EVERETT
"Can you make me come?" I whisper on the phone, bringing the mic closer to my lips. I sigh and wince softly under my breath as if someone is trying to choke me. My head thinks about him naked in his bed right now. I will do anything for my boyfriend because he likes how much I want to please him. "Are you there, honey? I'm hanging by a loose thread about to explode. I am coming apart by the seams. I need you so badly."
"Oh yes, baby," he wails on his side of the static, about to shoot his stuff around his sheets. "Can I suck on your tits? Your big tits?"
"You can do whatever you want, my love." I increase my pace of breathing, playing along with his dirty game to get him off. He needs it at least thrice a day. "I'm here with my big tits straddling them in your face."
"Oh fuck, oh jeez, fuck me." My heart throbs loudly against my chest. I enjoy hearing him get all turned on. "I would fuck you so hard, Evie, and I'll stretch you all out if you were here in my bed."
"I'm at work, though." I chuckle, enjoying the torture I'm laying over on him. "Unless you want to fuck me in a toilet stall, then I'm all yours, babe."
I can imagine him lying under his sheets, wrinkling his long nose.
"You're gross, sweetie." His voice doesn't have that turned on edge to it, and the simple fact tells me he's done with jerking off for the afternoon. "You know I would never take you anywhere near a public toilet, let alone a workplace cubicle."
"Oh, I know."
I get off the toilet seat and peep out from the cubicle door, hoping no one hears me talking dirty to my boyfriend. When I see that there's no one outside, I exhale loudly, thanking the universe for working along with me.
The moment I get out of the toilet cubicle and move to the sink to wash my hands, another person who works here enters the washroom. I quickly wipe my fingers with the toilet paper hanging loosely near the sink and then dry my almost wet fingers under the air dryer.
Then I go back to my call.
"Hey, I got to go. I need to get back to work."
"Will we be seeing each other at the weekend?" My boyfriend sounds excited to see me. "I can't wait to see you, baby."
"Neither can I, my love. We'll see each other definitely." I smile into the static. "But I really have to go right now. If Kyra saw that I was not at the work table, punching the numbers and designing the next advertising campaign, then I'm almost convinced she'll find a new graduate to run her side of the department."
"Of course, she's your boss." He blows out a loud breath. "You should go. We'll talk later."
"Thank you for understanding my situation, babe. I'll have to call you later. Bye."
"Bye, baby."
The woman disappears into the stall next to the one I was in, and I quickly escape the room, cursing under my breath. It's hard to find a moment to myself since work is always so crazy during the wee hours of noon, especially when one would expect it to slow down so they can catch a breather, but it never is slow around here.
Kyra wanted me to work on a new advertising campaign for this new client we had picked up last week. She put me in charge of designing all the marketing materials since we are about to collaborate with them on launching their latest product line for the international market. The heyday of the internet makes my work all that excruciating because my boss can check the number of clicks, the visitors, and the number of inventory sold with a swipe on her phone's screen. And if you don't know how Kyra works, then you shall find out shortly that she loves to put my ass on the line for pretty much everything.
"Everett, have you checked the data analytics?" She yells as soon as I enter my small office hidden at the end of the floor, stuffed between the horizontal kitchen and the document review room where a bunch of freshly graduated paralegals check contract documents for the company and give their two cents on them. I'm sure our company only hires them to fire them as soon as they move on to the next project because I hardly see the same faces for more than a month at a time. "I told you to check the data and get me the report of inbound leads over two hours ago. What are you up to, huh? Still texting with your boyfriend?"
I bow my head as soon as she comes into view and then get busy flipping some files while opening the client's website and punching some numbers in an online excel sheet on the computer.
"It was just one text," I utter my words as softly as I can. "I don't text anyone during work hours."
Kyra breaks into a mean bout of laughter.
"Sure, you don't." She rolls her eyes. "Is that why you keep taking regular bathroom breaks? Do you have a stomach upset or something?" She wrinkles her nose. "Cause I'd sure like to solve the mystery of who's stinking up the bathroom stalls." She puts her fingers around her nostrils. "It reeks so bad. I have already called maintenance thrice this week."
"It's all clear right now." I give her a small smile, stealing a glance from my computer. "My stomach isn't upset." I shrug. "But I sure am having a splitting headache today. I had to splash some water on my face to feel better. My head is spinning."
I put my fingers around my temple, massaging the skin in small circles to convince her of my pain.
"Oh, that makes sense." She thins her lips. "You've been awfully slow this morning." Then she walks back to her office and appears minutes later with a small bottle of aspirin. "Here," she pushes the pill bottle towards me. "Pop some pills and get back to work. We have a lot of work to do. I can't lose you today since the client is breathing down my back asking for updates every hour, and so far, I have had nothing to share."
She shakes her head as I open the bottle, grab a tablet, and then put it under my tongue.
"You have to be certain I get those analytics with some hard data within the next hour, or I won't think twice before firing you after the monthly appraisals. You can't let me down now, Everett."
I shake my head repeatedly.
"You'll get the files at the end of this hour." I sigh. "I'll get behind it. No, scratch that. I'm working on it as we speak."
"Good girl." She snaps her fingers to get my attention. "You better make sure those reports are perfect because they will be going straight to the CEO, and you don't want to know what he's like."
My boss, Kyra Fox, has a terrifying expression on her face. I never thought she'd be the one to be scared of anything.
"He's scary, and I'm not calling him scary because he's like me. No, girlie, he's nothing like me because I'm a peach." She laughs. "He would fire you without thinking twice. No ifs, no buts, and you receive a termination letter in your email. It just comes when you're least expecting it. I'm sure you don't want that, do you?"
I shake my head again.
"No, ma'am."
"Guess you're probably the reason why we'd get to keep our jobs this coming month, so get to work right freaking now!"
With that, Kyra storms out of the room, leaving a weird sensation bubbling in my stomach.
EVERETTWhen I get home from work, it's already too late, and I find Caiti snuggling with our cat on the sofa, a bowl of chips next to them as they watch some new crime thriller series without me. I bang the door a little more loudly than I need to on my way in to capture their attention, and it works. The cat mewls noisily, jumping from the couch cushion to follow me as I stroll to the kitchen, where I pour myself a glass of water and throw her some cat treats on the kitchen floor.Walking back to the living room, I take my place next to Caiti, resting my head on her shoulder. She doesn't move or say anything but puts her hand on the side of my face as her other free hand continues to feed her mouth with chips."You work too much. You know that, right?""They are always on my back with new targets that I have to fulfill, and you know how badly I need this job."Caiti tilts her face to gaze at me."What if you found a new position in a different company where they aren't working you t
EVERETT"Hey, how are you doing, buddy?" I speak over the static as I pour myself a cup of coffee in the kitchen. I was up late last night talking to my boyfriend talking about things he'd like to do to me. After I fell asleep during the call, the first thing I thought about in the middle of the night when I woke up to pee was the promise I made to my brother at the beginning of this week. I texted him that I would call him. Then I kicked myself for not calling him during the entire week. "Are you feeling okay?""I'm fine, Evie." My brother's voice is crisp and void of emotion, as it has been since we lost our parents last year during a tragic car accident. He hasn't shown much emotion or talked about anything more than was requisite. I can't blame him. "They told me you're behind on paying my quarterly fees." There's a gruff intonation to his voice. "The counsellor suggested I talk to you and sort the payments out. Are you going to pay my fees soon?""Yeah, buddy, I think I will be a
WAYLON"You wouldn't believe how much damage-control I had to do at work this week?" My breath comes out in spurts. "They are hopeless, completely hopeless. How come my dad didn't fire half of these useless assholes?" I stare at Finn's hands as he fidgets with a stress toy sitting at my desk. "I almost wish-I wish I had a calmer head on my shoulders because I can't deal with half of this bullshit.""Whew, Way, you need to learn how to relax." He throws the duck towards me, and I barely catch it before it hits me in the face. "I know your dad has been cruel to you, keeping you away from partying and women. . .but cut the guy some slack. He knows you better than you do." He clicks his tongue. "That's how he gets to push all of your buttons." Then he centres his gaze over me. "Don't you think?""Hey, whose side are you on?" I thin my lips. "Mine or his?" I fold my hands over my chest. "Because from my field of vision, you're blatantly on his side. And I'm not surprised.""Why doesn't it
EVERETTHe's such a jerk!What an insolent jerk!I'll fire you in a flash because that's my management style.You made the kind of mistake that gets people fired.Oh, I'm such an asshole because I love firing people, ha, ha, ha, ha.The moment I turned my back on him and left his spacious office, I let myself feel my anger steaming under my skin. How do people get away with being such a pain in the ass of their employees?His style can kiss my ass.Gosh! Why do all the assholes sit in all the top positions in this company?First, I only had Kyra to deal with, and now him?Waylon Thorne, from the gates of hell himself?As soon as I get in the elevators and watch the doors shut in front of me, I yell loudly inside the thick metal-enclosed walls. I yell, yell, and yell, till I can't anymore. It looks like this is how I will be processing my emotions from now on.What else I'm supposed to do?Does he think he can bother me? He can be the goddamn president of all the successful multinati
EVERETTSomeone orders a large red velvet cake for their twenty-fifth anniversary as they are busy having the three-course meal in the restaurant. My eyes glaze over the decoration as I remember I have to pipe out the names when I bring the cake to their table. Whether I like it or not, the fast-paced work atmosphere at my marketing job and the exhaustion I have from toiling in it are finally catching up with me. I find it hard to spell the name, Lina. It's a simple name, but I struggle to design the alphabet with the frosting.I also hold back a big yawn that threatens to fan the icing on the cake and spew my germs all over it.A loud scream rends the air, almost sudden and quick. It feels like something comes crashing down on the floor, or it might be a man in the background working through his pain from a paper cut."What do you think you are doing?" When I finally look at the woman sitting at the table across from me, I see that I have piped the icing all over the back of her hand
EVERETT"What were you thinking was going to happen, Everett?" Juan speaks to me with anger lacing his words. "Was that the best way to get rid of a problematic customer?" He shakes his head. "How many times I have told you to not get into a verbal confrontation with an angry jerk? They always deflect blame, but you end up putting your physical safety and dignity at risk." He puts some more distance between us. "What if he had hurt you?" He glares at me. "What if I hadn't stepped in at the right moment or if I wasn't around?"Priscilla steps into the conversation, breaking his line of thought."This situation is entirely your own making, Juan." She scoffs. "How are you any better than that asswipe you just threw out minutes ago? You're the pot calling the kettle black.""Don't interrupt me like that again, darling." He runs a hand to the back of his head. "I'm just trying to put some sense into Evie's head. She keeps getting herself involved in physical altercations. Some day she's go
WAYLONThere is a painful bind in my lower back, and I put my fingers to massage the pinched nerve straining heavily on my spine. I exhale as I try to relax in my bed. Twisting to my sides, I stretch against the mattress. My fingers reach for the TV remote as I turn on the television to watch some mindless show playing at a low volume in the background.My phone rings on the nightstand, sending vibrations across its wooden surface. Exhaling a long breath, I reach for it. I have a faint idea who's calling me at this hour."Hi, honey." The woman on the other side of the static whispers seductively. "I haven't seen you around my bar lately. Where have you been?" She chuckles. "Are you ignoring me?" She takes a beat. "Do you think it's a good idea to ignore me?""Andie, why are you calling me at this hour?" I take a beat. "Have you seen what time it is?"She laughs, not even fazed by my hostility."Sweetie, have you checked what time it is?" She mimics my question. "I have called you, lik
EVERETTThe noises are coming from the door. Someone opening and closing it over and over wakes me up at once. I sit up, yawning and running my fingers around my face."Hey!" Caiti talks. "Did I wake you up? I'm sorry about it if I did. I didn't mean to make such a ruckus coming in through the door."I stretch my arms behind my back as I sit upright, resting my neck on our waterfall backrest of the couch. I run my fingers on the cushioned seat and then the pleated arm, hoping the friction against my palms would awaken me completely."Hey," I say, licking my lips. Then I fix my wavy hair behind my ear, wiping the spit from the corner of my mouth. "Where did you go? I waited for you so long that I fell asleep here on the couch.""Oh, Evie!" She sits down right next to me as I'm still waking up and then side-hugs me. "You didn't have to do that!""I know I didn't, but you know what I am like, right?" I stretch some more against the backrest. "My mind goes to places without wanting it to