I’m still ringing with Sofia, even the next day.

I sent her back to her cube after our little afternoon meeting, and I tried my best to get back to my own work. But even with everything happening, some of them pretty fucking important, Sofia still is the biggest thing on my mind. I can’t stop seeing her, feeling her, tasting her. She’s everything around me and it’s so distracting and maddening, and I love every second of it.

I know I’m infatuated, maybe even more than that. Frankly, I didn’t think this was going to happen. I assumed I’d get a taste of her, that forbidden desire that I’ve always thought about, and then move on. I’d keep her safe, of course, make sure she’s comfortable and happy at the company, but I didn’t expect…. this.

Whatever this is. This dizzying, intense, mindless desire that I feel every time she’s around. And I always think it’ll go away after I’ve gotten what I want from her, but it doesn’t. The longer we spend together, talking about nothing, about our lives and everything around us, the more I realize just how much I actually like being around her.

She makes me smile. It’s pretty simple. She makes me feel good in a way I haven’t felt in a long time. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this way about a woman.

It’s intense and it’s terrifying. Everything about this, the way I’m willing to throw everything away for her, scares the fuck out of me but I love it. I need it.

Back in my office the next day, I’m desperately trying to keep my mind off Sofia. As much as I want to call her in right now and fuck her senseless, feel her body until I’m left on the floor gasping and tingling, her body pressed against mine, I know I can’t do it. I have to keep my mind looking forward and focused on the goal of figuring out how to get my damn company back.

“What’s this Minnie says about a girl?” Clay asks me, grinning.

“It’s nothing.” I look away, back down at the stack of papers in front of me. “Just an old friend.”

“Not how Minnie talks about it.”

“She shouldn’t be talking about it at all.” I raise my eyebrow at him.

He rolls his eyes. “Come on. You both know I’m the only person she can really talk to about this stuff.”

I sigh. “Okay, fine, fair enough. Yes, there’s a girl.”

Clay leans forward in his seat. “You’re serious about her? The Sofia girl?

“I don’t know,” I say, not wanting to talk about this. “Can we get back to work?”

“I guess.” He sighs and leans back in his chair, all dramatic.

It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it with anyone. I’m not ashamed of it. But I don’t know what it means yet, and I’m afraid that if I start to talk about it then I’ll lose whatever it is we’re building. I don’t want to risk this thing.It feels so fragile.

But he’s right, Clay’s the only person I can actually talk about it with. Maybe I could go into more detail with Minnie but I’m just not ready, not yet. They’d never rat me out to HR or something like that.

Lunch comes and goes and I find myself alone in my office again, looking over some spreadsheets Clay left behind. I’m distracting myself with busywork and I know it, but I don’t know what else to do.

As I get through one sheet and start the next, my phone starts to ring. I glance at it and for a second, I want to tell Minnie to pretend like I’m not here.

But I pick it up anyway. I’m surprised that it’s ringing directly on my phone instead of going through Minnie, which means it’s someone inside of the company.

“Yes?” I ask.

“Mr. Drake? This is Lane Upton from Human Resources. How are you today?”

I freeze, looking out my window. I don’t know a Lane Upton. He must have been hired later on.

“I’m good. Please, call me Jacob.”

“Okay, Jacob. I’m calling about something very, uh… sensitive.”

I can hear the tension in his voice. “What’s going on?” I ask.

“I was just given a, ah, a tape recording.” He pauses. “I’m sorry, this is really difficult to say.”

I have such a bad feeling. I want to hang up the phone and find one of my friends in the department, but I’m worried that’ll only look bad. I know they’re recording this conversation, and whatever I say now will be part of the official record.

And it can be used against me.

“Please, speak candidly,” I say.

“Well, ah, I received an anonymous tape. It seems to be a recording of you and a female employee engaging in inappropriate physical contact.” He sounds incredibly uncomfortable, and I don’t blame him. He rushes to add, “This sort of thing is highly unusual. And I think it’s illegal.”

I stare out the window and shut my eyes tight. This is a fucking nightmare. “An anonymous tape?” I ask. “When did you get it?”

“This morning,” he says. “It’s literally a tape. Honestly didn’t know what it was until I popped it in my radio player, happens to have a cassette spot.” He’s rambling a little bit, the nerves getting to him.

“And you say it sounds like me and a woman having sex?”

He hesitates. “Yes,” he admits. “Very much. You use her name but, ah, I’m not going to repeat it.”

“This is absurd,” I say simply. “An anonymous tape? How could someone have something like that?”

“I honestly don’t know,” he admits. “It seems so farfetched, but it sounds real. Though like I said, this sort of thing is illegal so I have no clue if it’s even something I’m supposed to mention.”

I try to think back to yesterday, trying to decide if we mentioned being in the office at all. I think we might have, but I can’t be sure.

“And you’re positive it sounds like we’re in the office?”

He pauses. “No,” he admits. “I’m not positive about that at all.”

“Okay, so let me get this straight. You have a random illegal tape that seems to be a recording of me having sex with a woman, but you’re not sure where that’s taking place?”

“Pretty much,” he admits. “I’m really sorry about this. I know it sounds insane. But I thought it was best to come straight to you about it.”

“Well, listen, I’m glad you called me first,” I say, quickly deciding where I’m going with this. “Do you know about what’s happening right now? In the company?”

Anther pause. “Yes,” he admits.

“I suspect someone is trying to blackmail me.”

“Blackmail you?” He sounds skeptical, but he’s not denying it outright.

“Let me ask you something else, Lane,” I say quickly. “When were you hired?”

“Recently,” he admits. “Just a few weeks ago, actually. I have a lot of experience in HR though.”

“I’m sure you do,” I say. “We usually only hire good people. But my point is, you’re not comfortable here yet, right? You don’t really know much about the lay of the land, so to speak?”

“Yes,” he admits, sounding uncomfortable.

“If someone were going to blackmail me, who do you think they’d give that tape to? Someone that knows the company, or someone new?”

Another pause, and this one feels like it lasts forever. I can tell he’s trying to calculate where to go from here. I’m the big boss, the founder, but he’s clearly aware of the little tug of war for control. Right now, he has to decide what side of the fence he’s on.

The strange part of this is, he didn’t go to his supervisor. If he did, I’d be in a better position. I’m closer with the head of the HR department, and if he had this tape, I wouldn’t be so worried.

But the mere existence of this tape is horrifying… and I think it’s real.

“I see what you’re saying,” he answers finally. “It doesn’t look good.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I let out a breath. “Why don’t we sit down with your supervisor and figure out what to do from here?”

“Yes,” he says, sounding relieved. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“Good. We’ll schedule something for later today or tomorrow. Talk with my secretary.” I hesitate a second. “And Lane?”

“Yes?” he asks.

“Please don’t speak of this or share it with anyone else. You’d just be hurting me and doing exactly what they want you to do.”

“I won’t,” he says quickly. “I’d never. I take professional ethics very seriously.”

“Thank you, Lane. Now, I’ll see you soon.”

“Thank you, Jacob. Have a good day.”

With that, we get off the phone, and I sit there totally stunned for a second.

But quickly I get myself under control. I grab my cell phone and head into my private bathroom. I turn on the shower and the sink before I call Sofia.

“Jacob?” she says, answering. She’s speaking quietly, so I know she’s still at her desk. “What’s that noise?”

“Listen, this is really important,” I say, ignoring her question.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“Do not contact me through any office channels. Only call me on your cell, and make sure you leave your desk when you do it. Go somewhere you don’t normally go.”

“What’s going on?” she asks, sounding worried.

“I know this is weird. I’ll explain more later. Can you do that for me?”

“Okay,” she says.

“Thank you.” I pause a second. “Don’t stress. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay,” she says again.

I hang up the phone and stand there, staring into the mirror as the truth really hits me.

Someone bugged my fucking office.

I know it was Karl. I don’t know how he did it, but he has a recording of Sofia and I having sex. It must not be a good recording, since he could have simply released that to the whole office to destroy me instead of going to HR with it. That’s probably why Lane was so quick to believe my half-baked story, and relieved that he gets to pass this off on someone else.

But still, he’s listening to everything I say in here. I feel a chill run down my spine.

My first instinct is to remove the bug, but I stop and take a breath. I have an opportunity here. I can use this knowledge to feed Karl bad information.

It’s like a fucking spy movie, but this is real life, and I’m dealing with a paranoid psychopath. I don’t know what kind of man actually bugs someone’s office, but Karl did it, and now I have to find a way to handle it.

Deeper and deeper. I feels bizarre, but it’s my life. I need to be very careful with Sofia, and we basically can’t do anything anywhere near my office. To be safe, we should avoid her cube, and anywhere else Karl could have planted bugs.

I turn off my shower and my sink and head back into my office. I text my friend in the IT department and ask him to meet me down in the cafeteria. I’ll have him go over the whole damn building and hopefully he’ll locate the bugs, but I won’t have him remove them. I just want to know where they are, just to be safe.

I lean back in my chair, starting to plot and figure out how to beat this.