Chapter 114: Office Tea - The Explosive Kind
- RAYA -
I can’t believe it. I haven’t even been in the building five minutes, and I’m already going to have "tea" to spill for Dex.
"What is the gossip about Lawson?" I ask innocently, knowing full well that I have more that I could reveal about that slime ball than probably most of the others here.
Then again, based on what Dex told me about the settlements and non-disclosure agreements, maybe there are co-workers of mine who have seen Lawson’s more predatorial side, too. I look around at all of the women returning to their desks or chatting with coworkers, wondering who he has made feel uncomfortable or maybe pinned against a wall in some dark corner of the office. The thought makes me incredibly sad—especially considering how those encounters were hidden as if they didn’t even happen.
Cricket, Jay, and I pretend to be admiring a tree that has been erected in the office with colorful strands of a silky fabric hanging from its limbs. I’m actually really interested to know what this tree is about and start reading the sign next to it until Jay’s eyes slide to mine in that look of secret conspiratorial knowledge that makes me want to laugh inappropriately. Even when he’s attempting to be serious, Jay is so funny—his expressions, his mustache, his quirky clothing choices. I didn’t realize just how much I missed these two.
"I don’t know if you’ve noticed that Lawson is gone today..." Jay says under his breath, and I bite back a chuckle at how he is attempting to keep his mouth from moving and his expression neutral.
Everyone in this office probably knows that face. I’m fairly certain Jay is the catalyst of most office gossip. If he hears an interesting tidbit of information from someone, everyone else is going to be hearing it at some point.
"I guess I did..." I glance around.
"Raya, don’t look, you’ll make it obvious," he scolds me, and Cricket and I share a look—both of us trying not to laugh.
"Sorry," I giggle.
"It’s okay. So there are several theories. Laurel said he called in with car trouble, but Jess from accounting suggested he eloped with Grace. The two of them were spotted speaking confidentially in his office several times."
"Grace... the ex-girlfriend of Dex’s, Grace?" I ask, once again pretending that I am not also very familiar with her as well. Lawson and Grace might actually make a great pair—bravo, Jess. That’s a good match.
"Mhmm," Cricket nods.
"But Jay, I thought you went to dinner with her," I point out. "Did it not go well?"
"No," he screws up his face in a distasteful way. "She is beautiful, but I discovered she has very little personality. It would never work between us. I made sure she didn’t get her hopes up about a future with me. I have standards to uphold, after all."
"Well done, Jay." I pat him on the back.
"Thank you. Yes, it was heartbreaking for her, I’m sure," he says solemnly.
"You would be a much better partner than Lawson, so it’s her loss," I say dryly and then they both look at me a bit confused. They knew Lawson was coming to my desk and giving me attention before, and I always appeared giddy at that fact, I’m sure. It turns my stomach to remember it now.
"Raya... do you have a crush on me?" Jay whispers.
"No!" My eyes fly wide, and then I feel horrible for reacting as quickly as I do, because the question was probably a teasing one. "I mean... I’m seeing someone."
"What?" Cricket smiles with the question. "Since when? Did this happen during your recovery?"
Now I’m shrugging, trying to pretend it isn’t a big deal and that I didn’t just reveal something huge. They know I wasn’t dating anyone, and they know I was interested in Lawson. I made it pretty obvious.
"It’s a doctor," Jay gasps with the guess, turning to look at Cricket whose smile widens and eyebrows shoot up.
"Is it?" Cricket asks, hands clasped together hopefully, and I’m left groaning on the inside. Now this will become a guessing game that never ceases until they learn the true identity of this mystery man. "That would be so romantic. You meet in the hospital, you fall in love..."
"Love at first sight," Jay adds, turning to smile at me.
"No no no, we’re not talking about me." I wave my hands at them. "Keep your gossip focused on Lawson. I don’t need anything going around about me. What else are people saying? Can’t it just be as simple as Lawson having car trouble this morning?"
"No way. You’ve seen his car. It is... extravagant," Jay says. "It probably comes with a chauffeur service if it breaks down, so something else has to be going on."
"But it could just be something personal and boring that he doesn’t want to admit. Like diarrhea," I shrug, and they both make a face at me. "What? Would anyone want to call Laurel saying they have diarrhea?"
"Or it’s something personal like he eloped with a fashion model," Jay counters.
"I think he would brag about that, though," Cricket says. "Lawson is a bit of a bragger."
I nod, unable to argue with that. Lawson is full of himself, that’s for sure. "My money is on diarrhea," I tell them.
"It is kind of nice to think of someone like Lawson unable to remove himself from a bathroom when he always looks so perfect in those suits," Jay muses. "That means he’s human just like the rest of us."
I want to say something—I want to tell Jay that he is genuinely a much better man than Lawson. I want to let him know that the facade is just that: a facade, an act. But that would require stories and details and reasons why I have that opinion about one of the COOs of Mobius Media.
"There is another thing that has been going around about Lawson for awhile," Cricket says quietly, and I can already tell that the teasing has ceased. This is coming from a more sober, genuine place. "I’ve heard some of the women say that he’s..."
She stops speaking abruptly like she’s hit some kind of internal wall.
"What?" I ask, surprised—both by how it sounded like she was going to say what I know to be true about Lawson and also how she just quit midway.
"Nothing." Her eyebrows pinch, and she looks at her hands. "Nothing, nevermind."
I frown, feeling a sudden urge to comfort her—not that it concerns her necessarily. She could just be refusing to tell the stories of others who have shared their experiences with her.
I never thought of Cricket as being the target of Lawson’s sexual advances, but thinking of it now makes me so angry. It’s like a maternal instinct comes over me, and I want to go find Lawson and kick him in the balls all over again—harder this time. Why didn’t I cripple him when I had the chance?
"He made me uncomfortable," I admit, feeling that it’s best to share at least some of the truth of what happened. If this is a secret that’s kept in this office to protect Lawson’s image, that’s not right. And I haven’t signed any agreements to keep me quiet.
Cricket’s head snaps up, her eyebrows tented in concern.
"He did," I nod. "He made me very uncomfortable. The day Dex was going to arrive, Lawson asked me to spy on him because he was upset that Dex was getting promoted. And then later Lawson made... unwanted advances. Pretty aggressive ones."
They both stare at me, not saying anything. For once, Jay’s eyes don’t get round and greedy for information. He just looks stunned—too stunned to know what to say.
"I’ve heard that he’s made others uncomfortable like that, too," Cricket says quietly. "Maybe... maybe now that Mr. Dex is here, Lawson’s finally going to be held accountable for it. Did you tell him? Mr. Dex?"
I bite my lip, wondering about how much is okay to say. But something tells me that Dex would back me up regardless.
"Yes, I did. Thankfully he took it very seriously."
Despite the fact that I feel right in sharing this with them, my cheeks flood with the warmth of embarrassment as I hear my own words echo in my head, and I have to look away. I’m not sure why, but the idea that I received this kind of attention from Lawson makes me feel somehow guilty—like I shared in the inappropriate behavior, too.
I should have never felt flattered to get attention from him. Maybe I could have avoided him altogether. It was stupid to go to his office so enthusiastically every time he called for me. I could have told him to get his own damn coffee.
"It’s not your fault, Raya," Cricket says softly. "I’m sorry that happened. It’s not right."
"I had no idea," Jay adds, shaking his head. "I hope he really did leave the country, then. Or if you’re right and he has diarrhea, I hope it’s the worst diarrhea of his life."
Cricket and I both can’t help but laugh at that.
"What?" Jay looks back and forth between us. "I’m serious. That’s what I’m going to tell everyone it is, too. Explosive diarrhea. Lawson deserves for that rumor to spread."
