The Biggest Licker

Fucking Rhoda. She really had to go and fucking stab me in the back, didn't she? And, not happy with it, she had to go and throw Penny under the bus as well. Her hate knows no fucking boundaries. Of course, Laurel’s fingers are all over this as well. These two are like two peas in a fucking pod. No wonder, though, after the way my marriage to Rhoda ended.

I throw the Daily Journal on top of my desk and get up from my chair. I pace around the office, trying to think of a way to minimize the damages. Oh, yeah, make no mistake about it: the damages are happening as I speak, and they’re going to be fucking huge. Right now, the directors on my board are probably in a panic, and these fucking bastards don’t play well under stress.

The Daily Journal has just published this bullshit exposé, and now the rest of the press has fucking latched on to the whole thing like hungry vampires. Only one hour has passed since the article has been on the streets, and my office is already swamped with phone calls from journalists from all over the country, all of them calling in to get a comment. Yeah, these motherfuckers don’t even care about checking the facts—all they want is one big juicy comment for them to spin around and turn into money.

“I came in as soon as I heard,” Joyce blurts out, entering my office without knocking. Her hair, usually done in a neat bun, is now a disheveled mess; I guess she checked her phone first thing in the morning and, finding out about this fucking mess, just jumped out of bed and drove here.

“This is a fucking mess, Joyce,” I hiss, grabbing the newspaper from my desk and waving it around, my fingers curled tight around it.

“I hate to do this, but as your lawyer I have to ask… is any of it the truth?” she asks me, and the expression on my face must be a terrifying one, because she just raises her hands up in the air defensively and shrugs. “I had to ask.”

From saying that I pressured Penny to have sex with me, to flat out state that I used her as plant to fabricate a good buzz around my company… Rhoda fucking outdid herself this time. And I can’t help but be fucking pissed that Joyce even had to ask if any of it is true. Jesus, what kind of man do people think I am? Some fucking sociopath degenerate?

“I’m going to sue the Daily Journal so fucking hard they won’t even be able to run a Facebook account after I’m done with them,” I say, tearing the newspaper in half and then crumpling it in my hands. I’m usually cool under pressure, but they’ve dragged Penny into this. And I won’t fucking have that. Not in a million years.

“That’s all good, Magnus, but we have more pressing matters now. The Board of Directors has called for an emergency meeting.”

“Fuck!” I was already expecting that, but not this fucking soon. I figured most of them would still be asleep now (it’s only 7 am, for fuck’s sake) but bad news really spreads like wildfire.

“You don’t need me to tell you what that means,” she whispers, concern in her eyes. Yeah, it’s pretty obvious what’s going on; the board is probably pissing their pants right now. The Daily Journal has created a scandal big enough for the city to reconsider our involvement in the Equinox Tower; and if that contract gets pulled from under our feet, we’re going to be in deep shit financially.

“Yeah, I know what that means, Joyce. And we’re going to need to work out a solution. Fast.” I look at her and sigh, sinking down into my chair. Outside, a light rain is starting, heavy raindrops descending from the grey skies and hitting my office windows. This is a fucking nightmare, and I have no idea where to start fixing this fucking thing.

I could hold a press conference and try to deny all this bullshit, but I guess that would play straight into Rhoda’s hands. I’d have to admit I was, indeed, having sex with my own stepdaughter… And then the press wouldn’t even hear the rest of it. They’d just ask for the

bloody details, and spin more lies.

Joyce was right when she chided me about my relationship with Penny. I should've been more careful about the whole thing. I knew Laurel and Rhoda were out to get me, and I should’ve figured they wouldn’t bat an eye to using my own stepdaughter against me. I guess I just never thought Rhoda would stoop this low and use her own daughter as fucking pawn.

Unless… unless Penny played a part in all of this. But, no, that can’t fucking be. She came clean to me, and I trust her. I trust her with my fucking life. But then again, a long time ago I used to trust Rhoda as well. And look how well that turned out.

Joyce sits across from me, wordlessly, and we just sit in silence for a minute, coming to terms with the fucking war zone we just stepped into. If we don’t act fast, my company is going to start crumbling all around me, and all the money I’ve worked so fucking hard for is going to vanish like smoke being carried away by a soft breeze. And, when push comes to shove, my own board of directors won’t hesitate to gang up on me and kick me out of the company I fucking founded.

Yeah, what can I say? I’m not feeling too optimistic right now. And I guess Joyce is feeling the same, judging by the deep lines of concern around her eyes. She’s usually very calm and calculating, seeing everything two steps ahead of everyone else, but now she’s as stumped as I am. And when Joyce’s stumped… Well, when that happens, hold on to your hats; the sky might just come crashing down.

And that’s when I hear the door to my office swing open.

And there she is, the light of my life.

Penny Wright.

Penny

“Magnus, I…” I start to say as I enter his office, but the words I had so carefully chosen seem to slip from my mind. Magnus raises his eyes to look at me, and I can tell that this is bad. Well, I knew it’d be bad, but the look in his eyes tells me exactly how bad. And it’s pretty fucking bad.

Joyce’s there too, and she turns around on her chair to look at me. There’s a disapproving look in her eyes, but it’s not like I can blame her: I’m at the center of this storm, and if it weren’t for me, none of this would've happened. And she’s loyal to Magnus, which I guess is something you couldn’t really say about me until a few months ago.

“Joyce, please leave us,” Magnus tells her, and she just gives him a slight nod and goes up to her feet. She starts walking out of the office, but then she stops a few feet away from me. I almost expect for her to scream out at me, but she just offers me a sad smile.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, “no woman deserves this from her own mother.” With that, she reaches for my shoulder and lays her hand there, gently squeezing before she finally lowers her gaze and walks out of the office, closing the door behind her. Even though she never approved of my relationship with Magnus, I guess she somehow feels a bit of compassion toward me. And that’s saying something, when a woman that should hate your guts is more compassionate toward you than your own mother, I guess that’s saying a lot about the current state of affairs.

“Please, tell me you don’t have anything to do with this,” Magnus says with a defeated tone of voice, waving at the crumpled newspaper sitting on his desk. I open my mouth to respond, but he just waves me down and stands up. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you that. I know you had nothing to do with it,” he continues, and I feel as if someone lifted a few hundreds tons off my shoulders.

“I had nothing to do with it… I swear,” I tell him all the same, hoping that my words help ease his troubled mind. I can’t even begin to imagine how he must feel right now, the future of his company hanging in the balance. And all because of me, just like an idiot I played my mother’s game, carefully setting up Magnus for a fall. In the end, my mother and Laurel really got what they were after.

Magnus walks around his desk and I walk toward him, closing the distance between the two of us. I wrap my arms around his torso and lay my head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat in silence.

“Are you okay?” he whispers, running his fingers through my hair. I just nod wordlessly, and then he holds me tight in his arms. I feel like crying now, a sob threatening to overtake me, but I just choke it out of me.