Bullied by the Boss(5)

"Don't fuck any of my colleagues on my time. It looks bad on me."

"Yeah, because you're all about your image."

He paused. Never had she talked back to him. She took everything he said, and never fought back.

Staring at her, he waited for whatever smart ass comment was about to come out of her mouth. Instead, she stared at him.

"Don't push me, Nora. You won't like it."

She rolled her eyes. "Is that all?"

He nodded when he had nothing to add. Fuck! Watching her walk away did  not help his rock-hard cock. He'd never felt this way before, and  certainly not for his much younger PA.

Chapter Three



Nora nibbled her lip as she looked down at her email. She had been asked  to go to an interview tomorrow at lunch for a rival firm. Fear and  excitement gripped her. This was really happening. She was going to go  out on her own, and she was going to move on from this job. There was no  way she wanted to stay working for Rex. He was a horrible man, a  terrible boss, and she knew she could be happier somewhere else. She  knew without a doubt that Frank was going to be so upset with her.         

     



 

The last thing she wanted to do was appear ungrateful for the chance  that he had given her. What she found even harder was the thought of  letting him down. This had been her home for so long. Well, not really  her home but it had given her a sense of purpose.

And Rex had shot that out of the window every single chance he got. He doesn't want you there.

"What's that you're looking at?" Rex asked, startling her.

She dropped her cell phone, and let out a gasp. "You scared me."  Reaching down to the floor, she grabbed her phone and immediately shut  it off. "Sorry, I was just checking emails."

"Don't you have a computer for that?" he asked, sitting on her desk.  Nora stared at his ass perched on her desk, and wondered not for the  first time today, what the hell he was doing.

"Erm, sorry, they were personal emails. I know you don't like me  answering my private emails, but I didn't take any break today so I  didn't think you would mind." And now she was rambling.

Wow, her mind was all over the place, and she felt a little guilty.  Arranging interviews for a new job behind his back felt a little wrong,  but then, he was the asshole boss, and she was just looking for a break.  A nice break, with a nice boss who wouldn't treat her like shit.

"Don't worry about it. I just wondered how you were getting on?"

She paused with her fingers over the keyboard, and glanced his way. "Excuse me?"

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I was about to ask you that question. What is wrong? Have I done  something wrong?" She started to get tense. Maybe he knew that she had  been looking for jobs elsewhere.

Rex held his hands up. "The work you got me, it was good. It will help a lot."

"Oh  …  okay  …  I'm glad." She stared at her screen, and again he still  lingered. In all the time she had been his PA never had he perched on  her desk, nor had he asked how she was getting on. Something didn't feel  right. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. Fire away."

"Erm, if I was to decide to leave, would you give me a good reference?"

She watched him tense.

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just a general question. Nothing about it at all." Her hands were  starting to sweat, and she felt nervous, so damn nervous. Licking her  dry lips, she chanced a look at him. He didn't believe her about the  missed appointments that were a mistake. With him not believing the  truth, she knew it wasn't exactly good on a reference. No one would hire  her if they thought she was incompetent, or worse, that she did it on  purpose.

Why didn't you make him believe you?

She had tried, but he just wouldn't listen, thinking the worst of her.

"I hope you're not thinking of leaving, and if someone here is making  your life a misery then I expect you to come to me, and I will sort it."  He stood up, and she watched as he smoothed out the creases on his  jacket. "I'm going to a friend's. Alaric Patterson. You know him."

Yes, she did. She told him there was an urgent appointment with Alaric,  and had sent him halfway across town. There had been an emergency  appointment. Only it wasn't with Alaric Patterson. It had been with  Larry Peterson. The two names had blended together, and she couldn't get  hold of either man to confirm which was when. She was so embarrassed by  that mishap. Rex had been horrible to her, calling her all kinds of  names that she really didn't want to start repeating.

When she got home, she had sobbed herself to sleep. Never had she had a  day go so wrong. After that, she had stayed over, and worked through all  of her lunch breaks to make sure it didn't happen again, and it hadn't.  He didn't seem to care about that though. No, he was more than happy  dwelling on her mistake.

"Is there anything you need?" she asked.

"No. You can leave when you've done your work."

She watched him disappear on the elevator, and without waiting for  another miracle to happen, she got finished with her work around  four-thirty. No longer wanting to wait, she decided to head up to  Frank's office. She saw Lorna on the main desk outside, and she ushered  her inside without a word.

Entering Frank's office, she saw that he was sitting at his desk,  reading through another file. Frank was very old school. He didn't like  using computers, and preferred everything to be well documented. She had  loved going through his stacks of previous cases. He kept everything  meticulously organized. Frank's obsession was the law.

"Hello, Nora, lovely to see you're well again."         

     



 

"Hey, Frank." She took a seat opposite him, and waited for him to finish what he was reading.

While she waited, the guilt started to build once again inside her until  it began to overwhelm her. Biting her lip, she stared at the man who  had given her a chance, and she just couldn't take it anymore.

"I've got several interviews with companies over the next couple of  weeks. One is a rival firm, and they want me to go in tomorrow." She  tensed in the chair waiting for him to say something. Frank looked up.

Nothing changed.

His face remained the same, contemplative. He removed his glasses, and sighed. "It's Rex, isn't it?"

"It's  …  many things, sir. I, erm, I think it's time I moved on. You  know, we did say this was only going to be a trial run, and it's not  working. It's really not working for me, and Rex is a great lawyer."

"But he's a lousy guy, and a shit boss," Frank said, sighing.

She was tired of going home at night and before sleeping, crying. It  wasn't how life was supposed to be. "I love this company, Frank, really I  do. I loved working for you, and I love the law, but I've got to move  on, and I don't want you to think that I'm ungrateful. I'm not. I really  am."

"If you were still working for me, would you have considered leaving?"

Nora paused and stared at him. Tears filled her eyes as she felt a wave  of disappointment wash over her. "I don't feel comfortable here."

"I've got my answer, honey. This is something that you really need to do?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"Then you've got to do it. I'm not going to hold you back. Please know  that I will do anything to keep you here. All I ask is that on your  interview, you keep our practice strictly confidential."

"I wouldn't tell them anything, sir. I promise."

"I know you won't." He sighed again, and stood. "I hope you don't leave,  I really do. Take the interview tomorrow. I can see it's what you  really want to do, and then we'll talk afterward okay?"

"That would be great. Thank you."

He moved from behind his desk, and walked toward her. Within seconds he  had embraced her in a hug. "I hope you don't think this is  inappropriate. Lidia wants to know when you're coming for dinner." Lidia  and Frank hadn't been able to have kids, and his work had taken all of  his spare time. She knew the two considered her more of a daughter than a  friend. They were wonderful people, and she loved them both.

She chuckled. "It's fine. You're the one that found me and gave me this  chance. I don't know if I'll ever leave unless you fire me, but it's  just something I need to do."

"I know. Right, what are you doing now?" he asked.

"I'm heading home. Rex said I could finish my work, and head out, so I'm going to do that."

"Come in tomorrow. Don't mention anything to Rex. I'll deal with him.  Wear your hair down, and stay calm. You know everything that you need to  know about everything. You're a hard worker, and what you don't know,  you can learn on the job."

"I will do. Erm, there's a problem. If I do decide to go, Rex wasn't  exactly forthcoming on if he'd give me a good reference. You know, he  thinks I sent him to the wrong places on purpose, which I didn't."

Frank held his hand up, silencing her.