Office Duties Box Set #1(16)

“That’s the gist of it,” Mr. Slink admitted. He turned and sat back down in his chair. He had a somber look on his face. “If you want to know anything else, I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Mr. Davies himself. As for me, I’ll give you a piece of advice and try to steer clear of Mrs. Winkle. She’s been here long enough to know a lot about how we operate, so she’s practically indispensable to the rest of the board.”

“And you, sir?”

“I’d give her the boot pretty fast, but I’m not the only board member.” He was smiling at her, but she could hear the warning in his tone of voice. “Now I think I’ve monopolized your time enough, and it’s just about time for you to get off, isn’t it?”

Sam looked at her watch and saw that she only had a few minutes left of work.

“So you’re right,” she agreed. She kindly smiled at him. “And thanks for the advice. I’ll be sure to watch my back.”

“Good luck, Miss Olsen.”

With that the interview ended and Sam returned to her cubicle. Mrs. Winkle was nowhere in sight, but Slinky eagerly awaited her arrival.

“How’d things go?” she asked before Sam could even sit back down in her chair.

“Pretty good.” She didn’t feel safe in divulging any details when their nemesis could be in any cubicle nearby. Her friend got the hint pretty fast.

“You wanna have dinner tonight?” Slinky’s question was innocent enough, but she was silently pleading with her hands for her companion to accept. “My treat.”

“Sure, where were you thinking of going?” Sam had a hard time not laughing at Slinky’s puppy dog eyes. This was good news for her, though. She’d have a chaperon when leaving the building, so Davies would be less likely to make his appearance.

“Oh, just this little restaurant I know about. Pretty small and secluded.” Slinky gave her a wink, and her friend rolled her eyes. “I guess we’d better go now, it’s time for us to leave anyway.”

Slinky was right as the clock struck five o’clock and everyone began evacuating like there it was a scheduled fire drill. Even the board members, Slinky’s father included, joined in the rush to leave. Both Slinky and Sam had some last minute things to finish up before they felt easy leaving, namely finished up the item ordering in the supply closet, so they were the only ones left when they were finished ten minutes after time. The two friends put on their coats and followed the herd as they meandered their way to the elevator. Before they could reach the door, however, they were met with an unexpected interruption at the elevator door.

“You two.” The ladies assumed they were being addressed and turned around to see Mrs. Winkle standing behind them. She had a nasty scowl on her face and her arms were folded across her chest. “Don’t think you’ll get off as easily with me as with your father.”

“Mrs. Winkle, with very little respect, it’s kind of past time to be listening to you,” Slinky pointed out. “I don’t think we need to listen to you.”

“You’re still in the office, Ms. Slink,” their supervisor shot back. “I expect you to treat me with the respect my position deserves.”

“That’s the only respect you’re going to get, because we sure as hell can’t respect you as a person,” she countered. That remark really riled up their adversary.

“W-why I never!” Winkle stuttered out. Her arms dropped to her sides and her hands balled into fists. In all her rage she looked about ready to attack them.

“I appreciate your dedication, ladies, but it is past time to leave.”

They all started and jerked their heads toward the sound of the voice. Slinky was confused, Mrs. Winkle’s mouth dropped open and Sam blushed when they saw Mr. Davies standing a few yards off. Behind him stood Mr. Smith. There was a smile on both their faces, but she thought she saw Davies’ eyes dart to their supervisor for a moment as he calculated her anger.

“M-Mr. Davies!” Winkle exclaimed. The name caused Slinky to stiffen at Sam’s side. She hadn’t recognized their vice-president. Apparently he was modest enough not to plaster his face everywhere throughout the offices. At least, Sam had never noticed his picture anywhere. “What in the world are you doing here?”

“I would rather not be here at this time, but you three seem to be monopolizing the elevators,” he teased.

“But your other elevator? Is it out of service?” She was very confused. Sam wasn’t surprised to see him from their previous tryst, but she remembered Slinky telling her about private routes for those on the twentieth floor.

“Occasionally I prefer to ride on these. It gives me a change of pace.” Sam’s blush deepened as his eyes glanced over her. It had given them both a bit of exercise the last time, too. “Why don’t we all go down together? I’m sure there’s enough room.” As if on cue the elevator reached their floor and the doors opened.

“Not with her ego…” Slinky muttered only loud enough for Sam to hear. She’d gotten over her initial shock and refocused her attention on the enemy. She also didn’t like the idea of fitting into the elevator, so small a space, with a woman who had just threatened them.

Davies noticed the hated looks being thrown between the two women, and how neither were moving into the elevator. He gave a wink to Sam, the only one of them who seemed to be paying attention to him, and smirked. “Well, if you won’t join me, then mind if I take this ride?” He slipped behind Sam and her friend, and into the elevator. Mr. Smith was always just right behind him. “Unless of course you all would join me.” He wasn’t holding the door open and they began to close.

“Hey, that’s our ride!” Slinky argued. She grabbed Sam’s wrist and pulled them both into the elevator. Unfortunately, Mrs. Winkle wasn’t going to miss this chance at rubbing elbows, almost literally, with the boss, and slipped in before the doors shut.

“Now that we’re all comfortable, is everyone going to the car lot?” Davies asked as his finger hovered over the button panel.

“Me and Sam are,” Slinky chimed in. She really wanted to say Mrs. Winkle was going lower, a lot lower, but it was too cramped in the elevator to start a brawl. There would be innocent casualties.

“As am I,” Mrs. Winkle stately replied.

“Well, away we go, then.” He pressed the button and down went the elevator.

Sam was glad that Slinky had placed her between her friend and Mrs. Winkle, otherwise she would have been uncomfortably close to Mr. Davies. She was tense because she expected the scent of his perfume to reach her nose any minute, but after a few moments there was nothing. No distinct smell, no arousal, no orgy of unbridled sex in the elevator. She couldn’t even smell normal cologne from the distance between them. There was only an awkward silence as the elevator slowly passed each floor. Mrs. Winkle on her left stood stiff and stared straight ahead. Slinky was eying everyone with a dangerous twinkle. Mr. Davies smiled at each of the crew without paying untoward attention to Sam, and Smith was as stiffly formal as Winkle.

“So Mr. Davies, what do you and your secretary actually do up there on the twentieth floor?” Slinky suddenly questioned. Sam’s mouth dropped open and Mrs. Winkle’s jaw hit the floor as they stared in horror at their female companion. Slinky noticed the horrified stares. “What? It’s a valid question.”

Mr. Davies’ laugh broke the ice and they all turned to look at him. “You’re quite bold, Ms. Slink,” he complimented, surprising all three of the ladies.

“Wait a second. How’d you know my name?” Slinky questioned as she glanced down at herself. “I’m not wearing a name tag anywhere, am I?” then she paused and looked up at Davies with narrowed eyes. “Or are you watching through some hidden camera system or something?”

“As much as you’d like to believe I’m a troll stalking the top floor-”

“Oh, never that, Mr. Davies!” Mrs. Winkle protested.

“I’m glad to agree with you, Mrs. Winkle,” he gently replied. But I do make it a habit to recognize as many of my immediate employees by sight as I can manage. Just don’t ask me to name any of them who work at one of our foreign facilities.”

“So back to my question, Mr. Davies. What do you do up there?” Slinky wouldn’t be deterred from her first question.

“If you must know, I sign papers I haven’t read until my hand cramps, and I eat overpriced caviar until my stomach bursts.” Sam couldn’t help but smile and Mrs. Winkle politely let out a false laugh. Any laugh sounded false coming from her thin, pale lips. Slinky scowled at his playful tone, but she didn’t have time to reprimand him before they reached their stop. The elevator doors opened to the underground parking lot. “If you ladies will excuse us, I have a dinner appointment where I need to pander to some clients.” He tipped his head to them all and exited the elevator with Smith on his heals.

“He’s pretty wily, even for a vice-president,” Slinky remarked as they watched the gentlemen disappear amongst the cars. She held open the doors with her hand and nodded door the parked vehicles. “Come on, Sam, all the respectable company’s left.” She shot a glare at Winkle which didn’t go unnoticed.