Page 27 of Edge of Control

A perfect example would have been the janitor who discovered me in the office building the other night. The easy, albeit slightly messier option, would have been to kill him right there and then. It would have prevented any word from getting out. I could have cleaned it all up and made it look like a break-in gone wrong.

I couldn’t do that. I didn’t know this man. He had no links to my mission. He could have been one of the worst people on the planet, or he could have been one of the best. It wasn’t my position to make a judgment call on the spot like that.

Instead, I dropped down to my hands and knees, crawled around a couple of cubicles, and hid under a desk until the man left. He even cleaned up the mess I had made on the window. He must have thought it was an overly horny employee who had left it, judging by the grumbles he made about Eric and Angela, who I imagined were the office romance he thought resulted in a cumshot across the window.

I waited for the all clear, then got back up onto my feet and snuck out. My heart hammered with every step. I didn’t encounter anyone else. I left feeling another rush of adrenaline spike through me. I’d emptied my balls, watched Jace do the same, almost got caught, and made it out just fine.

Fuck. It was making me hard again. I leaned against the counter, hiding the bulge. Right in time, too. Harrisonfrom accounting walked up to me, empty coffee mug in hand.

“Hey, Theo, how’ve ya been, bud? I feel like it’s been a bit since we’ve caught up.”

Harrison was an annoying, misogynistic fuck who was in charge of his department and thought that meant he was next in line for the presidency. He always wore the same black polo shirt and gray khakis that looked like they were tight enough to cut off circulation to his dick.

Anddamn, did I hate it when someone called me “bud.” Right up there with someone calling me “sweetheart.” Fucking torture.

“It has been,” I said as pleasantly as I could. My boner immediately shrunk.

“Anything new?”

“Nope, nothing major.” I grabbed my coffee and moved it over to the sugar station. I grabbed a stirrer and dumped a good amount of sugar and powdered milk into the coffee. Harrison shifted over, taking my spot at the Keurig. He leaned a hip against the counter and crossed his arms. He smelled like garlic and onions from the cream cheese spread he must have put on his bagel.

“I can’t say the same. Did you get the news? About the layoffs?”

My interest piqued. I arched a brow, shook my head. “Layoffs? Who sent that message?”

“Came from Rebecca. Sent an email to the managers. Thought you would have gotten one.”

To be fair, I hadn’t checked my emails today. Figured whatever was in there could hold off until lunch.

“Shouldn’tbe too difficult a call for you. I think you only have three people to put on the chopping block.” Harrison rubbed his hands together like a greedy little fly hovering over a plate of leftovers. “I’ve got ten I have to pink slip. Should be a fun weekend. I might start with Tina first. Never liked her attitude.”

I bristled at that. I knew Tina, and I knew exactly why Harrison was going for her first. Because she had denied him a pass after he got blackout drunk and hit on her at the holiday party last year. He had it out for her ever since then.

What a fucking asshole.

I also happened to really like Tina. We had bonded one day over our mutual dislike of Harrison. She was one of the few people I enjoyed bumping into in these offices.

“Shouldn’t you be basing this off performance and not off personal vendettas?”

Rich, coming from me.

Harrison cocked his head. He couldn’t hide his surprise at me coming for him. Honestly, I’d had enough of this cocky motherfucker. Maybe it was time someone knocked him down a peg or two.

“That’s, uh, well, it’s my decision, isn’t it? I’m the boss. I get to choose who I give the axe to.”

“So it’s got nothing to do with you saying to me, ‘fuck that Tina bitch for not putting out. I just wanted to give her this dick. She’ll either take it, or she’ll regret it.’” I said it loudly enough for a few people around us to hear. The banal conversations slowed to a screeching halt.

Harrison blinked a couple of times and stuttered. “I-I never said that.”

True. He hadn’t. But he didn’t know that, and neither did the people listening in. “You did. While you were drunk at the party. I’m sure if I ask around, I’d find someone else who heard you. You weren’t exactly being subtle that night.”

Seeing the panic settle in Harrison’s dumb brown eyes was delicious.

“It sounds to me like that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

He shook his head; everything from his neck up turned a firehouse red. I smiled at him. Swirled my coffee. “Rethink your decision, Harrison. For your own good.”

Him I could stab. I don’t think I’d lose much sleep from watching him bleed out on the break room floor.

---