Borden clenched his teeth. He was right. Borden fucking hated how right he was. He would have followed that advice any other time, but this girl… she was seriously fucking with his head.

Was she just a curiosity to him?

Did he need to just have his fill of her before he got bored?

Yeah, that was probably it. He was just intrigued, and every intrigue he’d ever had diminished with time. This would too.

It had to.

Or else he was fucked.

Maybe you should just fuck her and get it over with. She wouldn’t fight it. She never fought it before at that nasty ass office.

Borden frowned at the thought. If he took her, she’d probably disappoint him, and then his strange allure would dissipate. No, he needed to savour the girl without actually sticking his dick inside her.

Feeling upset at himself for getting carried away, he put his hand up to stop Hawke from leaving.

“Fine,” he said, “I’ll see the fucking bikers, and we’ll get this little hiccup smoothed over.”

Hawke relaxed his shoulders. “Good choice, boss.”

“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to negotiate shit with them, Hawke. I don’t care about your background, I don’t meddle with bikers.”

Hawke nodded. “I get it, but they could be good allies too. Consider it. You can’t be impenetrable forever, Borden. It’s only a matter of time before someone finds a way through, and by then you need to be ready.”

“I’m ready,” Borden replied evenly. “You don’t know where I’ve been, or what I’ve seen. I’m ready for anything.”

Fifteen

Emma

The second I showed up for work Monday morning, I noticed it.

The unpleasant silence.

The feeling that something was very wrong.

I saw it in Blythe’s eyes as she gave me a sad smile. I shot her a face, asking her what was wrong. She pointed to Denny the Dick’s door and mouthed, “You’re in trouble.”

I didn’t understand. I hadn’t done anything.

“He’s been going off about you,” Tessa whispered in my ear as I made my way to the back room to hang up my jacket and purse. “Says he wants you to see him when you get here.”

I simply nodded in return, too tongue-tied to reply. I was confused as ever. I didn’t know what the dick could possibly be pissed off with me about. I’d done nothing wrong. I walked to his office door and knocked, glancing over my shoulder to look at Blythe one last time. She looked worried for me.

“Come in,” Denny barked from inside.

I turned away and opened the door. Immediately the smell of dirty socks and old food hit me. He was sitting behind his desk, his stomach practically spilling over it as he rocked back and forth on his computer chair with his fingers entwined over his chest. His beady eyes lapped me up and down, before he leaned forward and clicked his mouse rapidly. Probably shutting off another porno video. Seedy bastard.

“Take a seat,” he told me, trying his best to step into his boss mode, except he was seriously the most unintimidating man that ever walked this earth. “And as you sit, I want you to look at me, please, Emma, because we are going to be having a very serious conversation.”

One of the things Denny the Dick loved to do was order us around. It thrilled him to no end. Suppressing my shudders, I stiffly sat down on the grimy chair and looked at him across the desk.

“So what’s going on?” I asked him. “Everyone’s saying that you’re pissed at me. I don’t understand why.”

“We’ve received complaints about you,” he answered, his eyes lingering on my boobs before looking back at my face.

“What sort of complaints? Everyone loves me here.”

“Well, clearly not everybody, Emma, or else we wouldn’t have received complaints, now, would we?”

I fought from rolling my eyes. God, he was such a DICK.

“Okay,” I replied, carefully. “So what are the complaints about?”

“Well, your false authority over the kitchen for one.”

I froze. “What?”

“You’ve been overworking our staff, making them provide sustenance for you on your breaks in the morning.”

“Pat puts aside a muffin for me every morning because he wants to, not because he’s being forced to by me.”

Denny just shook his head. “Based on the numerous complaints in regards to your nagging for your unpaid muffins, I can’t deny their validity.”

I felt tingles of anger run down my arms and legs. With everything inside of me, I mustered out a calm, “Okay, fine then. I won’t eat a muffin on my morning breaks since it’s suddenly a crime.”

“It’s actually theft, Emma.”

Another grit of my teeth. “Fine, you can dock some of my pay for this week to compensate for your profit loss. Have we settled this now?”

“No. There are more complaints.”

I raised my arms out. “Hit me with some other ones, Denny.”

“The biggest complaint I have received in regards to you is your lack of modesty around here.”

I blinked in surprise. “My lack of modesty?”

He nodded grimly. “Your desperate hit up lines have made customers uncomfortable.”

I froze again. Was this guy high? “My… hit up lines?”

“I don’t appreciate you trying to pick up the men that are putting money in my pocket, Emma –”

“I haven’t been trying to pick up anybody here!”

WHAT THE FUCK?

Denny just shook his head, like I was rattling nonsense. “I’ve seen it myself. The way you talk to people. John in particular has had enough of your sexual innuendos, telling him vile things like wanting your buns buttered and such–”

“Are you freaking serious right now?” I cut in, the feelings of anger and shock swirling like a fucking tornado inside of me. “That guy is all over me! And all over Blythe too! Go and ask her.”

“Jesus Christ, Emma, stop blaming a senile old man for your crimes. And Blythe would never engage promiscuously with an older gentleman. That man couldn’t even get it up if he was in the middle of the biggest model orgy in the world!” Now he appeared outraged by me, as if I was seriously disgusting for suggesting that John had a seedy mind.

“Now, I can’t afford to drive away any more business than you already have, Emma. We’re walking on eggshells here as it is, and one more explicit sexual advance from you to another one of my poor victimised customers can damage me permanently. I’m afraid I have to let you go, effective immediately.”