I liked to believe I had done quite a number of tasking things in my 26 years on earth.
But, believe me when I say, nothing had been as tasking as working for William Torres.
It had only been three weeks.
And, I swear to God, if you let me have my way, I'd have him murdered in the street.
Okay, that may be a little too gruesome.
Maybe I'd just have him gang beaten and left on the streets.
Yes.
That sounded a lot better.
These past weeks had been the worst, really.
It appeared that talking back to him about the work clothes thing had made him angrier than I thought. Because ever since then, it seemed like he was deliberately trying to overwork me. Like he was trying to push me over the edge, tactically daring me to say anything in opposition so he'd have an excuse to fire me.
Not on my watch, sir.
I responded to each of his attempts to get me to snap at him with as much grace as I could manage.
It was a surprise to even me.
In fact, I seemed to be handling it so well that sometimes, it made him visibly upset.
I did just as he wanted, no questions asked.
And if he had a reason to scold me about something, I made sure it never happened again.
I stopped wearing my 'provocative' clothes and started wearing clothes with looser fitting and longer lengths—I tried my best to simply stick to chiffon blouses and suit pants. Each time he would complain about the littlest and most irrelevant things, I would simply apologize without question.
He made me work extra hours. I wasn't allowed to close for the day unless he was ready to and he never closed the normal work time. If I wasn't fetching coffee for him, I was handling his schedules and screening his calls. And if I wasn't doing that, I was accompanying him to literally every meeting he would find himself in, holding on to his jacket or organizing his folders.
My entire life seemed to exist solely for him now.
Funny thing is, he did make it clear at the start that the job would be tedious and time consuming. But, perhaps, if he was a fairly decent and considerate individual, it would be a little bearable and wouldn't feel so burdensome.
Anyway, it was another work day at the office and I was seated behind my desk, my eyes fixed on my computer screen, performing yet another task for my lovely employer when all of a sudden, the door to my office was pushed open, revealing Timmy in all his gorgeous glory.
A smile spread wide across my face at the sight of him, "Welcome back from your trip, Timmy."
He mirrored my smile as he closed the door behind him, "Well, don't you look happy to see me? Thanks Maddy."
Due to the nature of my job, Timmy was literally the only person I had maintained a friendly relationship with. Although most of the time, he was gone on one work trip or the other, whenever he was around, conversations with him always made my job a bit less overbearing.
"How was your trip?" I asked him as he walked over to my desk.
"You know, the usual." He said, shrugging a shoulder. "Work, meetings, more work."
"Well, it's good to have you back." I said, in all honesty.
"It's good to be back." He said, a small smile still on his face. "Have you had lunch yet?"
I looked at the time on my computer screen, "No, not yet. I'm still trying to finish up these memos for Mr. Torres."
"Alright, I'll go see him now." He said, straightening his posture. "What do you say when I'm out, you and I go grab something to eat?"
I let out a soft sigh with a smile, "If he'd let me, that'd be lovely."
"Okay then." He said, making his way to William's office.
While Timmy was in William's office, I remained focus on finishing up my task just in time to forward them to him. I didn't want him to have any excuse to bitch about something I was not doing right, so I triple checked every detail before sending it in.
It wasn't long after when Timmy came out of his office, William by his side.
They both stood at the doorframe when Timmy looked at me and said, "Maddy, are you ready?"
I immediately looked to William, carefully, waiting for his quiet approval.
"Ready for what, exactly?" He asked, a visible clench in his jaw.
"She hasn't had lunch yet." Timmy said to him. "I asked her to join me to get something to eat."
William's eyes averted back to me, his jaw appearing more clenched than before.
"Come on, Will," Timmy said, his arm going around my boss's shoulder, "Let the lady have lunch. I'm sure you can manage an hour without her."
"Whatever." William said, shifting from Timmy's hold and running a hand down his suit jacket. "It's not like I don't let her have lunch. You don't need my permission to get something to eat. Just don't take too long."
Timmy and I shared knowing smiles.
"Come on, Maddy." Timmy said with a slight gesture of his head.
I stood to my feet in excitement, my shoulders doing a little shimmer as I made my way to where Timmy stood holding the door out for me.
One would find it a bit surprising, to see me acting this excited over something as little as going out with a work friend to get lunch. But, in the three weeks I've worked here, I have either always been occupied with one task or the other that I just end up having meals from the company cafeteria in my office or have no one to even go with if I decided to get lunch elsewhere. If I even got to step out, it would probably be to fetch one thing or the other for William.
So, I'm sure it made a lot more sense now why I was as excited as I was.
Just before Timmy and I stepped out completely, I made out William walking back into his office from the corner of my eye, followed closely with the shutting sound of his office door.
***
Lunch with Timmy proved to be exactly what I needed.
We went to a fast food diner just down the street and we had our lunch over easy going and enjoyable conversation. It felt nice to step out of that company entirely and have just a few moments to myself because it seemed like I practically lived there now.
I was conscious the entire time, though, not to exceed the time that I was spared. Again, I didn't want William to have an excuse to tell me that I was slacking off.
When we were done, Timmy and I walked back to the office together. But, he had a meeting to get to so I made my way back to my office myself.
Immediately I stepped in, I was welcomed with the sight of William's back as he stood over my office table, like he was trying to find a particular document.
A bit confused, I asked, "Um, were you looking for something, sir?"
His head snapped over his shoulder to look at me. He appeared a bit startled, like he hadn't heard me come in.
"The Wellington file." He stated, focusing his attention back on my desk. "Where is it?"
I moved to where he stood, stretching towards the side so I could comb through a few files and pull the one he requested for out.
I hadn't realized how close my action had caused us to be, because in the course of doing so, my hands had brushed past his and our upper bodies were barely inches away. Immediately I noticed this, I handed him the file and created some distance between us.
He didn't say anything.
He simply made a few steps towards his office door with the file in his hand.
When, all of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks.
I didn't expect the words that came out of his mouth next;
"What are you playing at?" His back was still faced to me.
Oh God, what's he on about this time?
"Sorry?" I had to confirm.
"With Timmy." He turned to face me this time. "What are you playing at with Timmy?"
I raised an eyebrow, "Nothing, I-"
"If you're looking for an office hookup, I suggest you search elsewhere." He said, his voice low and cold. "It would be quite inappropriate and disturbing if my secretary and Chief of Staff were screwing each other, don't you think?"
He couldn't just talk to me like that.
Right?
There had to be some sort of clause against an employer being so careless with his words.
How dare he?
What the fuck did he even mean by that?
I held his gaze.
I held his gaze with so much anger in me.
He looked at me with that same smug, cold look that he always had on like a second skin. Like he could say anything in the world that he chose to and it wouldn't matter because he was William fucking Torres.
I hated this.
I hated having to endure being treated this way.
I hated it, every bit.
It took a lot in me not to say anything in opposition so I simply said:
"Noted, sir."
"Perfect." He said as he turned his back to me and made his way back into his office.