Deceived by Thayer King Read Free Book Online Page B

around is shit.”
    Jerome’s eyes narrowed. He slammed his hands onto the surface of his desk. “You can’t do this to me. I’m your hardest working employee. I deserve to be promoted, not let go! I’ll sue you for wrongful termination.”
    Aidan stared pointedly at where Jerome’s hands rested on his desk. When he finally removed them, Aidan said, “Try it. You work hard, but you don’t work smart. Being here every day doesn’t mean anything if you’re not getting the work done. And if that isn’t grounds for termination, then there is the morals clause in your contract.”
    “Then think of this. I’ll have you arrested for sexual assault. I’ll tell Janelle that you made me believe I would get that promotion if I gave her to you. Who do you think she’ll believe?”
    Aidan laughed. The man was grasping at straws. “Your stock has plummeted there too. She won’t buy any bullshit story you sell her anymore.”
    “We’ll see about that. Janelle loves me. She never would have slept with you without my intervention. She’s loyal. But a big man like you wouldn’t understand that.”
    Aidan hoped Janelle had enough sense not to forgive this fool, but if she chose to press charges, he was sunk. He wouldn’t deny what he’d done. “Using a woman as a shield.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
    “You’ll be sorry for this,” Jerome said as a parting shot before slamming out of his office.
    He grabbed his phone only to realize that he didn’t have Janelle’s number. He could call her shop, but he doubted that Jerome would bother her in public. No. The weasel would strike when she was alone.

Chapter Six
     
    The first call from Jerome had come at ten in the morning, but she didn’t notice the missed call to her cell until well after lunch. Annoyed that he had avoided her calls on Saturday, Janelle changed his contact information to add him to a reject list. She would talk to him on her timetable.
    She picked up a pizza for dinner. It would take her days to finish it, but she wasn’t in the mood to cook. She was struggling with the pizza box, her purse, and her keys when Jerome jogged up the stairs behind her.
    “Why have you been ignoring my calls?”
    “Why do you think?”
    “Don’t tell me it’s true, that he’s turned you against me. Janelle, you’re too smart to be on his side of this.”
    Exasperated with him and her lack of success at connecting a key with a lock, she put her pizza box on the ground and opened the door. She threw her purse inside and retrieved her dinner. The purse skidded across the floor and toppled over, spilling out her phone and her wallet. “Come inside so that we don’t disturb the neighbors.” She carried her pizza into the kitchen and Jerome followed. She put the box on the table and dropped her keys on top.
    “Janelle, he fired me today. After everything I’ve given to that company, he fired me for nothing.”
    “Nothing? Nothing! How can you call having him rape me nothing?”
    He blanched. “No. He wouldn’t. I told him not to hurt you.”
    “And because he didn’t hurt me, that makes it better? I choose who I have sex with. Not you! I’m still trying to wrap my head around how you could do this to me. Didn’t our relationship mean anything to you?”
    “It means everything to me. You’re my greatest asset.”
    “What the hell does that mean?” He was always saying that. She’d considered it a compliment before, but now she wondered. Did he see her as only an object?
    He smiled and stepped closer. When he reached out to touch her nose, she slapped his hand away. That gave him pause, but not for long. “Don’t you see? One way or the other, you’ve ensured that I get what I deserve. At first, I thought if I shared you with him then he would give me the promotion. But you were set against that idea even though I knew you were attracted to him. Then it came to me, a way for each of us to get what we wanted. You and Aidan