Ascending
'It is impossible for this day to end up well.' Cassie thought as she adjusted the stack of paperwork that Jack sent her to deal with. She massaged her neck while sighing deeply. This work was very stressful and dangerous. Looking at the echo, Cassie felt a deep anger, directed at him.
This man has no limits or even respect for anyone.
"Go." John whispered with a tired and angry look. "Before he comes here." Cassie rolled her eyes as John tried to keep his facade of an excellent worker who idolized the big boss.
She was with a tremendous headache, she didn't have the opportunity to feel the body of her lover, she had to work extra hours and she had to earn her vacations….vacations he literally refused to give her.
Now?
Now she is making her way to his office where he will certainly make her confess that she was wrong and he was right all along.
Cassie reached his office door, noting that Olivia his secretary was not there.
Odd.
As she gave one more step forward, the door slid open and she could hear girly giggles mixed with Jack's laugh.
She stopped and cleared her throat. "Ahem, excuse me, sir." She watched the new girl sitting on the edge of his desk while Jack was leaning against his chair, staring at her legs. "I have the paperwork."
"Alright you can go now, kitten." Jack smiled as the new girl jumped down his desk making her way out his office. Her cheeks had a light shade of pink and she did not make eye contact with Cassie.
"Pumpkin." Jack motioned to her as the office door closed.
Cassie took a deep breath and made her way up to him. "Here is the paperwork you've requested. All i need is your signature and then the reunions will start." She watched him take the papers without even looking at her.
"What the hell is this?" He still did not look at her. "There is no landmark here. How am i supposed to take care of this?"
"The landmark will be decided on the reunion sir. The other's think it is more productive if their time is being well invested or not."
"Hmm." He leaned back and examined the papers. "Small companies like these have no future with Hyperion on the game and yet they want to demand how things must be done?" He tossed the papers to the ground. "Then it's a no. Hyperion is a strong independent company, if they want to side with Tediore, Maliwan and Jakobs is the end of their profit."
Cassie held her hands together as Jack grabbed another paper. She looked to the ground and went to grab the paperwork she had stressfully spent time on it.
"Hah this one is good." She heard his amused voice. "They want an example of each weapon from each manufacturer including the Bandit one. This is hilarious." He got up and moved away from her. After she finished gathering all the papers, Cassie heard him laugh. "I will play along." Jack turned to her. "Tell Jocelyn to prepare the reunions and the tables."
"Yes sir." Cassie nodded and left. As she reached the main secretary, the new girl popped up, scaring her.
"Hello, my name is Jocelyn. I'm the new secretary. "
"Yeah i can tell." Cassie said, somewhat relieved that Jack found someone else but also bothered because Olivia the previous secretary was probably fired or sent to another sector. Probably the next one is going to be her. "Boss said-!"
"I know." She smiled sweetly. "He already told me."
"Oh...okay then. Welcome to Hyperion." Cassie said and walked away.
"Thank you." Jocelyn replied and quickly turned to her echo. "Good afternoon, this is Jocelyn the new secretary how can i help you?"
Cassie rolled her eyes and reached her chair. "I hate this job."
"So what did he say?" John asked, supporting one hand on her table.
"He didn't harass me, if that's what you're thinking." Cassie leaned against her chair completely exhausted. "This headache is still here."
"I will grab you a cup of coffee."
"Hi."
"Oh, hello."
"I'm Jocelyn the new secretary."
"I'm John nice to meet you." He shook her hand. "Welcome to Hyperion."
"Thank you. Hmm, Cassie, boss told me to give you these. He said it's important to have them finished by tomorrow."
"What?" Cassie snatched the papers from her hands. "I can't have this finish by tomorrow. This is too much." She glared as she examined the papers with hawk eyes.
"Well it's his orders." Jocelyn turned away to another co-worked. "Hi, my name is Jocelyn i'm the new secretary."
"He's not harassing you but he's punishing you." John whispered, exchanging stares between Jocelyn and Cassie's paperwork.
"This is not happening." She slammed the papers on her table.
"Try finishing what you can, i will help you with these." John took a bunch of paperwork from Cassie's desk.
"Thank you John." She said, smiling at her friend.
"Work." He whispered while quickly walking away from her desk.
The clock marked 1:57 am. Cassie was finishing the 16th paper Jack had ordered her to conclude. "Ok just more nine to go." She got up and went to grab a coffee. This was going well. "After this i will take a hot bath and then sleep."
As she reached her desk, Cassie placed her coffee down and started to work. Her fingers quickly tapped the computer keyboard, eagerly to finish.
The hours went by and Cassie had just two more to finish when she heard John's voice. "You look horrible."
"John? What are you doing here?" She asked perplexed while rubbing her eyes.
"To help you, silly. Go wash your face while i finish this. "
"Thanks buddy, i own you one." Cassie smiled and went to the bathroom.
As she washed her face and looked to her reflection, Cassie couldn't stop thinking about Riley and Oasis. She missed her touch and voice, she missed when they used to scare the shit out of Shade, the chaos they provoked and the threesome they had with Scarlet.
"Damn this." She murmured as she felt her body being pulled back. "Wha-WHAT?" She suddenly woke up jolted by her dream and found herself under her desk. "I fell asleep?" She got up and looked to the clock while rubbing the back of her head. To her desperation, it marked 8.00 o'clock.
"Hahah." She glared at three co-workers that had the tendency to arrive early.
"The fuck you want?" She glared, watching them moving to the coffee machine, still laughing. "Nerds. Oh God." She went back to her computer and started to type frenetically. "This is not happening. Oh shit." She quickly hid, watching Jack making his way to his office. "What am i gonna do?"
Cassie continued to follow Jack's figure until he was out of her sight. She looked to the entrance and whispered nervously. "John." Cassie called while still hiding behind her desk. "John."
"What are you doing?" He placed the paperwork on her desk. His face indicating he also had a bad night. "Hey." He protested as Cassie grabbed his tie and pulled him down.
"I fell asleep."
"Cassie." John sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. "This wouldn't have happened if you just slept with him."
"Shut up." She glared at him and sat down. "I will try to finish this now."
"How many?"
"Six?"She buried her face on her hands. A habit she got very recently. "I swear i don't know how this happened."
"Pumpkin, bring me the files." She heard Jack's voice coming out of the echo. "Come one i don't have all day."
"John." Cassie turned to her friend. "What should i do?"
"I don't know. I thought he was going to the reunions, Cassie."
"Cassie." Jack annoyed voice made her get up and grab the files. "My office now."
"Fuck."
"I don't have all day, pumpkin." Jack stood on his desk, rummaging through his papers. "Give it to me." His voice was serious and demanding.
"Here, sir." She gave him the files and quickly turned away to leave.
"You must be kidding me, pumpkin." Jack said, scrutinizing her work. "This is incomplete."
Cassie turned around and watched him tossing the papers to the garbage. She gasped and squeezed her fists. "You had one job and yet you failed to complete it." He sat down. "I am a man with a very busy agenda yet i manage to get everything in place. You should take me as an example. Like your co-workers do."
Cassie crossed her arms and glared at him. She had enough. She's exhausted and the lack of sex isn't helping at all.
"I can't be angry with you."Jack smirked and tapped his leg. His voice sounded charming and playful. "Let's forget all this trouble. Sit pumpkin."
"No."
"Still determined?" Jack yawned. "Your plan to bring Nisha here did not go well as expected." He got up and walked to her. "I should punish you for this nonsense."
Cassie locked her glare on his shield and did not look up to meet his eyes. She should forget all this and go back to Oasis. There she could be free and have Riley at any time of day.
She heard him chuckle. "Cute." He crossed his arms and stopped beside her. He focused his eyes on the door and casually confessed. "I'm still pondering to forgive you and leave this Riley guy alone."
"What the?" Cassie turned around and walked backwards. "Why are you after Riley?"
Jack smirked and walked towards her again. She stood her ground, something he really liked about her. "I don't like to share." His voice sounding like a little child.
Was he planning to have her girlfriend killed and then break her spirit?
Hmm…No.
Jack would do worse things, before the killing part.
He gave her a playful laugh. "You should know that better than anyone, pumpkin." He slowly brought her face close to him. "My sweet pumpkin looks tired and unloved." Cassie stared up at his eyes and his smirk grew larger. Jack placed his arms around her neck and leaned his forehead against hers. "Isn't this nice? Hm?" He tilted his head and closed his eyes. Breathing her scent. "You can always beg for forgiveness." Jack finally kissed her lips and drove her body against the table.
Cassie immediately planted her hands on his chest and pushed him away, sneaking away from his grasp. "Aww come on." He let her go and turned around while following her with his eyes. "How long are you going to deny me, pumpkin?"
"Riley has nothing to do with me anymore." She wiped her lips and glared. "You should leave this behind. You're sounding like a psycho."
Jack leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. "Don't compare me with that garbage, pumpkin. Or you're going to meet a different side of your pal Jack here."
"We are no longer together." She felt nervous under his gaze. He continued to look at her with his arms crossed. He knew it was only a matter of time for her to explode.
And he loved the game.
"Ok, let's work things out." He licked the corner of his mouth and focused his unnatural eyes on her. "Let's forget all of this and go back to the scene where i continue to bang you and then i reject you and then you magically get your promotion." He titled his head to the side and leaned against his desk with both hands on the smooth surface. "What do you think pumpkin? Everyone wins in the end. Huh?"
"No."
Cassie punched the mirror in rage. "Damn Hyperion. DAMN ALL OF YOU." She screamed to her female's co-workers as they busted out of the bathroom screaming in terror.
"Cassie?" John peeked. "If i come in, will you attack me?"
...
"Cassie? Oh yuck." John went to Cassie, who was washing her bloody hand. "What the hell have you done?" He grabbed her wrist and heard her sniffing. "Hey, don't cry sweetie." He kissed her cheek. "What happened?"
"He demoted me to the sector of garbage collection." She allowed John to stop the blood with his tie. "It's better for you to not be seen with me otherwise he will target you too."
"Let's get you home."
"What home?" Cassie stopped her tracks. "My future salary won't be able to pay for a decent television much less my current apartment."
"You always have me. Let's get the hell out of here." John grabbed her by the arm and when they opened the bathroom door, one security was waiting outside. "Hi. Is there any problem?"
…..
"Just a sec, Cassie."John got closer to the security and whispered something inaudible to his ear. Whatever he said, the security walked away without any words. "Let's go." He whispered.
As they walked together, Cassie cleaned her tears as many of her co-workers stopped and stared at them. "Ignore them." He encircled an arm around her. "You're going to my house."
…
A few weeks later
Well to be honest it wasn't that bad. Sure, her previous salary was much better but at least she didn't have to worry about paperwork, stress and mostly Jack.
She still had to be careful with her words. To find a trustful person on Helios was difficult but that didn't mean she couldn't get some "fake" friends.
Cassie took her hat off and cleaned her sweaty forehead. It was time to lunch. "Hey Cassie don't forget to close the robot door or it will freak out the butterflies." Quincy the chief of her sector said with a laugh.
Cassie laughed and waved her hat. She closed the robot door and made her way to the cafeteria. As she reached her destination, Cassie swiped her magnetic bracelet on the timestamp machine and went to the bathroom to wash her hands.
After finishing, Cassie went to grab her lunch. She gladly sat with her co-workers and it immediately started the routine of speaking badly of the butterflies. Aka her previous co-workers.
Funny that no one spoke bad things about Jack. "So as i finished collecting the garbage this weird guy appeared and started to accuse me of stealing his hair."
"What?" Some said while laughing.
"Do you mean his toupee?" Anne the only woman beside her that was part of her group said with an awkward look on her features.
Cassie continued to chew her sandwich but at the same time, scanned Anne with her eyes. Anne was a beautiful Indian-descendant woman with dimples on her cheeks. 'She's so hot.' Cassie thought while wiggling her eyebrows as her eyes fell on Anne's back.
"Cassie?"
"Hm?" She stopped chewing and looked at her chief.
"Do you know that guy that works as a mailman? The bald guy."
"Oh." Cassie laughed. "His name is Hugo Vasquez and he's not completely bald."
"Whatever. As i was saying, he started to accuse me of stealing his toupee." He looked at Anne who laughed. "As he was he owned the place. I laughed at his face and he tossed his coffee to the ground and ordered me to clean because that's what i was born to do."
"Ohhhhh." Everyone at the table stopped eating at stared at Quincy.
"What did you do?" Walker asked.
"As i was going to curse him out, the big boss appeared." Everyone gasped in delight and laughed while Cassie continued to eat and rolled her eyes. "He was like "Wallet-head what do you think you're doing?" I wanted to laugh but i knew i couldn't."
"What happened next?" Anne rested her head on her hands, pocking her round attribute out. Cassie almost choked.
"Chill Cassie. It's just an ass." Trevor said as everyone laughed, including Anne.
"Boss forced him to clean and made me watch." I never felt so good in my entire life. "He knows how much we suffer with these butterflies. It's good to have someone on our side once in a while."
"Well i'm done." Cassie got up. "I will see you guys tomorrow."
"Oh wait, Cassie." Quincy said. "I need you to do the afternoon inspection on the upper floors."
"W-what? The upper floors? Can't Walker go? I just finished the main hallway."
"Hey don't push more work to me. I have the restaurants sides."
"In and out, Cassie. It won't be difficult." Anne winked.
Cassie sighed deeply knowing she will come across with some of her previous co-workers. She was worried with Jack than with the others. She can take some humiliation from them but not from that man.
