The Ebony Alpha

Chapter 3: Laila's View

I kept replaying the video, trying to understand what I was watching. The woman I was staring at looked like me, but I didn’t understand how.

And the guy. Who the hell was he? He never reveals his face, almost like that was intentional.

Whoever it was, he seemed to really enjoy what I was doing to him.

“Michelle, what the f**k?” I blurt out as I finally forced myself to put down the phone. As I tilt my head back, I catch an upside-down glimpse of a picture of Darren and his family. I can’t help but frown at the picture.

Darren was an attractive guy, but with that came an arrogance that made working here difficult. Too often I found myself in uncomfortable positions with him at the office. It wasn’t uncommon for me to attract unwanted attention, but with Darren, his attention made my skin crawl.

My head snapped up, and I looked at Michelle as fear radiated through my body.

“Do you think I was drugged?” I asked her in almost a whisper. When she tried to avoid my stare, I knew the thought had crossed her mind. I had been watching a video for the last half hour of me being raped while I was drugged out of my mind.

Michelle reached over and pulled me into a hug. Her scent was warm and welcoming. It always made me feel comforted. She was the sister I never had, and I would always be thankful for her watching out for me.

She pulled away and held me by my shoulders. “I don’t know what to think about this video, but I know something about it isn’t right,” she stated as she wiped a tear from my face before wiping her own.

“However, I don’t think you were drugged. Look at the way the camera is held. It is almost as if yo…someone wanted to make sure there were clear shots of your face,”

I picked the phone up and looked at a frozen shot of the video. She was right. Who records themselves having s*x like that? The only time the woman’s face is not in the camera is when the angles don’t clearly show her face. It was odd.

As I put the phone down in my lap, I am reminded that I am in the office with Michelle from HR and not Michelle, my best friend. I pick up the phone and ask her if this is why we are sitting in Darren’s office.

Before she can answer, Darren walks back into the room. Michelle snatches the phone from my hand and quickly tosses it back into her purse.

Darren walks beside me on his way to his desk, and I am hit by two familiar scents: s*x and one stuck in a faint memory that I couldn’t fully recall. I took a harder look at him and shook my head. This man is unbelievable. He left a meeting pretending to be sick to cheat on his wife in the office! But for some reason, I am the one sitting here about to be in trouble.

I couldn’t help but glare at Darren as he sat across from me.

“So…um. I’m assuming Michelle has informed you about…uh,” Darren stated while avoiding eye contact with me. “About the, um….well situation.”

Once again, Darren started to look sick. I wanted to help him out by dunking his head in a toilet.

“Yes. I have informed…” Michelle started before I cut her off.

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” I blurt out as I felt the anger inside of me rising.

Darren looks at me, and his sick expression suddenly changes to a shameful one. I could see his head start to drop and I was taken by surprise.

“That is not me in the video. Why would I have s*x with some random guy in the office and record myself?” I yelled at Darren. I can feel myself starting to get uncomfortably hot as a wave of anger took over me that I never felt before.

I stood up, and my first instinct was to lunge across the desk. I am completely losing control. My body started to lunge forward. Fortunately, Michelle’s reflexes are quicker than my unexpected episode, and she pulls me back.

There was a quick look of surprise on Darren’s face before my anger was soon reflected on his face.

“Get the f**k out of my office. Michelle take care of this shit.” Darren snaps back as he stands at his desk towering over us.

“Kill him”

What? I turned to Michelle in surprise at what she said, but she looked at me horrified by what was happening. She grabbed her bag off the floor and pulled me out of the room.

“b***h! Have you lost your f*****g mind?” Michelle screams at me when we are in her office.

“Me? You are the one who told me to kill him.” I snapped back.

Michelle began to look at me with a crazed look.

“Is that what you were trying to do? And I told you to kill him?” she asks me wide-eyed. “b***h, you really have lost your goddamn mind.”

I just stare at her as she slowly sits down at her desk. She reaches into a drawer and pulls out a coke bottle and two glasses. I knew it wasn’t coke.

Michelle hands me a plastic cup with the brown liquor in it, and we stare at each other before taking our shots. My head is swimming. What just happened?

“Well, I guess the video isn’t the only thing that they will want you fired for now,” Michelle says calmly as she pours herself a second shot. As she reaches for my cup to refill it, I just stare at her.

“You told me to kill him. I heard it,” I responded to her in a voice I didn’t quite recognize.

“Girl. Now, why in the hell would I do that? I was up there trying to help save your job. Now that s**t is out the window,” she says as she throws back a second shot.

“So what happens now?” I asked her as I looked at my cup. “I can’t afford to lose this job right now.”

I could feel myself starting to cry as I took the shot. It burned more the second time going down. Probably because I was a bit numb before.

“Don’t cry, Laila. I knew it was a matter of time before you needed to leave here. The way Darren looked at you, there was bound to be a problem. Though this is not what I had in mind.”

Michelle had gotten me into the company four years ago in the sales department. I worked my way up to a manager position last year. The pay raise was appreciated, but the close proximity to Darren almost deterred me from taking the promotion. His family owned the company, so Darren was allowed to get away with murder.

It didn’t help that he was undeniably handsome, a disgusting pig, but handsome all the same. He was also very smart. Unfortunately for his wife and anyone else with a v****a, he was a bit of a predator. I was always surprised that he never tried anything with Michelle. However, according to her, she was not his type.

While I kept replaying conversations about why Darren seemed to step outside his usual preferences to harass me, Michelle was trying to bring me back to the present.

“Hello! Laila! Girl, I need you to pay attention,” Michelle said as she snapped her fingers in front of my face. “I got you another job lined up already.”

What? How was that possible? I hadn’t even applied to anything. Where was it?

As if reading my thoughts, she informed me that Iron Strike had been trying to recruit her for ages for their HR department. However, Darren had always managed to swoop in with a better offer before she could be poached. Michelle stated she maintained a relationship with their recruiter and knew they were hiring. I would still have to go in for an interview, but basically, the job was mine if I wanted it.

“Most of the time it is not what you know but who,” Michelle said with a smile. “And before you even ask, I didn’t mention the s*x tape and informed them that you had outgrown the position and were looking for opportunities to grow.”

She handed me a folder with the Iron Strike logo on it. As if my body was working on autopilot, I took the folder. I honestly didn’t know what to say. My head was buzzing with questions and concerns, but I couldn’t bring myself to spit any of them out.

“I am going to hate not having you at work with me every day, but I think this is for the best. Well, except for the s*x tape part. Surprisingly, it hasn’t made its way to the internet,” Michelle's smile dropped to a more grave expression as she talked about the tape.

“We will find out how this happened and make this right. In the meantime, we need to get you out of here. Go home and get some rest. You look like hell.”

I heard what she was saying, but it felt like nothing was sticking to my brain. Slowly, I stood up and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the wall. I did look terrible. My face looked like the nightmares that were haunting my dreams and professional life.

“What about my stuff?” I asked out of obligation, but with no real concern.

“I had Janet grab your purse while we were in here,” Michelle responded, “And I will pack up the rest of your stuff and bring it to your place after work. I don’t want you to have to go back up there.”

I mumble thanks and gather myself to leave. Michelle yells out the door that she will text me the interview information.

Great. Another job with a family-owned business. Hopefully, the CEO was less of an asshole than Darren.