It was after one of these afternoon tickle sessions that Hollis found one of the regular delivery boys waiting for her in the outer office. He delivered building components and design elements for Henshaw Industries. These building samples were left at the office for Foster Prentice to evaluate and possibly use in his upcoming projects.
The delivery boy’s name was Jake Andrews.
Hollis had seen him in high school before he dropped out, but never acknowledged it.
He was waiting at Hollis’s desk, with a delivery slip for her to sign.
Embarrassed and still flushed from her orgasm, Hollis went to the receptionist's desk and took the clipboard from Jake to sign for the package.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“Yes, everything’s fine,” she said.
“It’s just that I saw Mr. Prentice come out of his office looking all red and worked up about something, and then I saw you come out a few minutes later looking all flustered and flushed. He didn’t yell at you for something, did he?”
“Yes,” said Hollis, thinking quickly, “I missed a deadline to file some paperwork with the city, and it will cause a delay to an important project.”
“That doesn’t give him the right to yell at you.”
“No, it wasn’t anything like that.”
Hollis sat down to catch her breath, and Jake still looked at her like he wanted to kick someone’s ass on her behalf.
Jake had been delivering packages from Henshaw Industries to Foster Prentice’s office for about a year now, and he had taken a liking to Hollis, but she ignored him. Up until now, she had discouraged anyone’s interest in her because she had been happy with the arrangement that she and Foster had.
Jake Andrews was about Hollis’s age, and as hot-looking as he was, Jake was one of those bad boys she steered clear of because he was always causing trouble. Trouble you get arrested for. When he disappeared from high school, Hollis was sure he had been arrested.
These days, it was probably still the same story. Jake may be holding down a job, but he wasn’t from anywhere that would further Hollis’s career, not like Foster Prentice, the prominent civil architect.
Not that Hollis hadn’t checked Jake out a few times from the corner of her eye over the past year. If you liked bad boys, he was the complete package.
But there was one time Jake dropped the street-thug routine and softened up to Hollis, and she found him quite handsome. It was one day a few months ago when he had found Hollis crying at her desk, and he offered her a crumpled-up tissue he pulled from his front pocket. She took it to wipe her eyes and for some reason kept it in the top drawer of her desk.
And it was today, when Hollis was lost in her thoughts, that Jake took the opportunity to step in and talk to her one more time.
“Are you sure everything’s okay?” he asked again, breaking the silence and returning Hollis to the reality of the situation. “I’ve seen you cry before.”
Hollis took a moment to think and then reevaluated her feelings for Jake before she spoke again.
“I don’t know, I guess so, maybe I’m in a rut at this dead-end job.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
“Do you want to go out and talk about it?”
What would she and someone like Jake talk about?
“We could go to a quiet little place that I know downtown. It’s not fancy, but the food is good, and the atmosphere is eclectic.”
So what if this guy knew the word eclectic and used it in a sentence?
That didn’t mean he was safe.
Hollis thought hard about who she wanted to replace Foster. Someone who would make her happy. And here he was, right in front of her.
“If you don’t like it, we can go somewhere that you pick. Look, Hollis, I know I’m not what you’re used to, but if you get to know me, you might find out I’m not such a bad guy. ”
It was at that moment that Hollis decided what she wanted was someone like Jake. Fooling around with an older pervert like Foster Prentice suddenly seemed awful, and she wanted a man like Jake, who was closer to her age, to take her and make her feel like she was dateable again.
“That could be ok,” she said. “Just pick me up here tonight. I get off at six o’clock. “We’ll go for coffee first. Then we’ll see about dinner.”
“Okay,” said Jake, “I’ll be here.”
She watched him walk out the door, checking his ass out as he left, and shamefully realizing that when he was standing at her desk, she looked at the bulge in the front of his faded jeans where his cock had made a permanent impression. She wanted to find out firsthand what he had down there, with him on top of her, thrusting it deep inside, where no man had been in such a long time.
Shocked at her own lust-filled desires for Jake, Hollis checked herself.
What was she becoming?
Where was her mind these days?
Foster Prentice walked into the reception area a few moments later and, like always, nonchalantly asked for some files.
“I am not doing this anymore,” thought Hollis.
Hollis spent the rest of the afternoon wondering what she had been missing out on for the past few years. She hadn’t had a boyfriend since high school, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for the post-high school dating world, but fuck it, she was going to give Jake a shot no matter how bad the date went.
She went to the bathroom later in the afternoon and took a physical inventory of herself.
She was dressed in office clothes, but that was okay. She touched up her lipstick and brushed her hair thoughtfully while she decided if she looked alright to go on a first date. If this were a date.
It wasn’t like Jake hadn’t seen her a million times before.
Hollis applied a hint of perfume to her wrists and neck, then went to her desk to wait for Jake. She hoped the evening would be romantic, but she would settle for talking to someone her own age.
Jake picked Hollis up at six and waited for her to straighten her desk. Foster peeked out of his office, then went back. Hollis hoped he noticed Jake waiting for her.
She took Jake to the coffee shop next door and ordered two lattes. Jake made a point of paying for them.
They sat at a corner table, and Hollis started the conversation.
“I haven’t seen you since high school, Jake.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t remember. It’s not like you ever talked to me or anything. You didn’t acknowledge me here until I asked you what was wrong.”
“I know. That wasn’t nice. I didn’t know what to say, and you were scary in high school.”
“Yeah, I know, but I’m doing better these days. You seem to be doing well. Working for Foster Prentice in the city offices.”
“If I’m doing so well, Jake, why do you keep seeing me crying or upset? The reason why I wanted to meet with you is that you were the only person who asked me what was wrong.”
“I saw you upset, and I wanted to help.”
“That’s sweet, Jake. So here we are.”
“Here we are.”
“So, what happened to you in high school?"
“I dropped out. I didn’t see the point. So I bummed around for a while. I heard that Henshaw Industries was hiring, so I got a job. That’s it. How did you get such a great job working for the city?”
Hollis blushed. If only he knew.
“I applied, like everyone else. I wasn’t the most qualified applicant, but Foster said he liked my positive attitude, and that was important to him. He likes to work with someone nice. So, I got the job. Right place, right time, I guess.”
“Yeah, me too. Henshaw Industries came along when I needed a job, and no one would give me one. I guess we both lucked out. So, the big question is, now that you know I don’t bite, would you like to go out with me sometime?”
“Sure, that would be okay.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. I didn’t expect that. I guess I’ll have to figure out where to take someone who works in a city office. But I have to tell you something first. Something I hope doesn’t ruin things.”
“Oh?”
“It’s nothing bad. At least I hope it’s not. The reason I had to drop out of high school is that I have some mental health issues. They aren’t serious, and I wasn’t going to tell you, but you’ve been so nice.” Jake hesitated. “But the problem is I’m seeing Dr. Aubrey Prentice, Foster’s wife.”
Hollis had no idea what to say.
Hollis stared at him, stunned. Of all the things Jake might have confessed, an arrest record, a fight, a bad breakup, this had never crossed her mind.
“You’re seeing Dr. Prentice?” she finally managed.
“Yeah. I just started. I don’t like it. I’ve only gone a few times. Henshaw Industries ordered it. But I was hoping it would help me with my anger issues.”
Aubrey Prentice. Foster’s wife. The woman Foster talked about as a problem to be managed. The woman Hollis had tried not to think about while she’d been sneaking around with him.
Jake continued, misreading her silence. “I didn’t want you to hear it from someone else. I know people judge. I’ve had extreme bipolar episodes. But I’m working on it. I’m not the guy I was at sixteen.”
Hollis couldn’t believe it. This was supposed to be a simple date. But the situation had twisted into something she couldn’t have predicted. Foster’s wife treating Jake for bipolar disorder. Jake asking her out. Hollis, somewhere in the middle, not as innocent as Jake seemed to think, not nearly as secure as she liked to pretend.
She took a breath. “Jake, I don’t judge you for getting help. Honestly, I think it’s good you’re going.”
She paused. “I just didn’t expect that connection.”
Jake exhaled in relief. “Okay. Good. I didn’t want to scare you off.”
Hollis shook her head, trying to clear it. “No. You didn’t scare me off.” She hesitated. “Things at work are complicated.”
“Complicated how?”
Hollis was desperate to say something. But saying it would change everything. It would expose her. It would expose Foster. It might even blow up Jake’s therapy with Dr. Prentice.
She looked at him and realized he wasn’t asking out of nosiness. He was asking because he cared.
“I just don’t want to get you caught up in stuff that isn’t yours,” she said.
He studied her for a long moment. Then, gently, “Hollis, whatever you’re dealing with, you don’t have to tell me now. Or ever. I like you. That’s it.”
Hollis relaxed a little.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Then, yes. I’d like to go out with you sometime.”
Jake smiled. An unexpected smile that made her feel warm in a way Foster never had. “Good. Then we’ll call this a trial run.”
Hollis chuckled. “A trial run.”
But even as she smiled back, the thoughts about her entanglement at work wouldn’t go away.
Aubrey Prentice. Foster. Jake.
This was going to collide.
And when it did, someone’s going to get hurt.
She just wasn’t sure who.
“Do me a favor, Jake. If your dating life comes up in therapy, please don’t mention my name.”