“I quit,” Sebastian came storming into our shared office, “I quit this stupid job. Personne n'a de respect pour le travail que je fais ici! Je travaille trop dur pour qu'on me traite comme si j'étais un problème ou un monstre!”
I stared at him in surprise as I set my pen down, confusion deep in my chest, “Sebastian? What’s wrong?”
“You! You have hired the absolute worst floor manager for me and I am tired of this!” he slammed the folder in his hands onto my desk, “I quit as CFO. I quit as your assistant! I am done.”
“Baby,” I carefully got to my feet, coming around the desk, “calm down, kitten. Talk to me.”
We had been home from Montana for two weeks now, today was the last day we were working before heading to Italy for Lauren’s wedding. I knew that Sebastian had been stressed due to a delay for a series we were publishing, the finance department suddenly under massive pressure as if the series was pushed back anymore, all of the advertising we had paid for as well as the press tour Serenity had organized would be for naught and we would effectively be out a few million dollars, something that could potentially bankrupt Parallel. All of the delay was due to outside sources, but we were scrambling to fix them and a lot of that fell onto Sebastian and myself.
“She lost everything,” he shouted, raking his hand through his hair, “every spreadsheet, every file. Everything. It’s gone. I have no records for the entire year to file for taxes, to show the authors and their agents what we have done for their royalties and sales. Nothing. She deleted everything.”
“But how? What happened to the backup?”
“Ask Garett! I pray he has it because if not… we… the company is done, Oliver. We will be fined so much money. Millions of dollars. You could go to prison for tax fraud. I… I am so sorry I did not see how incompetent she was. I have been handling so much of it myself that I lost sight of what she was doing as well. Which was nothing! Fucking nothing!”
“Baby,” I rubbed his cheeks gently with my thumbs after cradling his face, “Calm down my love. Everythin’ will be okay. We can figure it out.”
“We leave for Italy in the morning, we do not have time!”
“Shh,” I hummed softly, leaning down to press my forehead to his, “there has to be a trail we can find. Why don’t you have the backups?”
“My computer was compromised. Garett is working to see how,” he whispered, gripping the front of my shirt, “I am so sorry.”
“Not your fault,” Wrapping him in my arms, I rocked us slowly from side to side, “Here’s what we're gonna do. I’m gonna go to the IT office and work with Garett to find the files. Ain’t nothin’ in our systems ever permanently deleted. The files have simply been misplaced. We will find them. You are gonna go to your floor and rally everyone together. Boost morale because I guarantee they saw the frustration on your face. Your emotions are always just under the surface. Then, I want ya to decide what is best for the floor manager. If ya want to let her go or demote her, you have that choice. I won’t stop you. If you want to give her more trainin’ when we get back from Italy then do that. I leave that choice to you. I trust in your judgment when it comes to your department. I won’t interfere. Okay? Everythin’ is gonna be fine, baby. I swear it.”
“Really?” he looked up at me with tears in his eyes and I nodded, bending down to slowly kiss him, “Oliver we are in the office!”
“Ya need affection right now. I know you better than anyone. It was a cheer-up kiss. A believe in me kiss. Because I know I can find what’s missin’. Okay?”
“Okay,” he whispered, “Oh there… is another issue.”
“What is it?” I let go of him to sit on the couch in our office, my leg killing me. It hadn’t fully healed from the small tear but I could walk again without my crutches as long as I kept the brace on.
“People know,” he pointed to himself and then me, “about us. Saw us kiss in the car park and it has spread.”
“And? I sent an email out as soon as we got back from Montana. Is it makin’ things hard on you?”
“A bit. They seem to think that I have influence over you.”
“Well ya do,” I reached over and ran my hand from his knee to his hip, “but not when it comes to Parallel. Only at home.”
“That is what I tried to explain but no one respects what I say.”
“What do ya need from me? How can I help?”
“I do not know,” he sighed, coming over to straddle me, “I just… I am so happy being with you, Oliver. I want people to be happy for us. Well, they are but I feel that some are jealous and want to try and get close to you to break us up.”
“That’ll never happen. I swear. You and me. Oh and Aldo. He’s been sleepin’ all day by your desk. Misses you. As much as I miss you bein’ in here. But I know ya got stuff to do so I can wait until we’re home.”
“I miss you too,” he smiled, rubbing his nose with mine and there was a knock at the office door, “Oui?” he called, turning his head as Serenity came in, surprising both of us, “should you not be in New York?”
“I came here because Garett is and I miss my fiance. We really should consider selling one of the buildings and combining Parallel,” she was staring at her phone before looking up and staring in disgust, “We’re at work why are you messing around?”
“Sebastian was threatenin’ to quit. I was convincin’ him not to,” I laughed as Sebastian climbed off of me, “What’s up, Nita?”
“We found the files,” she smiled and Sebastian visibly relaxed, “stupid ass Maryann shifted all of them to the wrong department trying to email me a form I asked for. All of them were sent to the design department somehow. Garett is sorting them now and they’ll strictly be under your control from now on, Sebastian. Well, and Ollie’s but that’s because he has access to everything. No one can get into the files without your permission and you’ll have a direct line to see when, who, and why they were accessed. It’s a system that Garett developed. No more panic and you better not fucking quit or I’ll make you my assistant and Oliver can have Garett. Not like either of you really do assisting anyway.”
“What? Yes, I do,” Sebastian huffed, “I spent all morning pushing meetings back, taking phone calls, organizing the new calendar, and sent probably 100 emails!”
“Calm down I was trying to distract you,” Serenity laughed, ruffling Sebastian’s hair, “oh yeah. How are we getting to the airport tomorrow?”
“I’ll drive Bas and myself,” I rubbed Sebastian’s back softly, “oh well no we have to get Silas and Lincoln. They ain’t got a car apparently. Broke down and the stubborn ass refuses to let me get ‘em a new one. Guess Si plans to rebuild the engine. I did bully him into lettin’ me buy the parts.”
“Winnie and Sid are on their way now from LA. I’ll pick them up at the airport. Oh, we found an apartment to buy in Manhattan by the way but you won’t like it. It’s expensive!”
“No surprise there,” I rolled my eyes, “I have to start lookin’ for one in Montana when we get back from the weddin’.”
“Can I help?” Sebastian smiled and I kissed his cheek.
“Duh. I want ya to pick it for us.”
“Us?”
“Mhm. Us.”
“Okay,” he giggled, relaxing against me after climbing back into my lap, his frustration and anger from earlier suddenly forgotten.
“How much, Nita?”
“850 thousand.”
“Jesus Christ woman! That’s ridiculous!”
“We plan to pay for half of it and you have no word on that. Okay? So 425. You promised.”
“I know I know. Send me the listin’ I wanna see it then I’ll just write you a check for it. Put down what I give ya as the down payment and pay the mortgage for the rest. Is there even room for my niece?”
“She’ll have her own room,” Serenity smiled, rubbing her stomach softly, “we made sure. She’s the only baby we’ll have so she has to have her own space. I don’t want anymore. I’m already considered high risk because I’m in my thirties.”
“Ah I forgot about that,” Sebastian laughed, “that you were 33. You look so young.”
“Well, Merci, Sebastian. I need to go check on a few things. We’ll see you in the morning right?”
“Of course,” I nodded, holding Sebastian tightly, his back now to my chest, “our flight leaves at 6 so be at the airport by 4.”
“Ugh! We’ll be there,” she waved and left and I nuzzled Sebastian’s neck slowly, kissing a few different places as he melted in my arms.
“Oliver, I have so much to get done before we leave,” Sebastian’s voice came out thin and breathy, his arm coming up so that he could lace his fingers into my hair, “I understand you are feeling frustrated but…”
“Frustrated? No. Not in the slightest. I like that we haven’t done anythin’ other than kiss. It’s nice to take it slow. I’m just showin’ you how much I appreciate you, kitten,” I slowly sucked on his ear and he let out the all-familiar mew I was now used to hearing, a sound that sent shockwaves down my spine every time I heard it, “my poor baby. So stressed. Your entire body is tense… tell me. What can I do?”
“Nothing… nothing right now…” his grip increased on my hair, “Oliver I am so sensitive, please… Please stop. I do not wish to go to my department a mess.”
“Very well,” I whispered in his ear before kissing behind it and holding him tightly around the waist, “I want to bite you.”
“No. I can’t cover it here. My neck is covered already,” he laughed when I huffed loudly at him telling me no, “Aww Daddy… not used to hearing no?”
“Of course I’m not and frankly I don’t like it,” I grumbled, “fine. Only because we’re at work. But ya can’t stop me in Italy. We’ll be in the villa alone for five days other than when I show ya around, the wedding, and the winery we’re goin’ to with my siblings. Other than that,” I ran my hand up his inner thigh, a smile on my face when Sebastian spread his legs a bit further apart, “it’s you and me.”
“And Aldo.”
“Gross don’t bring the dog into this when I’m flirtin’ with you.”
“You are always flirting with me,” he laughed breathlessly, covering the hand I had on his leg with his own, “I have to get back to work, Miel.”
“Okay. I’ll miss you. Are ya comin’ back to our office anytime soon?”
“Oui. A few hours to drag you back out. I wish to go home already. I have so much to pack.”
“Ya put it off too long. First thing we gotta do in Genova is pick up your tuxedo. I know it was uncomfortable gettin’ your measurements the other day. I appreciate ya doin’ that.”
“Well, I did it for you.”
“No. Stop that. Don’t ever do anythin’ that makes you uncomfortable just because I ask ya to do it. It doesn’t make me happy to know that you feel wrong or unsafe in any situation. Even gettin’ measured for suits and things, I need to know you feel safe. Okay?”
“Okay… I’m sorry,” he hung his head and I cupped his chin, making him look at me.
“Don’t apologize. Put yourself, your comfort, and safety above all else. Always. Okay, kitten?”
“Mhm,” he nodded and I pulled him forward, slowly kissing him, channeling my feelings as best I could through the connection.
“Go back to work and I’ll see you in a bit okay?” I whispered against his lips, “It’s all gonna be okay, Bas. I promise.”
“I believe you,” he kissed me once more before jumping up and stretching, “Ugh. I am crumbled.”
“Um… I’m ninety-nine percent sure ya meant crumpled. Your suit is a little scrunched. Just stretch it a little, should flatten out.”
“Merci,” he smiled, doing as I said, “Oh it’s perfect! I am so glad you can explain these things to me.”
“Before you, I was known to sleep in the office in Manhattan in my suits. Ain’t had a reason to go home. So I had to learn how to make myself look presentable when I slept on the couch,” I laughed, carefully getting to my feet, “I have a few calls to make, then we can go home. But go handle your department. I’ll wait for you.”
“Merci, miel,” he stood on his toes, kissed my cheek, grabbed the file he had left on my desk, and ran out of the office, an invigorated bounce to his step.
Well.
At least I know how to help him when he’s upset.
No need for arguing.
Sebastian needs reassurance and validation.
Another thing that’s different from Skylar.
But I can’t keep comparing the two of them for one big reason.
Sebastian actually makes me happy.
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