"That's okay. I can just..." I stopped myself before saying "I can just call him," as that would have sounded strange. "It's not that important," I finally said. "Thanks."
I headed back to the elevator, pulling out my phone to give Cassius a call.
"Looking for the boss?" asked a voice beside me. I jumped and turned. It was Mr. White, the head of the PR department.
"Oh, I, um..." I wasn't sure what to say. I finally decided that I should go with the same story I'd told the other woman. "Just curious, you know?"
"Curious, huh?" He gave me a funny look. We arrived at the elevators, and he pushed the button for our floor.
"Yeah. Since no one really sees him," I replied.
"But you see him," Mr. White said. "In fact, he personally introduced us."
Damn. I had forgotten about that.
"Well, I... Yeah, but I haven't really seen him lately," I finished weakly. It wasn't very convincing, and Mr. White didn't look convinced. The elevator arrived, and we got in.
"I think that's probably not true," he said as the doors closed. Cassius's floor was quite a few above ours, and I suddenly wished I'd made an excuse to ride in a different elevator. Being alone with him was suddenly uncomfortable. My whole body was tense, as if trying to tell me that he was a threat. "But don't worry," he said, inching closer to me, "I'll keep your secret."
"There's no secret to keep," I said, shrinking into the corner.
"Okay," he said, and winked at me. Thankfully, the doors opened at that point, and I quickly slipped out and hurried down the hallway to our department, where there would be other people around. When I came through the door and realized all the desks were empty, my heart sank.
I was still technically on my lunch break, and I decided I would just go wait in the car until I saw someone else get back from break. But as I turned to head for the door, Mr. White was right behind me.
"You're not running from me, are you?" he asked. I straightened my back and tried to look intimidating.
"Look," I said, "I don't know what you think you've figured out, but you don't know what you're talking about. And you shouldn't go around implying things."
He laughed. He had stopped near the corner of my desk, standing between me and the door. All my instincts were telling me I should leave as soon as possible, but I was worried about what he would do if I tried to push past him. I also was reluctant to get closer to him. I had no desire to get near him at the best of times, but with the way he was behaving, the idea of touching him was repulsive.
"It's fine, Deira," he said. "Unlike some people, I won't judge you. Hey, if I could sleep my way into a job, I would. But I'm not as pretty as you."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I thought he might have figured out that Cassius and I had a relationship, and even accused me of using our relationship to get the job. After all, it wasn't entirely untrue. If I hadn't known Cassius outside of the company, I might not have gotten the job. But to imply that I was somehow untalented and had only gotten the job because I slept with someone? I felt a spike of fury in my gut.
"Like I said," I told him through clenched teeth, "you don't know what you're talking about. I got this job based on my skills."
"Sure," he said, and winked at me again. "And there's no reason for anyone else to ever hear about it." He took a step forward, further blocking my path to the door. "Why don't you come into my office, and you can show me those skills?" He reached his hand for my arm, and I slapped it away. He frowned and stepped even closer, grabbing my elbow. At the touch of his hand on my skin, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Don't be a bitch," he said. "If the CEO can get a special glimpse of your skills, I want that, too." He tightened his grip, and I looked over his shoulder, willing someone to come through the doors. No one did.
"Let go of me," I said. Amazingly, he did, but he didn't move. The sick feeling in my stomach was getting worse.
"Just come back to my office," he said. "Don't worry. I'll make it fun, and worth your while. You'd be amazed how fast you can advance in the department when I'm on your side. Then again, if I happen to decide you're not working out... well, I do have the power to fire you."
He had leaned so close to me that I could smell his cologne. It made me want to gag. I reached behind me for a makeshift weapon. My fingers met the stapler I kept on my desk. I tried reasoning with him one last time.
"Please get away from me," I said. "I want to leave."
He smirked at me, so I hit him with the stapler.
"Ow!" He doubled over in pain, and I took advantage of that moment to slip past him. But as I went past him, he grabbed my hand. I jerked away from him but he had a tight grip on me.
"Just you wait," he snarled at me. "You won't last another day in this company."
I still had the stapler in my hand, so I slapped it down on his knuckles. He screamed and let go of my arm, and I fled the room.
I was terrified that he would come after me, so I didn't wait for the elevator. Mercifully, our department was only on the third floor, so it wasn't hard to run down those two flights of stairs to the lobby. I stopped at the bottom and didn't hear him coming after me, so I paused to catch my breath.
My mind was racing. Ever since the first day, he had made me uncomfortable. But I hadn't expected him to try to blackmail me into having sex in his office. Nor had I thought he would get physical with me, grabbing my hand like that. I had a sudden, crazy urge to laugh. It was ridiculous that I was having to deal with this on top of everything else that was happening.