Don't Love Me

Mr. Conti

Mr. Linch lets go of my arm and takes a step back from me. He transforms into a jovial man so quickly, "Mr. Conti, you just walked into a little misunderstanding." He turns to me and says, "You are free to leave Alexa."

I walk towards the door, hoping to get out of this office as quickly as possible, worried I might cry. Mr. Conti has a cold, neutral expression on his face that gives away nothing as I pass him. Tony is at the door waiting for me. He alternates between looking towards me with a kind expression and looking at Mr. Finch in absolute anger.

Once I reach the door he puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me through, closing the door behind us.

"I can't believe that bastard did that!" he rages. "I was gone for 5 minutes. He is shameless."

He leads me towards my desk and sits me in my chair. He disappears for a moment and comes back with a black coffee for me. He also has a Coffee Crisp, my favorite chocolate bar. I smile at him and accept the offerings.

"Tony, how am I going to last 9 more months?" I ask, desperately.

"I am going to come with you to report this to HR," he says, rubbing his hand along my back to comfort me.

"None of my previous reports have resulted in anything other than Mr. Linch being more of a d**k for a few days," I point out uselessly.

"We'll tell them that it happened in front of Mr. Conti and that he was not pleased with the display. Something like that can risk whatever deal they are working on," Tony says reasonably.

"I don't want to use someone's name to help me."

"Then take out Mr. Conti's name and just says it was a major prospective client."

I nod and say, "Okay, let me drink this coffee and relax a bit before we go. I don't want to cry, and I think I am still in a bit of shock."

Tony goes back to his desk, but I can tell he is keeping an eye on me. I slowly relax and feel more and more comfortable with Tony's plan. He's right, I can't let an incident of this magnitude go by unreported. We expected the meeting to last at least 30 minutes, but Mr. Conti walks out after 10 minutes.

His demeanor hasn't changed. He looks towards me and says, "Grab your stuff, we're leaving."

"I can't leave," I say, a bit confused, "I work until 5."

"You are getting a paid week off. I'm going to walk you out."

He says it with such authority that I decide not to continue questioning him. Who am I to question a week of paid time off. I grab my purse and phone and walk around my desk to stand beside Mr. Conti.

Mr. Linch bristles and says, "Mr. Conti this really isn't necessary. It was all a misunderstanding. I know we should have been better at staying professional at work but Alexa and I have a more personal relationship."

My head snaps up to look at Mr. Finch, "No, we don't. I have made it clear on many occasions that I wish only to have a professional relationship with you. I will be reporting today's incident to HR just like the other times."

"Not necessary," Mr. Conti says, "You no longer work here."

He walks out the door and towards the elevators and I need to run after him to catch up and get some clarification. I catch up to him just in time to get on the elevator.

As we traveled down to the main floor, I was in a slight panic. "Mr. Conti, I can't quit this job. My contract makes it next to impossible. I won't be able to pay off the relocation fee, and I'm here on a work visa."

Mr. Conti remains calm. "Don't worry, all of that will be sorted. Just enjoy your week off and report to work at this address next week."

He hands me a card, then steps off the elevator and walks away without another word. I am standing in the elevator in shock and am only spurred into action when the doors start to close. I get off the elevator just in time to see Mr. Conti get into the pack of a car. Of course, he has a driver.

I walk home at a leisurely pace and take time to register everything that happened that morning. Firstly, Mr. Conti is the best-looking man I have ever seen. If not for the harassment situation, I'm sure that is what Tony and I would have been discussing for the rest of the day and over drinks later.

He has beautiful green eyes, dark wavy hair and perfectly tanned olive skin. He's tall with broad shoulders that were perfectly framed by his suit. Even when he looked at me with disinterest, there was an intensity in his gaze that made me feel like he could see everything. He seems like a man who is never not alert. Guessing by how much secrecy and respect the man had in our office, I assume he is a very successful businessman.

When I get home and check my phone there are a million text messages from Tony. He knows I hate reading text messages and if he sends more than two I won't read any at all. I text back with Drinks tonight? and don't bother reading the texts.

I'm sure Tony will be busy today and will probably have to work late since he's doing work of two. There's also a good chance that Mr. Finch is in a bad mood and making things difficult. I start to work on errands that have been pilling up while I wait for him to be done work.

At 5pm I start dressing to meet up with Tony. He always complains when I don't put in enough effort. I've always preferred going natural and putting in minimal effort, but I've learned that it's not just a threat. I learned my lesson when I had to wait two extra hours for dinner while Tony took me back to his apartment to dress me up in his roommate's clothes and have her help with my makeup and hair.

I wasn't sure where he would choose to meet, so I went with a little black dress. He is always going on about the versatility of an LBD. I now have 3 in my closet that he insisted I buy. He's been taking me shopping to make sure I have all the basics. I have to say it's been great not having to pull all my clothes out of my closet trying to find an outfit that works, since he's made sure I have everything for every occasion.

Around 7pm I get a text from Tony and I head out right away to meet him for dinner and drinks.