Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hello, I wrote this story when I was in high school from 2012 to 2013. I edited it a few years ago in my early twenties, but there are still parts of this story that reflect my novice writing and parts that reflect how this story was set ten years ago. Some of you were in elementary school lol. So just keep that in mind as you read please. Read the 27th chapter for an update too!

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I worked for a billion dollar company owned by the greatest man in the world - Lafayette Jeff.

He's the greatest man in the world for a few reasons, reason beyond being successful and attractive and smart. Reasons I found out as I continued working for him. He is an altruistic man even if he doesn't think so (because he really thinks he's selfish).

He started a business with his best friends in his early twenties and ended up buying out a lot of companies in the process.. Oddly enough, for a businessman, he is a strong supporter of local businesses. He didn't buy local businesses, but he did partner with them so they could still be their own bosses but not have to compete with retail stores Lafayette owned. He wasn't monopolizing the country, but his businesses did help the economy grow by providing jobs to many people and keeping local businesses alive.

I started working for Lafayette Inc. when I was a freshman in college, but I dropped out after not being able to afford it and being a lost soul. I should be a senior in college, only twenty-two-years-old. I didn't mind my job really, and it was pretty simple. I just took phone calls and sent emails. Every year I had received a raise, my most recent one being a whole one dollar and fifty cents.

I worked on the 23rd floor which was the floor below Lafayette's office. I had never been up there, but only him and four other people worked up there. He had his vice president, Vince, his financial advisor Emilio, and his agent Michael, along with his assistant Donald. Out of everyone, Donald was the only one I talked to. He was a very sweet old man who made sure everyone was accounted for. It turns out, he was retiring.

I was with a few co-workers on the 23rd floor, getting ready for lunch. We were going to leave when Mr. Jeff himself came onto the 23rd floor, a rare occurrence.

"Afternoon everyone," Mr. Jeff greeted. He had a commanding voice, and yet it was still soft and almost quiet, but you could always hear what he said. He wasn't an overly energetic person. He was calm and cool, one of the reasons he was voted People's "Sexiest Man Alive" last year. He was very much my type.

"I have an announcement to make for all of you. As you can tell, Donald has not been around to make his rounds greeting all of you. Donald has decided it is time to retire." Sad murmurs filled the office. "He is well past the age of retirement, and has been a great, great asset to this company and my life. Tomorrow we will be having a retirement party. I hope you can all attend."

Everyone talked quietly after he left, sad about Donald leaving. I was about to head out when Michael, the agent, called my name. I told the guys I'd catch up with them and approached Michael hesitantly. He was a quiet man who was Lafayette's age. He was one of the best friends that started the company with him when they were younger. "Hi, what's up?" I asked.

"Mr. Jeff would like to speak to you. Come along please," he said.

That's when I went up to the 24th floor for the first time ever. It's also when I really met Mr. Jeff for the first time, too. I went up the elevator and came to one room. Lafayette, Inc. had actually been a pioneer in setting the "open space concept," because they didn't like cubicles. There were three desks sitting in the room, each with their own personal taste, lots of space. There were some couches out there as well and a huge window taking up the entire wall on the left side. There was a wall across from the elevator that had one to it. Then there was a door to the left of the elevator that had a bathroom sign on it.

The vice president Vince was sitting in his desk, shoes off and feet propped up, eating some Chinese food. The other desk was Michael's, and then the third one was Emilio's, but once we entered the other room through the door across from the elevator, Emilio was in there, lying on the couch. There was also a huge window taking up the wall on the left side and then opposite the door behind Mr. Jeff's desk was one big square window between some shelves. There were bookshelves along the entire right wall except for one door and then there were two couches. Donald's desk was in front of the bookshelves on the right side but it faced the big window. Mr. Jeff's desk and Donald's desks were both half ovals and looked spacious with big comfy chairs. Mr. Jeff's desk faced the door, with two chairs in front of it. I noticed that there were curtains on the windows and then another curtain that could come down and fall behind the two desks so it would cut you off from Mr. Jeff's view.

"Here he is, Mr. Jeff," Michael said.

Mr. Jeff looked up at me and nodded to Michael, who then left the room with Emilio. "Have a seat Emerson," he said, pointing to the couch. He sat down across from me with papers in his hand.

I really thought I was getting fired, but that didn't make sense because my supervisor Marge would be the one to fire me.

"Mr. Lane," he said. "You've been here for a little over four years now. You've climbed your way up pretty well." He was looking at the paper as he was talking to me. I could see a picture of myself smiling on it, from my first day, the same photo on my badge. "Where did you go to college?"

"I went to a community college but I never finished," I said.

"Okay, that's okay." He smiled faintly up at me. "I never finished either. So, you write to all of the locations in the Manhattan area. How has that been going for you?"

"It's been going well," I said. "It's easy enough. I like it."

"Easy?" he asked.

"Uh...yeah?"

"Interesting. My other employees who write to the other locations always say it's difficult, and yet Manhattan is one of the biggest locations we have." He pulled out his glasses from his pocket, reading over my files. "No negative comments, Marge really approves of you, employee of the month twice. Tell me, do you like being busy?"

I nodded. "Oh yeah. I really thrive off of being busy, like it makes time go by faster and I get bored easily and when I'm bored I like pass out wherever I am." I bit my tongue. I was a rambler.

He smiled faintly again. He never smiled that much, never grinned. "I understand. How big is your connection to New York? Do you have family here?"

"My family lives in the suburbs and I see them every now and then but we're all busy so I just call them when I can. So I guess not a big connection. I live in the city though, in a studio." I pulled on my bottom lip, a nervous habit.

"Do you drive?" he asked.

"No. I don't have a car or license."

He nodded, still looking at my paper. It looked like he was just looking at my picture. He removed his glasses, put the papers down, and crossed his legs. "Emerson - do you mind if I call you Emerson?" he asked.

"Yeah, or Em is fine," I said.

"Em, I am going to offer you a promotion." I should've realized it was a promotion to Donald's position, but I was also kind of stupid. "I want you to take over Donald's assistant position."

"Oh," I said. "Um..."

"You would be doubling your salary," he said, like it was nothing. Currently I was living paycheck to paycheck. Now my salary was going to be doubled? Holy shit!

"Vacations are paid. Great benefits. Here's a wrap sheet about the position." He slid a piece of paper over to me. "It's nothing you can't handle, but it will be different than what you do. It's a normal work day in general, but basically you'll be by my side constantly. If I go to Argentina, you go to Argentina. If I have to drop everything and fly to L.A., you have to as well. I mean, you'll have your PTO so if you need to go to a wedding then of course you'll go, but the thing with this position is I need you by my side." He tilted his head. "What do you think?"

I was floored. Me? Lafayette Jeff's assistant? He was the most famous person in the world, and I was going to be his assistant? "Of course," I said. "I would love to take this position."

He smiled. "Great. I have a meeting to attend to right now but Michael and Emilio will help you out until you get the hang it. Take what they say with a grain of salt because I know they're going to try and scare you. I told them to behave but there's no controlling them. Glad to have you on the floor, Em."

He went into the room to the side of his desk, and soon after Emilio and Michael came in. "Welcome to the team," Michael said. "Emilio and I will help you out until you get the hang of things, but it shouldn't be too hard. Lafayette will just ask you to do things, and otherwise we will show you how to use the planning system."

"Thanks," I said, still in disbelief. "I have a question. Why...did I get this promotion? Like, there are other people here who have worked for longer, people in higher positions."

"Lafayette wanted something nice to look at," Emilio said.

My face flushed red. Lafayette Jeff wasn't...was he?

Michael scolded Emilio. "No. Don't say shit like that or else he might go in for sexual harassment. No, Lafayette asked Marge but she's actually going to retire soon, and then he wanted someone younger who might be able to stick around for a long time. Plus, he says he really likes your positivity and wants someone who's always positive to be around."

"Oh...how does he know I'm positive?" I asked.

"He just does," Michael said.

"He was taken in by your fat ass."

"Emilio," Michael sighed. "Just because he has a fat ass doesn't mean that's all there is to him. And again, stop saying things like that."

"Just trying to make him feel welcome," Emilio said, and despite what he said it was actually kind of funny.

Fat ass? It wasn't big. I was a lanky ass twink.

"Em," Emilio said. "Lafayette expects a lot of you, but even if you fuck up he probably won't fire you. So, we're just gonna give you some pointers."

"Here is your orientation guide. Everything you need to know is in here, but we'll go over some of the pressing things," Michael said, putting a piece of paper on my new desk. "First, Emilio makes too many jokes and it's best if you just ignore him. Now, some things about Mr. Jeff."

"He does not like to talk to his family, so if they call always take a message," Emilio said.

"He never smokes, but if you do see him smoking on a cigar it means he's probably not in a good mood," Michael said.

"He probably won't ask you for a foot rub but feel free to offer."

"He doesn't really have a cell phone so just call his office phone."

They went back and forth, telling me different things about Mr. Jeff, and I struggled trying to keep track of everything they were saying, because some things were...weird. He wasn't "high maintenance" but...he also kind of was I guess.

I met up with my co-workers from the 23rd floor at the café right down the way from the building. They were almost finished but they still had about thirty minutes left for lunch, meaning I had an hour basically. "Hey Em, where've you been?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, what did Michael want?" Terry asked.

"Well...I went up to the 24th floor and I got to meet Mr. Jeff," I said.

"Really? Why?"

"They offered me a promotion."

"Oh my god you got Donald's job," Aaron said.

I nodded, smiling without showing any teeth. I hated smiling with my teeth.

"Congrats man!"

"Yeah, seriously. You've been kicking ass for four years."

"Well we'll hardly see you anymore now."

"Nah you'll see me just as much as you saw Donald," I said.

"So not much then."

I shrugged. "Can't deny a promotion."

"I hear ya. Well good job man."

"Thanks."

When I returned to work I started to pack up some of my stuff. I never had much, just some pictures and a stress ball. I put it into a box and since he said I could go and move it whenever I went up to the 24th floor and asked Michael if it was okay if I could go in. He said I didn't have to ask since it was my office, too.

"If Mr. Jeff doesn't want you to bother him then he lowers the curtain. Normally he probably would've had an office to himself, but since he was super close with Donald he liked having Donald close. He might end up moving you out here if need be," he said to me. I knew Mr. Jeff had known Donald since his youth. It would be hard to become close to him in the same way. I kind of didn't want to move out into the open space office because obviously Mr. Jeff had done really well with his confidante only a few feet away.

Mr. Jeff was on the phone and he nodded at me, grimacing a smile. I set my stuff down at the oval desk, the computer really nice and the chair comfortable. The view was splendid, too. The building across the window was lower and so you could see out into the distance, with the Statue of Liberty just barely out of sight.

"Nice view, isn't it?" Mr. Jeff asked, catching me off guard.

"Yeah, lovely," I replied.

"No I was just talking to my assistant," he said into the phone.

I left the office and walked in on Emilio and Michael kissing, Vince gone. Michael jumped away, embarrassed, but Emilio was casual about it. "Don't be surprised if that happens more honey," he said. "Right baby?" he asked Michael, who was red but also looked bemused, which was nice to see because otherwise his expression had always been blank.

"Nonsense. I have class," he said, typing on the computer.

"Doesn't matter much to me. Do what you please," I said.

"Believe me, he does please me."

I laughed, feeling much more calm, because when I wasn't nervous I laughed at anything. I was quite "bubbly" but I had been so nervous all day that I was finding it impossible to laugh. Emilio laughed and Michael gave him a pointed look over his glasses.

"Another reason he hired you," Michael said, looking at me.

"What? Because I'm gay?"

"Yes, he believes in finding the best potential in queer people."

"How did he know I was gay?"

Michael and Emilio just looked at me up and down. Right. I was a little...coded.

"Anyway, I'll see you later," I said, walking into the elevator.

"This is going to be fun," Emilio said as the doors shut.

I went home at five to my small apartment a few blocks over. It was incredibly small, because it was difficult to live by yourself in New York City. It was two rooms and a bathroom. A very small living area with a kitchen and then a small bedroom with the bathroom. I sat on the loveseat in my room, no TV and sighed, looking out the window. Whoever owned the apartment last had super gaudy style. The walls were some floral pattern, green and teal. I hated it, but I dealt with it. With this new promotion, though, I'll probably be able to do something with this place, make it better looking. I don't mind the size, just the way it looks, and also the fact I'm alone. I've been single since - well, technically single forever. I literally have never had a boyfriend. I've had sex, but not a boyfriend.

The last time I had sex? About six months ago. Was it good? Hardly. Ugh, I hate thinking about my sex life and my love life. I liked guys so much in high school and would gush about them all the time, but after I dropped out of college my love life became the last of my priorities. I never went on dates, and I hardly went out, only when our floor decided to go out, which wasn't often and that's the only way I ever had sex. I think I've had sex about seven times in my life. I lost my virginity in college to some guy. I was only nineteen and it was bad. I laugh at how bad it was. Pleasure level: 0%. The second time wasn't bad, but I guess I like to be taken advantage of.

I want a man, not a boy. I'd much rather lie on the bed and let him take control. The other guys just did the regular doggie style, and hardly any of them reached around to stroke me. Jerks. It's so sad to say, because I've never been in love and I've never had good sex..

Though that night, since there had been a change of events in my usual routine, I thought of different things. I couldn't help but let my mind wonder to Mr. Lafayette Jeff. He was so ridiculously handsome. I never really thought about him in that way because I always thought he was straight, but if there's ever a possibility that an attractive guy isn't straight then my mind is lost. I thought about that small smirk, his smooth voice, his big hands. Due to my lack of sexual activity, my thoughts can turn quite sexual easily. I kept trying to shake the thoughts away, feeling bad because he's my boss and I was picturing him touching me in ways he definitely shouldn't. Eventually, I couldn't help it and I just might've stuck my hand down my pants and let the night take over.

I showered and went to my small makeshift room after, collapsing onto my bed and setting my alarm. Just thinking about the next day was making me so nervous. What if I mess up? He was nice today, but he could get angry if I don't do something right. What if I never do anything right? I've never had some secretarial job. I'm organized, sure, but to organize and schedule some else's day? I could mess up so much. I tried to calm myself down and realize that it'll be my first day basically. They'd deal with mistakes for a while, and if I didn't get it right after a while then obviously the job isn't right for me. Hopefully it is because that way I can get more money and not have to sit in a cubicle all day and stare at my boss all day long.

I groaned. Damn him for being so attractive. He's my boss. He's off limits. Then again...Donald and Vince are together and they were co-workers. Then Emilio and Michael are co-workers and together, and it seems the 24th floor isn't as super professional as I thought. Maybe he'd be willing to be more relaxed and lenient and...interested in me.

Oh who am I kidding? He's a billionaire and he has movie-star good looks. He can get anyone. He wouldn't settle for some college dropout assistant of his.

He's my boss, and he will never be anything more than that, no matter how much I want that to change.

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Hamilton Fans: Ironically, Lafayette Jeff has nothing to do with Lafayette or Jefferson from Hamilton. This was published a few years before Hamilton came out. I decided to name my character Lafayette Jeff because there is a high school in my city called Lafayette Jefferson High School, but everyone calls it Lafayette Jeff. The school is named after Thomas Jefferson and set in a city named Lafayette, which is named after Marquis de Lafayette. Now after being a Hamilton fan I think it's really ironic and funny!

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