Chapter 23: Chapter 23

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"So what's the real deal with that gropey asshole?" Jenson munched on the last dumpling on his plate and waited for his dinner companion to answer.  He couldn't call her his new secretary yet.

They still had paperwork to sign for formality and Jessiah just accepted his job offer barely two hours ago.  At his candid questioning, she avoided his eyes and continued eating her chicken teriyaki while she sat in front of his messy desk.  "He said he's only here in LA for a business conference," she murmured after glancing at him.

"Huh. And he just randomly bumped into you outside that mall?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"He was shocked, much as I was."

"Why was he gripping your arm?" He eyed her, minding her uneasy reaction the second he mentioned that well-dressed creep.  Jenson sat back in his swivel chair, observing, gauging, and patiently waiting for her to talk to him with more honesty and less reticence.

Despite his gut feeling telling him he wouldn't like the things he would hear, he still wanted to get the facts straight.  He just couldn't forget the distinct scent of fear and panic on her when she was standing beside that curly-haired guy who was touching her like he owned her.

The creep had a face for a fist, too.  Quite good-looking but way better as a punching bag.  Jenson scowled at the mere thought.  The moment he saw the guy touching Jessi, his inner hothead resurfaced and wanted to punch the smugness right off the prick's face.

But of course he didn't.  He held back, wore a mask to conceal his face, and even put on a show with her.  For propriety's sake.  He didn't want to terrify her with blatant violence again and he was a public figure now, quite well-known around here.

More importantly, Magnus and their team of publicists hated dealing with bad publicity.  Damage control also required a lot of moolah, to say the least.  He didn't want to owe Magnus any more money, considering he and Darren were already paying Magnus a share of their earnings since the show took off.  Return of investment kinda thing.

"I dunno. He wanted me to...have a drink with him, or something," Jessi muttered.  Her arms were now crossed over her chest.  She finished her meal and swiftly cleaned up the mess when she saw that he was done with his food.

Okay.  Clearly she didn't want to keep talking about the guy.  Jenson tried not to show any reactions.  If he tactlessly pressed for more information, she might just walk out and retract her decision to work here as his new secretary.

She seemed that disturbed by what happened earlier.  Which only doubled his curiosity about her past with that corporate creep.  "I last saw him years ago."

"Okay. And?"

"Was supposed to be just a temp, for his assistant who was on maternity leave."  Jessi threw their takeout waste into the trash can outside his office, her tone casual and bored, matching the blithe look on her small and pale face.

Jenson watched in silence as she walked back into the room with her eyes focusing on anywhere else but him.  He sat still and waited while his curiosity held his concentration.  More context.  He wanted the details.

There had to be more to the story.  Way more.  He knew it the second he saw that guy's suspicious grip on her arm as the two stood along the sidewalk amid an obviously tense conversation.

With a loud sigh, Jessi sat in the loveseat by the door while she tried to keep up a poker face.  The pent-up fragility in her pretty brown eyes showed a different emotion.  A tight ponytail bunched up her dark hair  while her hands fidgeted on her lap.  "At first, they were just flirty texts," she mumbled after a long silence.  "Went on for weeks. Young, naïve Jessiah thought he was just trying to be friendly and all. Thought it was cool because he's one of the big bosses and...he's nice and he likes me." She forced a laugh, her pale hands clenched into fists now.  "But, of course it didn't stop there."

"Ah. I get it." Jenson nodded when she paused to glance at him.  "No need to go into detail if you're not comfortable."

For a while, she just stared at the ceiling, the silence in his office somewhat tense now.  "It was my first proper job, y'know?" She unclenched her fists to cover her face this time.  "Wanted to do right by the boss, blah blah blah. So I kept quiet. Kept it a secret. Brushed off his inappropriate behavior for months. We would chat about stuff after work, and then..." She let out a sigh.

"No need to share details. Seriously."

"It's kind of my fault, too." Jessi couldn't look at him anymore.  "I dunno. Maybe he thought he could just do what he wanted 'cause I let him. Since I..."  she murmured while her hands clasped her knees.  Her eyes glimmered under the lights after her voice cracked.  "We had a fling.  Didn't even last a week 'cause I found out, he was already dating this Marketing girl on the tenth floor."

"Conceited dick."  He shook his head.  At the sound of her trembling voice and the sight of her holding back the tears, he couldn't stop clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth, his blood near boiling point now.  If only he didn't have a lucrative Hollywood career to look after, he would've taught that creep a memorable lesson right in the middle of the sidewalk.

"He started really harassing me when, um, when I wouldn't talk to him outside of work anymore," she explained in a mumble, sniveling now.

The pitiful sound of her trying to restrain her sobs just pushed him to make a move.  Against his better judgment, he got up from his chair to get close to her again.  Jenson sat beside her in the couch, leaving a few inches of distance between her thigh and his.  Now he could smell her shame.  It mixed with a fair amount of disgust.

Did she feel disgusted with herself for what happened?

Probably.  He didn't need to explicitly ask whether there was actual sexual assault involved.  Or assaults, for that matter.  Her timid reactions and explanations told him enough.  "Did you file charges against him?"

"No."

"Why not?" He leaned in, maintaining a calm tone despite the growing urge in him to call someone to off that abusive dickhead.

"Armand's from a...prominent family. Old-money folks. Rich, well-respected, well-connected."

"Yeah. Sure. But he's been harassing you for, what, almost half a year at that point?"

She kept her head down, her soft voice still shaky.  "I'm a pathetic nobody compared to him, Jenson."

"A crime is a crime."  He scowled.  Shit.  He felt like the biggest stinking hypocrite for saying the words, but, it had to be said.  He loathed people who used their position of power to abuse and manipulate others, especially women.  Although he was never the poster boy for good behavior, he wasn't a pathologically deceitful, narcissistic abusive boss.

"Armand co-owns that fintech company. His father and uncles are banking tycoons.  Ergo, family of untouchables." She scoffed and faked a smile. "I was just a temp."

"Doesn't matter, because he's still the philandering, abusive asshole whichever way you look at it, Jessiah."

"I'd rather go back home than run into him again. Honestly." She wiped more tears off her flushed cheeks and avoided his stare as much as she could.

"No. Don't let that prick matter in your life.  He's done enough damage."

While her head hung low, her hands hid her pinkish face again.  Jessi smothered her sobs with her palm, her shoulders shaking as he sat close to her.

Just the sound of her crying stirred something in him.  Like a profound sense of urgency to protect her and ease her anguish, and help her forget the painful memories.  Obviously she never forgot.  She probably hated thinking and talking about that morally damaging and demeaning part of her life.

Perhaps she never told anyone about it, until today.  In any case, she badly needed a friend and confidant right now.  Just someone who would listen and keep her company to give her some comforting support.

"None of the things he did to you was your fault. Alright? He's born an asshole. Nothin' you can do about that."  Jenson got up to grab the box of tissues in his drawer and handed it to her.  He sat beside her again when she failed to hold back her sobs.  As she wiped off more tears, he leaned in till his thigh pressed against hers, his hair now touching her temple.  "So don't give him that power over you or your life."

After a moment of her just sobbing and gasping for breath, Jessi gave him weak nods in response.  She was trying to suppress her emotions, but clearly failing.  She took deep breaths, hastily wiping her cheeks with the tissues.  She blew her nose while he stroked her shoulder.  They just sat in silence for a while.  Then she budged to wrap her arms around him, to his surprise.

He held his breath and sat still.  Should he hug her back?  His heart thumped louder in his chest when she prolonged the embrace.  Despite the consequences his common sense reminded, he couldn't just push her off of him to keep a safe distance between them.  He didn't want to.  They weren't totally alone in this office building, but, he couldn't push away a friend who really needed some comforting right now.

"Thank you. For showin' up," Jessi mumbled with her chin resting on his shoulder.  "And for that whole scene we played." She chuckled.

"Anytime," he quipped.

"Was I good? Passable?" She giggled.

"A natural," he said with a smile, his hands itching to stroke her hair and back.  He swore in his head repeatedly to fight off the urge, as well as the strong instinctive desire to kiss her again.

Shit.  That couldn't be right.  Now his chest and guts felt oddly tight for some stupid reason.

Despite what the rational side of his brain screamed, he vividly recalled how soft and smooth she felt when he kissed her in front of that egotistic jerk, and then that second time he kissed her...that moment he had to hold back every bit of him and summon all the self-control he had stockpiled.  He even liked remembering the gentle way she held his face when she kissed him back, unexpectedly.

Son of a bitch.  It was actually happening.  Shit.

Magnus' cryptic advice just echoed in his head again, blaring like a megaphone blasting the warning signs all over his consciousness.

He was in trouble.

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