Tia
Monday morning started off so promising, as far as Mondays go. The morning was bright and clear, the sun just right. The commute, for once, didn’t take nearly an hour.
After having the weekend to soothe her aching heart, Tia felt read to face Jack. He wasn’t out of her system by a long shot, but she was ready to let go and let be. She’d had her fun and it was amazing. It was a memory she’d cling to- well- for a long time. The only worry she had was that he might have ruined sex for her forever, since there were probably few men out there who could measure up. Literally.
Tia strolled into the office. She flashed a huge grin at Ashley, but instead of firing one back, the receptionist cast her eyes, green with a swatch of neon blue eye shadow, to the right.
Tia followed her gaze and found Sandy sitting in the reception area, arms crossed. As soon as she saw her, she stood. Her face was grim and though it didn’t exactly take a genius to figure out that she was in trouble, Tia kept the best poker face she could.
“Hello, Miss Reid. I was wondering if you’d come with me to my office for a few minutes. There is something I need to discuss.”
“Al- alright.” She tried and failed to keep her voice from cracking.
Tia sucked in a deep breath and followed Sandy over to the other side of the office. A side she’d barely ventured into. She trailed down a maze of hallways, past what felt like a hundred cubicles and closed office doors. Unlike the other side, this one was more outdated. The offices were wood, the furniture wasn’t new and the carpet was threadbare and stained here and there.
How did they find out? Did that bastard file a sexual harassment claim against me? That seemed highly unlikely. She managed to keep her emotion under control until she was ushered into Sandy’s office and the door closed shut behind her. Facing the solid walls, the worn out desk and the stark black and chrome chairs almost gave her a panic attack.
Tia barely managed to regulate her breathing as she sunk down into one of them. On the desk was a large file folder and that was it. It had her name written on the little tab. TIA REID. Dark letters, black sharpie, neat handwriting.
Sandy took a seat behind the desk. She folded her hands on top the file, as if to protect it from whatever grab Tia might make for it. “Miss Reid.”
Tia really wished the woman would call her by her first name again. She had before… it didn’t seem good. It didn’t seem good at all. She waited, hands folded tightly in her lap, a mess inside. Her stomach churned with nerves to the point she actually thought that she might throw up on top of Sandy’s desk. Wouldn’t that just give the whole department something to talk about for years to come?
Sandy’s face was grace, her brown eyes hard as steel, her lips drawn into a thin line. She actually looked far older than she had the first time Tia saw her, as though she lived in a different time and a few weeks in regular life were a few years in whatever zone she was currently dwelling in.
“It’s come to our attention that there was uh- an incident on Friday evening.” Sandy swallowed back something in her throat.
“What kind of incident?” Tia was amazed the words came out as smoothly as possible. She actually sounded innocent, to her own ears at least. She carefully gave nothing away.
Sandy leveled a direct look her direction. “I’ll be frank, Miss Reid. We have cameras in the building. One of them captured- well, I’m sure you know.”
Fuck. Fuck me. She carefully forced herself to stay calm. She hoped like crazy that camera had been in the main area and not in Jack’s office. Although, he probably wouldn’t have fucked her there if he’d known there was one. Did he know about the cameras at all? It seemed unlikely he would have done anything with her at all in any area where they could have been recorded… If the cameras had been in the common area, they only would have caught them making out. Which in itself wasn’t a capital offense. The undressing came later, in Jack’s office.
“I- I don’t know,” she said flatly, still hoping she could find a way out of this.
“You were caught kissing Jack Stevens. Our work place has a pretty strict policy when it comes to propriety. The fact that it happened after work hours is no less disconcerting.”
Tia frowned. “So where is Jack Stevens right now? Is he getting the same talking to that I am?”
“I’m not able to discuss that as it would go against our privacy policy.”
“So I’m here for a warning.”
Sandy’s lips turned down at the corners and her face aged a thousand years. She stared at Tia with tired eyes. “No, Tia. I’m afraid that we’re going to have to let you go.”
Tia felt like she’d literally been run over. Not that she’d ever actually been hit by a car, but she figured the complete shock, the loss of breath, the adrenaline rush through her veins, pretty much summed up how she would feel.
“Ex- excuse me,” she stammered.
“I’m sorry. You are still currently on your probation period, which lasts for a month. This kind of behavior is disconcerting and it’s something we definitely prefer not to happen in the office. We have a pretty strict policy about employee relations, which was in the handbook that you were instructed to read before you started.”
“And what? Jack Stevens gets off with a slap on the wrist?”
“I’m not at liberty to talk about Mr. Stevens, except to say that he has been an employee of this company for four years and had no disciplinary action ever taken. We do have a system of warnings and strikes for permanent employees as per the union.”
“Oh please.” Tia rolled her eyes. “So you are apparently at liberty to discuss Mr. Stevens.”
“No. I’m just telling you that we do have a system of checks and balances here designed by our union. Mr. Stevens will be disciplined.”
“But not fired.”
“I can’t discuss this with you further. Please, Tia, I was trying to give you some peace of mind.”
Anger ignited, wicked and sharp and hot, in the pit of her stomach. She’d show Sandy and the rest of the stupid company exactly where they could go with their damn peace of mind.
She stood up and before Sandy could react, grabbed her file like a child, and rushed out the door. She wanted to know what was in there, damn it, and she sure as hell wasn’t leaving it behind. It wasn’t fair that she could be fired from a job she was actually good, had given her everything to, while Jack got away scot fucking free. A slap on the wrist? Please.
A red haze bloomed over Tia’s vision. It was a minor miracle she found her way through the maze of cubicles and closed office doors. She charged through the place like a bull in a china shop. Somewhere behind her, far behind her, she heard her name called, and she broke out into a full on run.
She reached the marketing department and slammed the door shut. She locked it behind her, like a damn child would. She kept right on going, right straight to Jack’s office.
Of course he was there, on the phone with someone. He immediately hung up, stood up, hands outstretched, as if he could ward off her anger.
“Tia… there wasn’t anything I could do or say. I tried to defend you. I tried to go to bat for you.”
“Yeah, well, not had enough, mother fucker.” She wished she could take the laptop and computer in her old office and destroy them. Pour water on them or beat the shit out of them until they no longer worked, so that her ideas couldn’t help a company who had so callously fired her, but retained him. That would be damaging company property and she sure as hell didn’t want to go to court for it. She was probably in enough trouble. She stared at the file in her hand. Yes, definitely enough trouble.
“Tia-”
“No! Do not Tia me! You are a piece of shit. She elevated her voice so hopefully the rest of the office could hear. “You fucked me on your desk and you didn’t get fired. I did. You got off with a slap on the wrist. How is that fucking fair? Because you’re a man? Because you’re in a more senior position? Because you’ve worked here longer? Fuck that!”
“Tia! Calm down.” Jack glanced left and right. So did she and she was sorry to see that they didn’t have an audience yet.
“No, I won’t calm down.”
And right at that moment, as if on cue, Andy, a middle aged guy with a receding hairline and a huge belly, walked in with a box of doughnuts. He paused just inside the office and slowly popped his ear buds out of his ears.
“Is this a bad time?” Clearly he hadn’t heard all the shouting.
“No. No, it’s an excellent time.” Tia took the box of doughnuts that Andy brought every morning. The guy froze, clearly mystified. “It’s the best fucking time.”
She took the first doughnut, a cherry filled powered kind, and flung it at Jack’s face. How could she ever have found that smug fucking face attractive? It was the face of a coward. An asshole. A guy who would let her get fired and stay. If it had been the other way around, she would have walked out with him. On principle. But she guessed she had those and he didn’t. What did I expect from a guy who ate me out on my own fucking staircase?
The doughnut landed smack dab in the middle of Jack’s face. She watched, satisfaction seeping into her pores, as red goo ran from his forehead down his nose. He was so shocked he didn’t take another step to stop her. Which enabled her to fire the rest of the doughnuts, one after another, at him. Splat, splat, splat. They landed, each hitting their mark, Jack’s face.
Tia actually laughed. She couldn’t help it. It was maniacal and crazy sounding, but she couldn’t stop it. God, it just felt so good to do what she could to get even.
No, not even. Not even close. Because Jack still had his job and she was out on her ass, back to searching, back to square fucking one. Because of him. Because he didn’t have the good sense to know there was cameras in the office. Or maybe he didn’t care because he knew he’d get off with a warning. Either way, he should have known better. Or maybe fucking someone on his desk was some kind of sick fantasy. Not someone, his assistant of all damn things.
Just as she was about to throw the last doughnut, a pair of security guards burst into the office. They surrounded her and each grabbed an arm. One picked up the white folder, which she’d dropped on the floor, while the other gripped her arms.
“I’m leaving!” She screamed. “This isn’t necessary. I’m fucking leaving!”
By then, the whole marketing department had assembled to watch the fiasco. She wasn’t done. Oh hell, she was so far from being finished. If she was going out, she was going out with a bang. God, she didn’t want to think about how fucking punny that was. She’d gone out with a bang alright. Right on top of that godforsaken desk across the room.
“This man,” she spat out. “Fucked me on that desk! He fucked me and he had more than an equal share in it. He fucked me like a damn animal and nothing is happening to him! I got fired and he’s getting off scot fucking free!”
“That’s enough now, miss.” The security guard wrangled her towards the door. He was a young guy, probably not more than twenty. His face was beet red and he was trying his best not to hurt her.
Tia decided to make it easy on him. Until she reached the entrance of the main office, where a whole hell of a lot of staff were gathered.
“Jack Stevens is a fucker. He fucked me across his desk and I’m getting fired for it. Nothing is happening to him. How is that fair? No wonder women talk about being oppressed in the workplace. There’s your glass fucking ceiling right there.”
“Please,” the security guard tugged on her arm. “This isn’t helping your cause. Or the cause of feminism. Or any cause. Just please, come with me before they call the police.”
That sobered her up. Tia didn’t want to go to jail. She didn’t want to have to go to court. Not only was she out of a job, she couldn’t face paying a hefty fine or anything else. She finally fell silent and let the young guy escort her out of the building.
When they reached the sidewalk outside, he released her. She rubbed her wrists like he’d actually hurt her, when in reality, he’d done nothing. He’d been as gentle with her as he could have been. Probably far gentler than she deserved.
“Just for the record,” the guy said. “I think he should have been fired too.”
She nodded slowly, her anger cooling in the stiff breeze. “Sorry for the scene back there. I bet that’s the most excitement you’ve seen all week.”
“Well… the week is just starting, but I’ll admit, that’s the craziest shit I’ve seen in this entire year.” Her guard gave her a nod of respect before he disappeared back into the building.
Tia turned slowly and faced a sky that was far too blue for what had just happened to her. God, it should be raining. Or storming. She muttered a few curses under her breath before she walked on, in the direction where her car was parked.
The walk did little to cool her anger. When she finally slipped behind the wheel, she beat it with a closed fist. “God damn it, Jack Stevens. If I knew where you lived, I’d egg your house.” Or better yet, buy a few dozen doughnuts, the jelly kind, and bomb them at each and every single window.
A small smile curled over Tia’s lips. She couldn’t believe she’d actually thrown a box of doughnuts at her boss. The amusement faded a few seconds later, when reality set in. Damn Jack Stevens for coming into her life and turning it upside down. She wasn’t exactly happy alone, but she was sure happier than she was now. And she’d been employed.
She hated that the worst part of it all was that she knew she’d miss him. She’d miss seeing his face every single day. Despite how much she hated it at the moment, he had a nice face. Far too nice. God, she had a crush on her boss. Ex-boss.
Clearly he wasn’t the kind of guy who was a good person. It was probably better that she finds out now than pathetically try and win his affection. He was done with her anyway. She’d seen it in his eyes after he’d had his fun. Jack wasn’t a repeat customer. She hoped, foolishly, that she could change his mind. They had a spark, a connection, something deeper than just physical. She was probably the only one who felt it and probably just because the orgasm had been that good. She’d confused sex with actual meaning.
Maybe the company had done her a favor. Other than putting her out of work, they’d saved her a hell of a lot of trouble in the form of one far too handsome, far too soulless, man. Jack Stevens could go to hell right along with the rest of her company. She’d vowed after Jeremy that she was done with men for the foreseeable future. Now she damn well meant it.