I am the boss - English version

Chapter 19: SHIRTLESS!!!

Almost immediately he replied with a clear statement, when I read the text I knew, for sure, that it was from him.

"Is me, little one.

That offends me, have you already forgotten about me?"

F uck!

Is Bennett.

I knew it was him!

"I don't know who you are, identify yourself or I will block this number"

Not a second passed and my cell phone chimed again, and when I opened that freaking text, I saw a photo of Bennett, who poses in selfie style, with the view of the city behind him, but he is SHIRTLESS!!!

Oh myyyyy goooosh, wooooow wow wow, this man has the pectorals and abs totally marked and defined, he looks like a marble sculpture, perfectly chiseled, everything I can see in him is of infarction, woooow, the boss does exercise, this one looks totally and completely dreamy.

Bennett and Jim have both great, super hot bodies.

Oh my gosh, Jiiiiim! 

Hey silly one, stop watching the naked overlord, you have a new boyfriend now!

I blush and after few seconds of contemplating his photo with my mouth open, I sigh and proceed to block him.

I deleted his photo and all of his texts.

Done, this problem is over without getting Jim or Richard involved.

Suddenly, I realized that the next station was the one I needed to get out of, I got down at the Rockefeller Center station.

I get out of the subway station and halfway up the staircase that will take me to the street,  I see Jim, standing there, he looks gorgeous, with a perfectly ironed yellow dress shirt and black dress pants.

I see my man standing there, waiting for me and I cannot believe it. 

People are going to think that we agreed on the clothing, that is so corny, but we did not plan it. 

What a weird and funny thing, did we telepath?

I start laughing as I climb the last steps to get to him.

He sees me and smiles enormously, with his smile that I love so much.

I come out of the stairs, and he opens his arms to me, I come to him to kiss him, and he hugs me, oh heavens, this is the best.

I feel like..., no, it cannot be, I don't think I love him after just one day of relationship.

- Hello beautiful.

- Hiiii handsome, have you seen us yet?

- Hehe yes my love, I have, they will think that-

- That we planned it

- Exactly, but hey, we put on the lab coats and that's it.

He tells me and gives me another of his delicious kisses.

He hugs me and we start walking towards the company.

- Let's go baby.

-Y ep

- Hey and what happened to Naty?

- I still left her suffering

- Babyyyyy

- I will fix everything later, in the afternoon I will forgive her my love, don’t worry, it has to seem serious or that woman won’t learn a thing

- Oh baby

- Hey and how did you sleep my love?

- It took me a long time to calm down and be able to sleep, I kept thinking about you, and me, in your living room

- Oops, sorry my love

- Hey, you don't have to apologize, it was awesome, what about you?

- I died as soon as we hung up, I was really tired

- Oh baby, my poor baby

- Hey, and today what are we going to do?

- In the laboratory?

- Yes my love

- We will finish reviewing the procedures and at eleven there is a meeting on the new project, as you will be helping me, I think it is a good idea for you to attend with me

- Sure? You told me everything is confidential

- Oh baby, I don't think we are not going to give you the indefinite contract in three months, and I desperately need your help with the agenda of all the tests and protocols that we must comply with, on time, anyway, arriving to the office I am going to ask Bennett to grant you the authorization you need

- Oops, does it have to be with him directly?

- Yes, he is the leader of this particular project, it has been a long time since he led any project, so he will be upon us with the times, so we cannot delay literally anything

- Ok Jim

We entered hugging the revolving door of the building and when we got out, we passed in front of Ana, who today only smiles at us, apparently already digested this, and no longer sees us with bulging eyes like yesterday.

- Good morning, Ana

Jim tells her with a smile

- Good morning, Ana

I tell her

- Good morning, today you two look wonderfully coordinated

- I know, and this is mere coincidence

Jim tells her

- Telepathy of love?

- Apparently

Jim tells her with his face turning back as we don't stop walking.

- Have an excellent day you both

Ana tells us

- Thank you

Jim says with a strong tone so that she can hear him.

We stop in front of the elevator, Jim presses the button and we wait.

I feel a super heavy vibe and I think I already know what it means.

- Good morning, James, Layla.

 He arrives and stands next to us, Bennett with a serious face, between annoyed and angry.

Mmm, is he annoyed because I blocked him?

- By the way Mr. Jones, I need to talk to you before the eleven o'clock meeting, what time may I call your office?

- Is it about the project?

- Yes sir

- Go up with me now

F uck, James makes a face of disagreeing and answers him

- Ok, let me take Layla to the lab to continue with the-

- She can go up with us

Daaaaamn

He opens his elevator doors with his fingerprint and asks us to enter.

I feel like James is not happy with this, but he obeys him, he does not let go of my waist though, not even for a split second, but I can feel how tense his whole body is, his neck, the features on his face, he seems to be in attack or reaction mode.

We got in and move to the back of the elevator, Bennett enters after us and with his fingerprint activates the elevator, the doors close and he presses the button to the eighth floor.

The elevator starts to go up and we are all in total silence.

What an uncomfortable thing!

We get to his office, Bennett opens the door and tells us

- Come in and please close it after you James, Layla take a seat on the sofa, James at my desk.

Wow, the air can be cut with a knife, this is getting more and more tense.

- Coffee?

Bennett asks looking at James, who says no with his head and then he turns to see me.

- No sir, thank you very much

- We had already agreed that you will call me by my name Layla

Wow, he is cheeky and pretty bold.

- By the way sir, that kind of thing makes Miss Miller feel very uncomfortable, I will ask you in the most respectful way to reconsider the behavior you have towards her, we do not want another, well, you know.

Wow, my man is awesome, he is putting a stop to Bennett in the politest way I have ever seen, to Bennett in his own face and in his own office.

- I don't think it is your place to tell me that James

- If you allow me to differ sir, first, I am her immediate boss, and as such I formally request it sir, second, I am her boyfriend, and I do not want to be rude sir, but please put a stop to your insinuations towards her

- I see, Layla, have I ever suggested to you that I want something with you?

F uck, this shameless individual already got me into this fight

- Mm, I think not sir

- Do you think? Or not?

Bennett tells me in his super serious tone, and I feel chills run through my body when I hear him speak to me in that tone.

- I thought not until this morning sir, when you sent me a picture of yourself shirtless

Holy cow, I should not have said that!

- What did Bennett do?

James stands with his hands closed in fists, approaches the desk and Bennett stands up sticking out his chest in a sign of mutual defiance.

Holy F uck!

-Jiiiim, no Jim, baby

I get up from the couch and run to hug him before a tragedy happens right here and both of us get fired, I take him from behind putting one of my hands in each of his arms.

- Listen to me Bennett, Layla is not alone in this company, and I will not allow you to harass her or overstep her as you have done on other occasions

- Sorry, but this is MY COMPANY

- Yes it is, but there are laws, and if you continue with this I will denounce you myself

- You? To me? Pleaseeee

- BENNETT!

-Take care of your words, you are talking to the CEO and your boss’s boss, do not forget who you are talking to

Three knocks are heard on the door and without waiting for a response, the door opens and Richard speedily enters, who closes the door as soon as he enters the office.

Thank heavens!

- Sir, good morning, Jimmy, Layla.

James and Bennett do not flinch and continue to stare menacingly at each other.

- Richard, how good you are here

I turn to see him and told him, he nodded and approached the desk, next to Jim and me.

- Jimmy, I think this is the right time to go away

Jim does not move, does not say anything, has an enraged red face.

My God, what have I done? 

I should not have said anything, I am a fool!

- Brother, it is time for you to stop and go away

- Ricky, this guy -

- Hey hey beware who you refer to as this guy, do not forget who I am

Oh my freaking gosh, these two are nowhere near holding on to blows, neither intend to give in and stop this.

Richard gets a little closer to us and puts his hand on James' shoulder, I let go and I take a step back.

- Ricky, Bennett sent a picture of Layla without clothes

Richard opens his huge eyes and turns to see me.

- Do you have the photo?

- I deleted it

- Layla, I told you my love, to tell me about anything

- Wait, wait

I tell them as I enter the deleted photos folder of my cell phone and bingo, there it is.

Pheeeeeew

I select it and restore it.

I zoom in on it and pass the cell phone to Richard.

Richard takes it, James turns sideways trying to see it, they both look at the photo and Richard tells us.

- James, Layla, please go to the laboratory right now, I will see this issue with Mr. Jones, on his behalf I want to apol--

- No sir, you don't have to apologize Ricky, you haven't done anything, he is the one who should do it, he is stepping out of the limits

I turn to see Bennett, who shows a sarcastic and cynical grimace, as if enjoying all this, is a wretch, did he plan for all this to happen?

- Sir, I ask you, as I did on Monday and Tuesday, to allow me to be part of the company, I repeat, I do not want to have to resign, but if you want it right here I present my resignation

As soon as I said these words James took me by the hand and Bennett turned to see me, finally, he looked at me for an instant, he finally changed his expression, he no longer had that mocking smile, he was expressionless as he usually does, which shocks me since I have no idea what he is thinking, he observes me for a moment and says

- Miss Layla, I offer you my sincerest apologies, I did not think about it, I promise you that it will not be repeated, unless you ask me to do it

- WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!

James yells at him getting so upset, again, I take him by the arm, squeeze his arm a little and tell him

- Jim, let's go to the lab baby, please let's go now

Finally Jim stops watching Bennett and turns to see me, his expression slowly begins to soften, I let go my grip from his arm, he takes my hand and takes me out of the office with quick and firm steps, leaving the door open and my cell phone in Richard's hands.

A moment later we heard Bennett's office door close.

What a bombshell I just dropped this morning, I guess it will be a calm day and everything got awful before the day even started, we have not got to the office yet and this disaster exploded.

Jim takes me to the elevator, he goes completely silent, presses the button to go down, the elevator doors open, we get in and he presses the Lobby button.

Why did he press the lobby button?

We enter in silence and Jim hugs me, I feel his breathing is agitated.

We get to the Lobby, and he takes me to the revolving door and then we step outside the company.

When we are outside James lets out a huge sigh, he inhales, and exhales three times and then he tells me

- Come with me

I just say yes, and I follow him.

We walked a few blocks and we arrived at Central Park.

- Jim, what are we doing here?

- Baby, I need to walk a little and calm down, I can't go to the laboratory like this, come on we are going to walk a little, as soon as I calm down, we get back

- Ok my love

Well, he is my immediate boss after all, I do not think he would get angry because I am in the park with him.

- Baby, why didn't you tell me anything about the photo, what happened? I need to know Layla

- Mm nothing happened Jim, he just, ok look

- I hear you

- This morning when I got out of the shower, I took my cell phone to send you a text, to my surprise you had already won, you texted me, but there was another text from an unknown number

- Okay

- After sending you the text I read it and I saw that it was sent last night, like at one o'clock am, but I was already asleep, and I did not hear it when it arrived

- What did it say?

- How did you do today with 'your so-called boyfriend'?

- So called? he is a son of-

- I just ignored the text, but when I got on the subway a notification sounded, I thought it would be you my love

- And it was again that son of a-

- He asked why I was ignoring him, I said, I don't know who you are, I am going to block you if you don't identify yourself

- And that's when he sent you the photo

- Yes, I was surprised for a moment but immediately blocked it and deleted the photo and the texts

- Why my love? I asked you to let me know

- Baby, listen to me very well, that is what he wants, he wants to cause trouble, I thought that seeing that I blocked him, I don't know, nothing would happen, I shouldn't have told you there in front of him, but he made me angry that he was playing the fool, the innocent, like if nothing happened in front of you, knowing what he had just done.

- It was the best my love, to make him see that he is not going to get between the two of us, but baby, this is serious, please, no matter the time, how strange or uncomfortable it is, promise me, please, you must let me know immediately, please baby

- Yes Jim, I am sorry baby, I didn't think about it, I just didn't want to cause trouble.