I ignored the whispers and watchful eyes of those who worked on the same floor as I did. I walked around acting the same as I did any other day. Strong, confident, and unphased.
I did my rounds, made small talk with a friendly smile that never left my face. It was a good call to have Shane paired up with Jose. The two were close in age and so far, seemed to match well in the terms of working together. Though curious, no one asked what happened. They understood that if I didn’t bring it up, it was not a topic to be discussed.
The end of the day is coming, with only twenty minutes to go. I appreciated my alone time in my office, finding myself staring outside yet again, my mind going over everything that seemed to be going wrong in my life at the moment.
I understood that I was the cause.
Tonight is the Employee Appreciation Dinner. Karen did well to take the suggested week off, sending an email that she would not be gracing us with her presence tonight. Jose did well to keep Shane busy with work, in turn keeping him out of my hair.Kale avoided me.I’d see him on occasion with Mr. Davis the past few days, but he kept things very professional, and returned to that quiet man I met at the club.It seemed that things were on their way back to normal, except for this slight feeling of despair. It was a feeling that I hadn’t had in years, a feeling that I never wanted to acknowledge again.Lonely.Kale was right.Then again, it
KALE’S POVWhen you look into the night sky, there are numerous stars in the sky. Without a map, or prior Astronomy knowledge, you can’t really tell one from the other. Mr. Davis refers to Raine McClaren as a star. He was wrong.She was the moon in a sea of stars.In the middle of a crowded room, everyone dressed to leave an impression, you can find her.Her energy is the biggest.She shines the brightest.In mid conversation with Mr. Davis and some of his other colleagues, talking about golf of all things, caught my attention.There is a big entry way into the dining hall.
I had made a sex tape and it was just played for every employee, future client and past.The tape itself is silent, but you could easily make out me being rammed from behind in the printer room.You could even make out the man doing the ramming.When I walked back into that room, I wasn’t sure what I was walking into, but didn’t expect this. The look of shock, disgust and amusement was on everyone's face. But beyond that was the rage written all over Mr. Davis’s face.I am so fucked!“You looked me in my face and you lied to me!” Mr. Davis yelled. I could hear the scratching in his throat. “Twice! Maybe even more, am I right?” The owne
I allow myself to slip underneath the warm bath water that surrounds me. My lungs are filled with minimal air. I do not hesitate to open my eyes. The water doesn’t bother me. I am in search of complete silence and the answer to all of my problems. Shane’s face suddenly appears in my view. My body is pulled from the water by his strong hands, one finding placement on my shoulders and the other at my waist. “What the hell are you doing?” He asks, as I let out a cough. “I was fine until you startled me,” I breathed out. He pulls my head inward towards his chest, and I allow him to hug my wet and naked body. The water didn’t seem to mind him. I took a deep breath. “What are you doing?”“I’m hugging you,” he sighs, his chin resting on my head. “Why?” “Because it seems like you need it,” he responds. I blink slowly. I don’t hug him back, but I don’t remove myself from his arms either. My body is clean. My face is no longer covered in dry tears. I stalk into the living room wearing a
RAINE’S POV I hear my name being called, and I squeeze my eyes tighter, refusing to open them. I was not ready to face the day, to face the turmoil my life was currently in. “I know you’re awake.” I let out an exaggerated groan as I flutter my eyes open. Shane stands over me, holding a mug in his hand. “I’m starving, let’s get breakfast.” “I have nothing to wear…” I said, grabbing the edges of the large comforter and pulling it up over my head. Shange snatches it away from me, revealing my entire body. “Kale took care of it. Get dressed and meet me at the elevator.” He leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Hanging on the back is a honey yellow dress. I fix my face in disgust. “What the hell is that?” I wish they would have allowed me to dress myself. I always thought Kale to have exquisite taste, but this dress reminded me of dried up mustard. It was plain. The straps were thin and it was much lengthier than what I was used to, reaching over the knee. I didn’t compliment
His attempt to distract me worked. When my insides fluttered at the assumption that I’d want to have both of them again, my mind was pretty occupied. I never got to truly relish in the memory of that night. My satisfaction from the night was short lived when Karen decided to bombard me. Sitting here across from Shane, watching as he licks syrup from his thumb, before aggressively cutting his stack of warm pancakes, I can’t help to get lost in the past. I couldn’t do anything about my job, not at this moment, but what I could do is fantasize. His mouth opens wide, and he stuffs his breakfast in. As he chews, I pay attention to his jawline. His tongue glides across his bottom lip. What remained of the sticky substance slings to his tongue, and disappears behind his lips. I watch as he gulps. His Adam's Apple moves up forward as he does… Why was this man so attractive? “Are you disgusted with his table manners, or do you see something you like?” Kale’s voice tickles my ear, surprisi
The nice drive that Kale was talking about was missed. I don’t know when it happened, but I fell asleep.“We’re here,” I heard Shane say with excitement. My eyes opened, and I could see Kale staring at me from his seat. I sat up quickly, realizing my head was resting on Shane’s large shoulder. I cover my mouth to let my yawn escape. “I’m sorry,” I apologize, giving a quick look to both of them. “After last night, I bet you needed the rest,” Shane answers, eyes locking in on my face. When my eyes met his, I felt a small flutter, and was quick to push it away. “Well let’s get this over with,” I said.The path we walk is wide and mostly covered in fallen, beautiful leaves. Tall trees surround us, as well as the soft sounds of nature. Shane is to my left and Kale is to my right. There is a certain peace in this moment. We are too busy soaking it all up that there are no words spoken among us. Maybe they were right. Maybe this was just what I needed. I see a bench off to the side of t
The gates to my home make a soft squeaking sound as they open. The driver pulls in, parking right at the steps of the main entrance. Shane steps out first, holding the door open so I could climb out. Kale goes through the door on the other side. The look on their face shows curiosity. They wanted to know what I thought of today’s activities. I could tell they were expecting me to say something negative. “Well, I am going to feel this pain tomorrow,” I said, thinking of the amount of walking we did. I wasn’t one to take the time out of the week to work out, nor did I purposely watch what I ate. Though, having sex as often as I did, probably played a major role in my figure. No matter, I knew I was going to be a couch potato tomorrow. “Is that all you have to say?” Shane asks with a forced smile. “I mean, I pulled this together overnight!” I get it. He wanted a pat on his head for a job well done. “Long walks and a picnic… did it require that much work?” He scoffed in defeat. I ch
Years ago, I stood at this window, staring down at the world below me. I had chosen a career path, and planned to follow it through until the very end. That path has not changed, but how I get there will. Quality Advertising and Mr. Davis gave me my start, but they were just a step. They were not my end. Looking down at the world now, I take a deep breath and feel an excitement that I haven’t felt in a long time. I hear a knock on the office door. I turn to see Jose standing there with Jordan as his side. “Well, this isn’t a duo I’ve seen before,” I said with a smile. Jose approaches me first. “I wanted to get in my goodbye and tell you the good news before you left,” he said, eyes going around, taking notice in the emptiness. “Good news?” The young man nods. “Well, with you resigning and Jordan moving up, there are some supervisor spots needing to be filled. I am being given one of of those spots.” I grinned. Jose’s work experience wasn’t much, but he was a quick learner.
Tonight. Tonight everything changes. Red is the color I choose to wear to embrace everything that will be coming my way. Something simple, yet classy. Long, and elegant. My beauty will never be hindered. “You look like someone who's getting ready to set a whole building on fire,” Alisha grins, refusing to miss my looks to kill. “And leave no casualties,” I said with a grin. The plan has been drawn up, it has been executed, and we were ready to witness the fallout. I would be arriving at the event solo, but I wouldn’t be leaving alone. Here we go Raine, time to give them all hell.The work week was slow and boring. It was the most interesting thing to talk about besides the ending of upcoming projects and the dinner in which a winner would officially be announced. Saturday night has arrived. I walk through the doubled doors of an upscale restaurant downtown. The dinner experience here was said to be spectacular. Not just when it came to the food or the service, but the fact th
I am sore. Sore all over. But it was worth it. I wake up, my body entangled with theirs in Kale’s bed big enough to house all three of us comfortably. They sleep heavily, allowing me to take in their fresh morning looks. I definitely had a type. The pink lips, the olive skin, the curly and waving dark hair. Both of them are sculpted differently but attractive all the same. I sigh in content. Lately, they had been taking care of me, now it was my turn to do so for them. I am not the type to cook breakfast. It’s not that I can’t, it was just something I didn’t even need to do to myself. I always kept to this fast routine, but today nothing was claiming attention. I would make something as great as Shane’s omelets, but I could handle bacon and eggs. I searched through Kale’s fridge, seeing nothing but leftover take out and frozen dinners. I could just order food from the kitchen, as he does. That was the plus of having a large condo in a shared space. The way the extremely rich live
“Whoa,” Shane reveals a snickering laughter, catching me by the arm just as I tripped in my heels. One hand clings to his arm to help keep my balance, while the other holds onto the loose fabric that also played a part in my almost accident. “I think you had a good time tonight,” he says, readjusting himself against me. I lean my body up against him, ear finding his chest and heart beat. We stood at the doorway of the building, waiting for the Limo to pull up, so we could make our way home.“It wasn’t the worst,” I said softly. I could hear the slurring in my words, and I knew I had passed the line of tipsy. “Where is Kale?” Shane looks back over his shoulder. “He’s making sure everyone is getting home safely.” Of course he is. He’s such a good guy. “I hit the jackpot with that one, didn’t I?” “Don’t go playing favorites Raine,” Shane stares into my eyes. I smile. “You’re not so bad either,” I joke. “I don’t know why either of you want to put up with my shit.” He grins. “Yeah, y
“I would have gone crazy on that snake bitch,” Alisha growled, holding her wine glass up to Shane, allowing him to refill her glass. It’s not like me to have wine this early in the day, but after catching Andre and Alisha up on the drama that had unfolded in the last few weeks, it was needed. I sighed, my legs up to my chest. I rest my arms on top of my knees, staring off into space. “Trust me, I really wanted to,” I murmured. “I’m all for a little thrill in my sex life, but in the printing room, where there were cameras… Scandalous!” She continues. “I know that,” I said back. “And I was under the impression that it would be taken care of,” My eyes went to Kale, who was sitting beside me. “Otherwise it probably wouldn’t have happened.” “Hey, I bought the tape off the guards the next morning, and even had them delete the copies!” He tried to defend himself. “Well, regardless, the act in itself was still careless,” Andre says.“Again, we already know that.” I grind my teeth togethe
RAINE’S POVI’m not sure if Kale’s openness with Karen was a good idea. He may have just added a lot more fuel to the fire, however, I couldn’t hide the fact that I wish I would have seen the look on her face. Kale says she looked stunned. She thought she was going to hurt me by telling of the apparent rumors circulating the office floors.What she didn’t understand was how she now revealed that there was another person helping her in her quest to destroy me. Jordan Cummings. Of course I already had my suspicions, but unless Karen had eyes to see through walls, or binoculars to spy from another balcony, she was not able to see the kiss I shared with Shane. If there truly was a rumor, Jordan was the one to tell what he had seen. And as Karen would put it, it was her duty to pass along the information to Kale.Two against one, this wasn’t a fair fight, but if she was expecting to see me shaking in my heels, she had another thing coming. I already had my moment of weakness.I heard
“It’s been a crazy and hectic few months, hasn’t it?” Mr. Davis says, standing in front of his wide windows, eyes not even on us. “I’ve seen you two work hard, but I’ve also seen a few flops.” He doesn’t have to look in my direction for me to know that he was referring to me. I refuse to take my eyes off of him. I refuse to have cower like I did previously. There was a long silence. Was he waiting for one of us to say something, or was this pause just for dramatic effect? “It has been decided that we will announce who will be moving up in the company next week.” “It sounds like you already know who will be promoted,” Jordan says out loud. Mr. Davis slowly turns to face us. His eyes travel from my face to Jordan’s before he shows a slight smile. “Of course.” Jordan grins wide like he knows something that I don’t. “However, you know we do ceremonies for things like this. So a small company dinner will be held the following weekend. It will be made up of board members and supervisors
I was warned before we stepped foot off the elevator that I was going to be facing a lot of stares and whispers. It’s not like I didn’t expect that, after all most of these people got to witness my ass on the big screen. They should consider themselves lucky. More than half of the people in here wanted to see what I had to offer, dying to switch places with Kale. Kale stated that many people seemed to stay clear of him, but it was because of the power that he had. He told me to remember my power, and that was exactly what I planned on doing. Never let them see you sweat. Never let them see you cry. Never let them know that you care, and always remain unpredictable. Rules to live by if you want to be top dog. The way the entire floor went silent as soon as I made my appearance… it was enough to send a chill up my spine. If you were looking close enough, you probably would’ve seen me gulp. I wear a cyan colored dress. It hugs me the same as any other piece of clothing I wear, di
The entire situation wasn’t hypothetical. When I gave my answer, we all knew that it was a serious response to a serious question. I said yes. I belonged to them now, and though I wasn’t sure how this would work, I decided to give it a try. Raine McClaren has changed. Months ago I wanted to be nameless, known only for that one night of crazy hot sex, and now, my bed was being shared with two men that were mine. To say I belonged to them wasn’t even crazier. My best friends noticed the change before I did. It took me a while to admit that my way of thinking was different. I liked someone. I liked two someone’s. That is a big deal for me. I am on uncharted waters. We lay in bed, limbs wrapped around each other in the most comfortable position. Darkness surrounds us, as we were trying to get our rest. I had spent the last week indoors, occupying my time with mindless tasks. Shane would still head off to the office, still paired up with jose. Kale also remained at Mr. Davis’s side