Page 12 of Brutal

Yeah, I should do that. I should invite Hunter and Chase—except who knows if they’d even show up for a party like that anymore. Their fucking whores have them wrapped around their little fingers.

Doesn’t matter. Mimosa, tied up, cunt stretched wide around a dildo, wearing a gag so she can’t bite anyone, and?—

I groan as the pleasure slams into me.

It’s still a sad, short orgasm.

I sigh, washing my hands before tucking myself back away and adjusting my pants. If only I was one of those bastards lucky enough to have an assistant ready to bend over at a moment’s notice, but I’m not interested in Caroline like that. That’s specifically why I hired her. Maybe I’d known better, known that I needed someone who’d be every bit as responsible as I’m not.

I snort. Hell, she could probably run the place without me by this point. I’m not risking that by coming on to her, especially not when I have a perfectly good whore waiting for me at home.

I’m barely out of the bathroom when the knock comes to the door — and fucking hell, why Hernandez managed to get here early is beyond me. I settle into my chair like I’ve been there all along, though fuck, I’m allowed to take a piss around my meetings.

After I bark my assent for the business manager to enter the room, I grab the pen again. I guess I’ll drive us both crazy.

“George Browning’s assistant called,” Caroline informs me once Estela has left.

I stare at her. “Okay.”

She comes closer to the desk, setting a cup of coffee down at the corner. I didn’t even ask for the cup, but I’m grateful.

“He wants to schedule a meeting. About the, ah, usual concerns, I think.” Caroline winces a little. “I tried to feel out Sam—his assistant—to find out what mood his boss is in. You probably want to meet with him.”

“I don’t want to meet with George,” I say flatly. “We just had a board meeting like a week ago. There’s no way the board has concerns again. He can wait for the next scheduled meeting like a normal person with a full plate.”

“The board meeting was almost three weeks ago,” Caroline corrects. “A board meeting you didn’t even attend. And I think you should meet with him, because he also scheduled a meeting with Oliver.”

Oliver is my CFO. He’s a wet rag and I should fire him, except he owns too many shares and has so many friends that I can’t risk getting rid of him without extremely good reason.

I shouldn’t have hired him in the first place, but since executive level hiring decisions are overseen by the board, I hadn’t had much choice. They wanted Oliver! Oliver had done wonders for so many other companies! Oliver would bring in even more profits!

“How do you know he scheduled a meeting with Ollie-ollie-oxenfree?” I ask her.

Caroline smiles at me. “Because I was chatting with Oliver’s assistant, and she let it slip. Very innocently, of course. There’s no reason it would be a secret from you, right?”

None at all.

“Fine. I’ll meet with George and make sure he isn’t getting too chummy with Oliver.” I reach over to grab the coffee and take a long sip. “Please tell me I have a break now.”

“You have half an hour.” She gives me a strange look. “Long enough to run down to IT and bother people there.”

I quirk a brow at her. I do enjoy annoying Patrick, and sometimes it helps lift my mood.

Him, and what he has to offer in the form of small white pills.

It shouldn’t surprise me that she’s put some of the dots together — though if she really knew what we had in common, she’d be on the phone with the NBPD in a heartbeat.

Not that they’d do anything about it, but I’d lose a valuable assistant because they all claim to have morals or whatever.

“Yeah, okay,” I say, getting up from my desk. I lift the cup of coffee to her. “Thanks.” I pass her on the way down the hall to the elevator, traveling down the few floors to the IT department. I search out Patrick, the tech guy I depend on for nearly everything — inside and out of work.

I wave to his assistant and enter his office, shutting the door behind me.

He’s tapping away at his keyboard, a look of concentration on his face.

“If it isn’t my favorite employee,” I drawl as I step into his office and close the door behind me.

Patrick turns to me and shakes his head. “Dude, do you not have work? Fucking executive types, lazing around all day, bothering the rest of us that have real shit to do…”

---