine.” I tell her. “Just give me—give me a moment.”
I go to fetch it from the counter, my heart pounding all of a sudden.
I don’t really know what she’s saying, I can’t understand it, but…she doesn’t seem like the malicious woman I’d imagined. If anything she seems…nice. Apart from the whole helping to take the man I love to court thing.
It’s enough that when I come back, I hesitate over my initial urge to tell her just how wrong she is. Instead, I play dumb, my curiosity and disbelief strong enough to want to find out more about exactly what’s going on here. And who knows, maybe it will even help.
We could use something that actually helps right now.
“Sorry about that. I, um, I’m not quite sure…what did you hear about me? From who?” I shake my head. “I’m sorry, I’m just…”
It’s not hard to sound surprised or confused right now, as I try to work out what I can say to draw her out and find out more, without giving away just how much I’m on the opposite side here.
“Don’t worry.” Amanda says immediately. “It’s nothing that anyone will use against you—nothing that’s happened is your fault. We just…we want to make sure that’s clear. That these are things he’s doing, and it needs to stop.”
It’s even less hard to look confused. I don’t actually know what things she thinks she’s talking about. But since acting like I have no idea what she’s talking about would probably have her withdrawing from this conversation entirely, I don’t say that. Instead, I seize on something else. Something I want her to admit to.
“We?” I ask, frowning. “Who’s we?”
She flushes slightly, then shrugs as I take a sip of my coffee. I wince almost immediately as it scalds my tongue. So much for acting casual.
“Well…the team we’ve got working on this lawsuit, I guess.” She shakes her head. “That’s not why I approached you, though, really. I mean, if you wanted to be part of that, it would be great, but I just wanted you to know that there are other people who’ve been in your place and you can talk about it. And hopefully soon, we’ll be able to change the whole toxic environment.”
“Other people?” I ask, then bite my tongue at the next question, hoping it won’t end this conversation altogether. “You’ve…you’ve worked with Kenneth too, right? Do you mean…something happened?”
She glances away for a moment, then slowly shakes her head.
“No. Not me personally.” She shrugs. “I guess I’m not his type.”
I fight the urge to grind my teeth.
Right. Because that’s the only possible reason Kenneth wouldn’t harass you.
“Oh.” I say, focusing on continuing to act confused. I don’t want to let this chance slip away. “But you…you’ve seen something, then?”
That’s the question I really want the answer to. It’s what she’s been saying - and it’s the only real reason they have a case against Kenneth - because of what she claimed she’d witnessed.
It’s hard to ignore the slight excitement bubbling in my stomach as I wait, the feeling that this might actually be something - that I might get something we can use. The way she’s come across, it’s hard to believe she’d lie…but I have no idea how she can say she actually saw something, either.
“Well…” She glances off to the side again and that’s it - that moment of hesitation I was waiting for. “I’m talking about what happened to Danielle.”
I frown slightly as she dodges the question, but make it into concern. “What did happen to Danielle, exactly? I wasn’t around at the time…”
“Pretty much what you’d guess—he hit on her while they were working together, kept taking her out to fancy meals and having all these one-on-one ‘work’ meetings in all these other cities as they were trying to close deals. I’m in Sales too, just like she was, and I do something similar now - I know how it is. He obviously wanted more from her than just the professional and didn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer…when she refused, well, he made working together difficult enough that she felt she had no other option but to find another job. Even though she loved the team and was so passionate about working there - she’s been there for years, worked her way up from the bottom.” Amanda shakes her head, her lip curling up in disgust. “I hate the way that seems to happen so easily. It’s part of the problem working in such a male-dominated industry, but someone who’s given so much…they deserve more than to be viewed as some kind of sex object. It’s not right.”
I blink at that, somewhat surprised by the sudden passion. I wonder what might have happened there, to have her so obviously frustrated about that issue. It’s definitely not a reason I would have thought about for all of this, but I’m starting to get a picture of just why she might be willing to lie about all this.
“It’s something that seems to be exposed all the time at the moment.” I shake my head, not having to feign sympathy. Really, all the stories that have come out about how often this occurs in politics and entertainment have disgusted me just as much. “I would never have guessed it about ExVenture too, though…or Kenneth…are you really sure he did all that? I mean, I’ve worked pretty closely with him for a while now and I’ll admit, I’ve heard some pretty vicious rumors, but—it’s just so hard to imagine him actually behaving that way—but, you said you’d seen it?”
I shake my head again, trying to lean heavily on the disbelief. She didn’t actually say that to me, but I know it’s what she’s saying in her testimony - and I want to hear her admit it.
I want her to say she hasn’t actually seen anything - and I want to give her a reason to question everything she might have heard.
This far in, I’m willing to take the risk that she disappears completely once she works out we’re not actually talking about the mutual experience she thought we were.
Her eyes widen and she takes another look at me.
“You mean you haven’t—he hasn’t—”
I shake my head. “No. That’s why I asked what you’d heard and who you’d heard it from…I don’t know what people are saying, but, well…”
“Oh.”
“I really appreciate you coming to speak to me, though, and caring like that…it’s not every day someone reaches out to offer that kind of support.” I give her a small smile, trying to get her to relax before pressing my point. I’m starting to think I won’t get the clear-cut answer I want, but still…still…I can’t help but try.
“Thank you for the warning, though…damn, it’s still so hard to believe.” I shake my head, making my question as disbelieving and rhetorical as possible. “You actually saw him hitting on Danielle?”
She hesitates again, clearly uncomfortable, but eventually she gives me the answer I’ve been waiting for.
“Well…not directly. But Danielle’s told me all about it…I know how many one-to-one meetings they had and…”
She trails off as she catches the expression I don’t try to hide, my total change in attitude not the slightest bit fake or put on. I’ve wanted the chance to say this since she first stopped talking.
“You didn’t actually see anything?” I repeat, and the horror is right there in my voice. “Wait, you just said all that based on…what you’d heard? It’s just…another of these rumors?”
“No.” She shakes her head vehemently. “I know what happened. Danielle told me everything after she left - and I know her. It’s not a rumor - she wouldn’t make something like that up.”
I’m silent for a moment, just long enough for that to sink in. For the silent question - the doubt.
The very obvious reason why she might do exactly that.
“Are you sure about that? As sure about that as you seem to be about Kenneth?” I shake my head. “I don’t know, Amanda. That’s a pretty vile thing to be spreading around if you don’t know for certain - if you didn’t see it yourself.”
“I—”
“Guys that do that shit, sure, they deserve everything they get.” I continue, not giving her a chance to argue. “But I’d be pretty terrified of getting something like that wrong, wouldn’t you? It’s too easy to get the wrong idea with all these rumors, but it’s the kind of thing that could wreck someone. I mean, Kenneth has a four-year-old daughter - hell, I always figured there was nothing to those rumors just because he seems to spend all his time worrying about her.”
I shake my head again, taking a long sip of my coffee and looking back at her with obvious dismay.
“Look, I think I’d better go. I’m not the kind of person to stand around gossiping about my boss - I just thought you were talking about something more than hearsay. I still appreciate the concern, but…I think I’d prefer to make up my own mind about all of this. I think it’s entirely too risky to trust something someone’s told someone else, when it’s about something so important.”
I give her a short nod and walk away before she can say anything else, leaving her looking slightly shell-shocked by the strength of my reaction.
It’s not until I get out of the coffee shop that I let the my slow, triumphant grin spread across my face.
I got her to admit she didn’t see anything. I did! Ha!
I walk at almost double-pace to get back to tell Kenneth. He can tell the lawyers in his meeting tomorrow.
Maybe that will make the difference in this whole case. Maybe, with that, everything that came out about me today won’t be quite so much of a disaster.
Finally getting to say what I thought about her going along with things Danielle has told her was satisfying as hell, too. I can’t expect any of my questions or comments to really get through to her if she’s already blind enough she’s willing to do this for her friend - and when it comes out that I’m dating Kenneth, I’m sure she’ll be angry enough to for everything I said to lose it’s meaning. But it still felt good to say anyway.
And if it makes her think, even a little bit, for a small amount of time, then it was worth it.