Page 38 of The Vegas Rerun
I force myself to stand up and Joshua groans beside me.
“What’s wrong?” he says as I begin to gather up my clothes.
“Nothing,” I say. “I just need to go to the bathroom.”
“Wait,” Joshua says as I go towards the door.
I turn back to see what he wants, hoping he’s not going to try and convince me to have sex with him again, because resisting him is only going to get harder each time I have to say no.
“Get dressed in here,” he says. I go to object, but he shakes his head. “I’m not being weird. Please don’t tell anyone else, but there is CCTV out there. You’ll be on camera naked.”
“Wait what? There are cameras in the bathroom?” I say, shocked and disgusted by his admission.
“God no,” he says quickly. “They are in the communal areas such as hallways, stairwells, the elevator and the lobby. They aren’t in break rooms, offices and obviously not in bathrooms. I meant you would be on camera walking down the hallway. Technically, there’s only me with access to the footage, but that’s just here. I’m sure people at the firm that manage the cameras’ storage space and whatnot can look at it. I just thought you should know.”
“Ok, thank you,” I say. “And sorry for assuming you had the bathrooms monitored.”
I move back into the office a bit and start to get dressed. Joshua makes no secret of the fact he is watching me. I should feel self-conscious, but somehow, I don’t. Maybe it’s because it’s nothing he hasn’t seen before. Maybe it’s because he’s still naked. Or maybe it’s because I feel so comfortable and natural with him in this moment that I don’t need to be embarrassed.
“What’s with the secret cameras then?” I say when I’m halfway dressed.
“It was my father who had them installed. There had been a few thefts reported from various employees, personal items from their purses or desk drawers. My father wanted to catch the thief without invading people’s privacy so he had the cameras installed in public areas and it showed who was going into offices they shouldn’t be in, and he found the thief,” he tells me. “I’m not sure why he kept it from his employees after that, but I didn’t want to come in and tell them about it straight away, because who would believe this wasn’t just the new boss spying on them. And of course, by the time I had settled in enough to hope they wouldn’t think so little of me, the moment to come clean had passed.”
I know all about that and so I nod my head.
“Makes sense,” I say. “Clever of your father, and I like that he cared enough about his employees’ personal stuff to actually go to those lengths.”
I’m fully dressed now, and I head for the office door again. I go and use the bathroom and come back. It’s strange how quiet the office is, almost spooky, and although I don’t for a second think there are any ghosts here, I can’t help but quicken my pace on the way back to the office. I was going to stop at my desk to brush my hair, but instead, I just grab my purse and keep walking. Paranoid? Me? Never.
I go in and find Joshua has put his pants and shoes back on, and I assume his boxer shorts. He has his shirt on, the sleeves rolled up and the top button open, the shirt untucked. I can see his tie peeking out of his jacket pocket where it hangs on the coat hooks inside of the door. I’m aware that he looks casual but put together and I look like I’ve been dragged around by my hair for five minutes.
I sit down in the same place I was sitting beside Joshua, although now at a respectable distance from him. I dig in my purse for my hairbrush and find it and pull it through my hair. I feel better once I have my mane tamed a bit, when I put my hairbrush back into my purse, my hand touches something made of foil, and I remember I haven’t taken my birth control pill. What a day to forget that. As much as I love Autumn and I wouldn’t be without her, I don’t want a repeat of the last time I spent a night with Joshua, and I stand up again.
“I need some water,” I say.
“Sit down. I’ll get it,” Joshua says.
I sit back down and wait for him to leave the office to go to the kitchen, but instead he goes over to the drinks’ cabinet. Inside is a small fridge and from there, he gets a bottle of Evian and comes back and hands it to me.
“Thanks,” I say.
I uncap the water and have a long drink and then I put it down on the coffee table, the bottle still open, while I get my birth control pill out. Joshua sees me popping the pill out of its foil.
“Are you ok?” he says.
“Yeah. It’s my birth control,” I say.
“Wow. You’re right on top of that. We’ve barely finishing and you’re taking your birth control,” he says.
I can’t read his expression when he says it. I don’t know if he’s joking around, or if he’s relieved that I’m being so careful, or if he’s a bit pissed off that I’m taking it.
“I usually take it before bed, and I just remembered it,” I say.
I hope his reply will make his earlier comment clearer, but he doesn’t get a chance to reply because his cell phone rings, and he looks at the screen.
“It’s the super,” he says and then he takes the call. He says yes a few times, and then thank you, and then we’ll be right down. “Our knight in shining armor is here.”
Joshua pushes himself up off the couch and straightens his shirt. I get up too and pick my purse up while Joshua puts his jacket on. We leave his office and stop by my desk so I can grab my own jacket.
