Chapter Eight
Ash (now eighteen)
Ihated my new job. Ask me again why I thought that office work would suit my mentality.
I guess I figured since I’d got good grades in the end, not great, but good enough, I might as well put them to use, but this shit was boring as fuck.
I was working for a stationery supplier, and it was monotonous, and mind numbingly boring.
Plus the place was mismanaged by the upper management, so the staff were earning fuck all, for working our asses off.
It might be time to take a leaf out of the family book and burn this asshole place to the ground.
“Ashley, are you done with that file yet?”
I turned to glare at Eddie, the person who seemed to believe he was my manager, even though he was the same fucking pay grade as me.
“I’ve told you a shitload of times, that my fucking name is Ash. Get it wrong one more time, and I’ll introduce your face to that fucking window. And yeah, take the stupid file. I’m not doing anything with it. I could do this bullshit in my sleep.”
The scrawny little shit blinked warily at me, and snatched the file, backing away to his desk again.
“Ash, that wasn’t cool, but it was absolutely hilarious,” Rosa said to me. She was my desk mate, as she called it, pushing forty something, and as done with this place as me. She’d been here for twenty fucking years though. How the hell hadn’t she ditched this shitty job long ago?
“I’ll kick his ass next time, I swear. It’s not difficult to get it right. Stupid fuck.”
“Ash, a word,” my line manager was at my desk now, and glaring down at me, so I stood up, knowing I had a foot of height on him, and I could smash his pathetic little face without even breaking a sweat. It’s called the gym, but apparently I was the only person here fucking using one.
“Problem?”
He blinked up at me for a moment, then steeled himself. “Yes. My office.” He turned and marched off like a pissy little fuck, and I turned to roll my eyes at Rosa. Two months I’d been here, and it was enough for me. There was nothing keeping me here except laziness.
“I think I’m about to get my ass fired, babe, don’t miss me too much.” She laughed and waved a hand at me, as she grabbed the next incoming call.
Fucking stationery, I swear, who even uses this shit these days. This is what technology is for. So we don’t have all this fucking shit to deal with.
“Close the door,” Andrew, my soon to be former manager, barked at me, so I did. I slammed it, feeling a perverse sense of pride when the glass walls all rattled in their frames.
“Really?”
I shrugged, dropping onto the seat opposite him. “Felt right, which is more than I can say for this place.”
He nodded as he leaned back in his chair.
“You know I’m probably supposed to be firing you, right?”
I lifted my hands carelessly. “You gotta do what you gotta do. I know I intimidate you. Probably got a bigger cock too. It is what it is.”
He suddenly burst out laughing. “You’re a snarky bastard. Can you at least pretend you like the job? If not, they’re going to make me let you go.”
I leaned forward in my chair. “Honestly, Andy, I don’t give a fuck. This isn’t the dream, ya know?”
He shoved a file out of his way, resting his elbows on his desk. For a moment, he just looked like a young guy without all the responsibility on his shoulders. A kinda cute one.
“I get it, man. This wasn’t my dream either, but now I’m pretty much stuck. You want out, there’s the door, but if you want to stay here, you just need to stop scaring the little ones.”
I smirked, crossing one ankle over the other knee. “I like scaring the little ones. It helps them grow and build character. Besides, you’re pretty much a little one too.”
He grinned. “Yeah, but I have an office, so I have shit going for me. You wanna get a pint tonight? It’s Friday at last.”
I tilted my head, watching him closely. We got on pretty well at work, except when he was having to play the ‘boss’ card, and we’d gone out for drinks now and then, but he wasn’t the one, was he?
Probably not even gay, although I’d be tempted to try if my heart wasn’t still set on a certain asshole I hadn’t seen in years.
Not that he’d escaped me forever. I’d find him.
“Depends. Are you hitting on me?”
Andy lifted his head and widened his eyes at me. “That’d be a shocking abuse of power, since I’m your boss, wouldn’t it?”
“Still depends on if you like dick, that’s all. I can’t tell. I’m usually pretty good at figuring people out, but you flummox me.”
“Flummox?”
“It’s a word. My family’s all smart, I’ve told you this. My two younger brothers think they’re gonna change the fucking world. Guess they haven’t realised yet that it’s a piece of flying crap in space, covered with assholes.”
“You paint a really pretty picture, Ash. So… drinks or not? I need to send you out of here in a minute to slam the door again like an asshole.” He wasn’t so bad. Maybe this job wasn’t so bad either.
“If you’re trying to get into my pants, just be clear about it. That’s all I’m saying. But yeah, don’t fire me yet. I feel like I could last another week, or at least cause a bit more mayhem first.” I winked as I got up again. I said the same thing this time last week too.
“Don’t forget to slam the door, dickhead.”
I didn’t disappoint him.
We did go for those drinks though, and once he’d had a few, he admitted what I’d been wondering all along about him.
“If you wanna show me that big cock you keep going on about, I won’t fire you for it,” Andy murmured, leaning closer to boozily breathe all over my ear as we staggered down the road towards my flat.
I moved out as soon as I was old enough, but it wasn’t the party house I’d planned for it to be.
Everything cost money, and when I told my parents I wanted to try fending for myself, they agreed to give me six months before they’d step in and start paying for my shit again.
Great fucking parents, always got my back.
“Oi, get your hand off my dick,” I hissed at Andy as he openly groped me, and we both kinda bumped into a brick wall.
“Come on, Ash. We’ve flirted for months, just get it out and I’ll suck it.”
Well, I’m not one to turn down a fucking ‘gift horse mouth’ I could have around my cock. I’m sure that’s the expression.
I let him unzip me, and then he grabbed my neck and pulled my lips down to meet his.
I let him kiss me, sucking on his tongue, as his hand slid inside my jeans and rubbed my cock, but someone was walking past us, looking disgusted by our behaviour, and when we locked eyes, I knew Andy was history before we’d even started. It was Callum. My Cal.
His eyes widened as he realised the guy he was staring at, who now had boozy lips slurping at his neck while he got a hand job, was the boy he’d beaten up at school. Only I think he was seeing how I’d grown bigger and bulkier than him. I definitely had an advantage over him now.
“Fuck,” he hissed, turning and legging it down the street. Fucking hell, really?
I pushed Andy away from me, zipping my jeans back up, while he pouted at me.
“Come on, Ash. I’m horny. Let’s fuck.”
I shook my head at him. “This was a mistake, Andy. You’re my boss, and you were right before. It’s an abuse of power or something.”
I felt completely sober now, like that one moment of spotting Cal had completely drained the alcoholic effects, and left me ready to hunt him down and have him instead.
Cal’s home, and now he’s mine.