I hung my head, resigning that that Monday was my worst at Croft, not the best I had hoped for.
Jason
Fury burned bright as I headed out for the night, almost ripping my office door off its hinges. I had never been so engulfed in anger in my fourteen years with the company, Preston Croft, the source of the blaze.
He casually suggested I lay off a quarter of the workers at the branch, wanting to spike profits for the next quarter to look better for the Board. He was everything his father wasn't and made it known as much as possible.
I shouldn’t have raised my voice with him, and I shouldn’t have called him an entitled prick either, but I couldn’t help it. He'd huff and puff, but he'd never fire me. As much as I infuriated him, he needed me.
As it stood, Croft Ithaca would stay intact. I'd fight for it once I hit Chicago too. I wouldn’t let the little guy get smashed because of a trust fund douchebag pinching pennies to line his own pockets.
Unlike Preston, I knew what it felt like to struggle. I scrounged coins from cushions and sidewalks to buy food as a kid. I wasn't one for making people face poverty on a whim.
As I raged down the hall towards the exit, I spied the office light beaming in the distance. I was the last one left in the management corridor as usual, but someone had stayed late out on the sales floor. I hoped they didn’t hear my shouting match with Preston.
I flexed my hand, surprised how tender it was. I lost my cool during our call, striking the desk in the heat of the moment and cracking the aged wood. Luckily it was nothing a well-placed catalog couldn't hide for the time being.
Curiosity got the best of me despite an intense headache, and I wandered down the hall, poking my head in to see rows of empty cubicles and dimmed offices. The lone holdout was Elena Julian, her body hunched over a stack of papers as she scribbled away.
Guilt hit me like a brick wall. She was only there because of me.
Making her file for the day had been a lame way of laying down the law. I wanted her to be more careful, to know that actions had consequences. If that coffee had been hot, we both would have been scalded and potentially scarred for life. And while the coffee hadn't scalded me, her body had, pressing up against me for a moment, but leaving a devastating impact behind in its memory.
I debated leaving without saying a word, but guilt had me snared. I at least owed her a goodbye after the shitty task I assigned her.
“You're still here, Ms. Julian?” I called, not wanting to get any closer than necessary. I had finally gotten her coconut body spray out of my head.
She whirled around in surprise at my voice, eyes wide in panic. I could see their puffiness from where I stood, rimmed in red and shimmering with tears. It was a swift kick in the balls. I did that. I caused them.
“Everything alright?” I knew the answer, but manners forced me to ask.
She'd never tell me, but I was willing to extend an olive branch to smooth things over. I couldn't keep treating her like crap, especially when I depended on her so much behind the scenes.
“Yes, sir.”
I didn't know what to say. How do you explain to someone you can’t be around them for the good of both of you? That friendly banter would lead to more than trouble?
“Great work today, Elena. Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
I stood there for another moment, fighting an internal battle. I wanted to pull her into a hug, to smother those tears away but remained rooted where I stood, unable to give an inch.
“Have a good night, Elena.”
“You too, sir.”
At that, I fled to my vehicle, frustrated.
The drive back to the hotel was rough, anger and guilt dueling for my undivided attention. I wanted to strangle Preston with one hand and myself with the other. I blasted thrash metal, hoping the aggressive tempo would distract me, but I kept thinking back to Elena and those huge brown eyes, bloodshot and blurred with smudged makeup.
After a gym session and a shower, I poured a tumbler of Bowmore and ventured onto the balcony, desperate to get my mind off of my disaster of a Monday.
Something had to give. I couldn't go on being so miserable. I couldn't punish a woman for being human either.
People made mistakes, and God knows I made plenty. Hell, I trusted a man on his word and ended up making one of the worse career moves to date in coming to Ithaca. I trusted a woman and barely got away with my life.
I stared at the city for the longest time sipping whiskey. I refilled my glass for the hell of it when I found it dry, work night, or not.
The chime of my phone was music to my ears.
Jewels: Hey, you.
Bear: Well, there you are.
I hadn't heard from my mystery match since the night before.
Jewels: Missed me much?
Bear: Maybe.
Jewels: Here I am, big boy.
Bear: Awfully presumptuous, aren't we?
Jewels: Ha friggin ha! You're 6'4”, so you are a big boy. How was your day?
Bear: Better now, thanks.
It was true. Talking to her had become the high point of the days we chatted.
I was trying to walk the line between interested and eager, though I was ready to take things off the app as I initially intended. With work, I was too swamped to even think of heading out the last few weeks.
Bear: How was yours, Jewels?
Jewels: Honestly, terrible.
Bear: I'm sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help?
Jewels: Give me your