“Rape?!” yelled Chastity.
“Shhh,” I hissed. Other people in the office were starting to look at us. Scratch that. They were full-on staring.
“Who raped someone?” asked Madison. “If Tanner raped you, I’ll kill him.”
“She rapedhim,” said Chastity. “That’s what clause 49c is. Immediate termination for rape.”
I shook my head. “It was consensual. And it was just a kiss.” I swallowed hard. Or was it? I’d tried to rape before. Oh God, what had I done?!
“Did you explicitly ask for consent?” asked Madison. “Or better yet, use a consent app? I’ll send you a link to mine if you want.”
“A what? No. We were two grown adults kissing each other.” I was on the verge of tears. Why did I keep trying to rape people?!
“Well whatever you did must have really pissed him off. Because he definitely never wants to see your face again.”
And then something snapped in me. Blood rushed to my fists. My whole body felt like it was on fire. My rage was usually contained in my fiery red hair, but sometimes it got out and spread to the rest of my body. This was one of those times. “If he never wants to see me again, then I hope he has good security. Because I’m going to his office. I’m not going to let this asshole get us fired for no reason.”
Stalker Problems - Chapter 29 - Jerkface
Friday – April 14, 2023
Tanner’s office was just a few blocks away from BIMG. I didn’t even bother to get an Uber over. I thought walking might give me more time to compose myself. To think of a nice, calm way to approach him. It had the opposite effect. Walking in heels through the unseasonably warm weather coupled with the stench of trash day in the city just made my blood boil even more. All I managed to do was come up with curse words that I hadn’t even known existed. All of them described Tanner perfectly.
The elevator dinged and I got off on Floor 18. I had thought that the BIMG offices were extravagant, but Tanner’s office was on a different level. I don’t even know the names of the rare stones the ultra-modern furniture was carved from, but it looked like some sort of bright blue granite veined with pure white. Was that even possible? Maybe the receptionist desk was just carved from the world’s largest sapphire. And the woman behind it was effortlessly sophisticated. I could imagine her growing up in some Italian villa, splitting her time between tanning her perfect olive skin under the Tuscan sun and learning the minutia of fancy people etiquette.
Was Tanner banging her? That would explain why he had fled so quickly last night. I had probably broken some unwritten rule of the billionaires’ make-out handbook. Was that a thing? If it was, I bet Steve Forbes didn’t have a copy. #SickBurn. I was on fire with these hashtags recently.
Either way, it didn’t matter if Tanner was banging Miss Roman Villa. Because I was freaking done with Tanner and his bullshit. I no longer took shit from any man. Ever. He was just playing some sick game that I wanted no part of.Stupid dirty stalker.I was just here to get him to sign that contract so that my friends didn’t get fired.
“How may I help you?” asked the receptionist.
“I’m here to see Tanner.”
“Is Mr. Rhodes expecting you?”
“He should be.”Biotch.
She cocked her head to the side in a look of confusion. “Does that mean you have an appointment, or…?”
“Yup. I’ll show myself back.” I walked around the giant granite desk.
“You can’t go back there without an appointment!” she called after me.
A few of his employees looked up at me as I snaked through the maze of cubicles. I had never been here before, but I knew that he’d be in the corner office. All fancy executives have fancy corner offices. Cookie-cutter lameazoids. Evie Martin - the blonde from all his pictures - tried to stop me at his door, but I ignored her and stormed into Tanner’s office. “What the hell is your problem?” I demanded.
He was pacing by the window. He looked up when I came in. Surprise, or maybe fear, crossed his face for a second. He kicked off his shoes, which appeared to be elf-like Crocs, and then casually leaned on his desk as if he hadn’t just done anything weird.
“I’m sorry, sir,” said Evie. “I couldn’t stop her. Should I call security?”
He waved her off. “That won’t be necessary. Right…Amanda?”
“Amanda?” He was really pretending to not know my name now? Was he fucking kidding me? All those curse words I had crafted on the way over here leapt to the tip of my tongue. But I had more restraint than I realized, because I swallowed them back down. “So that’s how you’re going to play this? Like you don’t know who I am?”Youasshattery!
He snapped his fingers. “Oh, right. You’re from BIMG. The one who bumped her head on the table.”
“Ash. Not Amanda.”
“Ah, my apologies Ash. Evie, please give us a few minutes.”
