One quick drive—only a smidge over the speed limit—and several nasty glares from school employees later, I pulled into my work parking lot. A half hour late.
I sighed, resting my head on my steering wheel and wasting one more minute to breathe. I could do this. A bad start to a day didn’t mean it would be a bad day overall. It would be fine.
Shuffling the papers, I rearranged them in order to make another set of copies. I really needed to use the larger machine, but I’d already ditched my heels and didn’t feel like putting them back on to walk to the other side. I could only imagine Jim’s face if he caught me strutting through the building with only hosiery covering my feet.
Adding the newest set to the pile on the table next to me, I frowned when I heard the door to the hall open and close. Evaline was at her weekly lunch with her daughters at the golf club and would be gone for a few hours. Maybe Jim was checking on something?
I was about to call out when the heavy, familiar thud of boots made its way toward me. Why? Why me? Why today? I cringed, listening to the steps grow louder and pause near the doorway to my office. A second later they started up again, closer to the middle room I was in.
I imagined this was how the characters in a horror film might feel if they could hear the suspenseful music that played for viewers right before they inevitably had their heads chopped off. There was something even more unsettling about a situation when you knew it was coming but couldn’t escape it.
The steps paused again, but I didn’t stop what I was doing, continuing to feed papers into the printer one at a time. I refused to turn or acknowledge him, hoping he’d get the message and walk back out. This was not his side of the company. If he had a question, he could easily call either myself or Evaline’s direct extension.
There was zero need for him to be on this side of the building.
Of course, he didn’t get my neon sign. I could feel his sticky presence behind me, watching but not speaking, as if enjoying the opportunity. Creepy ass fucker.
The smart choice would’ve been to inform him I was aware of his presence, a simple “Hello, Rob” would do. The next smart choice would be to get the hell out of dodge and avoid being in this wing of the building completely alone with him. But I didn’t.
Something about this man made me revert into the worst version of myself, the version that rolled over and shut up. I knew it, saw it. Yet I couldn’t seem to stop it.
Rob’s version of intimidation was different than Garrett’s. Garrett was intimidating in the strong, silent way, like a bodyguard. Rob was intimidating in the way he would push me just to feel good about himself. He liked to see me squirm. I might as well have been cornered in a room with Aaron, and that’s what terrified me.
His clothing rustled as he shifted his weight and took another step. He still hadn’t spoken, and I had to swallow down the uneasy feeling crawling up my throat like a thick sludge. The irony that this was a security company, yet we had no security cameras on this side of the building, wasn’t lost on me.
Taking a small breath—when I really wanted to heave—so he wouldn’t see my rising panic, I finally turned my torso to face him, going with smart option number one. “Hello, Rob.”
“Good morning, darlin’。” It was afternoon. “You look amazing today.”
My nose curled. It wasn’t low self-esteem that had me disagreeing with him. I genuinely looked a mess today, which meant he was solely referring to the shape of my body in my dress. I’d never understand the nerve of people like him. Did he truly have no shame, or were social cues just that difficult for him?
Choosing to ignore his comment, I asked, “Is there something I can help you with? Evaline should be back from lunch soon. I’m sorry if you called one of us, I’ve been stuck making copies for several minutes.”
“I knew Evaline was out.” His eyes trailed down my body, and I took an instinctual step away, bumping into the printer and shifting it back an inch with an ear-cringing screech.