Slowly, I look down at my boss; Theo’s hand is holding me steady by grabbing me by the ass. His large hand is firmly pressed on my butt through my pants; I can feel his palm, his thumb nestled between my legs, pressing where my core is. Thank god I have pants on today and not a skirt.
“Um, boss,” I say, peering down at his hand. He finally notices where he has grabbed me. A slight smirk creeps its way onto his face. The feel of his large hand on me makes my skin burn and my insides melt. An unfamiliar feeling washes over me. What’s wrong? I have to fight the urge to shut my thighs to stop the sudden ache between my legs.
Instead of letting go like a normal person, he runs his hand over the curve of my ass and down the inside of my thigh, pausing to grasp at my ankle. Only then does he pull it away from me. My skin flushes with embarrassment at my crush on my gay boss. Theo pauses and tilts his head up to look at me; a sly smile spreads across his face at my embarrassment.
He then reaches over and grabs the stupid box I was painstakingly trying to retrieve, shoving the rest of the paper to the side as he retrieves the stupid thing as if it were easy.
I quickly step down the ladder, put my heels back on, and grab the box from him while I avoid looking at his face.
“Were you looking for something?” I ask as I walk from the storeroom back to the printer. He follows me with that same little smirk plastered on his lips.
“Yeah, I tried to print something when I realized the printer was out of paper,” Theo replies, leaning on the counter next to the printer.
I quickly load the paper onto the tray before inserting it into the printer. Clearing the error, I hit print. The machine prints out the documents, and I grab mine to get them out of his way. Stapling the papers together, I place them on the counter.
When no more come out, I turn to Theo. “Are you sure you hit print?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
Theo seems to think before speaking. “I think so.”
I roll my eyes at him and walk into his office. He follows behind me and stands in the doorway to his office, leaning against the door frame, watching me with those piercing eyes.
“The merger document?” I ask, peering at his computer screen. He nods, and I hit print before walking back to the printer. His document prints out. I staple it together and then hand it to him.
Theo watches my every move. His intense gaze makes me feel uncomfortable, but I can’t look away. After a few tense seconds, he turns and walks out without a word. I inhale a greedy breath of air, not realizing I was holding it. I make my way back to my desk. Theo has been acting weird since last week. I’ve caught him staring at me more times than I could count.
Tobias has even been on edge lately. I heard them arguing over something the other day. I tried to tune it out as best I could, their relationship is none of my business. But it makes it a little awkward and tense around the office, and Theo’s bizarre stare-offs aren’t helping.
Tobias remains in his office most of the day in one of his moods. The only time I hear from him is when I have transferred calls to his phone line. Before I know it, it is 5:30 PM. Where has my day gone? Mr. Kane and Mr. Madden leave at 5:00. I finish shutting everything down before switching the lights off and heading to the parking lot. Once there, I grab my phone charger and some warm clothes to change into and pile everything into my handbag.
I have to be back to my car before Tom locks up. Tom works a few hours in the morning and then returns at night to empty the trash and scrub the floors before locking up the garage and rolling down the doors at 9:00 PM. It gives me plenty of time to visit my mother before heading back.
Walking through the empty parking garage, I come out on the ground floor level, on the park side. Cutting through the park, I head towards the big blue neon sign that sits atop the hospital across from Kane and Madden Industries. Mater Hospital. Every day, I walk over to check on her. Making my way to the second floor, I head to the wards: room eighteen, bed five. I’m lucky the hospital is so close to my job; I can’t imagine trying to fight traffic, taking away the precious time I have with her.
My mother has been here for just over four months. I take a seat in the sterile room. I hate hospitals. They always smell of hand sanitizer, and this particular ward reeks of death. No, my mother doesn’t have some debilitating chronic illness. I actually wish that were the case. No, my mother, Lila Riley, is in a coma.
She’d been driving home from a local bar she worked at, and a drunk driver ran a red light, smashing into her. Her car was a total loss; they had to use the jaws of life to get her from the vehicle. She has been in a coma ever since. The doctors told me she is brain-dead and that the only thing keeping her alive are the machines she is hooked up to.
The hospital said they couldn’t keep her in this state forever and tried to have her life support shut off last month. After appealing their decision to turn off her life support, I’d pushed it to nearly five months. I’m still waiting to hear from the Medical Ethics Association. I know it is a battle I will lose. But for now, it has granted me extra days with her.
It’s only a matter of time before they pull the plug on her and tell me I have to say goodbye-also the reason why I live in my car. Mom’s medical bills are expensive, and even when the time comes to switch her off, I will have to live in my car for at least another two years to finish paying the debt off. My medical insurance covers a dependent child or spouse, so it is no use. My mother doesn’t even have medical insurance. She worked cash in hand and struggled to keep a job for long.