Page 68 of Bigfoot Boss
38
WHERE IS SHE?
Sacha
My day is long and stressful. Full of conversations with investors and board members, putting out fires, explaining too many times that these things happen, that no data was lost, that no one needs to worry. Talking until I am too tired to think any longer, and the words repeat themselves without any effort on my part. Hanging in the back of my mind the entire day is the sadness I saw in Bailey’s eyes. I can’t believe I hurt her. I was trying so hard to appeal to her human side when I should have just explained everything to her from the start. Trusted our bond. Trusted in fate.
I’m completely emotionally exhausted when I arrive at Ness’s office late in the afternoon. All I want to do is find my mate, hold her in my arms and beg her to forgive me for being an idiot. I haven’t spoken to her since this morning; I need to talk to her in person. To see her face, to hold her when I explain.
“What is this about, Ness? I have better places to be.” I roll into Loch’s office and plop into a chair, I’m slightly surprised to see Pleasant standing in the corner, I’d expect the chief technical officer to still be working with our IT team on solutions.
“Sacha. I’m glad you’ve been happier the past couple weeks. Don’t you think you’ve been happier?” Ness slouches in his office chair. His legs are visible through the glass topped desk one of his legs fidgets nervously. He’s not a sloucher, or a fidgeter, something is wrong.
“Could we cut to the chase? Just tell me why you asked me to meet you here?” I ask.
“We know about the contract, Sacha,” Pleasant says bluntly.
“Contract?” I have a brief moment of confusion, and then my stomach sinks. This is about Bailey. They found it. “I can explain everything. I wanted to tell you, both of you. I was going to bring it up.”
“I’m really disappointed, Sacha.” Pleasant’s voice remains calm but his antennae wave wildly as he speaks. “This is the kind of behavior I expect from Magnes.”
“I would never. I don’t pay for sex,” Ness scoffs.
“The money wasn’t for sex,” I interject.
“And if I did, I wouldn't write down the agreement in legal jargon, sign it, and then send it through easily trackable company email.” Ness’s words bite through my protest.
“It’s reckless, thoughtless, borderline illegal behavior Sacha,” Pleasant continues. “Can you imagine if this had gotten to the press? You jeopardized the entire company. You could have ruined us all, everything we’ve built here. I can’t believe you did something this irresponsible.”
“I can believe it,” Ness snaps. “He’s been mooning over the woman since she showed up. Acting like she’s his mate or—” he stops mid-sentence leaning forward to splay his large hands across his glass desk. “Holy shit dude, is that what this is?”
Pleasant’s antennae sway toward me. “Of course she is.”
“You knew?” Ness demands.
“You didn’t? It was obvious that night at Moonshine, he couldn’t stop staring at her.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ness asks me.
I shake my head, “I needed to be sure that she wouldn’t reject me.”
“Well, fuck man,” Ness mutters. His body language relaxes, he knows what it’s like to feel this way, he almost didn’t survive when his mate rejected him.
“We can’t tolerate this kind of behavior from a CFO,” Pleasant barrels through what is clearly a prepared speech, “we are suspending you from your position?—”
“You can’t do that—” I yelp.
“The board of directors already has.” Pleasant manages to sound threatening without raising his voice. “We’ll reconvene in four months to see if we can allow you back into your position.”
“Pleasant. If she’s his mate—maybe we should reconsider—” Ness starts to interrupt.”
“We’ll reconsider in four months.” Of course the Mothman doesn’t have any sympathy for my situation, the bastard’s been strung along by the same human woman for years now. One who definitely isn’t his mate.
“You can’t be serious,” I mutter. “This is my company the same as it’s yours.”
“Don’t worry, we contained the information before it could present a real threat,” Ness says, “We made sure Bailey was satisfied with the situation.”
“What do you mean by that?” I sit forward in my chair.
