Page 87 of Mob Knight

“And who or why could that be?”

“If you know who my boyfriend is, perhaps you can imagine why someone would wish to cause problems for either him or me.”

“Then that’s its own problem. Jocelyn, if your relationship is going to affect your work, then I can’t send you out in good faith to these neighborhoods.”

“Are you serious right now, Martha, or is this your own way of handling your concerns or prejudices against who I’m dating?”

“I’d be careful with those accusations, Jocelyn.”

“Shouldn’t I say that to you? This isn’t something that’ll just go away if you’re putting it in my personnel file. You need to prove this isn’t a false accusation before you put in a formal reprimand. If it’s just one person, and even the alleged victims don’t corroborate this person’s story, then it’s their word against mine. What makes their word more valuable when you’ve known me for years? I’ve received commendations for my work. Never once has anybody claimed otherwise.”

“You weren’t dating a mobster before this.”

“That’s what it’s really about. It’s about who I’m dating.”

That makes me think it’s somebody connected to the Cartel who wants to punish my boyfriend through me or wants topunish me for dating somebody who’s not Latino, somebody who’s a rival.

“That’s not my issue to determine.”

“Martha, that’s ridiculous. Of course it is. If somebody’s filing a false claim against me, then you have a responsibility to find out why that’s happening.”

“I’d be careful, Jocelyn, about telling me what I do and don’t have to do. You’re skating on thin ice. If you argue any further, I’ll write you up for insubordination.”

I cannot believe she’s doing this. Yeah, she’s my boss, and I don’t consider her a friend, but I thought we had mutual professional respect, and we were friendly.

“I don’t have to sign my agreement to that reprimand. I’m going to exert that right, and I will not sign that as an admission of fault.”

“But you must sign it as proof of receipt.”

“I read the entire document, Martha. I can see the way this one’s written means signing is an admission of fault. It’s not a recognition of receipt. I won’t sign it. If I’m forced to, I will file a complaint for coercion and a hostile work environment.”

Two can play this game, and I won’t allow Martha to back me into a corner since my annual review is coming up in a month. I refuse to have this as a fresh strike against me. This is so utterly unreal to me. I can’t believe this is happening.

My gut keeps screaming to get out of this conversation and call Cormac. Not necessarily because I believe he can fix this or that I even expect him to fix this. We’ve built a tremendous trust through our physical relationship, and he’s who I want to go to when I’m in doubt or something goes wrong. Not as my Dom, but as my boyfriend.

Perhaps tonight things will play out with him as my Dom taking control of this in the privacy of what I’m now considering our home because that’s what he keeps calling it. I moved in withhim after the near miss with the car. He didn’t have to insist that hard to convince me because that scared me shitless, and this is doing the same. Tonight, my Dom might console me, but for right now, I want my boyfriend who I trust above anyone else. I don’t know what to make of all of this, but I certainly don’t like it.

I hand the report back to Martha, who glowers at me. I won’t be cowed. Unless she grabs my hand, shoves a pen in it, and forces it to the paper, I won’t sign. In fact, she can shove this and the pen she’s holding up her ass.

“I need to be at the middle school in twenty minutes. I have to go.”

“I sent Amelia instead. I said you weren’t available today.”

“You replaced me?”

“While this pending investigation is underway?—”

“Pending investigation? You believe I may not have done this. You’re going to look into it?”

“I’m going to investigate why you’re lying.”

I grit my teeth to keep my mouth from hanging open like I’m catching flies.

“I’m taking a sick day.”

“No.”

“I have the days on the books, and you can’t prove I’m not sick.”

---