Season: Summer
Weather: Sunny with an evening thunderstorm that has finally broken the heatwave.
Day of the week: Thursday
Date: 16th February, 2024
Knowing that he'd love the news, I sent a short message to the evil guy about yesterday's events so that he could laugh at me about what had happened last night. But rather than tell him I was trapped, living with my bosses now, I told him I was homeless and adrift with tears and worries for my future. I complained about how furniture would have to be replaced and how I was going to have to disinfect the place three times before I was willing to settle back down there.
The shameless boss had stayed home to keep an eye on me and keep me company. He seemed to know and from Stony Boss's report that I didn't want any men anywhere near me right now. He maintained an acceptable and respectful distance by working at the kitchen table rather than the study area, so that he could keep an eye on me and my health. I was grateful that he didn't force any close proximity on me, allowing me to maintain what I felt was a safe distance.
To soothe myself, make me feel like I was back in control and feel like I was doing something productive, I decided to do some baking. I baked and make a lot of things that would probably last for days unless someone brought it into the office to share tomorrow.
While I was typing out the short report to the evil guy, I didn't know when, but the shameless boss had crept up behind me to read what I had written, snatching my phone out of my hand for a closer look.
"Who is this person?" he asked. "Why do you have to send him periodic reports on what's happening in your life. Look at the things you've written, making yourself sound so pitiful. And last night's events, why have you made it half truth and half lies? And look at his mean replies. He's obviously mocking you."
"You don't understand," I stood on the couch to try and take my phone back. What could I do? He was too tall for me. "I have to make things sound bad so that he won't come to try and make things worse. As long as I'm miserable, he's happy and will stay out of my life."
"Everything else you've written to him was only sent on a monthly basis," the shameless boss scrolled through my past messages. "Why did you have to report last night's events to him today? You just sent a report to him the other day."
"Because the police were involved, ok?" I shouted, unable to control myself any longer and angrily wiping away the tears I didn't want. "Because he would have found out and demanded an explanation anyway. If I'm not proactive, he'd investigate further and then find a way to pin a crime on me again or to make me look bad just for his amusement. If I tell him first, he'll leave me alone. Give me my phone back!"
"What do you mean because the police are involved?And what do you mean by 'again'? Why are you so upset? You're shaking," the shameless boss gave my phone back, looking confused and concerned. "How would he have found out about it because the police were involved?"
"Because he's a policeman!" I shouted and huddled in a ball to finish the message with shaking fingers and send it. "Don't talk to me."
"The fact that he doesn't like you and is happy if you sound miserable doesn't sound like good policeman behavior to me," the shameless boss said, hurrying around the couch to catch me when my phone slipped out of my hands and I nearly fell off the couch, clutching my chest. "Calm down. Calm down. It's not good for you to be agitated. I don't want to take you back to hospital and be told off again. Once is enough."
"Then don't agitate me," I sobbed, letting him hold and cuddle me.
"Then tell me about this Evil Evan," the shameless boss coaxed me. "Who is he as a policeman to control you and demand you send him monthly reports? Who is he to pin crimes on you? He's not like your parole officer or something is he? You aren't a criminal."
I couldn't help stiffening.
"Ah? No. Really? But you don't have a criminal record or it would come up on your police check," the shameless boss paused in stroking my back, sounding confused.
"I wasn't charged or sentenced due to lack of evidence," I whispered feeling all my muscles tighten up in preparation for being rejected. "Sometimes I think it was all just a big scam to scare me, but then something will happen and the police will appear to warn me, as if it was all real."
It didn't make sense. It had never made sense.
"What did they accuse you of?"
"Malicious harm, attempted murder, break and entry, trespassing, vandalism, to name a few," I whispered, counting them off on my fingers.
"What? No way you did any of that. Did you do any of that?"
My heart felt a little warmer that somebody would believe that I didn't do any of those things.
"No. Maybe the trespassing, vandalism and break and entry, but I was desperate. He was going to kill them. Or I thought he was. It turns out it was all just a big trap."
The shameless boss's hand seemed to become uncoordinated for a moment, spasming on my back while he had me lie my head on his lap and allow me to curl up by his side on the couch.
"You were framed?"
"Yeah. Framed for everything. Nobody believes me back home anymore. Sometimes I wonder if it would be best for me to just disappear for good."
"Don't say things like that."
"I'm his entertainment. If I'm not willing to be hurt, he might hurt the rest of the family. I wouldn't put it past him. He nearly poisoned us all to death once, or at least, my parents and me. For amusement, he said. As a punishment to me for going against him. I managed to ruin the dinner, but then my parents accused me of being the evil child. I couldn't even explain, because he threatened to harm my parents behind their backs if I didn't take the blame. My parents wouldn't even look at me. They asked him to punish me in their stead. And that's how I nearly got taken in as a prostitute."
"What?"
I was weeping now. The old, bad memories came crashing back down on me.
"We were still teenagers at the time and he wanted to know what it was like to do it. He thought it would be a good punishment that he would forever be able to hang over my head. After he had forced me, he let his friends have a go, charging them a hundred bucks an hour. I thought I was going to die that night. And then the police arrived and it was all so horrible and humiliating."
The shameless boss listened with growing horror. His hand was now still and clenching at the fabric of my shirt, scrunching it tighter and tighter.
"He's the one who's been abusing you all these years?" he seethed.
I didn't reply. Didn't want to. Didn't need to.
"So you can't ever love me. I'm not loveable. I'm dirty," I wept. "I'm ugly and not worth it. You can't waste any affection on me. You deserve better. You can find a much better person than me. I know where I stand. Nobody wants me. Nobody will ever want me."
The shameless boss hugged me tight.
"Don't say that about yourself. It's not true. I want you. I care about you. So does Stony. We're just waiting to see which one of us you'll choose. You're not unlovable. You're beautiful and cute and you are definitely deserving of my time, effort, affection, money and status. You deserve it all. Ok? I don't think I'll ever find another woman more suited to my liking."
I buried my face in his body and felt him tremble for a moment. But then he just continued to hug me and speak soothing words to refute what I thought of myself. My heart was shaken. Very shaken.
What a beautiful man. What a pity I wasn't the right one for him.