37. Run to Him
Bailey
When I feel I’ve given Sacha and Loch enough time, I head back to my desk to find Chris from IT is sitting at my computer.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Did you receive any strange emails this morning?” Chris asks, one eyebrow raised.
“No. Maybe. I’m not sure?” I say, my whole morning is a blur.
“Did you click any links? There’s a virus on our system,” Chris says. “Half of the network is down.”
“Oh no,” I mutter. “I downloaded a program for a video call…” My voice trails off as I realize what I did and I groan. “Where is Mr. Kwatch? Mr. Loch?”
“They left on very similar phone calls. Something about reassuring investors.”
My stomach sinks. I’ve messed everything up, again. Sacha left without even saying a word to me.
This is the perfect time to run, there’s no one to stop me, but the first place that comes to mind is running to Sacha. To find safety with him.
“Do you know where he went? What he’s doing? I should be with him. I should help him.”
“I was busy, Bailey, cleaning up the mess you made.” Chris cuts back, his hands moving across the keyboard quickly.
“You clicked on the spam email?” Tatiana appears at my desk with a small laugh.
“I didn’t know it was a virus!” I let out a groan.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jacob says. “Every time something like this happens there’s a half dozen people who fall for the gimmick. Last time one of them was Tatiana.”
“One time! I made the mistake once! It was ages ago!” She insists.
“It was six months before you got here,” Jacob reassures me. “Everyone’s done it at least once. I’m sure you weren’t the only one who clicked it, we all got a similar email.”
“I can’t believe I did something so stupid,” I groan.
“We all make mistakes, Temp.” Tatiana grins, and then leans forward to ask. “Like how I left my jacket at your place, do you think I could come get it?” The question startles me out of my self pity spiral.
“Have you spoken with Margot since that weekend?”
Tatiana shrugs, but I see something wistful in her eyes, I make a mental note to bring it up with Margot later.
“Which weekend?” Jacob leans closer to ask.
“The weekend that the Temp spent with the guy she’s banging.” Tatiana deflects the attention to me with a smirk.
I glare at her betrayal.
“Oooooo, who is it?” Jacob’s grin is wild, always ready for a bit of office gossip. “Someone we know?”
“Of course not! How could you have met? He’s never even been in the office!” I squeak out, probably too quickly because Tatiana’s brows nearly disappear into her hair.
Jacob grins wildly, “Come on, we’re bored here. Give us something juicy.”
I shake my head profusely.
“It’s some rich guy that she is being super secretive about. She said he was a cryp–” Tatiana freezes mid-sentence. “Oh. My. God.” Tatiana glances from me to Sacha’s office door. “Is it…him?”
I continue shaking my head, scared to open my mouth.
She breaks into a wide smile. “You are totally hooking up with him.”
“Who?” Jacob asks, his eyes are bright with excitement.
“We aren’t! I’m not!”
“There”s a reason Sacha has been in a better mood lately.” Tatiana smirks.
“Really?” Jacob claps his hands excitedly.
Chris glances up from where he works on the computer, but doesn’t say anything.
I try to laugh. “No, there isn’t. I mean I did have a sexy weekend in a cabin in the woods, that part was true. It definitely wasn’t with Sacha though. He’s a big brilliant billionaire. He couldn’t possibly want to be with a Temp worker who doesn’t even know not to click on spam messages. I’m a mess! Can you imagine? What would he even see in me? Why would he ever go out with someone like me? Why would he want to be with me?”
The end of my ramble takes on a more serious tone as I word vomit my very real feelings. Tatiana must hear the edge in my voice because she pats my arm sympathetically.
“There’s plenty of reasons he’d like you,” she says quietly. “Jacob and I like you, and we have excellent taste.”
Jacob exchanges a look with Tatiana, “Look, if you say you aren’t fucking him then we believe you. We are furious that you haven’t given us any of the glorious, juicy details, but you are a very easy person to like. He’d be a fool if he didn’t want to be with you,”
“Thanks,” I mutter, their reassurances do feel nice, but I have to talk to Sacha before I say anything to anyone else about the relationship.
I hope Sacha’s alright. I think about calling or texting him, but I don’t want to cause him more stress, so I twiddle my fingers and wait as IT moves in and out of every cubicle on the floor, it’s going to take most of the day for them to clean up the server. One of the managers sweeps through our floor excusing people from work early.
Sacha still hasn’t returned. All I can think about is comforting him. I want to wait for him. I want to see him again, hold his hands, and try to relieve some of his problems.
I enter his office, grabbing a sticky note and a pen to write a note.
‘Gone home. See you soon.’
I pause and add.
‘Love you, Bailey’
It feels right, it feels good. It’s not nearly enough words to encompass all the feelings in my body, but it’s as much as I think I can write on a three inch sticky note without crying right now. My urge to run away has completely dissipated. I need my Bigfoot. I only want to run to him.
“Ms. Thorn. I’m glad you’re still here.”
I glance up from the desk to find Magnes Loch’s large green face peering through the door at me.
“Mr. Kwatch isn’t here.” I glance at the note in my hand and then shove it into my pocket.
“Actually, I’m here to see you, Ms. Thorn.” Mr. Loch frowns, an expression I haven’t seen often on him, the CEO seems to be the least guarded of the board members I’ve met, he’s usually quick with a smile.
“Oh?” I swallow hard. I know I messed up with that spam email, and this feels like the moment. I’m going to be fired. Again. For my stupid behavior.
“Upstairs,” Magnes says. “My office. Now. Please.”
“Right.” I know what happens next. This is the end of me at Cryptech.
Mr. Loch leads the way down the hall.
“I really think he’s been a better, more rounded person the past couple months,” Magnes says quietly as the elevator pings up upward.
“Who?” I shift on my feet.
“I haven’t seen him this happy in years. I think you’ve had a positive effect on him and I hope he brings out the best in you too.”
“I’m not sure I know what you mean?” I choose to play dumb. Does Mr. Loch know that I’m dating Sacha?
The elevator pings to a stop. The doors open.
“After you, please, Ms. Thorn.” Mr. Loch gestures one large arm toward the door.
My heart thrums in my chest. How could he know? Sacha wouldn’t tell him. This must be about the virus.
“This way,” Mr. Loch leads us through a floor filled with cubicles, past his assistant’s alcove and into his large office.
It’s similar in layout to Sacha’s with a wall of windows, and one of shelves, but Magnes’s furniture is more modern, with a glass topped metal desk and sleek leather chairs. The room darkening curtains are drawn and a large fish tank is embedded in one wall, casting an eerie blue glow across the dim room. In the shadows of one corner is the telltale glow of Mr. Pleasant’s red eyes.
“Take a seat, Bailey.” The long necked plesiosaur cranes his head to look at the door, “the lights are dimmed so that Mr. Pleasant could join us for this meeting. If that’s okay with you?”
I swallow hard. “Is something wrong, sirs?”
Mr. Loch sighs like he’s in pain.
“Please, sit.”
I wring my fingers in front of my skirt, and glance at the chair in front of his desk and then back to Magnes.
“It was an accident you know? I didn’t mean for it to happen?”
“An accident?” Magnes asks.
“Obviously I wouldn’t have clicked on the link if I’d realized. It was a busy morning, and the email said it was just a video meeting.”
Pleasant makes a strange tittering noise in the corner. “She means the virus.”
“Ms. Thorn. That isn’t why you are here,” Mr. Loch says.
“It isn’t?” I ask.
“When we were clearing the virus from our network, one of our IT associates found a concerning item in your email,” Mr. Loch says. “Do you know what we found?”
Now I sit down.
Chris. Chris, from IT, who I did not go on a date with, who doesn’t like me, and I should have punched that night at the sushi restaurant. Chris overheard my conversation with Tatiana. Chris went through my files. Chris took it to HR.
“Ms. Thorn, can you describe your relationship with Mr. Kwatch?”
“I’d rather not,” I squeak out.
“We know about the contract,” Mr. Pleasant says, and it feels like my stomach drops from my body. “The one that you signed for Sacha.”
The panic in my chest squeezes tight. Fuck. I am totally fucked.