Hi guysssss.

I missed this story a lot. Hopefully I will be able to update it more, I had just hit a sort of writer's block. Unedited because I'm dishing this out right before work lol. Just more of these two idiots being assholes to each other for reasons they don't understand yet.

Jasmine had expected a lot of things from this job. The promised pay. Snooty coworkers. A pretentious boss. And a buttload of coffee runs downtown.

She was fully prepared to brave it all (and you would too for a check).

What completely threw her for a loop, however, was the math. The absolutely, excruciating, amount of math.

Adjusting budgets, calculating prices for meetings and functions, all of it was so overwhelming- and Jasmine was particularly annoyed because I had TOLD that infuriating man she was not one for so much math.

But here they were. And for once Jas was so thankful juggling all those hospital bills over the years as they seemed to have prepared her for this moment.

Every morning she would scurry into the small office adjoined to Freeman's and find a stack of binders with a beige sticky note on top (even his sticky notes lacked color. Boring ass man).

The note would detail his coffee choice of the day, what was expected of her by the end of the shift, and a reminder for whatever spreadsheet was due at the end of the week. She would juggle excel spreadsheets and checks in between youtube breaks, setting her timers to make sure she was not late for anything- whether grabbing coffee, or the weekly meetings she was forced to attend.

With Freeman.

As much as she hated to admit it, she felt an odd spark rush through her during those meetings.

At precisely 4 pm every Friday, her slightly trembling hand would knock on the door of his office, and precisely at 4 pm every Friday, she was granted access. For some reason she always chose her best outfits those days. She also noticed her makeup routing would take slightly longer, almost making her late consistently.

Sitting across from him, knees pushed together, Jasmine would watch his eyes skim over the binders she completed. His yellow highlighter would tap rhythmically against his mahogany desk. Every once in a while, he would turn those too brown eyes up to her, and Jasmine's heart would seize in anticipation-

Only to be critiqued harshly.

" You added wrong here."

" You forgot to include the 324."

" This needs to be more organized."

Forcing her tongue between her teeth, Jasmine would nod along. She had tried to speak up before ( professionally of course), but couldn't keep her sarcastic thoughts at bay even WITH the money she was getting paid. And his intuitive and egotistical ass would not have it.

So Jasmine would look into those brown eyes, think about that gorgeous pine TV stand she saw on Amazon, and smile with a nod at his rude ass comments.

Understandably their relationship had greatly shifted – he was Jasmine's employer now, and no longer seemed to find any amusement in her slight snideness.

Not that she cared. She just hated she couldn't defend herself as much as she wanted to.

" You're improving Dubois," he murmured, slightly to himself. He looked up from his binder, his dimpled smile appearing. " In only three weeks. You should be proud."

Jasmine couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, so she chose to just smile and nod. Like she had been doing nonstop the whole meeting.

He had gone back to reading. With their shift, it was harder to talk to him – even moreso than before, In fact they rarely did outside of these meetings.

Not that she would have anything to say to him- he made her so angry she often now found herself tongue tied in his presence.

" Excellent." Huey voiced, pulling her from her thoughts. His ring clad hands set the binder down.

With another godforsaken nod, Jasmine reached for the binder quickly – she had promised Cindy dinner and needed to get home to start preparing- but retracted her hand quickly. Huey had spread his fingers over the binder, his eyes trained on her again.

Crap.

Why couldn't this annoying man leave her alone ?

" Yes ?' Jasmine heard herself say, her tone biting. In turn Huey raised an eyebrow, his jaw tightening. " In a rush?"

Jasmine huffed. " Yes sir."

" Where to ?"

" Does what I do after work require your interest ?"

He said nothing for a moment. Just watched her. Jasmine didn't realize she was holding her breath until he looked away. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't going by Club Grandeur tonight. It won't be the most safest scene."

Oh ?

Ferlin hadn't said anything to her. In fact, she hadn't spoken to him since he checked up on her the last time she was at his club.

Jas made a mental note to speak to him later before crossing her arms, glaring at her most present irritation. " My friend told me nothing about a danger being present. And since it is his club, I think he would know when there was actually something wrong and warn me about it.

His eyes hardened. " Well your friend couldn't handle that club. So now it's' mine." He leaned forward, the binder crinkling under his shift of weight. " And as the OWNER I'm telling you it's not the best idea for you to be there."

The absolute nerve. Jasmine glared into him. If he thought he was gonna once again disrespect one of her closest friends AND boss her around he was in for the worst surprise of his night. Her pink manicured nails clanked against his desk as she leaned forward, her hair falling into her face, slightly blocking her view of him (which helped with his intimidating stare if she was honest).

" Look sir " she hissed, " I am a grown woman. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what you or even Ferlin says, though I do take his opinion with more value –" Huey's jaw muscle twitched- " I still make my own decisions. And you know what ? I think I will stop by and say hello to my friend, the TRUE owner of the club he worked so hard for for years."

Jasmine leaned back, triumphed, crossing her arms. " And I have the perfect dress for the night too."

He was quiet for a long moment, his hands clasped over the binder. Knuckles white. Jasmine smirked.

" What does the dress look like?"

Huh ?

Fighting to keep the upper hand, Jasmine forced an air of nonchalance. " It's blue."

"And ?"

" With green flecks." She sputtered.

" Where does it end."

What. The. Hell.

Jasmine openly gaped at him now. His expression was as blank as ever, any signs of anger wiped. What was his end game ?

Play along Jasmine. Don't lose this game.

"Right under my ass." Jasmine neutrally responded, ignoring the hammering of her heart as she leaned forward on his desk again. Their fingers grazed, and it felt like lightning shot through her veins. " With a deep neckline that shows off the tops of my breasts."

She was so getting fired.

But she could hardly care as she watched this strange man's eyes lower slowly, taking in her work clothes, before biting the inside of his cheek and looking back at her face on. " Sounds like it will really bring out the green your eyes."

Before she could even respond, even process what was happening, the door to his office swung open.
" Mr. Freeman." His secretary stepped in, pausing as she saw me. " Oh I apologize, am I interrupting-"

" You are interrupting nothing Sharice." Huey spoke coolly, not taking his eyes off of Jasmine. " What do you need."

Jasmine saw the girl physically shake with nervousness_ and honestly same- before looking down at the papers in her hand. " Just wanted to let you know Robert booked those two rooms for you and Miss Jasmine here for that business trip –"

Jasmine audibly gasped. Trip ? With HIM ? And he didn't even bother asking, even giving her the chance to say no. Just as she was about to turn to him and let him have it, he spoke again. Tone clipped.

" Go ahead and take Ms. Dubois' name off that trip. I've decided to go with someone a little more attitude appropriate and efficient.

This. Asshole.

Jasmine felt her cheeks raise to dangerous temperatures as she glared at the man, wishing a hole would swallow him up.

Or better yet swallow her up.

" Oh – of course sir." Sharice eyes Jasmine curiously. " I will do so tomorrow. Thank you for your time Sir. Ma'am." Sharice saw herself out, the door loud as it clicked back closed.

Jasmine couldn't take her eyes off of the man in front of her, of the sheer humiliation and anger he continuously subjected her too.

No pine tv stand was worth sitting in that office any longer. " I shall take my leave sir." She nearly spat, voice trembling. The man looked over her coolly before turning his attention to his computer. A silent dismissal. " Take it with no resistance from me Dubois."

No. He was not going to get away with humiliating her like this. No matter how much she needed this job, she would never allow such a gutless, sadistic, two-faced ass hole get the better on her. As she stood up, walking towards his large office door, she spoke to him one last time : " Please don't expect professionalism when I see you outside of office hours tonight."

The door slammed shut before she could hear his reply, and Jasmine stormed down the hall, a trailing blaze of fire and wrath. Her fingers trembled as she dialed onto her phone, Cindy picking up around the second ring.

" Ugh, FINALLY you're off ! I can't wait to get me some of that manicotti or whatever the hell you call it –"

" Plans cancelled babe." Jasmine forced out, hating the tremble that wouldn't leave her voice. " We need to go out tonight. And I need to borrow that one dress of yours."