AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Eleven
Jace
Monday morning as I arrived at work and put my lunch in the break room refrigerator, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was John Atkins, and he didn’t look happy. Not that he ever did, but he was looking particularly disagreeable at that moment.
“O’Neal. Could I see you in my office, please?” He turned on his heel without waiting for an answer. I sighed and trudged along behind him. I so wasn’t in the mood for whatever he had to say.
He seated himself behind his desk and waved a hand at the chair in front of it, not even waiting until my ass hit the seat before he was shoving a newspaper across the desk at me.
“What do you have to say about this?”
Looking down at it with dread, I saw the big picture on the front page of the second section of the Atlanta Journal and cringed. It was me, dodging Cassidy’s fist, and the caption under the picture wasBoyfriend of Missing Man,Dylan Malone, Brawling Outside The Bard’sPlayhouse with Unknown Actor.
“Brawling, O’Neal? Do you know how this makes us look?”
“Us, sir?”
“The company! Our customers read the paper, O’Neal. This is intolerable.”
“First of all, I’m sure it’s only a local story, and besides, I doubt that any of them will recognize me on sight—we do most of our work on the computer or over the phone, and even if they did, this wasn’t my fault. The guy took a swing at me and all I did was duck.”
“Read farther down. In the article, it names our firm. And we know the police are investigating you, O’Neal. They’ve been calling and asking questions. This article references the investigation too.”
“What?” I pulled the paper closer and scanned it while he sat there glaring at me, looking like he ate a sour pickle. I found the paragraph relating to me about halfway through the article.
“Jason O’Neal, recently estranged partner of the missing actor, Dylan Malone, works in sales promotion at a local firm, Everest Enterprises in Buckhead. O’Neal, an Atlanta native, has been named a person of interest by police investigating Malone’s disappearance. He was involved in a brief scuffle with one of Dylan Malone’s fellow actors outside the theater during the event, as tensions over Malone’s unexplained disappearance run high. O’Neal couldn’t be reached for comment.”
I looked up at Atkins. “Sir, I…”
“I might not have even seen this had it not been for one of our other employees pointing it out to me. I think it best if you take a leave of absence until all this is over, O’Neal. It’s a distraction to our staff and frankly, an embarrassment to the firm. I’ll be honest with you, it was my desire to fire you outright, but HR says we have to offer you an LOA. I would like you to get your things together and leave the office ASAP.”
I rose to my feet before he could throw anymore of the alphabet at me. I can’t say I was surprised, but I was still shaking a little as I tried to take it in. He was asking me to vacate the premises as soon as possible. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
Embarrassment and anger for sure—confusion, because I wasn’t sure exactly what to do now, and relief that I wouldn’t have to work for this asshole anymore. And, oh yeah, mild hysteria because I no longer had a job. No matter what HR said about leaves of absences, this was a first step out the door, and Atkins and I both knew it.
I had a couple of weeks’ worth of vacation pay coming to me, and after that, I didn’t know. Could I draw unemployment? Did I have to wait until I was officially fired or were they hoping I’d just quit? If so, they’d be waiting a long time, because I wasn’t going to make it easy for them. I saw Atkins reach for the phone and came out of my daze long enough to realize he was probably calling the building security guard downstairs to come up and escort me to my desk to get my things and then make sure I left the building. It was standard procedure, but I refused to allow the asshole to have the satisfaction.
I walked out, leaving him spluttering my name behind me. I made it to the elevator before my knees gave out, and I had to clutch the wall to keep on my feet. I heard footsteps clicking down the hall behind me and then Suzanne was there, tucking her hand in my arm for support. She didn’t say anything, just held onto my arm while we rode down together in the elevator. When we arrived in the lobby, she waved the guard away, and took me over to a set of sofas in the corner, pushing me down on the seat.
“Wait there and I’ll go get your things.”
I nodded, not giving a damn about whatever crap I had in my desk drawers, but she was trying to be nice and take care of me, so I waited for her. I doubted I could walk steadily anyway, now that reaction had really settled in. So, I sat there and waited while the security guard kept glancing at me nervously. She was back in about twenty minutes, holding a small cardboard box that Atkins no doubt had ready and waiting for me. She set it down on the sofa beside me and settled herself on the other side, taking my hand.
“I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t,” she said. “You know, of course, he’s only been waiting for his chance.”
“Why does he hate me so much?”
“I should think it would be fairly obvious, dear. He’s middle-aged and fat and fairly stupid, while you—well, just look at you. Besides that, our customers love you and ask for you by name. You’re on the way up and he reached his highest level of incompetency years ago.”
I looked over at her in amazement. She’d never said anything like this before about me or about Atkins. I squeezed her hand back. There didn’t seem to be much to say.
She pulled a key out of her pocket and pressed it in my hand.
“Here. This is the key to a little cabin I own in the North Georgia mountains. My sister and I inherited it from my parents years ago, and we almost never get a chance to use it. Neither of us will be there for the next couple of weeks. It’s a two-hour drive from here, but the scenery is beautiful. Go up for a few days and relax and regroup. I haven’t been up there in months, but it’s very restful and quiet. It’ll give you a chance to think about what you’re going to do next.”
I looked down at the key and raised my eyebrows. “Why are you offering me this? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s an incredibly generous offer and I appreciate it, but…”
“Because you’ve been kicked in the teeth enough. Because you’re a good person and don’t deserve this, and because it’s not long until the holidays, damn it, and the company doesn’t even care.” She looked up at me and shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, believe me. It’s just sitting there empty. You’d be doing me a favor by checking on things for me. Maybe dust a little for me, if you feel that guilty. Go up for a few days and figure things out. Decide where you go from here.” She stood up.
