Chapter 20
Twenty
W ith Rosie safely on her way to H.R. Steph made her way to the wall of lifts and waited.
“Steph, there appears to be a very unattractive man sitting at your desk.”
She turned to find Steve standing next to her now and smiling.
“And the view from my office has plummeted without you and your well cut suits.” He laughed as the lift arrived but seeing her expression as his words registered, he frowned. “Are you okay, I was joking.”
“Sorry, the morning from hell,” explained Steph with a half-smile. “It’s all up in the air at the moment, just watch this space.”
“Brooker wants to know your man’s every move, which is where I am going, although there’s not much to tell. He’s just sitting there shit scared by the look on his face,” said Steve seriously.
“Martin is a very good accountant.” He was.
“But that’s not what Brooker wants, is it? A very good accountant? He wants you there because you know the contract and you’ve got a brain for business. Oh, and your well cut suits.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively making her genuinely laugh as the lift stopped at the twenty-third floor.
They walked together to Jon’s office and as they stood at Andrea’s desk they returned her warm smile.
“Please take a seat, both of you. Mr Brooker should be free soon,” she told them and gestured towards the sofa behind them. “Can I get either of you some tea or coffee?”
They both shook their heads and spoke in stereo, “No, thanks.”
“This is like waiting to be called into the headmaster’s office,” said Steve.
“I dunno what sort of school you went to Steve, but my headmaster never had leather sofas for the naughty boys and girls,” she said making him laugh.
“And I bet you were a very naughty girl,” he said still laughing.
“I resent that comment, Mr Cannon.” Steph faked an expression of outrage before grinning at him, suddenly realising that as bad as her morning had been, she felt safe and relaxed here, with Jon nearby to almost forget everything that had happened.
“I would be seriously concerned about you two giggling if you’d been summoned here for some kind of wrongdoing.” She directed a warm smile at Steph and added, “Although your absence was a sore point this morning.”
Steph felt apprehensive again now and as she relived her altercation with Jack Baker in her office a sense of nausea washed over her as she considered what could have happened if Rosie hadn’t interrupted and also what she was going to tell Jon.
“Are you sure I can’t get you something?” asked Andrea as she smiled at Steph’s concerned expression, but before she had a chance to reply Jon’s door opened and as if her day couldn’t get any worse the gorgeous, blonde Mrs Brooker appeared in the doorway.
When she turned to kiss Jon on the cheek Steph actually thought she could feel sick in her mouth. She looked down and removed an invisible thread from her trouser leg.
As Mrs Brooker accepted her jacket from Andrea, she called back to Jon, “It would be nice to see you at the house at some point over the weekend.”
Steph looked back towards Jon who smiled at his wife. “I’ll see what I can do, but no promises.”
She turned and grinned at him which did nothing to ease Steph’s urge to vomit all over his reception floor, but at least Mrs Brooker was on her way out, maybe on her way home, their home.
Once Mrs Brooker was safely out of the office, Jon turned to face those waiting for him. “Steve come through and Andrea can you get Miss Pryor some sweet tea, she looks ready to keel over.”
Andrea sprang into action as Jon closed his door behind Steve.
She sat nursing the tea that she didn’t want and listened to the infeasibly loud ticking of the wall clock behind Andrea until Jon’s door opened again to reveal a laughing Jon and Steve.
“Keep me posted,” said Jon as Steve crossed the threshold back into the waiting area where Steph still waited nervously.
“Miss Pryor,” said Jon while Steve smiled at her as they passed each other. “Bring your tea,” he suggested.
“I’m fine, thanks,” she assured him, even if she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel fine again.
“Let’s bring it anyway.” He picked the cup and saucer up himself and carried it into his office behind her before placing it down on his desk then enveloped her in his arms, hugging her tightly. “You look like shit. So, what the hell is going on?” He kissed the top of her head gently.
“I look like shit because I feel it,” she replied bluntly and honestly.
“Are you ill? Is it from your head?” He bent down to look her in the eyes, his own showed only concern.
“No, although that started the week off as it was destined to continue,” she replied cryptically.
“Sit down.”
She did as he instructed her via a gesture towards the sofa behind them but shook her head as he offered her the sweet tea again. He placed it in front of her regardless before sitting next to her.
“Right, now tell me what the story is with your unpunctual team member sitting at your desk and then you can tell me why Rosie is with H.R. before you explain why I have not taken any calls or seen anyone since you called me this morning despite Jack Baker’s persistent attempts to make contact.”
She took a very deep breath and prepared to work through his list of requests.
“Jack told me last week that he planned to replace me this week, probably with Martin, to see how on the ball you were.”
“On the ball? He’ll soon see how on the fucking ball I am. We have a contract. This is business, so why the hell is he messing about? This contract is worth a huge amount to Baker and is a significant feather in their cap so why piss me about and risk me pulling the plug on the whole deal?” he asked curiously.
“I don’t know. He asked before about any job offers you may have made me and said that there were rumours that you were going to make me a very attractive offer, but you hadn’t and I told him that. I agreed that I would give him the opportunity to match any job offers I received. Then he said about substituting me with Martin and swore me to secrecy. I did say that he could be in breach of contract because you had me named in it, but he seemed unconcerned by that. I did wonder whether it was some kind of test to see if I would say anything here, but then I also wondered whether he suspected that something was going on between us and was trying to expose that in some way. Although, he warned me about Steve, so maybe not, but I did as he asked and said nothing to anyone about it, not even you.”
“Hence the cryptic question about whether I expected you to tell me what is said at work,” he said with a sense of understanding now.
“Yes.”
“What do we do with your man Martin then? Steve reckons he is sitting down in legal looking scared half to death.” Jon wore a confused expression.
“Steve said as much to me, but Martin is a good accountant. He just doesn’t have a clue about your contract. He had no input on it and he is the first to admit that legal jargon confuses him.”
“Mmm, leave that one with me, darling. What did Jack say about Steve?” he suddenly asked.
“Much the same as you, be careful, he is disrespectful to women although he claims to love them, ask his wife, no more,” revealed Steph.
“Steve worked for Baker some years ago and although grateful professionally he reckons he’s a slimy bastard,” revealed Jon. “Now tell me why Rosie is unemployed and why you are shaking like a leaf and look like you’ve been through the wringer.”
“They’re one and the same really. I was avoiding all contact with you this morning in order to avoid revealing my whereabouts and Jack’s plan. I was in my office very early and after Eddie called Jack appeared and was acting weird.”
“Weird how?” interrupted Jon.
“Weird, lecherous, pervy,” she said as Jon’s face began to contort with disgust and anger. “He began getting closer to me and then started making comments about what he’d like to do to me. I told him that I was in no way interested. Rosie appeared and he basically told her to sod off and shut the door on her before continuing to tell me what he wanted and got even closer,” she said with a distinct wobble to her voice now.
“Did he touch you?” asked Jon as he gripped her hands in his and gently brushed a kiss across her forehead.
“Kind of,” she said obviously annoying him now as he raised his voice at her.
“No kind of , Stephanie. It’s a yes or a no question. Did he touch you? Did that bastard dare to lay a fucking finger on you?” he repeated, his tone low with anger.
“Yes,” replied Steph almost in a whisper. “Just once,” she added trying to play down the whole thing, but realised she was actually crying and knew she was going to struggle with that plan.
“Bastard!” shouted Jon who was now standing up and pacing in front of her. “Then what?” he asked slightly softer as he turned and realised that not only was she still shaking but continued to cry.
Returning to sit next to her, he took her hand in his.
“He just brushed a hand across me really.” She replicated his touch herself making him flinch.
“Is that what happened, really?” He freed one of his hands and brushed her hair back.
“Yes. He moved as though he was going to kiss me and I could already smell his breath so pushed him away. He came back so I pushed him again and that’s when Rosie appeared. He said I was fired and I told him I quit and somehow demanded a month’s pay, holiday and a reference or I said I’d go to H.R. and the police. That’s when Rosie said she’d be a witness and quit too. It wasn’t until we were escorted from the building that Rosie fully realised what she’d done and thought that she may not be able to pay her mortgage or her wedding next year, although I had already called you by then.” She offered him a weak smile.
“Fucking hell! You really need to work for me,” he said seriously.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
He frowned at her. “Correction, I need you to work for me to avoid these situations. Trust me though, Steph, Jack Baker will get his.”
“I would rather just forget it,” she protested.
“I don’t think I’m capable of forgetting it,” he mused quietly. “I am still considering going over there and putting him back on his arse, but that would give him some kind of advantage over me,” Jon said with a grimace.
“He did offer me a promotion.” She attempted a smile. Forcing all thoughts of Jack and the memories of Simon he’d evoked in her from her mind, Steph felt relieved that she hadn’t shared the finer details or the reminder of a similar situation with Jon.
“I bet he did. What did he say to you? You said he’d said what he’d like to do to you,” Jon expanded.
“He started by saying that he found me attractive and that when I called him Mr Baker it made him horny.”
Steph figured she was being honest in what she was saying. Yes, she was cutting many details from her recount but knew the specifics of what had been said were likely to infuriate Jon even more than he was already and she didn’t want to be responsible for him getting himself into trouble with Jack, the police or Lucy. Her stomach lurched and she wasn’t entirely sure that her breakfast wasn’t going to make a reappearance at the thought and memory of seeing Mrs Brooker in the flesh.
“What else Steph, what else did he say to you?”
“It doesn’t matter . . .” she began but clearly that was the wrong answer for Jon.
“Like fuck it doesn’t. What else did he say because if he has gone this far with no clear motive after all this time, I doubt he was aiming for subtlety or holding back, so, what, did, he, say?” Jon asked, each word of his question was punctuated.
“I don’t know why he chose to act like he did today and I swear I never suspected or encouraged it.”
“I know that, darling, but I need to know what he said and did, what he might be capable of in the future,” Jon told her, rubbing his thumb over her hand, her knuckles, soothing her but scaring her too as she hadn’t considered that Jack might be capable of doing anything else in the future.
She told him what Jack had said, almost choking on the words as she explained his arousal. Taking a deep, calming breath as she tried to remain composed, Steph realised she had curled up around Jon on the sofa now; her feet, minus their shoes tucked beneath her and her head resting on his chest with one arm around his back and her shoulder under his arm, while her other arm was across his chest, her hand nestled beneath his jacket.
She felt safe again enveloped within his arms, his embrace and as she inhaled his heavenly smell she felt as though she belonged here until she remembered Lucy. In that moment awareness washed over her. Awareness that this was not her place of safety. He was not hers to lean on. The person who could make those claims had been here before she arrived. Then she wondered why she’d been there and allowed her mind to wander so far that she could imagine them here, on the sofa together, kissing, touching and it hurt more than she thought it should for someone who had entered into an affair with a married man. Knowingly. Willingly. What had she been thinking when she’d agreed to this and what was she going to do now she was stuck in the middle of it?