Swallowing her pill with breakfast at Jim's place a few weeks later had become something of a habit. It was about a month since they'd started dating, and even though many times they fell asleep at his place—or hers, on occasion—they always arrived at the office separately. Once they were done eating and on their way, they stopped off at her apartment to pick up her car so she could drive herself, though she usually stopped off to get coffee on the way. It was for her and Greg, and they took turns, alternating coffee runs weekly.
This week was her turn to get coffee, and she texted him as Jim kissed her cheek and got back into his car. He always made sure that she got to her car safely. In a city—any city—there was always a risk of being mugged, even in broad daylight. It was a crime of convenience.
After going through the drive-thru at Starbucks, she plunked her purse back on the passenger seat and wondered if it wouldn't just make more sense to carpool with Greg. He was only a five-minute drive out of the way, and the long list of dos and don'ts needed for his coffee order was taxing. Half the time, she got strange looks when she got up to the window, and the person would look to see if she had anyone else in the car with her.
Making a mental note to ask Greg about that later as well, she drove off toward the CBC building, which was only a ten-minute drive from her go-to coffeehouse. On her way to work, she thought about the past several weeks. Jim was wonderful, much more caring and attentive than she'd thought he would be. The week after they'd first slept together, she was getting a prescription for a birth control pill while he was at the doctor, getting tested for STDs. She hadn't even known about his testing until he handed the results to her before she looked up at him curiously.
"What is this?" She scanned the paper and the abbreviations she didn't quite understand. "Am I looking at a tax document or what?"
Jim had snorted and pointed at the top of the page. It had LabCorp's name on it and a number of lines underneath it. Still, it was all foreign to her, and Auden shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, I give up. What is it?"
"An STD panel. I got tested, just in case. It's been a few months since I've fucked around with anyone else, though I always wore a condom, but I figured it didn't hurt to get tested and show you. The pill will keep you from getting pregnant, but it doesn't protect you against venereal diseases. Utmost trust is what's needed. Never can be too careful."
She'd appreciated that, and immediately decided to make an appointment afterwards. The result was that they were both clean, and she was on the pill, so sex, though still phenomenal, was improved. At least, they both thought so.
At work, though? They'd almost been caught kissing in filing rooms a number of times, though it was always another clerk that had walked in and not a manager. One time, it was Greg, and he gave them a strange look before grabbing some files and leaving. The doors locked from both the inside and out, but they decided that keeping it strictly professional was necessary. Instead of risking it, they planned more dates during the week. Since Auden didn't know too many people in Tampa, it was easy to clear her meager little schedule, though she always made time to visit Aunt Mary.
Michael, her cousin, had visited a few times since Clay had come back to work after his meetings in Texas. The big boss had gotten the contracts, and was busy most of the time with the next big thing, which was the building of several new big box stores. He was rarely seen, and Jim was usually busy helping as well. Michael had dropped by a couple weeks ago to look at the servers again, and he would usually pop by twice a month, either to just say hi or to help out a little bit.
At the office, Auden dropped her coffee off at her desk before bringing Greg's over to him. He seemed to dealing with some situation, and he frowned down at his computer. She placed it to the side and looked down at the monitor.
"What's up? Watching porn on company time again and it crashed the servers? I told you that—"
"Bah," he interjected. "You know I only use my phone or tablet when I need to rub one out. Much more portable, and I can bring it into the men's room."
Auden made a face and muttered the word 'pig' under her breath. He chuckled and pointed out, "Well, you asked. Don't blame me for being honest."
"Gross."
"Hey! What's up?"
Jim came strolling around the corner with his own cup of coffee and smiling. Though he had been a little hesitant to like Greg because he was male and worked quite closely with Auden, he knew he had no damn right to be jealous. Greg was harmless, even if his stupid mouth got in the way of Jim really appreciating his sarcastic humor at times.
Greg glanced up at him before looking back at his monitor. "Stupid goddamn—I can't get any of the browsers to do anything. They just keep loading and loading and then just freeze. Fucking..." He silenced himself, a little afraid of the boss' boss overhearing him cursing like a sailor.
"You try restarting the computer?" Auden asked.
"Yup."
"Check for updates?"
"Yeah. On all of them. Cleared cookies while I was at it, too."
That was the extent of their knowledge, though Auden was a little more knowledgeable and muttered the next question, mostly to herself.
"You didn't let Jim take it apart to liberate the fan from its casing now, did you?" Jim hissed out a little laughter. He could afford to find the humor in his mistake now.
"What?" Greg obviously hadn't caught her question, but it had mostly for the benefit of Jim. To poke fun at him.
"Nothing, nothing."
Jim piped up. "I think Michael is here. He's tech-savvy. I'll text him and tell him to get his butt down here after he's done speaking with Clay. Until then, you could probably get some of the filing from the second floor. I think Anthony is done with a project and needs to make room. He'd die rather than ask for help, so I usually send someone along to check him out. Quiet as a fucking mouse, that one. He'd make a really good inmate if he ever got arrested. Just does what you tell him to."
Anthony Mason was a tiny man, smaller than any of the other architects employed. He acted like the most unobtrusive monk ever, and kept to his office most of the time, only ever coming out to eat his lunch. Well, he actually only kept it in the breakroom and would bring it back to his office to eat there as he did whatever-the-hell-it-was in there during his breaks. He could have been doing anything from watching porn to knitting a sweater. No one knew too much about him, but he got more work done than any other employee. Plus, he was a genius at what he did.
"I'll get right to it." Greg stood up and turned to Auden. "You coming?"
She made a face like she wished she could. "Can't. I was supposed to get some drafts down to the third floor before end of day yesterday. Now I have to move my ass and catch up. Shouldn't take too long with Mr. Mason. He's so quiet and focused he'll probably just point you toward the pile of paperwork and keep it moving. He's only down the hall from the files, too." Plus, she wanted to speak to Jim before he went to his office. In fact, she had no idea why he was even on this floor when he should have been up on the 5th.
"What's up?" she asked him when Greg had turned the corner. Since they were trying to keep it pretty professional at CBC, she affected a lazy pose before starting to walk toward her desk.
"Oh, nothing. Just making sure you got here safely."
That was sweet, and again, Auden was touched. Her last several boyfriends hadn't been this caring. She could have walked from one end of the city to the other and they wouldn't even had asked her to text when she got home. Not that it mattered. They were usually drunk or too high to give a shit—or even be awake or lucid.
"Well, as you can see, I'm fine, though I think Greg's computer is starting to look a little strange."
They both looked over at it before Jim's hand unconsciously slid over her blouse, down her elbow and to her hip. It was a common enough gesture for him when he was at home, but this was CBC. He couldn't be caught touching her this intimately. Quickly, he pulled his arm away and walked over to Greg's desk, eyes widening.
"Well, what the fu—"
"Hey! You texted me to come down? What's up?"
Michael had turned the corner and was coming over to them, a startled look on his face. Unless it was the servers, he usually didn't have much to do with anything tech at CBC.
"I think Greg's computer is dying," Auden stated loudly. "He couldn't get any of the browsers to open and now it...it's doing that." She jabbed sharply at the screen just as it flickered from blue to black. She could hear the tower shutting down and the light to the on button pulsing an angry red color.
"Fuck," Michael muttered before hurrying over. "I think his motherboard went south. How old is this dinosaur?"
"I don't know. I'd have to ask the basement guys."
"The basement guys?"
Jim shrugged his shoulders. "The tech folks work down in the basement. What the fuck do we have a basement for if not for geeks?"
Michael muttered, "Right," before trying to check out the tower and sticking his head under the desk to see if there was a loose wire or plug. He got on his knees briefly and cursed after a moment of rummaging around before sitting back, almost hitting his head on the underside of the desk. "I can smell it. The motherboard is definitely done. Greg needs a whole new computer tower. You got extras? If you don't, I can have one delivered by this afternoon. I got tons of them at the house. People don't realize that their version of broken is my version of salvageable."
"Well, we usually have some extras in the electronics supply room. Everything he saved is in the server, so all he has to do is sign in and it'll be there, so that's good."
Michael stood up and dusted off his knees. "If you can get a new one sent up here, I can quickly set it up before Greg gets back. Won't take but a minute."
"I'll call down." Jim put his finger up to indicate to give him a moment. He pressed a few buttons and then held the phone to his ear. He waited for a full minute before releasing a sigh and ending the call. "No answer. Aud, can you slip down there and tell them what we need? Also, they should collect the broken tower to dispose of properly. Hazardous materials and all, ya know."
She nodded and started to walk away, thinking she'd never get everything she wanted to get done completed by the end of the day.
When she was gone, Michael looked over at Jim and gave him a scrutinizing stare. "Can I ask you to do something for me, Jim? Real talk."
Jim nodded and looked around a little nervously. "Do we need to talk about it in private or—"
Michael brushed the suggestion off with one sweep of his hand. "Nah, I'll be quick. It's just...I wanted to tell you something."
Jim nodded cautiously. He didn't honestly like where this was going. Michael wasn't usually this serious. He was a bit of a joker, not someone you talked shop with when you ran across him. "Go for it. Whatever it is, please get it out."
"It's about Auden."
Jim stilled. "What about her?" He had a feeling he knew where this was going.
"Well, I just wanted to tell you that even though Auden might be a new relation to me as far as counting the time I've known her, but I can tell she's special, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better. I also know your past, and even though I said you two would look good together, it wasn't without a little trepidation I admitted that. You do. You looked right, with your hand on her side. It was sweet." Michael stood taller and gave Jim a serious look. "But I swear to God above I will fuck you up if you hurt her. That's facts."
Michael was serious, and he glared at Jim menacingly for a moment before he got a response.
"I wouldn't ever do that," Jim stated seriously. "You're not the only one she's special to, you know."