Page 1 of Bully's Second Chance
1
Jackson
Have you ever wanted to just sit naked, in a hot pit of mud, and tell everyone who ruins your quiet time to shut the hell up?
Yeah, me too.
“Oh, my goodness. Okay, so. Here’s what happened. We went over to the frat house, and of course, Troy was there. And he was lookin’ all good in—”
I groaned. “Are you serious?”
The two college-age girls slowly looked over at me on the other side of the mud pit. Bubbles erupted from where my feet were as the heat forced its way to the top. I always booked this place out for myself for an hour, but today I decided to tack on an extra thirty minutes.
I really needed the relaxation.
“I’m sorry but excuse me?” the blonde asked.
I stared her down. “I’ve heard about Tray. I’ve heard about Travis. I’ve heard about Tony. But for the love of God, I don’t want to hear about Troy.”
The redhead scoffed in my direction. “Come on. We can talk somewhere else.”
The blonde nodded. “Yeah, you jerk.”
I shrugged. “At least I get my peace and quiet now. Thanks for that.”
I closed my eyes as I rested my arms along the edge of the mud pit. The girls scurried away, covered in mud and leaving footprints everywhere. But, I was simply glad they had left. I growled to myself as I leaned my head back, gazing up at the ceiling.
And as silence descended around me, I chewed on my lower lip.
These past few nights had been exponentially rough. I hadn’t been sleeping, which had taken its toll on my work. And all the while, none of my efforts made anything better. No amount of money I threw at my situation made it go away.
“Fucking hell, what now?” I grumbled.
The second I heard my secretary’s ringtone shrieking at me, I slapped my hand on top of my phone. I picked it up and held it to my ear, propping it against my shoulder. I drew in a steady breath, trying to relax, so I didn’t rip her head off for calling me on a Saturday during the only spa day I had scheduled for myself all quarter.
But, the second she started talking, I tuned her out.
“Dammit, Jax. I don’t run your company. I’m your secretary. None of these files and none of these tasks you’ve asked me to do are in my job description. It’s not my job to—”
I stared off at the wall until she was done chirping about. “Jacqueline, you offered to work today. You knew I wasn’t coming in, and you knew you had ten hours of work to make up to me for that little trip you took with your boyfriend.”
“Yeah, and now I’m quitting. You’re selfish. You have no idea what it takes to do my job, and if I’m going to be running a company, I might as well get paid for it.”
I shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ll have them fast-track your last paycheck.”
“You selfish little—”
I hung up the phone and silenced it, then I pulled up my corporate account on Indeed and Monster. I always had great luck in people applying for my jobs there, so I reposted the secretarial position I had filled only six months ago before silencing my phone.
Then, I slid it back toward my things and got back to my day of relaxation.
“Oh, that’s the spot,” I groaned as a bubble popped right behind my ball sack.
Hey, men get tense down there, too.
I enjoyed the last few minutes of peace I had before I climbed out of the mud pit and relegated myself to a shower. I still had a facial, a mani-pedi, and a haircut coming my direction, so I decided to take the hottest shower I could stand in order to wash off the mud. I carried my things back into the locker room and slipped into one of their luxurious showers. As the rainwater shower head bathed me in soft, translucent drops, I watched as the mud dripped off me in globs and slowly swirled down the drain.
And all the while, my phone kept lighting up with notifications.
