Three is a Crowd

Amanda sighed in pleasure as his lips grazed her stomach which was now bare, her clothes having been discarded only moments earlier. The barely there kisses were deliberately torturous by nature, as they set her skin on fire. She gasped in surprise as she felt a slight nip on her skin, before the lips continued to go lower and lower on their journey down her body. ‘Frank’ she moaned, as he kissed the inside of her thighs, his lips slowly making their way back up towards her core.

Her alarm went off; waking her up from another dream filled with fantasies she no longer had any control over. Her dreams were the same every night. If she wasn’t dreaming about Gerard, it was Frank, sometimes even both together which left her feeling ashamed and confused. She felt like she was barely clinging on to her sanity. She was like a child who wanted what they couldn’t have. Except it wasn’t a toy she wanted. She wanted a living, breathing person and no amount of crying, tantrum pulling or pleading was going to change the predicament she had gotten herself into.She had unwillingly fallen in love with her boss. She fought it as hard as she could, she told herself a million times over that it was never going to happen but it didn’t matter. Her heart didn’t want to listen to her brain. The heart wanted what the heart wanted, and the worst part of it was that it wanted a person that was so completely and utterly out of her reach that it was nearly impossible to find a person more unattainable in almost every sense of the word.

Jealously consumed her entire being as soon as she heard mention of the name Frank. Her insides twisted to the point of almost physical pain when she thought about how he got to kiss those lips, and run his hands through those raven locks as much as he wanted. Her dreams involving Frank also confused her to no end. She couldn’t deny that she found him extremely attractive, and she had enjoyed his company immensely during the lunch hour she spent in his presence. He came across as smart and articulate with a dry, sarcastic sense of humour which she found endearing. His smile was so adorable that she couldn’t help but smile back at him, but he was no Gerard.

Work was fine as long as she wasn’t in Gerard’s presence. The moment he was within a few feet of her she could feel her brain cells ceasing to work the way they should. She was finding it increasingly difficult to hide just how edge she felt whenever he was around. She also couldn’t help but get the feeling he knew the effect he had on her. It wasn’t anything explicitly said, but more in the knowing looks he gave and the side smirk that appeared on his face when she jumped due to sudden unexpected contact. Whether or not he knew didn’t really matter anyway, it wouldn’t stop her from feeling the way she did. At this point, she didn’t think anything would.

*****

She had the worst beginning to a morning in the history of the world. Her alarm didn’t go off and she slept in, barely getting up in time to have a quick shower before jumping into her car. Her car then chose that moment to suddenly give up when she was already cutting it close to making it in on time. She knew that as nice as Gerard was, he would be beyond pissed if she turned up late, even if it was only ten minutes. She managed to hail down a taxi, and made it in on time by the skin of her teeth. She paid her fare and ran into the building; the panic she had gotten herself into wouldn’t disappear completely until she was at her desk and logged in.

The minute she spent waiting in the elevator gave her the time to catch her breath and breathe again, and she hoped her face wasn’t too red with all her rushing around.As she walked out of the elevator and onto the floor, she noticed that the usual cheerful chattering she would hear was suspiciously quiet as everyone appeared to be speaking in low voices. She found it scarily eerie; no office should be that quiet.She gave a puzzled look to one of the graphic artists that she was on somewhat friendly terms with, hoping he would tell her what was going on. He beckoned her over, not wanting to be heard, although with how quiet the place was she was certain his naturally loud voice would be heard.

‘Watch yourself today Amanda, Way is on the war path. He came in about twenty minutes ago and he was not in a good mood. He slammed his office door so loud that it actually made my coffee spill. He’ll take it out on you somehow. Keep your head down, okay?’ He said this in a rushed voice, obviously afraid Gerard would somehow overhear him from his office.

‘Thanks Dave’ she muttered, dreading going anywhere near Gerard’s office. She had been told about his temper, and if she believed what she was told it was a free for all when it came to who bore the brunt of it. However got it would be left in tears according to the gossip. One person actually left after a particularly bad tongue lashing from Gerard.She would just have to do her best to not make any mistakes today and keep her head down as Dave had said.She made her way to her desk and quietly logged in, seeing that Gerard’s door was closed, which was unusual unless he had a client.

She had just sat down when the door open, and she felt the low atmosphere drop even further when Gerard stepped out.

‘How nice of you to make it in this morning, Amanda. It’s good to know Lisa picked a punctual and reliable person to replace her,’ he approached her desk, and threw a bundle of papers on her desk.‘If it’s not too much trouble for you to do your job, could you get these typed up instead of standing around gossiping?’

His voice was cold, and filled with venom. It seemed she was the target for his temper tantrum today. She nodded at him, afraid to open her mouth for fear of encouraging him to continue attacking her.He stared at her a moment, waiting for her to make a false move before he turned back towards his office.

‘Get me some coffee while you’re sitting around doing nothing’ he said without looking at her, before slamming his door viciously.

The rest of the office looked at her with expressions that ranged from sympathy at being the chosen one to relief that it wasn’t them on the receiving end of his anger.With shaking legs she stood back up and went to the canteen, and poured Gerard his coffee while she got herself a tea, hoping it would calm her nerves. If she got too nervous that was when she made a million fuck ups, so she needed to remain as calm as possible and not respond to Gerard’s temper. She wondered what the hell had crawled up his ass. She hadn’t done anything wrong, nor had anyone else as far as she was aware. Maybe something had happened in his personal life to make him so hostile this morning. Whatever it was, she hoped he would get over it quickly; the last thing she needed was to have to deal with his temper all day.

****

Luck was not on her side today. She had spent the whole morning being on the receiving end of Gerard’s anger. It took the form of snide, subtle comments that questioned her ability to do a satisfactory job. She was fuming on the inside, her body shaking with repressed anger. She was never one to hold her anger in and she knew she was close to breaking point. It was only a few minutes before lunch time and she was counting them down, each passing minute getting her closer to her one hour reprieve from Gerard's wrath. She thanked God it was Friday, once today was over she would have two days to get away from him. She was pulled away from her thoughts as Gerard stormed out of his office and headed straight towards her with pages in his hands.

‘Amanda, what do you think it is you’re paid to do here?’ He asked, unrepressed anger lacing his voice.

‘Is something the matter?’ she asked with barely concealed exasperation. She was inching closer to her breaking point.

‘The fact that you can’t do basic spell check is the matter. You did four years of college so I assumed that using a spell checker on a basic programme was within your capabilities.’

‘Well maybe if you weren’t being such an ass all day and throwing things my way I would have!’ She snapped, her voice rising slightly as she lost control of her temper.

The office went silent. She could hear people breathing, and she found it disconcerting. She realised in that moment she had made a big mistake as the deathly silence continued.

‘I’m sorry for expecting you to have a basic level of competence and professionalism. If I had known that the two were well below your ability I would never have allowed Lisa to hire you. This isn’t school, and I shouldn’t have to stand over and to make sure you do your job properly.’

His voice sounded almost gleeful, she had given him the ammunition he needed to justify his behaviour.

‘You know what Amanda, just go home. You’re no use to me here at the moment. Maybe on Monday you’ll start doing the job I actually hired you for.’

He turned and left without another word, slamming his office door for the hundredth time that day.

Amanda had tears in her eyes. She had never felt so belittled or humiliated in all her life. She was always one to stand up for herself but she just stood there and took his insults and abuse, and now she was left feeling miserable and ashamed.Nobody in the office said anything as she logged herself out and picked up her bag and coat. Everybody seemed afraid of being the one to break the camel’s back and finally make her cry.She all but ran out of the office, ignoring all the looks of sympathy and pity that were being thrown her way. She just wanted to leave and never come back. She got into the lift and took a deep breath, hoping it would ease the anger that was coursing through her veins. What made her angrier than anything else was that she knew if he came to her now and apologised she would forgive him on the spot. She would let him get away with anything, including treating her like dirt, just because of her stupid, irrational feelings. She was in a daze as she exited the lift and headed towards the building’s door. She walked straight into someone, stumbling as she was saved from falling to the ground by a pair of steady hands.

‘Sorry’ she mumbled, before she had gotten a look at who she had bumped into.

‘It’s okay.’

She looked up sharply, recognising the voice.

‘Oh, Frank, I’m sorry, I was in a daze’ She said, hating that her voice betrayed the fact that she was close to tears.

‘Are you ok?’ He asked, sounding concerned.

She was about to answer ‘I’m fine’, when she did the unthinkable. She burst into tears.

‘Oh Jesus’ Frank sighed lowly, before pulling her into a hug.

She didn’t listen to her automatic instinct to pull away.

‘Let me guess, Gerard was being acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum?’

She nodded against his shoulder, afraid to speak knowing she wouldn’t be able to speak a coherent sentence with the hiccups that would come.

‘Fucking asshole’ he muttered. ‘Don’t take it personally Amanda, we had an argument last night, whatever he said he didn’t mean.’

She nodded again, pulling away from Frank and looking at him.

‘I was just going to see if we could talk on his lunch, probably not a good idea, huh?’ he asked, smiling as he finished.

She shook her head.

‘I got thr-thrown out so probably not.’

‘What?’ he asked, shock in his voice.

‘He told me to come back Monday.’

Frank looked at her for a moment.

‘I have an idea. I’m thinking you look like you could do with a drink, and I sure as hell do. C’mon’ he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her out of the building without looking back.

Notes

Hi all, it feels like ages since I've updated. Life got in the way.

I know not much happens, but next chapter is when things get interesting.

Anywho, as also I hope you read, comment and subscribe/vote and let me know what you think. Comments make my dear.

Hope you enjoy., til next time :)