Page 17 of Of Mercury and Mist

As a matter of fact, I probably wouldn’t get out of there alive. After what Andy told me, I’d be shocked if I did.

It was awkward, walking into Ipomoea a couple hours later. The security guards’ eyes felt like they lingered a second too long, hyperalert to my proximity. As I sauntered past them, the woman at the check-in desk spent an extra moment appraising me. Did they know? Maybe I was just being paranoid and imagining things. Maybe all they’d heard was that I was working for Micha now. No longer was I just sitting in a cubicle and coming up with copywrite and photos; it sounded like a promotion to be in personal service to one of the CEOs. You’d think it was—at a normal job.

Maybe my new, assumed, status had them staring.

In reality, I was their boss’s new slave. This felt like a morning-after walk of shame. It was so hard to act like everything was normal and as if I were still one of the top employees in the marketing division. There was no telling what waited for me once I got upstairs.

But I did just that, acted like all was mostly well, slipping my key card into the right scanners, stepping onto the correct elevator. Smiling at the faceless associates milling about the hall as I walked by. I was one of them, a business professional.

“Ahh, there’s the little thief.” Micha sneered at me. He was standing leaning on the inside of his door frame, and he grabbed my arm and dragged me stumbling into his office. He’d been lying in wait, the asshole. No one in the hall batted an eye as he dragged me into his cave. Apparently, brutish behavior didn’t raise anyone’s concern but my own.

Yanking my arm from him, I yelped, “Let go of me.” He slammed the door shut and I backed away as he came at me. “What?” I groaned.

He was in all black today, strangely reminiscent of my dream only now he had on a suit jacket and a black tie. Different tie bar though, this one was encrusted with deep red gemstones. The material of his necktie almost looked like upholstery, with a raised pattern. He was too good looking for my own sanity. How could someone so evil be so beautiful? It wasn’t fair.

Micha had tucked his hair back into a low ponytail, exposing a stud earring and small hoop. My eyes drifted down to his hands and when I looked up, he raised an eyebrow at me. “Stand in your spot,” he directed, holding his hand out toward the side of his chair. If he’d had on the rings I saw in my dream, I would’ve lost my mind. It was bad enough the earrings matched. How had I not noticed them before?

“Busy night last night?” I asked, nodding toward his hair. The only thing I could think of was he hadn’t washed it, he never wore it in an elastic.

He lowered himself in his seat and rested an ankle on his knee and stared at me. I couldn’t tell if he was undressing me with his eyes or thinking up ways to viciously butcher me and hide the body.

“Your job is to be quiet and do as I say. My personal life is none of your business.” With that, he twisted around and began banging away at his laptop, flying through emails, and intermittently barking out orders on either his cell or the phone on his desk.

Throughout the day, one of the managers I’d seen on my floor came in, a man named Dashiell. It sounded like he was getting promoted, as Micha was transferring him upstairs. He’d brought in a stack of paper files and left it on Micha’s desk.

Then later, a man as tall as Micha and almost as good looking, but with a scar down the side of his face and much darker skin came in. The two of them argued politely over what sounded like a proposed merger, and then the man left. No one paid me any mind, as if it were normal to have a woman randomly standing around for hours doing absolutely nothing like a department store mannequin.

At one point during my vigil, Micha poured himself some cabernet from a bottle he’d kept tucked inside a cabinet. Then he ate an apple while once again staring at me. When I rolled my eyes, an arrogant smirk transformed him from hot, to devasting. If I had a knife I would’ve stabbed him in the throat.

I fucking hated him more than I’d ever hated anyone in my entire life, just then. He couldn’t even be bothered to let me have lunch or feed me something. He was enjoying watching me suffer. He wouldn’t let me sit down, my legs and back ached and I had to pee.

“Micha?” I asked quietly, trying not to wake the bear. He ignored me. “Micha,” I tried again.

“What?” he snapped, focusing on whatever document he was reading.

The last thing I wanted to do was tell him I had to use the bathroom. I had the feeling he’d use the event to humiliate me in some way. “I need to step away for a moment.”

It was like he never heard me. He picked up his cellphone, tapped an icon, and lifted the device to his ear. “I could use your help,” I heard him say, his voice bitter. He paused and said, “He’s busy.”

“Yes. I’m fully aware I’m increasing my debt.” Micha’s voice was strained, and I listened intently. “I’d rather it was you than the demons downstairs.”

My boss seemed oblivious to the fact he himself was the demon in the building.

“Mores,” he said, his voice still tinged with annoyance. He let out a sigh. “Okay. Thank you.”

Micha slowly turned to glance at me. My legs were crossed at the knee and nausea was building in my belly. It wouldn’t be long before my disgrace was complete.

“Is there a problem?” He asked. “I don’t require much of you. My only request has been you stay by my side and remain quiet. It's not my problem you’re covered with a vile stench.”

I would’ve relieved myself on him just then, but I didn’t want him marked as my territory. “I have to use the restroom,” I said, desperately attempting to modulate my voice. There was no way I smelled bad; my careful maintenance wouldn’t allow for it.

Micha’s shoulders fell and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fucking humans,” he muttered.

Yes, Micha. Clearly, you’re a god and can’t be bothered with body functions.

“Please?”

Shoving his chair back, he stood up. I stumbled a step, uncrossing my legs, and felt a warmth in my bladder that scared me for a moment before I realized I hadn’t had an accident. While that part worked out for me, my slow-motion steps did anything but for my very own personal tyrant.

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