Kate Educates Jacob Ch. 01

"The Boss wants to see you."

"What's up?"

I tossed my sponge into a bucket of soapy water, expecting more antagonism from my nemesis. I'd just finished washing a returned car rental when our managing director's personal assistant approached, looking smug. Not a good sign for me.

"Do I look like your secretary?"

She shot me a vicious expression. Although not my greatest fan ever, Tiffany's vitriol felt more toxic today.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know."

There was little point indulging her need for a fight so, I played the United Nations and held my tongue.

Never date colleagues. I vowed not to on arrival at this new job, but Tiffany came on really strong and I pride myself on a chivalrous nature, so I gave it a go, tried hard and failed miserably.

Since our one and only disastrous date, Tiffany was unpleasant towards me. The evening went badly, not because I disliked her. She just wasn't my type, and I wasn't hers either, but the woman desperate to explore me didn't know that.

I was attentive and tried hard to make the evening one she would enjoy, if only to keep the peace at work.

I might as well not have bothered.

I'm fed up investing in relationships that are doomed from the start. Like everyone else, I have a particular natured partner in mind who fits with me. I just can't find her... yet.

I'm comfortable with my sexuality and can't do random, hopeful dating anymore. Finding the right person is something I must concentrate on, but it's difficult when, as I am, you're running away from a big problem, starting afresh.

Tiffany liked the look of me, which isn't the best place to start. As soon as I walked through the car rental yard on my first day, her appreciative stare said it all. I'm ripped, six foot one inches tall and a total gym monster. I groom meticulously and take pride in my appearance. As a nonsmoker and light social drinker, I have no problem turning heads or finding a date, but I have an enormous problem finding the right person.

Tiffany is beautiful, tall, intelligent and with an appealing figure, but I have found that lasting relationships begin in the heart and soul, one's figure and external features are bonuses to a good heart.

Often, girls that look like Tiffany have developed very little personality beyond seeking the wrong sort of attention.

Tiffany didn't approve of my behaviour throughout the date. I opened the door for her at the restaurant, paid attention when she talked about herself, asked questions about her life, played myself down, and even paid the bill. What's not to like?

Well, she found plenty to criticise. The most disturbing feature of my behaviour was my completely boring life on which she commented during our date.

I'd rather pull out my own toenails than swap lives with you.

After the date she became vexed anytime I was close by, but I couldn't help that, us being colleagues and all. She might be the perfect trophy girlfriend in the right hands, but honestly, I'd rather use mine to clean the toilet u-bend without marigold gloves.

I made my way to Kate's office, stopping by our staff changing rooms to compose myself, wondering if I'd done something wrong. Employment probation is a killer, especially when you're a foreigner with a temporary visa arrangement dependent on continued employment.

I was wrapping up my third week and thought everything was going well, convinced that the best version of myself was good enough for the boss, Kate. I needed to keep my job, so paranoia ran rampant while I washed my hands and racked my brains to think what might be amiss.

I felt anxious, partly a result of the way Tiffany delivered my summons but more because of the uncertainty.

Kate took a chance on me. I'm an unknown drifter from overseas, grateful for her confidence, now concerned to have lost it.

They told me I'd interviewed well. Despite Tiffany's opinion of my life, I had experiences to share, although many others I wanted to hide. They offered me the job a week after interviews closed and I started a few days after that.

Her door was open when I arrived at Kate's office, so I leaned forward and rapped its wooden frame with my knuckles.

"Hi, did you ask to see me?"

I waited politely at the door, not passing its threshold until she invited me. It was a conditioned habit for a large part of my life where discipline and respect had been important.

"Come in, Jacob, shut the door and take a seat, please."

Kate didn't look up and continued twisting a strand of her hair using a blue-coloured pencil to shape it beautifully into a tight twirl. She seemed at ease and read intently, so I waited patiently in the rigid back, uncomfortable wooden chair.

The twirl bounced charmingly, and I was mesmerised when Kate started a second one beside it.

After a minute of silence, I craned my neck a little to see what held her interest in the document on her desk.

Fuck, it's my CV.

I froze, completely terrified. My heart thumped, trying to leap out of my rib cage, and I almost toppled the chair over.

Kate raised her head, locked my eyes with a tractor beam stare, and smiled.

"We have a problem."

My heart sank immediately as I watched my job disappear out of the door.

"Umm, oh god, I'm sorry Kate, what's up?"

I felt flushed and was fidgety, desperately trying to hold myself together.

Holy shit, get me out of here!

She bowed her head again, studying my CV while I stared at the empty walls, finding no solace. Their clinical texture and plain coat of white paint drove my tension higher.I'd been interrogated before, but never by one so incisive.

"It's your employment history between 2001 and 2010. I contacted Knox and Sons in the UK, and they've never heard of you."

She tapped a pencil sharply at the offending paragraph in my CV. Three strikes on the A4 sheet of paper built more tension. Kate's was psychological torture, and she was the smiling assassin with me in her sights.

She's trapped me, and my body language must tell her that.

Her eyes were laser focused each time she looked up, her expression hadn't changed, but Kate didn't appear to be angry.

What does she know?

"You must reflect on my question before answering me, Jacob."

She held eye contact and wasn't letting go. Kate had created a moment of tension and knew how to use it against me to her advantage. It was a decision point, with my future at stake.

"Okay, that's worrying."

"I don't like liars, Jake. I pride myself on the solid reputation of our office and my ability to manage people openly and fairly. We deliver the highest rental stats in the State with the best ratings and reviews nationally, because we're a great team. I have no tolerance for deceit."

The words 'liar' and 'deceit', felt like a double body blow, as if a prize fighter was caving my rib cage in with perfectly targeted punches.

"Yes, understood Kate."

I trembled, and my mouth went dry. My tongue felt swollen and struggled to form words, so I shut up. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, preparing my body to sprint out of the door and vanish in a puff of shame.

"I'm struggling to piece this together, Jacob. It's obvious that your CV is inaccurate, which means you lied to me. I don't know why, and that's what we should bottom out."

Kate looked up, challenging me to deny her accusation. I couldn't, so I bowed my head, then raised it again, selfishly contrite, but too late to make a genuine apology.

She stared at me, and then through me, reading my body language. Her x-ray vision stripped the armour from my soul, revealing my truth to her. I felt uncomfortable in Kate's hot-seat while she piled on the pressure.

The silence in the room terrified me, and then I realised how carefully she'd planned my interview conditions.

Kate's desk was bare aside from my CV and her pencil. She'd covered the whiteboard behind her to withhold any reason for me to divert my attention away from her.

I detected her scent, a subtle fragrance that dominated my senses, and grabbed my attention without being overpowering.It made her eerily omnipresent and knocked me off balance. I'd lost the battle before we'd started.

"Why did you take this job?"

"My aunt arranged it for me."

"I know. Does she know you lied on your CV?"

Fuck, that hurt!

It was another deserved knockout blow. Her words cut me like knives, slicing through my soul, while she smiled, radiantly.

"I'm really sorry, Kate."

I shook my head, knowing I had no defence.

You're a selfish fucker, Jacob!

Her wide, smouldering, brilliant blue eyes were like pools of truth serum, and she didn't blink, which made mine strain and water to stay the distance. She revealed nothing, no emotion, not a flicker, blink, or flinch that might help me read her thoughts. Her expression challenged me for the truth, and I knew nothing else would satisfy Kate.

She relaxed into her deep brown leather executive chair and leaned back slightly to show how much she was at ease despite the awkwardness between us. I sat rigidly in the stiff back wooden chair which I suspected she'd brought in especially for my interview.

Kate allowed plenty of thinking time while studying me, weighing up my value as a horse trader might review a prize stallion they were minded to purchase and put to stud.

"Your work is great. I've never had a more amenable, industrious, or respectful staff member."

She smiled generously, lifting me. I was sure her praise was a deliberate attempt to calm my obvious agitated state. I was on a roller coaster that Kate had built and had full control over. Her piercing stare excited me, and I felt aroused. It was a sensual moment, but I knew it shouldn't be.

Kate fell silent again, watching me, completely aware of my extreme discomfort.

She knows this is excruciating.

Eventually, Kate broke the silence because she owned all the power in the room.

"Go for an early lunch. Think about this, hmm... situation. Then come back and see me. We can chat things through and you can explain what's going on."

A flicker of her left eye, a slight nod to the door and another smile suggested our meeting was over.

I was being carefully managed.

"Yes, err... sorry Kate."

She had a magnetic quality that wrenched me into her orbit, and I wanted more because being near her felt comfortable. She started this game of chess, and although this queen had besieged me; I knew I could come back strong later.

I must show Kate the best of me.

"It's okay. Come back and tell me the truth when you've had time to think carefully."

Her comment hung with no further accusation, and Kate reverted to reading my CV with her head down, gently tapping the table. Her pencil drum stick beat precisely in tune with my elevated heart rate, as if she knew what I was feeling.

I stood up, but was immediately rooted to the spot like a deer in a car's headlights. I didn't know if I should or could leave.

Is she done with me? What the fuck do I do now?

Seconds ticked by until almost half a minute had elapsed, and I was still motionless, like a frozen maniac desperate for a warm breeze to waft through the room.

Kate looked up, surprised by my continued presence. She smiled generously, as if pleased, and I felt instantly at ease.

"You're dismissed Jake."

She said it politely, but with sufficient authority to convey a meaning that I should leave. Her head nodded more purposefully towards the door as if directing me through it and her long, curly brunette locks swayed in the direction of my exit.

It was an instruction to depart, and one I gratefully and excitedly received.

"Thanks Kate."

I was relieved she'd taken control and shown me the door, figuratively speaking.

"I'll see you at 2 PM, don't be late."