Like right now.
“Staying late again, Davenport. Pretty soon you’ll make us all look bad.” Laugh, laugh, ha ha. “Right Luccia?” Rich’s hand starts on her lower back, slides down to her ass where I’m positive he gives it a squeeze before sliding back up. “I hope you’re not staying to help Brecken with his work. We don’t pay for that type of overtime here, you know.” The repugnant innuendo of his words is unmistakable.
He offers me a cocky smirk, one that says, aren’t you jealous I get to touch her fine ass, and then leans on the opposite side of my doorjamb like he didn’t just completely violate and sexually harass an employee.
Luccia meanwhile has turned rigid, her grip on the doorframe so tight I’m shocked she’s not splintering the wood. I open my mouth to say something. In fact, I suddenly realize I’ve shot out of my chair with the sole intention of beating Rich to a fucking pulp when Luccia ever so slightly shakes her head at me, warning me off.
I narrow my gaze back just as hers turns pleading.
Motherfucker.
I need a moment of silence for my murderous thoughts. Rich—or Dick, as I’ve fondly internally referred to him as—has chummed up to me while simultaneously degrading all the females in the office—especially Luccia.
Guess how cool I am with that? Like zero on the Richter scale—catch my pun?
My father taught me that business is business, and pussy should never enter into it. That no matter what, all women are to be treated as equals and with respect if I want to be a man worthy of being called one. It’s a goddamn smart lesson I took to heart but obviously Dick isn’t up on his MeToo info and that women aren’t there for our uninvited groping.
I hate watching it.
I hate hearing his rape-culture comments with other office douches who laugh like it’s amusing. I hate not being able to say shit because I already fucked up once and another push gets me pushed straight out the door.
Still, I’d be willing to risk it if Luccia wasn’t so opposed to me stepping in.
If I wasn’t positive before this moment, I sure as shit am now. I will slay this man.
I will make him cry for his mommy every night while he’s sleeping in his white jumpsuit in his minimum-security prison after his wife and children have left him penniless. I can only hope he receives the same treatment he just bestowed upon Luccia there.
“No, Luccia was just leaving for the night.”
“Oh great,” Rich exclaims with a smarmy grin aimed at her tits. “I was just heading out myself. Happy to walk you.”
“Actually, you know what? I have a quick question about a meeting for Monday. Would you mind just holding back one second, Luccia? I certainly wouldn’t want to hold you up any longer, Rich. I’m sure you’re anxious to get home to your wife and kids.”
I smile. I even sell it.
Because he quickly gets my meaning and nods. “Yes. Certainly don’t want to be late for dinner or I’ll hear about it from the missus.”
Who the fuck still calls their wife the missus?
“Have a good night,” I tell him, still with that fucking smile I can’t stand on my lips.
He scrutinizes us both, a glimmer of suspicion in his eyes that is just as quickly gone as he does, in fact, leave. Without his workbag hanging from his shoulder. First night all week that’s happened and I mentally fist pump the air. Luccia approaching my office must have distracted him.
Luccia steps into my office, leaning against the wall, her hands folded behind her back, but she doesn’t say anything.
“You can file a complaint,” I tell her. “Or I can.”
“No,” she says firmly. “I can’t and neither can you. I am expendable whereas he will deny it and I’ll either lose my job and my visa, never be promoted, or will be reshuffled to no-man's-land. I can’t do that, Brecken. I cannot. I have a child to support. And you cannot say a word. Promise me.”
Fuck. How do I promise that when all I want to do is strangle him for being the type of asshole who thinks he’s allowed—and fucking entitled—to prey on vulnerable women? Hell, on any woman? Rina’s beautiful face flitters into my consciousness and instantly my jaw clenches and my fists ball up.
Whenever I think about Harrison Bishop stalking her my blood boils and I wish I could go back in time, find him, and kill him before he ever sets eyes on her.
“For now,” I agree because hopefully soon he won’t be a problem for her, anyway. “I think it’s probably safe for you to go now. If he’s waiting for you, text me the number three and I will come find you.”
“If he’s waiting for me, I have a taser in my purse.”
I laugh, nodding my head. “Perfect. Have a good night, Luccia.”
“You too, Brecken. I will see you Monday.”
Not if I’m in jail, I think.
Instead, I sit my ass back down and bide my time. There is this interval. It’s the one between when everyone leaves, and the cleaning crew comes in. It legit gives me a ten-minute window. Ten minutes to sneak into my boss’s office, unlock his computer, search through it to find what I need, copy it to a drive, and then get the hell out without being discovered.
If you’ve ever watched James Bond do harrowing shit, you should know I lack all his couth and skill. I stumble over my own damn feet within the first two seconds of rising from my desk. With my palms sweaty and my heart pounding through my veins and ears like a marching band, I step out into the hall, my workbag on my shoulder and my phone in my pocket.
Empty. And dark. Most of the motion lights have switched off so if this wasn’t an over-the-top adrenaline rush before the fact that the lights are off just added a horror film aspect to this.
I stand here for exactly thirty seconds and when I’m beyond positive I am one-hundred-percent alone, I slide into Rich’s office, leaving the door open. My bag hits the floor, and my hand tugs out his top desk drawer, thankful to the IT guys who demand we change our passwords every thirty days and to Rich who cannot remember it without checking during that time period, so he writes it down and leaves it here.
Lifting up the lid of his laptop, I type in his password, all the while my eyes flicker between his screen and the door. The monitor comes to life, his homepage clean and tidy with the exception of the few apps he has.
I stare at it, suddenly realizing I have no idea where I should start prowling for evidence.
I have exactly eight minutes left and while that might seem like a while, it’s not. I sit down in his chair, rubbing my hands down my pants and then I start in. I manage to find his work email, but I already know he’s not stupid enough to put anything incriminating on there. Then I go to his internet browser and search through his browsing history.
Most of it is pretty standard.
Except… Astrid Pharmaceuticals hits my eyes and I click on whatever link he was on.
Astrid Pharmaceuticals to announce stunning new broad-spectrum antibiotic, revealing that it will change the industry as we know it. I quickly skim through the article, reading how Astrid intends to reveal a new business platform by the end of October.
They call it innovative. Revolutionary. Radical. But per the article, there is zero mention of another company taking over this up till now small biotech located in Cambridge, just over the bridge from here.