The Elevator: A 21st Century Romance (Book 1) Page 2

  Chapter 3

  During the meeting that Rachael had to attend, she was given a complete outlook at what the future of the company held. The outlook was in her opinion a bleak one as the company was losing money like water through a sieve. Her CFO Kiera Foster told her and the rest of the board that the company was not in good shape ever since the events that transpired a few months ago that shook the whole industry to the core. It seemed that the discovery that communication lines were lined with a hazardous chemical caused a lot of people to reconsider the use of traditional communications lines and were going with a more friendly fiber optic cable that was able to be produced for a tenth of the costs. This led to cheaper costs being passed onto the customer. This also had a more environment friendly impact. The problem was that only one company had the technology and refused to make it public or sell it to any other company. This meant that companies such as the one Rachael was CEO of was losing money.

  While it was the holiday season, Rachael was going to be forced to fire some employees to help and make sure that her company was going to still be able to survive through this crisis until other means could be found to offset the amount of money that the company had lost. Rachael loved all of her employees as she was a rare CEO in the fact that she actually gave a damn about her employees and did not want to see any of them unemployed for the holidays. Rachael wished that this was not the case, but she knew that deep down it had to be done. After the meeting, Rachael met with Kiera and wanted a list of the employees that were able to be let go without causing too much damage to the operations of the company. After going through the list, there were a number of employees that were found to be non-essential to the operation of the company. One of these employees was that of Ted Forester. Ted was a janitor that had been hired a couple of years ago. Rachael had not been involved with the actual hiring of Ted and would not have known him if she fell over him. Rachael discovered that she was able to consolidate a couple of departments and allow one person to do the job of three. Rachael took the suggestions that Kiera had made in terms of the employees that could be let go and save the job a good amount of money. She went back to her office and sat there looking over the reports that had been presented to her. She hated that someone was going to be let go for the holiday season. It was hard for her to do that but the business side of her told her that this was something that needed to be done to protect her company.

  Rachael took the reports and headed back home. She had a long day and to a degree she was still feeling the effects of the night before as she normally did not drink that much on a work night. That, along with the fact that she was still worn out from the screwing that her and Jack had the night before. Rachael went to pick up the phone and call Jack to arrange for another encounter since the next day was a weekend. The thing that Rachael that she found herself doing was her calling her mother to ask what in the hell her mother had been thinking setting her up on a date with a man that was such a flaming jerk.

  “Hi mother, I want to thank you for setting me up on a date with a man that turned out to be a complete and total loser. All seemed well and fine when we went out on our date. He was the perfect gentleman. We came back to my place and soon began to drink wine and talk, one thing led to another and we wound up sleeping together. I woke up this morning to a note that in short told me that I was a great lay and that if I ever wanted to hook up with him again to give him a call.”

  “Well Rachael you should know that when you decide to be a slut and give a man the goods on a first date, that he will lose all respect for you. I assume that he did take the clue that you were a slut and that you were not good for more than a good time. I saved myself till I was married with your father.”

  “No mother do not give me that horse shit, you screwed Dad before you were married, that was how you wound up pregnant with me, remember us having that talk a few days ago. Let's face facts, you only married dad because you were knocked up with him. The question I have to ask is how many more men did you screw before your luck ran out with dad and he got you pregnant? Would you have married him had he not came in you and got you knocked up?”

  “Rachael Marie, I am ashamed of you, I would not have done that, I loved your father and we shared a night of passion. I would have married him even if you had not come along. I am insulted that you think that the reason that I married him was because of you. Nonetheless, this is not about me, it's about you and your inability to keep your legs closed. You need to learn better self-control and not let any man just have his way with you, men will lose respect for women that they see as being easy.”

  Rachael and her mother continued to exchange quips for another thirty minutes. After Rachael had got off the phone with her mother, Rachael needed a warm soak in the hot tub. Rachael went out to the backyard and turned on the hot tub. She had worked hard on her back yard and had a hot tub along with a swimming pool. It was a little cold for the swimming pool so she decided to take a dip in the hot tub. Rachael stripped off her clothes inside her bedroom and grabbed her favorite white cotton bath robe. Walking out to the hot tub, she stood there for a moment before she slipped the robe off and got into the hot tub. Rachael sat in the hot tub with a glass of her favorite wine and thought about the issue she had to contend with on Monday morning. It was a simple part of life that on Monday morning there were going to be several employees that were going to be getting notices of termination. She kept thinking about this one employee, this Ted Forester. She was not sure why but there was something that kept eating at her about this one employee. She had decided that she was going to have her secretary do the dirty work. Rachael wanted to be in charge of this but she was booked in meetings and calls all day and just did not have the time. There was a large client that was coming into town to discuss their current contract and if they planned on renewing their contract. Rachael knew that if they did, she would have a good chance at reducing the amount of damage done in the recent financial fiasco.

  Rachael sat in the hot tub thinking about what had happened the night before between her and Jack. Rachael reached down and began to pleasure herself in the warm water of the hot tub. It felt good a couple of her fingers going in and out of her while a slight jet of warm water shot up into her. She was sitting there thinking about the sensation of Jack and his meat going in and out of her. Without notice, Rachael reached her orgasm and dropped her glass of wine onto the deck beside the hot tub.

  Monday morning came around and Rachael walked into her office. She immediately called Janice on the intercom.

  “Janice, can you come here for a minute?”

  “Right away Ms. Clifton.” Janice walked into the office of the CEO and could immediately tell that Rachael had something that she wanted to say.

  “Please Janice have a seat. I asked you to come in because I need you to do something for me. I would do this myself, but with Mr. Jackahoma coming into town, I need to focus on him and trying to get him to sign a renewal on his contract. I have a list of employees that I need you to give termination notices to. I have tried all weekend to find a way that this could be avoided but alas, it cannot be helped. I want you to make sure that you give them a nice a termination package, I trust you to give an appropriate amount. There is this one employee, a Mr. Ted Forester, I want you to tell how things go with him. I have a reason why I am concerned with him and to be honest, I am not exactly sure what it is that is drawing me to him.”

  “Rachael... if I may, I have known you for years and have been at your side almost the entire way. I have never seen you affected by an employee being fired the way that you are reacting with this guy, is there something that I don't know about?”

  “Janice, I have never even met the man to be honest. I just have this feeling that I can't place my finger on concerning him. But I swear I have never seen the man a day in my life. But as much as I hate to do it, I need to let him go as his position has become a non-essential part of the company. Tell them that they will be allowed to work till the
end of the week and that Friday will be his... I mean their last day.”

  Janice walked out of the office. It was odd for her as she was not used to seeing Rachael so flustered by an employee. Especially one that she had never met. Janice had to wonder if there was something that was going on. Rachael was going to be out of the office all day so Janice had full use of her office to do what she had been asked to do. Janice had went through all of the other employees when she finally came to Ted Forester. She called down to his department and asked him to come to the office. Janice was a little excited as she wanted to see this man that had Rachael all in knots for herself. There was a knock at the door, Janice had a good feeling that this was the mysterious Ted that she had heard so much about.

  “Come in,” Janice said as the door opened. Janice looked up and saw the first glimpse of the man that had created all of the issues in the office with Rachael. Ted walked in, from the looks of things he was more fit to be a dock worker than he was a janitor. Janice had a tingle that caused her clit to get aroused and rub on the inside of her panties. Janice slipped a hand down under the desk and gave her now moist sex a little attention as the sight of Ted had her getting worked up.

  “Ha...Hav...Have a seat Mr. Forester. I want to discuss why I called you in here.” Janice was doing her best to not rip her clothes off and throw herself at him. For a woman in her mid-forties, Janice was very much every bit the definition of the word MILF. Janice regained her composure. The jet black hair with the goatee and hands that showed the wear of the job that he had been working at for the last couple of years. Janice was able to tell that he was not a career blue collar worker and that this job may have been his first job that was outside of an office setting.

  Ted was wearing a tight black tee-shirt along with faded jeans and work boots. He stood about 6'4 and looked to weigh about 250lbs. Ted had grey eyes that could put any person into a trance just by looking into them. Ted was very much a catch for any woman and Janice had to wonder why he was still single as a man this hot should have already been married.

  “Thank you for coming here. I have something that I need to discuss with you.” This was a speech that Janice had given the other employees, except this one was a little more difficult to deliver due to the distraction created by Ted. “As you may be aware Mr. Forester, the company is suffering a little in the way of profits. I have been asked by our CEO to inform you that your services are not...well they are no longer... to tell you the truth Mr. Forester, we have to let you go along with several other employees that are not considered to be essential to the operation of the company. You are welcome in the future should the company find itself in better shape to reapply for your old job. I know that the timing of this is not good with the holidays and all coming up. But we assure you that it has nothing to do with the quality of your work. We assure you that you have been a valued asset to this company. You have until the end of the week to finish out your job. We are offering you a package that should get you through till you get another job under you.”

  “I appreciate all of the kind words and all, but how in the hell is that supposed to make me feel better. I have been released from one job in the past for bullshit reasons. Now here I am getting the can because some rich bitch CEO says that the best way to save the company is to fire people. Are you the one that made this decision? Maybe you don't have the guts to tell me that you are the one firing me.”

  “Mr. Forester, I assure you that I am merely the assistant to Ms. Clifton. She would have done it herself, but she is tied up with meetings all day. I assure you that this is not being done as a personal attack.”

  “Save me the corporate mumbo jumbo, I have heard it all before. That’s fine I will continue to do my job as I have been hired to do and when Friday arrives, I will clock out and leave without incident. I assure you, I will never work for this shit hole company again.”

  Ted stood up out of his chair and stormed out of the office. Janice was left sitting there conflicted as part of her was upset at the outburst that was just shown, while the other part of her had her panties so soaked that she had left a wet spot in Rachael's chair. It was safe to say that the exchange between her and Ted would be one that would be memorable to say the least.

  A few hours later Rachael came back before heading home and asked Janice about how things went with Ted.

  “To be honest, he is mad as hell, he does not have the least bit of respect for you and quite honestly I would not suggest you ever come face to face with him as he almost ripped my head off thinking I was you. I assured him I was not the one that had just yanked his job out from under him.”

  “He'll hate me alright, most of these blue collar monkeys are all the same large head small brains. I am sure he is cute and all but I would not lose any sleep over it. He needs to learn how business works and that is something that these types never can understand. I'm glad I did not waste any time fretting over him, he needed to be fired if he has that type of attitude. Anyway, I'm heading home to get some rest, we got the contract and that will help to reduce the amount of money that we will be losing.

  Chapter 4

  Friday arrived and Ted was getting ready to clock out for the last time. Rachael had stayed late to finish going over some last minute details involving the contract that she had just got signed. All of the others had went home except for her and Ted who was just about finished sweeping the parking garage and then he was going to go home and grab a beer. He had all weekend to drown his sorrows as Monday morning meant that he had to find a new job. Ted saw the woman coming across the parking garage and then saw a man that was fast approaching Rachael. Ted had no idea that the woman was Rachael as he made his way over to see if there was going to be trouble. It was not until he was about five feet away that he saw the gun being pulled and placed against her head.

  “Give me all your money and don't make a sound. I swear I have no issues using this and splattering your brains all over this garage.” Rachael went to grab her purse and give it to him but that was when the first hit caught her across the jaw, the second one was the one that had knocked her to the ground and semi-unconscious. Ted came out of nowhere and tackled the mugger and quickly grabbed the arm that he had the gun in and gave it a quick snap. Rachael was conscious enough to see this happen and hear the snap of the man’s arm. The sound of the bone breaking seemed like a cannon going off in her head. Rachael was not able to get a clear view of the man that had just saved her as his back was to her.

  The man that had just saved the life of Rachael took out his cell phone and called the police. The mugger took off on foot as Ted gave chase to him. Rachael heard the voice of Janice as she laid on the ground still hurting from the attack that she had just went through.

  “Oh my god Rachael are you all right? What the hell happened, I came out just as the man was being knocked to the ground. Are you seriously hurt, do you need me to call an ambulance?”

  “Slow down Janice, I was mugged not beat to death, I have taken worse from my mother when I pissed her off. Spill a bottle of wine on a white carpet, then you will know the meaning of getting the shit beat out of you. Besides I thought you had already left.”

  “I came back to grab some files. I was coming out of the elevator when I heard the commotion. Did you get a good luck at the man that attacked you in case you have to identify him in court?”

  “I have a clear picture of him, but the man that saved my ass, I have no idea who it was. I barely saw his face. I saw a couple of features but nothing that was identifiable. I assume that you didn't see anything.”

  “Rachael I wish I did see him, he took off before I saw his face. All I know is I am glad that he was here to save you otherwise Clifton Communications could have been naming a new CEO.”

  Both Rachael and Janice sat on the ground waiting for the cops to arrive and hoping that her knight in shining armor would return so Rachael could thank him properly. Whoever the man was, Rachael had a debt of gratitude that she wanted to pay
him for saving her life.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4