The Stranger Behind My Orgasm

Abigail

"Where on earth is Tyler?"

The engineering floor reeked of coffee.

I had called Tyler’s desk twice from upstairs. Nobody picked, so here I was, my heels clicking on the concrete floor while an intern who couldn’t have been older than nineteen scurried ahead of me, pushing her glasses up on her sweaty face.

With the way she was glancing nervously at me over her shoulder, you would think I was a fire-breathing dragon demanding her first born child.

"He’s in the conference room with the team," she muttered. "They finished the meeting like an hour ago so they’re just, um... you know,"

No, no I didn’t know.

Wild laughter reached my ears before we reached the door to the conference room. Through the glass panel I could see Tyler holding at the head of the conference table, his jacket off, tie loose, gnawing down on a donut.

I pushed the door open.

"Abigail!" Tyler’s face split into a wide grin the moment he saw me, his arms opening wide. "Well, this is a surprise, you should have told me you were coming, I’d have prepared baby girl,"

His team’s laughter echoed around us and I couldn’t resist the tiny bit of smile that crept up my face. Sadly, I had to burst his bubble.

"Boss would like to see you,"

The grin stayed on his face for all of two seconds before it dropped. "Now?"

"Now."

He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair, said something to his team that made them groan and followed me out into the corridor. The intern had scurried off.

"What’s this about?" He fell into step beside me, slipping his jacket back on.

"We just received a delivery receipt for the side mirror of the VTD prototype. It was apparently ordered three months ago, and arrived today."

His shoes skidded to a stop and his face went white. He dragged a hand over the back of his neck.

"I wrote to the company," he murmured. "I told them to cancel the order. I thought they had." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

My brows furrowed. "Why would you cancel it?"

"Because the mirror didn’t arrive on schedule." We reached the elevator and he jabbed the button, not looking at me, all that swagger had disappeared off his body.

"We were three weeks to the launch and it wasn’t here, so I sourced one from a different supplier and got it in four days. It’s the same spec and the same quality. The car is fine."

"So why didn’t you just report it?"

He slammed the button again even though it was already lit. "Do you seriously not know how the boss is? Or is that some sort of trick question? He’s a perfectionist. He’ll get mad about me not ordering from the approved supplier list and I didn’t also want to go to him and say a mirror was going to delay the car launch."

"Shit," was all I could mutter as the elevator doors dinged open and we stepped on.

"Shit is an understatement," He muttered, dragging his hand through his hair. His eyes darted around warily. A thin line of sweat gleamed on his forehead and his hands trembled.

"Look just explain what happened and I’m sure he’ll understand,"

Tyler gave a dry laugh. "You don’t understand what he’s like when-"

The elevator dinged, arriving on the top floor.

The doors slid open, he straightened his jacket, pressing his lips together. "He’s going to fire me."

No, that would be too dramatic... right?

I followed him into Finnegan’s office watching him talk. That was the thing, Finnegan sat behind that desk, his usual blank look on his face as Tyler explained the whole thing.

"You know the approved supplier list exists for a reason," He finally spoke, his deep voice filling the large office.

Tyler nodded eagerly. "Yes sir, but the component itself is fine, I assure you."

"You changed a component on a prototype vehicle without authorization from me and filed no report on the change."

Tyler’s face went red as he struggled to explain. "I should have reported it, you’re right, but the car performed perfectly and the launch went well,"

"Mr Tyler, when I asked you directly two weeks before the launch whether all components were sourced and confirmed," Finnegan growled, his voice dropping even colder, "what did you tell me?"

Tyler’s jaw tightened. "I said yes."

The silence in the air was so thick, it was nearly suffocating. I stood by the door, holding my breath.

"Pack your things, Tyler. You’re done."

What?!

"Sir," Tyler stepped forward. "It was one decision, one component, the car is completely fine."

"I know the car is fine, Tyler." He snapped, green eyes blazing. "I’m not firing you for the mirror, you’re done because you lied to me."

He couldn’t be serious. Tyler was trying to help and I knew that it was presumptuous of him to have changed where to get a mirror from but firing him over this was a bit too dramatic, no?

"Sir," I called, taking a step forward.

"What, you’re going to advocate for him too?" He spat, turning those green daggers at me.

"It was a mistake-"

"He lied to me, Miss Kellerman," he said coldly. "It’s in the employee contract that all employees must be honest in everything that goes on in this corporation,"

"But it’s so minor and the launch went well," I argued, gripping my dress to hold myself back from storming forward to scream at him.

"If he could lie about something so minor, he would definitely lie about something major. I can tolerate anything else. Failure, disappointment, but never lies." His voice dropped lower and for a minute those eyes burned into me. "You do not lie to me and get away with it."

A thick lumps formed in my throat instantly.

You do not lie to me.

"You’re dismissed, Tyler. It was a pleasure working with you,"

And with that very cold dismissal, he turned to his computer ignoring us both. Tyler stumbled past me, his shoulders shaking, eyes all glassy.

He was fired. The head of engineering had just been fixed over a lie.

You’re next.

Fear crawled up my spine and my heels clicked hard against the floor as I rushed to the bathroom, slamming the door close behind me.

He fired Tyler over a lie. What would he do when he found out about my lies?

Oh my god. I stood at the sink with both hands gripping the cold porcelain, my breathing coming in fast and shallow pants. He would do that to me.

If he ever found out I was Aphrodite, I was fucking screwed. Oh god, oh god, I couldn’t let him kiss me again. I couldn’t...my heat thumped harder, kicking against my ribcage.

Panic filled every inch of me. I turned the cold tap on and pressed my wrists under the water, shaking my head vigorously.

He would never find out. I would have to make absolutely sure that he never found out.

I turned the tap off, pressed a paper towel to my face, pulled on the best poker face I could summon and strode out of the bathroom.

The sight of my desk had me tensing, halting in my tracks.