Chapter 5

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Chapter 5 — Company Policies

The next day Liam, makes his way to work on time, without any 'incidents' on the way. He even has spare time on his hand and so visits the break room, and starts up the coffee machine.

He leans against the counter, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing when a broad-shouldered, quite muscular man walks in. He has that perfect combination of nerdy and athletic going on, and Liam finds himself checking the man out not-so subtly.

The man obviously notices Liam too, and gives him a small smirk, "Hello," he greets, his voice low but audible enough, "I'm guessing you are Aaron's new PA?"

"Hey. Yes, I am. I'm Liam," he would much rather be known by his own name than who he is working for, thank you very much.

"I'm Jason. I'm working in the accounting department," he too leans against the counter beside Liam, "So, how do you find working here?"

The machine lets out a beeping sound right then, followed by a blow of steam, letting them know that the drink is ready. Liam grabs the handle, contemplating if he should let this stranger in regarding what he actually thinks of their boss. He decides otherwise since, as he is aware, Jason is a stranger after all.

"I've only started working here, so I can't say much. But so far, it's been good," he says as he pours coffee in his mug. "Let me," he tells Jason when he goes to grab the pot from Liam, "Just tell me when to stop, okay,"

"And when you're done flirting, you can make me a cup too," Aaron's voice suddenly bursts into the room, startling Liam and causing him to spill a bit.

"Jesus. You scared me," Liam quickly puts back the pot in its holder, grabbing a napkin to clean up the spilt coffee. Liam is just grateful he didn't spill any of the hot liquid on himself or Jason.

Aaron is still standing by the entry of the break room, arms crossed, but Liam doesn't turn to him — his mood is already sour, he doesn't want to worsen it by looking at his stupid face.

"Thank you, Liam," Jason tells him when Liam hands him his cup of coffee and he shrugs before leaving, mumbling a good morning to their boss on the way.

"I know you're new here and only a temp," he says it in such a derogatory way that Liam is very much tempted to grab the pot before him and throw the steaming liquid in his face but holds himself back, "But you should probably look through the company policies. We have a no-fraternising policy. I'll have Chloe send over the policies so you don't get confused,"

Liam huffs, turning around to face him, scowling, barely restraining himself from cussing away at his boss, "I wasn't flirting with him. I just met him and was being polite. You know, polite — don't worry if you're not familiar with the concept. I'll email what the word means and how it is essential in a person's life, so you can learn a thing or two,"

Liam grabs his mug and starts to walk away but the dickface stops him.

"I asked for coffee,"

"No. You didn't ask, you demanded," he snaps at him, "After you insulted me. Again. And for the record, when someone asks another person for something, it is customary that they follow the request with the word 'please.' The coffee is done. Help yourself."

He doesn't have the time to add anything more before Chloe comes into the room, "Good morning, you two,"

Liam suddenly gets an idea and turns to the woman, "Chloe, if you don't mind, would you please send me a copy of the employee handbook. Mr Patterson was just going over the company policies that are included in the employee handbook, particularly about a non-fraternising one,"

Chloe looks up at him with a surprised look on her face and then glances at Aaron suspiciously.

"I will send it right over to you, but it seems I don't have the right copy as well," she crosses her arm and looks pointedly at Aaron, "I don't remember that policy. Aaron, if you've amended the handbook, perhaps you should send it to me first so I can make sure those changes are noted and emailed to everyone," she suggests while she finishes making two cups of coffee, handing Aaron one of the cups she prepared.

Liam glances over at Aaron to see that his mouth is closed and he is swallowing. He quickly recovers however once he notices his new temp smirking at him.

"We just finalised it last week. I'll send it over," and with that, he quickly turns around and walks away, leaving Liam and Chloe by themselves.

Liam snorts, shaking his head a little and turns to Chloe. She smiles at him as she raises her cup to her lips.

"Yeah, I knew you'd fit in here well,"

Liam simply shrugs in return, "Does he always take half a sugar and no milk in his coffee?"

She looks at him with a surprised look.

"I'm very observant," he gives her a sheepish smile.

Chloe doesn't say add anything to that and just nods. Liam bids her goodbye after that and heads to his own desk. There is nothing special about him noticing how his boss takes his coffee — he is just doing his job; this way he won't get it wrong if he has to make him coffee.

Once reaching his desk, he turns on his computer, and the first thing he notices is that something is not right there. It doesn't take him long to figure out what is wrong — some of his sticky notes have been moved around.

Liam has a particular way of keeping his things arranged and organised and absolutely hates it when someone messes with it. He quickly corrects the order and sets them as he had the day before.

Maybe someone from the cleaning crew accidentally moved them. But it doesn't really seem like that. Liam has a small guess who else could have messed with his things but he doesn't want to make any assumptions all by himself.

He gets up, heading into Aaron's office. The door isn't closed, so he walks in.

He checks to see if he's on the phone before asking him, "Do we have a cleaning crew come in here?"

He looks up from his paper, "Excuse me?"

"My sticky notes have been moved around. I'm assuming someone was cleaning and moved them. So, my question is, do we have a cleaning crew?"

Just by the way, he quickly averts his gaze away from Liam's, it's apparent that he has something to do with the disorder.

But still Liam has to appreciate how he leans back in his chair oh-so casually, "How do you know they've been moved? What do you do? Memorise them before you leave?" he laughs, but it comes out rather forced and shaky.

"I don't have to memorise them. I post them alphabetically, which is why I know they've been moved."

Aaron side-eyes him and clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. He is a crap liar; Liam observes to himself.

Yup, dickface moved my notes, Liam confirms his suspicion.

But instead, he says, "Must be the cleaning crew."

Liam glares at him for a second. "If you could please let them know that I'll be cleaning my own desk from now on. Or you know what, I'll see if I can find their number and get in touch with them my–" he don't have time to finish before his boss pipes in.

"No–" he shakes his head, "–I'll call them now and mention it. Now, if that's all, I have a busy schedule and discussing your filing system isn't on it."

Rolling his eyes, Liam turns around and heads out the door, but right before he is out of the door, Aaron calls him back, "I'm having a business lunch in my office with a friend. If you could make sure we both have lunch ready for noon. It will also be a private lunch. She eats light. So, a salad for her is good. I'll have my usual," he says.

Liam grits his teeth, turning around. He doesn't know why he is feeling so irritated all of a sudden, "Considering I've been here for only about twenty-four hours, I don't know what your usual is. If you want me to order your lunch for you and your 'private lunch friend', I'm going to need to know exactly what you want for lunch. Send me the details via email," Liam turns and walk out of the room, not giving him a chance to reply.

About ten minutes later, the office phone rings on his desk. Liam picks it up, but he doesn't say anything till he hears his voice bark into the phone.

"We have a conference with Edwin and his team at three. I'm assuming you can prepare a slideshow by then to be presented,"

"I can manage that if you can manage to say a 'please' and a 'thank you',"

Liam can hear him breathe in slowly and then mutter, "Please, can you prepare a slideshow by three? Thank you,"

He looks into the office and sees his boss staring straight at him. If only to infuriate him even more, he gives him a small wave, "Wasn't so hard, was it?" And then he quickly puts down the phone, turning away.

Liam smiles to himself. Another score for him. However, his mood doesn't last long. Aaron sends him an email.

—

To: Liam (Latest PA)

From: Aaron Patterson

Subject: Lunch Order

Please order me a pastrami on rye and a grilled chicken salad for her, dressing on the side.

I want this by noon. Try not to mess this up. She's expecting it to be perfect.

Aaron Patterson

—

Liam's eyes burn holes into the screen. Whoever she is, if she wants it to be perfect, she's never going to get that with this dickface. Liam would have replied him with exactly this thought if only another email doesn't come through.

—

To: Liam (Latest PA)

From: Aaron Patterson

Subject: Conference with Edwin

Although I don't think you can bring anything to this meeting, you need to be there to take notes.

Try not to flirt, since he is also considered a co-worker.

Aaron Patterson.

—

His blood is boiling. He wants to reply with a simple 'fuck off,' but instead he thinks of something better. Oh yeah, he is going to give him something better, alright.

He places the order online at the deli on the corner. At eleven thirty, he starts to get up, but he is stopped by a woman walking down the hall.

She is wearing a brown trench coat tied at the waist. The trench coat falls to her mid-thigh. Her short blonde bob of loose curls bounces with every step she takes. Her blue eyes shine. Her black Louboutin click-clacks against the floor as she approaches.

"May I help you?" Liam asks while walking around his desk.

She gives him the once-over, "No, thank you," she huffs and continues walking straight into Aaron's office. "Darling," he hears her purr, "It's been forever,"

Curious, he peers into the office, seeing her walk around the desk and sit on his lap. Aaron's arm immediately comes around her, and Liam can't hear what he says but it has her giggling.

Right at the moment, the office phone rings, "Hello?"

"I'm going to need that lunch later. And would you close my door?" Aaron says and then hangs up before Liam can answer.

Grumbling to himself, Liam half considers telling him off once again but when he walks in and hears them whispering, the bottom half of the desk covering whatever he is doing. Liam tries to get out of there as fast as he can without making himself known but Aaron looks up right before he closes the door. Something flashes in his features, but Liam doesn't get a chance to figure out what it is before the door closes. He hears the blinds start to shut. Liam decides he is definitely not going to be sitting out there while his boss fucks in his office.

He figures he may as well take his lunch break right then. And on his way out, he can't be entirely sure if it's just by mere coincidence or not, he runs into Jason — the coffee guy from that morning. Not to come off as rude, he waves at him in greeting.

Jason also waves back at him, and it would have ended there if Jason hadn't signalled for him to wait. He quickly ends whatever conversation he was having with a couple of other guys and approaches Liam, with a wide smile on his face.

"Hey,"

"Hey," Liam feels compelled to smile back as well.

"Heading for lunch?"

"That's the plan, yeah,"

"Oh, cool," he nods, pushing his glasses up his nose, "Um, mind if I join you?"

"For lunch?" Liam's voice comes maybe a little high-pitched, not expecting that at all, and clears his throat, "Uh, right now?"

"Only if that's okay with you,"

He can't think of a single reason why that won't be okay with him, and it seems like a good idea to start making some friends since he is going to be working there for a while after all.

"Sure, yeah,"

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