Under My Boss's Control

“That’s good,” she said. “I have everything I own in my car.”

“You and I — We’ll look out for each other,” I said. “It gets kind of lonely in the house by myself.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“No-no-no,” I said dismissively. “I insist. Can’t have you on the street in your car. That would be dangerous.”

“I could park in front of your place, where you could see me,” she said jokingly.

“Well, then you might as well come into the house at that point,” I said, laughing. “Or at least park in my garage so the squirrels don’t get you.”

“You have ferocious squirrels in your neighborhood?” she asked skeptically.

“Enormous. Three feet high,” I said.

“Thank you so much. You don’t know what this means to me, Mr. Lamb,” she said.

“Oh, c’mon. Call me Julius. We’re going to be roomies,” I said, grinning. “It’ll be fun. I’ve got Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix—”

“And chill?” she said.

“And what?”

“Chill, you know — Forget it,” she said awkwardly. “It’s a thing from — Well, never mind.”

“Do I have your cell?” I asked. “I can text you the address.”

She gave me her number. As we exchanged information, I wondered if I’d get in trouble for this. The head of HR’s head would explode if she found out I was letting one of my 19-year-old subordinates stay at my house. But the truth was, she was too young to be out on her own in this crisis. A young girl like that would surely be taken advantage of, and probably had been by her drunk, deadbeat boyfriend. She deserved better. I had the wealth and the means. Why shouldn’t it be me?

And, sure, she was only 19 and I was 34, but we were both adults. I wasn’t forcing her; I was helping her out in a crisis. Isn’t that what people should do? Help each other in times of need?

Maybe I knew right there and then that it was for my needs, too. Maybe I needed to believe that I was the white knight, coming in on my horse to save her. She looked so relieved when I made the offer. That look would be worth it, even if this whole thing came back to bite me in the ass. That look would stay with me.

I locked up the office and retrieved some files that I needed for home; I had to make a few trips to the car. Dixie lent a hand. I noticed her car a few rows away in the now-empty parking lot. It looked like she had just robbed a clothing store.

“Wow, you really do have all your stuff in there,” I said.

“I didn’t have time to pack,” she said. “When Shawn passed out, I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.”

“Can’t blame you. Let’s hit the road,” I said. “Fortunately for both of us, I just went food shopping, so we should be okay for a week or two.”

“Oh, God, food,” said Dixie. “If they close everything, how are we going to eat?!”

“They can’t close down the supermarkets,” I said, chuckling. “People would loot them. No, I think we’re in for some strange times, but… It will all work out in the end.”

Chapter Six

Dixie

We pulled up to his address. My jaw nearly hit the floor of my car: It was a big house, mansion-level stuff. I mean, he had an iron gate. If you have a gate around your property, that makes it an estate, and if you have a house that big, it’s a mansion.

Jesus, he was so hunky and manly and everything. Or was I just on the rebound from Shawn? Did it even matter? Perhaps fate had brought us together at just the right time. Had I left Shawn two weeks ago, I’d probably be able to go to my own apartment, or, I was a spineless wimp again, I would’ve crawled back to Shawn to give him one more chance. This was only happening because it happened today of all days.

“Well, this is it,” he said, presenting the mansion. “You like it?”

“Like it? My God, it’s like a set out of some soap opera,” I said. “And you live in this giant house all by yourself?”

“I like to have a lot of room,” he said, shrugging. “And when I invite friends over, there’s plenty of places to relax. Guess I won’t be doing that for a while, though. C’mon, I’ll show you around.”

Mr. Lamb — Julius gave me a tour of the mansion. It was pretty lavish; I mean, he had his own billiard room, for starters. That’s definitely a rich guy’s room. There was a pool in the backyard, along with a massive deck and a bar counter with a built-in barbecue. He must have had some pretty swanky parties here! I could get used to this!