Casey
Something cold and wet touches my neck waking me up. I snuggle deeper into the bedding wondering why James is doing kinky shit this early in the morning on the one day we have to sleep in.
“James stop it. I’m so tired.” I roll deeper into the blankets and hear him chuckling. If I had the energy I would hit him with the pillow currently under my face.
The wet sensation turns into a lick and pressure pulls my hair close to my head annoying me. After tossing and turning most of the night I let my eyes open slowly and groggily. The transition from doing a night show to a morning one is still difficult. Lying in bed I roll over to see what James is doing leaning on my hair. Instead I see black eyes looking into mine and a raucous bark in my face full of stinky breath leaps at me licking, wiggling, and paws prancing.
Bubbled with excitement I’m speechless for a moment. “Charlie! Oh my god, how on earth did you get here?” I hug the little monster tightly to my chest earning squirms, twists, and playful growls. My eyes tear up and I can’t help but feel an overwhelming tide of emotion. Looking over at the foot of the bed is James standing casually his arms crossed watching me.
“But how?” I don’t understand how Charlie is here in James’ apartment and why. His owner is a royal bitch and having the little stinker here seems too good to be true.
Walking over to the bed he sits down next to me and pets Charlie earning him a playful bite on the hand. “I figured that someone who needed a dog walker as much as that woman probably didn’t need a dog at all. She was planning a trip to Paris and was going to leave
him behind at a kennel for three weeks.” Shrugging his broad shoulders as if it was nothing.
“Don’t you dare brush this off!” Incredible news like this melts me into a puddle of swooning female. Clearing my throat I ask him how he managed to get Charlie.
“Babe, I just made it worth her while. Don’t worry about it.” He smiles.
“Is Charlie really mine? Like forever mine?” I ask.
“Yes babe, he’s yours forever.” Leaning down he kisses me sweetly on the head and leaves the bedroom. Charlie snuggles deeper into the blankets and I’m overcome with both joy, and a wave of guilt. James has obviously used his money and influence to get Charlie and I wonder what the hell I have to offer a man like him at all.
I jump into the shower quickly because I have to go into the office for an advertisement recording. Some mattress company is paying big bucks. Charlie’s nails click softly on the tile floor behind me in the kitchen. James sits at the counter eating a bowl of cereal reading the paper on his tablet.
“I can’t believe you found him for me.” I hug him from behind.
“Well, technically it was Tucker who let me know, but I’ll take the credit.”
“Mmm, I bet you will.”
“Do you have to go in right away?” James hops off the stool tugging me back toward the bedroom.
“I think Tucker can hold out an hour… maybe two?” And we quickly learn how loud Charlie can be when he’s locked out of the bedroom.
I finished the ad and popped up to the executive floor to drop off the ad contract I signed for the endorsement. I could have brought it home, but James and I planned to hibernate this weekend acclimating Charlie to the apartment.
“Casey.” I turned at the sound of Michelle’s voice. She is standing a dozen or so feet away from me, clutching a file folder in front of her chest. Papers slipped out of it and she looks disheveled. Her eyes wild and the energy in the room vibrates with tension.
“Can I help you?” She has never liked me and I never understood where her dislike stemmed from. James confided in me that he was looking to have her transferred to another part of the company because he didn’t like how she treated me. She accused me of losing the advertising contract when I went on my organizing binge weeks ago. Her dislike has gotten worse being downright disrespectful.
“Why you?” Growling she takes a step forward and I step back.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re nobody.” Her eyes dart around and I realize there’s nowhere for me to go. “You’re nothing. A fuck toy.” Each phrased followed with another threatening footstep in my direction. I was afraid to let her get close to me but she blocked the only exit off the floor. The only thing between us is her desk and I’m not on home territory here.
“That’s none of your business.” Clenching my fists I decide I’m not going down without a fight and scan her desk for something to defend myself with. The best I can come up with is a rubber band ball and a mini-stapler that looks like it can handle a max of three pages if you’re lucky. Even the potted plant looks sad, its leaves drooping.
“It is my business when you come out of nowhere and ruin everything. Everything!” She shrieks with spittle flying in my face.
“Okay, you know that’s enough, Michelle. We have to work together and you’re really pushing my buttons here.” I see her pen jar on her desk and wonder how effective a Bic pen would be. I remember them being used in an emergency tracheotomy on one of the medical shows, but they are a good few feet away between crazy and me.
“It should have been me.”
“But it wasn’t. James is with me. You work for him, Michelle.” She looks directly at me and I rethink my strategy to standoff with her because this bitch is getting crazy.
“I’ve been working here for years and then you show up and he forgets all about me. About us.” She pounds her fist against her chest dropping more papers letting them scatter around her to the floor.