Then what if she worked for me?
Of course. That was perfect. If we worked together, we would spend the whole day together by default. Not only that. She could take as much maternity leave as she wanted. She had gone to school for accounting, but I knew her skills were so much wider than that. She was a good worker, clearly from how she insisted on working even when she could justifiably take time off. Would she go for it?
Either she would laugh in my face, or she would think it was a good idea. At this point in the relationship I had seen both reactions from her, so neither was going to surprise me. I'd ask her tonight. With something to look forward to, the rest of the day flew past. I got home before her. I was planning on asking her during dinner. I waited a while. Then kept waiting. Then kept waiting some more after that.
She texted me before my mind started wandering to everything that could have happened to her.
Working late. Project w/boss. Trying to get a raise.
I cursed out loud. She didn’t need to get a fucking raise. She didn’t need to work overtime to make more money. Money was no longer…
It was fine. At least I knew where she was now. It was almost dinner though. She was going to miss it. I went to the kitchen and asked Jerry to pack me a box for her. She wouldn’t stop to eat on her own, this way I could make sure she wasn’t going hungry. Barry drove me to her office. I had never seen where she worked before. From time to time, I realized how much there was left to learn about Brenna even though I felt like we were so close.
Good thing neither of us was going anywhere.
I walked into the office and found it predictably empty. I had no idea which one of the desks was hers. After walking around for a short while and failing to find her, I took my phone out to text her. I noticed a light under a closed door. I walked up to it, listening for voices.
“I know what I signed up for, Mr. Jackson,” I heard a woman say. The second voice was muffled but it sounded like I belonged to a man. The woman was Brenna. I heard that voice so often, even in my dreams; I knew her voice when I heard it.
“Yes. To look over projections, not to get manhandled,” she said. I dropped the box. The bottom shattered and the lid popped off. Food spilled all over the floor. I charged into the room, flinging the door open. Brenna was backed into one corner, looming over her was a man, slim built but taller than her with one of his arms on the wall blocking her from getting past him.
I ran into the room and grabbed him, pulling him back. He wasn’t expecting it so he jerked back, flailing. I wrestled him to the ground and got on top of him. I heard Brenna’s voice like she was a mile away when my fist connected with the guy’s jaw.
“Charlie! What are you doing? He’s my boss!”
I grabbed him by the collar and shook him so he looked at me. Terror, confusion… annoyance? He had the nerve to be pissed off when I had walked in on him harassing my pregnant girlfriend?
“Consider this Brenna Andrews’ official resignation.” His nose crunched under my fist again. Brenna grabbed the back of my jacket, pulling me away from him.
“I swear to god, Charlie, he’s going to call security, get off of him.”
I let her pull me off the guy. She tried to herd me out of the office, almost dragging me away, back to her desk to get her purse and to the elevator to get out of there. I had a lot of fight left in me yet. The guy on the floor wouldn’t be able to walk out of here if I had it my way. I was fuming. What the hell would have happened if I hadn’t shown up when I had? The elevator doors slid shut.
Brenna sputtered and started laughing. I stared at her.
“What? What’s so funny?”
She was gasping, clutching her chest. “Consider this Brenna Andrews’ official resignation,” she said, repeating the line I fed to her boss. I felt some of the heat come off of me. My hands and shoulders started to relax. I reached for her, hugging her to my chest.
“You’re insane, you know that?” she said, looking up at me. I cupped her face and kissed her.
“You enjoy your work? You like coming here to deal with this man trying t
o feel you up?”
“He didn’t feel me up. Well, there was that one time… but that’s beside the point. I could have handled it myself.”
“Which one time?” I asked.
She sighed. “This is why I didn’t say anything.”
“If your boss was harassing you, I wanted to know.”
“You came in right before I kneed him in the nuts. That was his last warning.”
I squeezed her, kissing her head. “That’s my girl.”
We left the office and went down to the limo. She didn’t need me tonight but I liked being there for her. It was my job. I was supposed to protect her. I wanted to do it.