IN BED WITH THE BOSS

They remained there, silent but connected through physical touch. After several moments, he squeezed his mom’s shoulder. “Can I talk to you about this mom?” Scott asked.” I mean… outside.”

She nodded, following him out of the waiting room where they could have more privacy.

“What happened?” he demanded. He realized that the tone of his voice was hard so he tried to soften it by taking her hand in his. The last thing he wanted to do was to upset his mom.

“Since the announcement of Bruce Bennet’s engagement, I’ve tried my best to keep her protected from the news. Even going on her computer and phone and blocking those society sites. But I knew that was only postponing the inevitable. I knew that she was going to find out eventually and it happened. Last night, she found out and heard her sobbing all the way from downstairs, Scott,” she whispered, her eyes filled with tears. “I went up to her room and found her curled up on the floor of her bedroom, crying uncontrollably. She was shaking so much and I couldn’t stop it, so I got scared and called the ambulance.”

Scott tried to keep his emotions in control. He tried to control ache flaring along his jaw as he struggled to keep the endless stream of curses that he knew would not only offend his mother but would also be pointless. Nothing he could say would ease the pain Sara was in at the moment. And no amount of cursing could extinguish his anger and hatred toward Bruce Bennet, the bastard responsible for hurting the kind, loving, fragile woman who’d given him her heart. A heart that Bruce had trampled on, then tossed aside like trash.

It’d been six months ago, but not to Sara. To her, Bruce’s betrayal might as well as have been yesterday. She’d kept her love affair with Bruce from Scott, because he and Bruce had no love lost between them; they’d been rivals and enemies for years and Scott had never hidden his hatred toward the other man. Which explained why Bruce had targeted her in the first place.

He’d gone after Sara to get back at Scott when Scott had gotten a business deal he wanted. His plan had worked and Sara had fallen for his declaration of love, and promises of a future together.

Then, when she was ready to go all in with him, he’d cruelly dumped her. But that hadn’t been the worst of it. Sara had been pregnant with his child. Scott hadn’t cared, in fact he told her to get an abortion, which she’d refused to do because she still cared for her child. But in the end, it didn’t matter after all, because she had miscarried and lost the baby.

Sara couldn’t take the pain of losing both her fiance and her baby. The situation had caused her to sink into depression. Scott and his mother had tried to be there for her… to help her get her life back together, and she was making little progress, and now this had happened.

“I’m so sorry, Scott.” His mother interrupted his thoughts as she cupped his cheek. “I know this has to be difficult for you, too. This whole thing with Bruce Bennet. And I know you are stressed at work too. How’re you doing? How is it going at the office”

Scott covered her hand with his and then pressed a kiss to her palm before lowering it. He felt like he had to be strong right now. He felt like showing any emotion would only make things worse. He was a man, and his family needed him, so he hid his true feelings and tried to smile at her. “I’m okay, Mom. You really don’t have to worry about me. I’m not the one you need to worry about today.”

Felicia McCall stared at her son. She stood and studied him, not falling for his show. She held his arm. “I’m your mother, Scott.” she said,” And you don’t have to be that way with me. I have enough concern to spread around evenly. I know you are stressed already, and I’m really sorry that this is happening now and only adding to that stress.”

She shook her head. “It’s okay if you are not ‘fine’, Scott. You are allowed to feel and you can talk to me”

“Let it go, Mom,” he murmured, sliding his hands into the front pockets of his pants and slightly turning away from her inquisitive gaze. “I am alright.”

Or as least he would be, he told himself over and over again.

He would never forget what Bruce Bennet did to his sister. Or forgive it. The stupid man had made it his mission to bring Scott down a peg. And this latest move of his-going after his sister, deceiving her, getting her pregnant and hurting her this way had been a direct hit. Anger swelled within him. It was such a selfish, narcissistic and uncaring thing to do, especially to a woman who had nothing to do with all of this. A woman who had genuinely loved him.

In a way he blamed himself. He was the one Bruce had been trying to hurt, and he had been unable to protect his sister from him. And now she still suffered from his cruelty. It sickened him that he’d failed his only sister this way, despite the fact that he hadn’t known until it was too late. As her older brother, the man in the family, he should’ve been there. Should’ve asked questions. Should’ve stopped it when he had the chance… Damn it. He ruthlessly scrubbed his hands down his face and into his hair.

Never again. Never again would he let something like this happen to his loved ones, and Bruce Bennett wouldn’t get away with this this time, he vowed.

Bruce Bennett would pay, and Scott was going to make sure he did.

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Scott McCall had not been to the office in two weeks, and although Vivian knew that it was none of her business, she couldn’t deny the fact that she was a little bit concerned and weirdly enough, she missed him. It was ridiculous that she did, because they had no other kind of relationship apart from the professional one, but she guessed maybe her concern was simply because she was grateful to him for giving her a job she’d desperately wanted.

She still did her job and he called her to give orders and tell her what he wanted her to get done. Many times she wanted to ask how he was or when he was coming back to work, but she didn’t want to meddle, besides he never said anything about coming back anytime soon. He just called, gave orders and hung up immediately.

The only advantage was that she got to leave the office earlier so she wasn’t too tired when she went to the cheesecake shop for her shifts.

It was Monday morning and she’d just arrived at the office. She got out of the elevator and went to say hello to Betty, when she spotted Michael sitting with her.

“Oh, hi Mike” Vivian said cheerfully, “What brings you to our floor today.”

Michael gave her a charming smile as he approached her. He looked quite spectacular, Vivian thought as she watched him. He’d recently braided his hair and had it packed up. The barber had also done well with his carving.

“Just came by to say hello,” Michael replied as he came to stand in front of her. “And I’m glad you are here, because I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while. You look very beautiful by the way”

Betty hissed loudly. “Don’t pay him any attention,” she said playfully. “He says that to all the girls.”

“Hey…come on” Michael protested and raised his hands while Vivian laughed.

“How can I help you, Mike?” she asked him.

Michael smiled and took her free hand gently in his. He slowly lifted it to his lips and kissed it, not breaking eye contact with her. “I was wondering, Vivian,” he began, “If you would like to go out with me sometime… you know, on a date”

“A date?” Vivian repeated. Her eyes widened. She knew that Michael always made some flirty comments and gestures whenever they saw each other, but he also did that with almost all the ladies he talked to so she’d just assumed that he liked to joke that way. Was this one of his jokes, or was he really serious about it?

Michael nodded. “You sound surprised. I don’t think I’ve made it a secret that I’m really into you. Who wouldn’t be? Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

Vivian smiled at him, but she pulled her hand out of his gently. “I… Ermmm” she began, but she didn’t get to finish her statement, because at that moment, Scott appeared from the hallway. A frown on his face as he stared at her.

“Mr McCall,” Vivian breathed as she took a step away from Michael. “You’re back. Good morning, Sir.”