Bad Teacher

Because let’s face it … something this shocking, this scandalous, won’t be accepted by the public. They’ll scrutinize me and the company to the point where me leaving would be a simpler solution to deal with the attention.

“You don’t know that,” Lesley says after a while. “But I can’t even try to help if you won’t tell me what happened. Was it my fault?” She’s wearing a concerned frown on her face and a sad look in her eyes. “I swear, I didn’t tell anyone.”

I lean in and place a hand on her cheek, caressing her softly. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything. At least, not to my knowledge.” I smirk and shrug, but that won’t change a thing about the situation I’m in.

“Then who did?” she asks, cocking her head so she can look me in the eyes.

“Yeah, TJ …” Beau’s sudden entrance caught me off guard. “Who did it?”

I make a face at him. “Like you don’t already know.”

He crosses his arms. “I can’t believe it’s come to this. I thought you dealt with her.”

“I thought I did too,” I reply. “But flies are hard to swat, remember?”

He purses his lips. “Damn right they are. And now look at this.” He holds up a newspaper he brought in. “It’s all over the news.”

“What is?” Lesley asks. “Just tell me what’s going on, please.”

I sigh. I didn’t want to tell her this because it’s not something I’m proud of, but I guess I can’t avoid it any longer.

“I had another intern before you came along. She worked hard, and I liked that. But she was also very enthusiastic about working with me …and that’s an understatement.”

“Very,” Beau adds.

She seems a little confused, so I guess I need to elaborate.

“She got a little too friendly.”

“Too friendly,” Beau adds again, and I give him a look. “What?”

Her lips form an o shape. “She tried to get in your pants?”

“Oh yes … and I know what you’re thinking. I’m a player, a cocky bastard … a different chick every day.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s like a pussy magnet,” Beau scoffs, and I roll my eyes.

“But that’s all talk. It’s not true,” I say. “I never pursue girls unless I really like them.”

“You just want people to believe you’re a ho-bag,” she says.

“Damn girl,” Beau cheers. “That’s on point.”

“Maybe.” I shrug. “But the point is, she actually thought she could use me. At first, she just tried to seduce me, and I did eventually end up kissing her. However,” I say, gazing explicitly into her eyes, “I didn’t pursue it further.”

“She felt ignored,” she says and does she hit the nail on the head.

“Yes.” I tap my pen on the desk from frustration. “She kept pushing for a relationship, despite me telling her I wasn’t interested. She wouldn’t have it. Eventually, she ended up threatening to expose me if I didn’t give her a raise, so I had to fire her.”

“Expose you?” she mutters.

“Yes.” I let out another sigh. “As my intern, I asked her to take Dozer for a walk about once a week, to which she agreed, but …”

“She went through your stash,” Lesley says.

“So she knows about your panty addiction too?” Beau says.

“I found my own panties in his closet before he told me,” Lesley replies.

Beau cringes. “Ouch.”

“Exactly,” Lesley says. “But I forgave him.”

“Can we get back to the important things?” I purse my lips. “That girl knew she could use it against me. Threatened to expose me if I didn’t love her back, so I fired her instead. What else was I supposed to do?” I exclaim.

“You did the right thing,” Lesley says.

“Really? Because now she’s going to take my career away from me and possibly even this goddamn business.” I chuck the pen onto the desk, feeling defeated. “Goddammit. I never thought she’d stoop so low and actually talk to the press about me.”

“What a bitch,” Beau mutters.

“No wonder you were so apprehensive to hire me. It was because of her, wasn’t it?” Lesley asks.

“Yeah … but also because I knew you were the one who sent me the panties, of course.”

“Right.”

“But it is why Gillian’s so uptight around you,” I add.

Beau bursts out into laughter, drawing our attention, and he immediately stops laughing. “Okay, I’ll see myself out now. Tell me if you need my help.” He winks at me. “You know I’m here if you need me.”

“Thanks,” I say as he closes the door behind him.

“So Gillian knows about your panty collection?” Lesley continues.

“God no,” I say, my eyes almost bulging out of my head because of the scare. “Fuck, I don’t think I’d survive.”

She chuckles. “But then why …?”

“She knows about the extortion. She’s skittish around any new female co-worker. It’s just who she is. She’s trying to protect me.”

“Hmm.” She rubs her chin. “Well, that does explain it. Still, what that girl did to you was wrong.”