It is more than difficult to walk away from her right now because all I want to do is comfort her and make her feel safe. However, there is no fucking way I am going to let Greg get away with this.
As I enter the office, I see Natalie and Wes chatting as they walk out, ignorant to everything that just went on. I don’t have time to explain, but they must see the expression on my face and sense that something is wrong. They stare at me as I rush past them, and in one quick breath, I beg them to stay with Ellie.
Their voices chime out in agreement as I beeline towards Greg’s office. The door is shut, and I don’t offer the courtesy of knocking. As I swing the door open, Greg sits unbothered at his desk with the phone to his ear.
How can he look so calm?
Not even twenty minutes ago, he was harassing and almost sexually assaulting my girlfriend in my office. I knew that Greg wasn’t a good guy, but this takes it to a whole new level. Iwant to rip him apart. I want to make him pay for what he has done. I want to make him regret the day he started making inappropriate comments to Ellie.
Racking my brain for where I should start, I stand there in his doorway, and he responds by covering the mouth piece on the phone and shooing me away.
I know he did not just fucking do that.
Unfortunately for Greg, I am not thinking about my job or my well-being. The only thing on my mind is Ellie, sobbing in the parking lot because of this fucking shit head, so I take a step into his office, slamming the door behind me, and raise my voice.
“Hang up thefuckingphone, Gregory.” I don’t know if he’s stunned by my tone, but he doesn’t move. Taking another step closer, I stand firm and use my most threatening tone. “That wasn’t a request.”
Greg stares at me annoyed but cuts off the person on the other line. “I’m going to have to call you back.”
He has the audacity to roll his eyes and look at me with a blank expression. “What is so important that I had to hang up on our distributor? ”
“Why is my girlfriend crying in the parking lot?” My voice is strong and calm, not letting him in on how furious I am right now.
He rolls his eyes again, and I want to rip his stupid head off of his body. “Why would I know? Women are so emotional. Is she on her period?”
“Don’t fucking play dumb." I keep my voice flat. "I know you were in my office with her. Tell me what you did.”
“You should watch your language, Patrick. I would hate to have to write you up for disrespectful insubordination.” He clicks a pen on his desk like he is about to jot some notes down about what is happening.
I laugh at his threat. “You really think I give a shit about a write up? What the fuck did you say to her? What did you do?”
Pretending like I’m not a threat, I watch Greg stand up from his chair and move around to the front of his desk. He leans back and starts talking like we’re buddies. Big fucking mistake. “Oh, c’mon. It’s not my fault your girl can’t take a joke. We were just chatting, you know? Having some fun. I guess she doesn’t get my humor.”
“So, you admit that you said something that made her react like that?” I raise my eyebrows at him, and he realizes that he exposed himself.
“I can’t control how people react, Patrick." Backtracking, he tries to flip the blame on me. "Now I’m going to ask you to step out of my office, so I can call the distributor back and get this error sorted out. If they don’t pick up, we all know who’s fault—”
I cut him off, raising my voice again. “I’m not leaving until you tell me what you fucking said.”
“Oh god, Patrick. Who cares? Is she really worth getting in trouble over?” I don’t move, and he starts rambling. “I was just tellingyourgirlfriendthat she shouldn’t flirt with people because they might get the wrong idea. I thought she was just your run-of-the-mill slut, but I guess she actually cares about you. I gave her a much better offer than what you have, and shedidn’t take it. It’s not that big of a deal. I don’t get why she is complaining.”
I stand there flabbergasted that he just confirmed everything that Ellie had told me in the parking lot. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Oh come on. It’s all in good fun.” His smug smile is making me even more pissed off than I already am. This guy is absolutely delusional. “But just so you know, I am going to have to write you up because of this little outburst. It’s a shame to see it taint your perfect file.”
Letting the threat linger between us, I watch him. He thinks he has won. He thinks that he’s going to tarnish my reputation, and I’ll leave here with my tail between my legs. But, he has another thing coming.
“I quit.” As soon as the words come out of my mouth, his eyes go wide. He obviously did not realize that I wasn’t fucking around. I have spent over half a decade at this company, giving my all and being respected for the decisions that I make, but I cannot go another minute working for this delusional asshole. There is no way I can know if this is the right decision, but I refuse to work under someone like this. “I’ll talk to Debbie about picking up my things tomorrow.”
“Wait, Patrick. This was all just a misunderstanding.” He scrambles, and I just stare at him. Doesn't he know that his pleas are meaningless? All of the damage has already been done, and I’ve made my decision. “I’m sorry that your girlfriend took it the wrong way."
Realizing he’s not going to even try to apologize for what he did wrong, I turn on my heels and start walking back towards the parking lot.
“Patrick!” He starts to raise his voice. “Patrick, you can’t just walk out of here!”
I can hear him becoming desperate as I walk out of his office. “Come back here right now!”
His yelling fades as I make my way out the building, and it isn’t until I walk through the lobby doors that the true severity of my decision sinks in. Thinking back to every interaction with Greg, I don’t regret it. At least, I don’t think I do.
