He had until Friday–wouldn’t it just be better to stick it out until then? On the other hand, what was the point in dragging it out? He’d made his decision, and he knew Mr. Herman wouldn’t budge, so why wait? He read through the letter of resignation he’d spent drafting that morning one more time, and wondered again if there might be some other solution to all of this. Well, then again, there were plenty of other solutions, but Mr. Herman was dead set on cutting jobs. If he could just see that keeping everyone on board made more sense…
Max sighed. Mr. Herman was a man of corporate comportment. Every sentence included some buzzword–synergy in particular was his favorite, despite the fact it was long past relevant. In his desire to think outside of the box and disrupt future innovation marketplaces, he had failed to notice that his own imagination had shrunk to the size of a pea. Yet, he was Max’s superior, because he could grease wheels and glad-hand and climb his way up the ladder while making sure to kick down everyone else below him at the same time.
“Here he is–you didn’t tell me your stepson was coming with you to work today, Max!”
He looked over, puzzled, and say Fiona, one of the administrative assistants, standing next to Junior. What in the world was he doing here? And what in the world was he wearing? He had on a bright yellow tank top which looked a size too small, so a thick ribbon of flesh was clearly visible between the bottom of the shirt and the top of his shorts, which seemed to sit low on his hips instead of around his waist. The shorts themselves barely reached down his thighs at all and were colored an electric blue, and were stretched tight across his crotch, showing off his thick cock for anyone who cared to look…and like usual, Max found himself unable to look away.
“Thanks again–I don’t know how I got so lost!” Junior said, blushing. Max ripped his eyes away and cocked his head–he’d never seen Junior act like that before. He was usually so cocky, but Fiona chuckled, obviously flattered.
“I’m just happy I could help,” she said, but then looked at Max, “But I could have sworn you said you were gay. Did you tell me that because I was hitting on you last year?”
Max sputtered. Junior stepped in. “No, from a second marriage. He says it just took him a while to figure it out. We stayed close though–my mom was such a bitch–seriously. Like, she had three heads, even.”
Fiona looked at the young man, and suddenly she didn’t feel so comfortable near him. She looked over at Max, saw that he was almost as confused as her, and she turned around with a curt goodbye to them both, and took off. Max relaxed. Too bad if he did keep his job, every secretary in the building would be thinking he’d been married twice now.
“What did you tell her that for? And you know I’ve never been married.”
“Then where did I come from, Daddy?”
Max didn’t have an answer for that one, yet.
“Let’s just say that I’m much better at lies than the truth.” Junior said, and slipped into Max’s cubicle, “So what are you working on, daddy? Can I see?”
“I don’t think you should–hey!” Max said, as Junior grabbed the back of his chair and pulled him away from the computer across the cubicle, and got down and started reading. The way he bent over shoved his ass in his stepfather’s face, the shiny fabric clinging to each firm globe, slipping a short way into the crack. He could also see a strap, like on a jockstrap, slipping up above the waist of the shorts, which was making him rock hard in his suit.
“Oh goodness, I could tell something was up with you when you left for work this morning,” he said, remaining bent over but looking back over his shoulder, “Daddy, you can’t be serious, can you? You’re really going to quit your job over two little layoffs?”
Max huffed. “I don’t want to be a part of a company that’s willing to cut workers in order to fatten their bottom line.”
Junior rolled his eyes, “So, you’re saying you want to be unemployed for the rest of your life?”
“No, I just don’t want to be complicit in it, and–”
“And you’re a coward. A coward with a tiny dick. A small dick I can work with, but cowardice…disgusts me.”
“I’m not a coward…and–and my dick isn’t small!”
Junior stood up, smirking at him, eyes dropping to his crotch. “Too small for my tastes, daddy.”
Max blushed. “Look…How in the hell am I supposed to go up to these people I’ve worked with, who I trust, and tell them to pack their things and stop working on this project that means so much to them?”
Junior laughed, “‘Means so much to them?’ Are you serious? Do you want to know how serious they all are? Aaron, two cubicles down, is currently playing solitare, because he got tired of losing at minesweeper. He’s been fudging and faking all of his performance reports. He hasn’t done any real work in weeks because he knows he can butter you up and down both ways with something like,‘I’m just having some kinks I’m trying to work out. It’s all pretty technical, though, so I wouldn’t want to waste your time explaining it,’ and you fucking buy it every fucking time Daddy. How stupid are you, really? Julian over there has been on the phone all morning with a headhunter from a competitor, negotiating his salary. He’s probably going to be gone by the end of the week anyway, so no loss if you fire him. He’s planning on taking his progress on this project to them, mostly because he thinks your ineffectual leadership is dooming it anyway, and it was all his idea to begin with, NDA’s be damned, because he hasn’t actually filed any of the patent paperwork he’s been telling you is in the pipeline for months.”
Max just stared at him. “How in the world could you know any of that?”
Junior smiled, “Like I said, I’m better at lies, which means I’m very good at telling when someone else is full of bullshit. Go on, see for yourself, take one of your little walks, see if I’m not telling the truth. But maybe try being a little sneakier than usual…”
Bracken's Corner 