A R C H E R P O V
My brother stared at me when Sasha was going ballistic on Sarge, letting her spiteful words run past her lips.
It caused me to pay attention, opening my eyes wide; mean surprised wide. What Sasha said to Sarge provoked us to laugh. Aston couldn't believe what she said: we laughed and shouldn't have.
I'm their boss, and the only way I could control the situation was to suspend them both. And then Sasha told me she quit.
Which took me by surprise. My mind was blank with the remarks she spoke. Never thought I'd be in this situation, where it backfired on me.
Now I'm sitting in my office with my brother, having a drink, contemplating what to do next. "My god, I thought she was going to kill him," Aston says. "She had some strength behind her when I held her back," I said.
We laugh. "Archer, what are you going to do now? You will have to hire another secretary." "Aston, I've never had this happen to me ever. But I know she's the best at her job. She might be mouthy, but she knows her job. Finding a replacement won't be easy." Sip my drink.
He leans on the desk to glance at me, "You need to find her. Do a bit of grovelling tell her how good she is at her job." Shake my head, take a deep breath.
"That would mean being nice, and she knows I don't do nice. She's messed up big time. And she knows it. I can't act nice to her. She'll get the wrong idea." He raises his brows at what I said.
"Come on Aston, people are already talking about us." He smiles, picks his glass up, places it to his lips.
Lean back in my seat, staring at my brother. "I'll go with you. You know how much she likes me. She's sexy, but she's the type of girl who should have it all. Not merely a one-nighter or an office fling." He caused me to laugh with his remark.
"Aston, she'd devour you for breakfast." I said, and he nods. "That's what I'm afraid of. So, I'll stay away. Like we said, she's off-limits no matter how sexy she is." He says. I nodded in agreement, my mind going over what he said.
***
It's been a few days, I'm in the limo with my brother heading over to Sasha's. I'm going to extreme measures and plead against my better judgement.
This is all of Aston's brilliant idea. The limos driving down a street with small houses either side. I've never been this side of town, and I'm pleased I haven't.
The stretch limo pulls to the side of the road. My god. Talk about nosy people. "Seems like we have a welcome party for us," Aston says laughing.
"Something tells me they don't encounter people like us around here." I said. The driver opens the door. "Stay with the car." I told him when I stepped out. Aston follows me.
We stood doing up our jackets and gazed up at the door. The neighbours are whispering. We stroll along the path towards the door, not sure what to expect.
But we could hear whispering from the women standing on the garden watching us. Reach the door and knock.
A woman opens it and slams it closed again. "What a charming welcome." We hear whispering from behind the door. "Try to be polite." Aston pleads with a smirk.
The door opens again. "Yes." She says in a nervous voice, holding the door slightly ajar. "I would like to know if Sasha's here?" I ask.
My brother smiles and scans around us. "Sasha, what the hell have you done? There's two heavy dudes here for you. Just hope they're not packing." Eyed at my brother, I shrug my shoulders with an amused expression. "I don't know any heavy dudes with guns," Sasha shouts back.
The woman smiles at me, acting nervous about our presence. "Sasha, they're here wanting you." She shouts back to her. "Tell them I'm busy and come back another time." She shouts.
"You heard. Thanks for calling." She slams the door.
Tilt my head facing my brother, "Aston, I tried being the nice guy, and behold what happened." He laughs at me.
Glance around noticing a crowd of people, Aston knocks again. A woman answers, her expression is not pleasant. "We need to speak to Sasha. It's important," Aston says to her, doing his puppy eyes.
"Sasha, they're still here." She shouts back. "Ruth, tell them if they don't leave, I'll make them." "You better leave because she means what she says. You'll not like it if she's angry." Well, the woman is right about something. I don't like it when she gets angry.
Take a deep breath, glance at my brother, vent a few words, "Act like a Mr Nice guy. And observe where it got me." I say with a raised voice to my brother. "Sasha, I need to speak to you." I shout.
She appears in the hallway with her smirk, stepping towards the door. "You came all the way here to speak to me?" She mocks me with her fucking mouth. Aston bows his head, smirking.
I step back. She stands in the doorway with her arms folded across her modest chest, in jeans and a t-shirt. Aiming to hide my disgruntle annoyance of grovelling to her, "Sasha, I just want you to return to work." She glanced at Aston, not even a glimpse towards me, or to acknowledge I was talking to her.
"Aston, you can tell your brother he can stick his job right up his arse. All the way until it hurts." "I'm stood right here." Enraged, but keeping calm.
She smirks. Aston glances at me and back at her. "I'll tell him... But Archer is desperate for you to return." He does his puppy eyes, but it's never worked on Sasha.
God knows how many times I've witnessed guys try to hit on her, and she strides away. She smirks at him.
"Aston, do you honestly believe I would fall for that? I'm done. Sarge is suing me for punching him." That gave me an idea. "Would you come back if our lawyers take care of it?" She stares at me with a grin, then her lips move wider into a smile.
She's up to something, and I creased both brows. "Tell you what. Your lawyers can sort it, and you both could accompany me tonight to a school reunion." I glanced at my brother, who's shocked.
Surprised, she got me cornered on this one. "If you can't, we have no deal." She steps backwards about to close the door.
Placed my hand flat on the door to push it open. "You got a deal; I know I'm going to regret this." She smiles at us, "Well, it's been nice chatting. Please excuse me. I'm trying to take my dress in. Which is a fucking nightmare?" She smiles, steps back.
"Why don't you just buy one?" I ask her.
Shakes her head. "Wish I could, but I had to use all my wage to pay for a lawyer. The hourly charge is expensive." "Why don't you get a dress and charge it to the company? You have an expense account." She tilts her head. "You what? You mean to tell me. I've been spending my wages for the last three years collecting your breakfast, paying for your dry cleaning, plus the meals, and I have an expense account?" She didn't sound happy at all.
My brother laughs, pats me on the back, "I'll make sure you get every penny back," I tell her. "Are there any other hidden secrets you failed to mention?" Shake my head.
She steps back into the house. Aston kisses her on the cheek, just like he always does. Step to the limo, and we slide in and leave.
***
Aston glances at me. "Well, that went well. Why the hell did you say yes? I have plans tonight." He's not thrilled with me, "What could I say? She backed me into a corner. It's the only way Sasha would return to work. She's good at her job. And you keep reminding me." He shakes his head, "I thought you liked her?" I ask him. "Don't you?" He couldn't answer, that's why he asked me too. Mind you, I can't answer that either without ridiculing myself.
We arrive back at the penthouse. Aston sent the limo to his place to collect his suit. Have a shower, wrapped the towel around my waist, stepped to the mirror to check my stubble rub my face.
Shake my head until my damp hair falls into place. Why did I agree to this? Why did she ask us? No idea what sort of people will attend the reunion.
Glanced at the bed at the divorce papers, grabbed the pen and signed them. That's signed, I can get on with my life.
Ellie's happy with a guy she met. Funny how she met a guy so quickly in a few days. Gazed down at my wedding finger, slide the ring from my finger to place in the nightstand drawer, and finish getting ready for this reunion.
She's got guts to pull this off, getting me to agree to her terms. Disbelieve Sarge could do this when Sasha caught him in bed with a woman.
What's he even think he's going to achieve? Everyone is going to call him a low life with his actions.
My parents like her, and they invite Sasha to the barbeques plus the other parties throughout the year. She likes to have fun, and sometimes a little too much fun.
Last year, she caught the stage on fire at the summer party. It was hilarious watching Sasha stomp to put the fire out.
But the amusing bit was when she threw her alcoholic drink on the fire. My mother was in fits of laughter, and so were the guests.
My father put the fire out, and Sasha covered her face in her hands with embarrassment.
My mother and Sasha get on well, they're so alike in many ways. My father says they're cut-from-the-same-cloth. I know my mother speaks her mind, and so does Sasha.
My father is right, they are both cut-from-the-same-cloth. I hate it when my parents are right, and I don't listen to them. Take my marriage. My mother warned me, but I didn't take notice.
I'm divorced with a mistress who I sent to another location. Yep, that ended the same night my wife caught me.
I've decided to just keep away from women for a while. Stood to admire myself in the mirror. Well, what can I say?
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