Bullied by the Boss

She stepped away from him, and gripped the back of the chair. “I didn’t know. I didn’t even think. I was in the moment, and I didn’t put it all together. The last thing I thought about was a condom!”

“Well, now you need to think because you’ve been sick a whole lot in the mornings, and I expected you to come and tell me.”

The anger on her face was clear to see. Rex couldn’t seem to stop his words. He was angry at Carl for taking all the credit, and he was angry at himself. All of his anger was being fired at the wrong person, and he couldn’t stop it.

“Well I guess I’m just like all of those other women, aren’t I, Rex? Too damn stupid to know any better.”

He went to his desk, and pulled out a pregnancy test. “Go, take it.”

The door to the office opened, and they both turned to see Frank looking at them. “Is everything okay in here?”

Nora took the test from his hands, and left the office without a word. The anger that he had seconds ago began to fade as he looked at Frank. What the fuck had he just done? He had been angry at himself, and he’d taken it out on Nora, and that wasn’t right, nor was it fair.

Shit, this wasn’t what he wanted to do tonight, or how he wanted to do it. He actually had a romantic meal planned, and intended to talk to her, tell her the truth.

You called her childish, stupid.

You fucked up big time.

“Do you want to tell me why Nora is taking a pregnancy test?” Frank asked, folding his arms.

Rex stared at the man he had a lot of respect for. “I’ve been sleeping with Nora, and now I think she might be pregnant.”

“Does this have anything to do with her wanting to leave?”

He shook his head. “No, this happened after that.”

Frank just stood there, staring at him. “I should have seen it coming,” Frank said.

“Seen what coming?”

“You and Nora. I saw the way you looked at her. No one did of course, and you had all those sluts working for you, I doubt you even saw it.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t try to pretend, Rex. You were always following her, always looking for her. Whenever I was close, you would always find some reason to talk to me, and your gaze would seek out Nora. Why do you think I put Nora with you?”

“To punish me.”

“It looked good on paper, didn’t it? Punishing you. Making the whole office think I had given you a woman that you wouldn’t fuck or try to ruin. I knew you would have to face the fact that you wanted her, and hoped that in time, you would both find each other.”

“You’re playing matchmaker now.”

“Look at me, son. I’ve spent my entire life devoted to this office. When my wife couldn’t have kids, I was focused on one thing, and that was winning. I have a reputation that is set to be in law books, cases that I won that defied all odds. More money than I could spend in a lifetime. My memories are filled with the courtroom, with victories, with meetings, and constantly surrounded by people who want to beat me, who want to bring me down. The moment I saw you, I saw myself, Rex. I saw where you could end up, and I was watching you. Then it was like a switch went off, and I saw a different you. In this world, you will rarely see someone wanting to make a difference in your life. In fact, they want to screw it every chance they get. I wanted you to have another chance. To have a life that I never had. I’ve seen the way you look at kids. You have that yearning that you’ve tried to deny. If Nora comes back here and says that it’s a false alarm, will you be happy?”

Sadness consumed him at the thought of her not being pregnant.

“The only think you know how to do is win, and to win you have to fight ugly, Rex. I get it. Nora isn’t the kind of girl that you win by being dirty. She’s the kind you have to try a different way.”

Rex collapsed against his desk, rubbing his eyes. “I love her,” he said. He couldn’t look up as he said that.

“Then you’re going to have to make sure she knows it.”

The door to his office opened, and he looked up to find her there. Her hand was shaking where she held the test. She moved toward the desk, and placed the stick on top.