My Kind Of Bad

Chapter 6

“What have you done now, Neera?”

Neera looked up, her fingers pausing on the keys. Rita Gideon stood by her chair, one hand on her hip with a frown on her face. Neera was confused. She lowered her hands and sat back.

“What?”

“Mr Rydzewski is really angry and most of it is aimed at you.”

“Me? Why me?”

Although Neera could hazard a guess. She had got into work all week and noticed that people kept their distance, which the exception of Rita. It was the same as when one of Rita’s fellow architects had told Rydzewski no and he got angry that she had threatened to report him. Everyone avoided her for a week before Rydzewski suddenly fired her, citing the reason of being on drugs. Drugs certainly had been found in her desk but Neera was certain that wasn’t the reason why.

Rydzewski was a vindictive man when a woman went against him.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Neera’s friend leaned against the desk and folded her arms. “Something to do with you not notifying him that his wife was in the building when he was balls deep into his secretary’s cu*t.”

“Rita!”

“What? It’s true.” Rita shuddered. “And I don’t ever want to see that man’s co*k ever again.”

“How could you see his co*k when he was balls deep into her?”

Neera hoped it wasn’t because Rita had fu*ked the bas*ard. Rita was happily married and her husband knew Rydzewski. He had also made it very clear that Rita was off-limits and that he would rip Rydzewski a new one if he so much as looked at her the wrong way.

Everyone seemed to know about the man’s indiscretions, with the exception of his wife, but no one had done anything about it. They were all too afraid of him and Rydzewski had his fingers in many pies. He knew influential people. Neera thought he sounded like a mob boss.

And now his wife knew what he did with his lunch breaks, thanks to an uninformed visit to his office and finding him shagging his secretary.

“I saw because he pulled out while his wife stood in the doorway. The whole floor saw it And unfortunately I got the angle where I could see everything.” Rita shuddered. “I’ve been having nightmares ever since.”

Neera knew the feeling. She had caught Rydzewski in compromising positions before. While he looked like a model with his body and good looks, Neera had never felt anything except she thought he was a pervert. He hadn’t stopped looking at her bre*sts throughout her interview and spoke to them rather than her face.

She should’ve walked out months ago but she needed something to pay the bills and this job did pay well.

“It’s hardly my fault.” Neera swiveled in her chair. “I was on my lunch break so I wasn’t at the desk. Plus he shouldn’t have been fu*king Emily in the first place.”

“Try telling him that.” Rita grunted. “I don’t think monogamy is in his dictionary.”

Neera couldn’t agree more with that.

As if on cue, the door to the lobby opened and Rydzewski entered, carrying a briefcase and wearing his dark suit like it was an outfit on the catwalk. He walked as if people should bow down to him and kiss his feet. Neera turned away and went back to her typing. She wasn’t interested in staring at her boss. There were more important things to worry about.

And better people to look at. Neera bit back a smile as she thought about Kurt. She missed him. They had seen each other the night before when Neera had invited Kurt around for takeout and a movie. The night had been full of talking, eating Chinese, and making out. They hadn’t gone beyond kissing and the odd grope but Kurt was a gentleman and restrained himself, although Neera had clearly felt the evidence that he wanted more.

She wanted more as well. But moving too quickly was how she had got into trouble with Jason in the first place. She didn’t want to make the same mistake with Kurt. He was something special despite his occasional objections.

At least he was able to make her go to bed with a smile on her face. While she needed a lot of sleep to even function properly, going to bed at half past two in the morning was worth it.

Rydzewski slapped his hand on the lobby counter, making Neera jump.

“My office, Neera. Now.”

Then he was walking off before Neera could object. She looked up at Rita, who looked as nervous as Neera felt. Her friend touched Neera’s shoulder.

“I know the look. You’re in deep sh*t.” She squeezed her shoulder. “Good luck.”

Neera didn’t like the sound of that. In the time she had worked in the company she had never been reprimanded for anything. That might have been something to do with the fact Rydzewski wanted to get into her panties but Neera was always careful and turned away when he strayed from his wife, albeit reluctantly. She didn’t like cheating in any sense, especially after what she had gone through, but everyone had made it clear that you did as the boss said.

Leaving Rita at the desk, Neera went up to the third floor and knocked on Rydzewski’s open door.

“Yes, sir?”

Rydzewski didn’t look up as he took out files from his briefcase. A Rolex watch glinted in the sunlight coming through the window behind him.

“Close the door.”

Neera paused. She didn’t want to do that. Something told her that Rydzewski was going to do or say something that would make her want to put distance between them and she wanted witnesses. But she shut the door and stepped into the room, keeping out of reach and putting the two leather chairs on her side of the desk between her and Rydzewski.

Rydzewski took his time sorting his things out and Neera waited impatiently, forcing herself to look anywhere but at him. Forty years old, Rydzewski was a man any woman would want to be seen with. He was charming, handsome and funny. When he wanted to be. But Neera had seen his other side and she didn’t like it; it reminded her too much of Jason. The two of them could be brothers with their demeanors.

Apart from Neera, Rita and a couple of older married women, Rydzewski had slept with every woman in the building. There had been fights between them in the middle of the office when they found out they weren’t his one and only. Neera had even had to take a couple to the emergency room a few months back after one woman broke another woman’s jaw. While it had been impressive at the time, Neera didn’t want to see that again.

Rydzewski closed his briefcase and put it on the floor. He sighed and stepped around the desk, taking off his jacket and hanging it on the coat rack.

“I must say, I’m disappointed in you, Neera.”

“Excuse me?”

“When you work at reception you are supposed to let people know who comes in and out of the building. Especially in.” Rydzewski smoothed his jacket down and turned back to her. “So when my wife comes in you’re supposed to buzz up to let me know.”