Jasmine
"Jasmine, coffee for Mr Michaels... ASAP!" This shrill, gut-wrenching yell came from the office “bully”, or rather, my office bully. Of course, I had another name much more befitting of her, but I refused to be so profane so early in the morning. Besides, I had gotten used to Mrs Connor making me do her job. As if I did not already have enough on my plate.
"On it! Give me ten minutes!" I yelled as I took my fingers off of my keyboard and began to leave my hard, uncomfortable office chair. The thing was a daily nightmare for my ass.
"You've got five. His meeting begins at eight, and he said he'd like his coffee way before his meeting!" She yelled as I began running with my black heels clicking loudly against the floor. I seriously did not get paid enough for this early morning bullshit. Honestly, I sometimes wished I could just rip that blonde hair off of her head and shove it down her throat so she wouldn’t have to command me to save her ass from being fired because of her clear incompetence. But alas, I was only Jasmine Spectra, and Jasmine Spectra was only allowed to think “nice” and “happy” thoughts.
My heels continued their violent clicking and clacking on the pavement towards the coffee shop which was about a two-minute walk from the office. I estimated a further two-minute wait at the coffee shop which meant I had to shrink my travelling time to about half a minute- hence the violent clicking and clacking.
"Regular order for Mr Michaels!" I yelled breathlessly from the door to the quaint, bright coffee shop which was filled with the pleasant aroma of fresh coffee and sweet, freshly baked goods.
The poor soul working at the counter, Kevin, nodded, making his sandy hair fall into his face and overshadow his bright, green eyes. He left everything he was busy with
including the lovely couple in the process of ordering
all to begin working on my boss's coffee. Freshly ground, black coffee, no sugar, no milk, no cream, but a touch of cinnamon for a good, strong aroma. Yes, I knew his order off by heart by now. In fact, sometimes I had nightmares about cups of coffee burning me alive, though I was sure the two were probably not related in the slightest.
"It's ready!" Kevin yelled. I ran towards the counter, gave Kevin the money and then bolted out of the shop, practically assaulting the heels of my shoes against the ground. Poor Kevin knew my exact situation- that, and my boss was a regular customer of his with a "no nonsense" attitude and a wallet full of tips which helped Kevin pay for his college fees.
Once my legs had gotten into the perfect running pace, I quickly checked my watch and realised I had exactly one minute to get there.
"Excuse me! Hold the door!" I yelled as I ran to the elevator. Thank goodness my best friend London was in the elevator and so she held a beautifully heeled foot out and moved aside for me to come in.
"Coffee run?" She asked as she gave me a hug.
"Yeah!" I said in a deep pant.
She smirked to herself, as though she had said a little inside joke in her head, and then began to put lipstick on her perfect lips. London had to be one of the most attractive women in the office. Her legs were stunning and toned, her hair, thick and black and flowed to her hips. She was basically the equivalent of a walking drool-inducer. Unfortunately for most of the droolers who drooled over her, she was taken.
"How's Amber?" I asked as I nervously watched the digital numbers change above the keypad within the elevator. The elevator was seriously teasing me at this point, and I wasn’t sure how much I could take until I was overcome with a huge, all-consuming mental breakdown.
"She's good, tonight is date night, so she's been secretive the whole day." She said.
London and Amber had been dating ever since I’d met London, and I was sure I had listened to enough of their relationship from London that I could, in detail, describe their entire sex life with exact dates, times and positions.
Just as I was about to say something to London, the elevator door opened on floor twenty-five. "Oh well, that's my stop, talk later?" I asked. She nodded and then I exited the elevator and rushed over to Mrs Connor's office. She always asked me to get the coffee and then she would take it to the boss herself to make it seem as though she were doing her job of actually being his personal assistant. However, when I got there, she was not in her office. Instead, a note was placed on her table, addressed to me.
Bring him the coffee in the conference room. Meeting was moved to 7:50.
As soon as I read this, I nearly dropped the coffee on the floor, realising exactly what this meant. I would have to give my boss his coffee. In that moment, I wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole.
I began to profusely panic internally as I thought of seeing him. I had always avoided the CEO, and rightly so. When I saw him on the elevator I'd use the stairs- all twenty-five flights- if we walked past each other, I'd look down on the ground and pretend to be interested in the shade of black my heels were. If he passed my desk, I would look at the screen of my computer, not once even daring to blink, lest I attract his attention. He made me illogically nervous, bothered and downright uncomfortable. His presence screamed of money and power. His eyes, although mostly emotionless, burned beneath the surface with anger and rage. That was why none of us spoke to him more than what was necessary. He was a walking rage machine which spewed out insults and strings of "you're fired" and "get out of my way". What was worse, was that he always seemed to be watching me. It always felt as though his eyes were glued to me, as though he was targeting me as "weak prey" out of all the other animals in this office. It was unnerving, if I was being honest.
I walked to the conference room with long, quick strides, all the while struggling to breathe and trying to use good, calming words to calm myself down. This version of Jasmine Spectra couldn’t rely on anything other than her soothing words and breathing. It was as though I were putting on a show, and in order to play the perfect character I’d picked out for myself, I had to commit to the way she’d act in a situation like this one.
"He's just a person. A normal human being. He won't bite you." I said as I began to open the door to the conference room.
However, the moment I stepped inside, I froze. Only Mr Michaels was in the room. He sat straight up; eyes focused on a folder in front of him. For a moment I counted my blessings until the door slammed shut behind me, drawing his attention to me.
Well, it can’t possibly get worse than this, I thought to myself. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It could get much, much worse and Mr Michaels was about to do a spectacular job of proving it to me.
"You are?" His deep, smooth voice echoed through the room. I looked at him for a moment, and then, remembering to stay in character, I averted my eyes to the floor, allowing my short, shoulder length black hair to cover my face, and hiding my panicked icy blue eyes under my bangs. Today, he was dressed in a sophisticated black suit which fit his absolute marvel of a body perfectly. His soft, black hair was styled neatly in contrast to the sexy, neat but messy style his hair was usually in. His normally raging hazel eyes were now calmer... almost neutral. I had to say that he looked as mouth wateringly decadent as he always did- high cheekbones, knife-sharp jaw, perfect plump lips, carefully chiselled nose. And this was yet another thing that made him so intimidating- his attractiveness in contrast to my bland appearance.
I gulped, before saying, almost inaudibly, "I-I w-work in the financial department. I-I'm an accountant." It all came out as a whispered stutter, yet he seemed to hear my every word.
"Yet you are bringing me my coffee on a daily basis? I don't think that's part of your job requirements, Miss Spectra." My head immediately shot up and I almost choked on my saliva- in fact I wish I’d choked on my saliva. It would have saved me from this encounter and the startling realisation that was beginning to dawn on me. He knew me and yet he pretended not to? What game was he playing?
"S-sorry sir?" I muttered.
Now, looking at him right in the eye, I felt my legs close together as a feeling of heated desire grew between my thighs. No man had ever done something like this to me- made me feel so intoxicated with desire, and he was just doing it by merely breathing and staring me in the eye. I couldn’t look away though and this was the first of me breaking my character.
Mr Michaels then smirked, and said, "I'm not an idiot. For the first three years of Mrs Connor working for me, she'd never gotten my order right. But now, it's flawless. So, obviously I grew suspicious when my coffee order miraculously turned into my coffee order. I had this whole situation investigated a year back."
And this was the part where I completely disregarded the character I’d made myself play, and let a little Vixen slip out. "Excuse me sir... were you, watching me? And if you knew exactly what I was doing, why are you only confronting me about it now? Seems a bit childish to play such games with one of your employees. Are you running a business or a playground, Sir?"
He looked taken aback at my sternness, and for a second, I almost died at my personality mishap. I didn’t mean to bite back, but I couldn’t help it. So, I looked down again, praying that I could somehow switch back into the quiet, scared and shy version of myself that I’d created.
Mr Michaels then took in a sharp breath, and said, "The reason I didn’t confront you about it before, is because I wanted to see exactly the kind of idiot I had hired, who let a co-worker take advantage of her. I wanted to see how long you'd keep this up and if you'd ever stand up for yourself... but you never did. However, since you get my coffee order so splendidly correct, you will be doing it from now on. I want my coffee every day at seven sharp-"
And yet another slip of the Vixen I truly was.
"That's not in my working hours, I get in at a quarter-past seven and I refuse to come in any earlier." I protested.
He raised his eyebrows and said, "You should have considered that before you began letting people walk all over you. Now get out of my office. Your disappointing little self disgusts me."
If things were different, I would have had Mr Michaels on his knees, naked, vulnerable and begging. However, at this moment, I was only Jasmine Spectra. A walking façade of shyness, obedience and fear.
"Yes sir." And this was what Jasmine Spectra got- reprimanded by her asshole of a boss.
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Official first chapter! So excited to get this novel going. Thoughts so far??
