Trying not to be giddy and grinning like a little girl at work is the hardest part of my day today, especially since I’m new and don’t know everybody like that yet.
Last night was incredible, and sleeping over at Jude’s was pure magic. We took a car to the office together, but I got out a block down the street and came in a few minutes after just so no one would suspect anything. Even though Jude is CEO and can make or break his own rules about office romance, we decided to still keep things on the downlow for now, just so it doesn’t seem like the boss’ new girl got her position by putting herself in every…position.
His replacement phone in one hand and a stack of files from Carlos in the other, I stride up to Jude’s office door and knock in a very girly way, a way that will let him know without question that it’s me.
“Yes?” Jude replies with a tone that lets me know he knows. Warmth fills my chest as I open the office door and step inside.
“Hello, Mr. Crown,” I say in my best secretarial voice. “I just wanted to let you know that I have your replacement phone as well as these files Carlos asked me to bring over.”
“That’s great, Ms. Thompson. Close the door please.”
I do, and instantly both of our demeanors change.
“Fuck me, you look great, baby.”
“Yeah?” I ask, doing a little spin for him. “You saw me back at your place.”
“I know,” he says, coming around from behind his desk. “But I just can’t get enough of you. If I didn’t have such a busy goddamn day, you know what I’d do to you right now?”
Jude takes me in his arms, and goose bumps instantly spread across my entire body. His eyes let me know exactly what he’d do to me, as if I didn’t already know.
“You know I’d love that,” I whisper. He leans in and kisses me, delicately enough to let me know that we really can’t go further at this moment, as much as both of us would like to.
“I have a fundraiser dinner I have to appear at tonight, and I want you to come.”
“Oh,” I reply, slightly taken aback. “Do I need to wear anything special?”
“No. You already look perfect. I’ll send for you after work. We’ll ride together, okay?”
“Okay.” I smile.
“Great.” He kisses me again, sending a warm shiver through my body. “I need you to update my schedule on my computer for next week and help Carlos with some accounting software on my laptop. If you’re done early, just take the afternoon off. Sound good?”
“Sounds great!”
“Great. I’ll see you tonight,” he says as he grabs his replacement phone and leaves, but not before giving me a flirty little pinch on the butt.
I have to admit that even after my first few days at the office, when I arrive at the fundraiser with Jude, I feel nervous and out of place. I feel like the hired help who stepped through the wrong door and is just waiting for someone to notice. I’m surrounded on all sides by high society – politicians, entertainers, and businessmen who I recognize from magazines and interviews online and on TV. Jude is mixing with them all like it’s no big deal of course, but me? I’m just doing my best not to shake so hard my knees knock together like those weird wooden instruments they used in band back in high school.
Jude has left me by the drinks table while he goes and talks to some “finance guys,” and I’ve been doing my best to remain as inconspicuous as possible, but thankfully I see him coming back to me now, a pleased look on his face. I smile and hand him a whiskey on the rocks.
“My savior.”
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad,” he chuckles. “Is it?”
I give him a pouty little frown and take a sip from my lime seltzer. “Not as bad as walking on mousetraps, I suppose.”
Jude laughs and sips his drink. “Let me ask you something. How much do you like your job?”
I eye him suspiciously. “Is this one of those trick questions?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “No trick question. Honestly. How much do you like your job?”
“Well, it introduced me to you…”
“Yes, but aside from that,” he replies. “Like, would you rather be at school? NYU. What I’m saying is that if I were to let you go so you could go to school, and pay for all your other expenses while you were there, would that be something you’d be interested in doing?”
Jude’s words hit me like a shot of anesthetic straight to the chest. I feel like I’ve been paralyzed – or maybe tased. I must be making quite a silly face too because Jude chuckles and pokes me gently in the tummy. “Hello? Earth to Penny?”
“Sorry!” I blurt out. “I… Wow, I guess I’d really have to think about that.”
“That’s fine,” he replies. “Just thought I’d mention it. I have to go make another appearance, okay? I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Yeah,” I reply. He gives me an adorable wink then saunters casually over to a group of important-looking people like it’s no big deal. I wish I could be as at ease as him in a setting like this, but maybe if I work as his secretary a little longer, I’ll at least overcome the overwhelming feelings of panic creeping over me.
But then again, I may not be working for Jude much longer. Not if I accept his offer to go back to NYU. How unbelievably generous was that? Sure, I have the scholarship, but his offer to handle all my other expenses while I’m there…that’s unbelievable. I would be able to get my degree and have a job lined up for me when I’m done.
That is, of course, if I’m not already pregnant…Raising a child while going to school full-time would be quite a difficult task.
“He just wants you gone so he doesn’t get caught.” A female voice behind me causes me to turn, and to my surprise, I see Gretchen standing behind me. Her hair color is different now, a very dark brown, and she’s wearing a nondescript black dress with a pair of black heels.
“I…excuse me?” I reply out of reflex. There’s something strange about seeing her here. She doesn’t work for Jude anymore, so what’s she doing at this event? Is it possible she got herself a job working for another one of the men here tonight? But how could she after being fired by Jude? No, something else is going on.
“That whole ‘firing me’ thing? That was all just a ruse.”
“A ruse? A ruse for what?”
There’s something about the tone of her voice that has me on edge. It’s like a terrifying confidence of someone that has a terrible truth they’re about to reveal.
I glance over to the group where Jude was but see they’ve moved deeper into the crowd. I can barely even see them now. When I look back at Gretchen, she’s nearly on top of me.
“Let me ask you something, Penny. Why do you think he refuses to be seen with you at the office?”
My breath catches in my throat. “Because we don’t want people to talk—”
“And why will he only see you very late at night at his place?”
“Well, he’s very busy—”
“You’re his side piece, Penny,” Gretchen snaps, her voice filled with venom like a snake. “I’m his main girl.”
Gretchen’s words penetrate my chest like countless needles all searching for my heart. I gasp, trying to collect myself, but my adrenaline and anxiety are already high from being at this high society event, and hearing this from her has me on the verge of a complete breakdown. I lean against the table with one hand to steady myself.
“His…m-main girl?” The words burn coming out of my lips.
“That’s right,” she replies. “I wanted to tell you sooner to save you from this. But I thought maybe you were just trying to sleep your way to the top. But when I saw you were getting attached, well…”
Suddenly I remember seeing Gretchen that night when I was riding the subway home and just how awkward she acted when our eyes met.
“You…you’ve been following me?”
“I wouldn’t say following,” she replies with a slight smile. “Watching out for you. And it’s a good thing I did, too. Because I can see you’re falling for him, Penny, and that’s only going to lead to disaster. You see, Jude and I have an arrangement. He provides for me, and in return, I let him see other girls on the side.”
“You what?”
“But I can handle it.” She smiles. “The other girls he sees can too. But I can see, Penny, that you? You will never be able to handle something like that.”
She looks at me with the same pitying eyes my mother used to look at me with when she was trying to teach me a hard life lesson that I simply did not want to learn. I’m on the verge of passing out and quickly grab the bottle of cranberry juice and pour myself a glass and chug it, just to get something in my system.
“Look, sweetie, look,” Gretchen says, taking my arm and turning me. She points through the crowd, and I follow her finger to see an absolutely gorgeous woman in a white, lowcut dress showing ample cleavage chatting up Jude, who has a broad smile on his face. “You see? That’s his next you.”
Yeah, I’m going to throw up.
“I-I have to go,” I stammer, jerking myself away from Penny’s grasp. I grab my purse and race to the door. I have to get out of here and fast.
It all makes sense now. The secrecy of our “romance,” why we couldn’t be seen together at the office, why he sent a car for me so late at night, and why Gretchen put on such a convincing performance when she left the office that day.
He played me.
He took the naïve girl who’d never been to the big city and told her everything she needed to hear just to get in her pants. Just to be the first man to have her.
And I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker.
