Having a talk? I'll be with you after a short call

"Sure, let's move to my office then", Mr. Roberts tried to calm down Claire and lead her towards his office.

"Woah Chuck, slow down there. If I am to be the topic of that meeting, I should also be a part of it. Right?", this was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes, you're right. It wouldn't be fair to have a talk behind your back. We'll all go to my office and talk this out", a nodding Mr. Roberts easily agreed.

So the three of them marched on together. After having made Chuck pay the tab, again, it wasn't hard to nudge him into having Tom sit in on an meeting. That was no push at all. But Tom *was* in the mood to do some pushing, so he decided to play with fire and annoy his self-proclaimed rival.

"Sounds like a plan. You two go ahead and I'll join you in a few minutes. I still have some calls to make", Claire was almost visibly fuming at that," And make sure not to start talking until I get there."

Without waiting for any reaction, Tom made his way around the corner. He was sure Mr. Roberts had been nudged enough to really go into his office and convince Claire to follow him, so there was no need for Tom to go far. He got out his phone and started setting the stage for his future in this office. One text message at a time.

• Chuck, you should stall Claire as long as possible.
• What? But she seems really angry.
• Chuck, are you intimidated by me?
• Maybe a little.
• Try again. You're really intimidated by me. While I have a cock that works wonders, you can't get it up the regular way and have an embarrassing ass-fetish. Compared to me you feel very insecure, especially when a woman is in the room. You have the feeling that women instinctively know you can't deliver. Isn't that right?
• Yes, somehow women seem to know.
• So Chuck, you are intimidated by me. A lot more than by Claire or anyone else in the office.
• I am.
• Now go ahead and stall her. You don't want to disappoint me.
• Yes, I will stall them. I don't want you to be angry at me.
• Them?
• Angelique just entered with us. She heard Claire ranting about you on our way in and made an excuse to join us.
• What did she say?
• That she will type my notes for me.

Tom had bought himself some time to work his magic on Chuck and Claire, but somehow that glorified secretary wanted to insert herself. For his boss typing a few texts was enough, but for the alluring secretary.... Tom could go for some of that accent whispered into his ear. One call to a malicious french womans subconscious, coming right up.

"Oui, allô?", came a blank french reply. Yeah, I should have seen that one coming, Tom answered in thought but didn't say into the phone. The French think in french, who would have guessed? But that voice still had that certain appeal, even while in trance. In the end, even her emotionless subconscious was nicer to Tom than Angeliques outward voice ever had been. So without understanding her, he just pressed forward and hoped for it to stick.

"Angelique, you have used Mr. Roberts to advance in the company and get a greencard."

"Oui."

"You humor his advances on you, because he is useful. You being nice to him depends entirely on what he can do for you. You are using him."

"J’aime que Chuck m’aide, mais c’est aussi un gars sympa. Je l’aime. Le sexe était plutôt bon et je-", that didn't sound all that convinced, so Tom interrupted her and tried to hammer this home. His harsh statement earlier in the restaurant had really cowed his boss, maybe forcefulness was the way.

"Angelique, you are just using Mr. Roberts. You were happy when he didn't pester you with sex anymore. You hated sex with him, he couldn't make you cum once."

"Je l’utilise. Le sexe avec lui était une corvée dégoûtante", somehow that sounded like agreement, so Tom pressed forth.

"You just string him along to get your due. The reason for you being so angry with me, is that I have a bigger sway on him than you."

"N-non, je te déteste d’être un pervers dégoûtant", even Tom knew enough French to know "non" meant he had to push stronger and not let up.

"You're angry that I have so much influence. You even indulged Chucks new rimming fetish, which you are disgusted by, only to have me easily overtrump you. That's what you're angry about."

"Vous êtes influent.... ça me dégoûte... vous me dépassez facilement..."

"But you're a smart one, aren't you? You see Chuck going down and me rising. You can still squeeze him for favours in exchange for letting him lap at your ass, but between the two of us, you should try to get on my good side. Chuck is a sinking ship, if you want a future in the company you need to get me to like you."

"Vous êtes ma meilleure option."

Tom hung up on her now. Weeks before Mr. Roberts seemed like a proud lion, but since Tom had gotten the phone he knew the truth. Chuck was an old, toothless lion at best and the one doing the actual hunting was a feisty french lioness instead. And even that had changed with a few persistent words into his phone. Tom would go to the meeting addressing his behaviour in the company, but after twisting both Chuck and Angelique, Tom doubted it would go the way Clair hoped it to go.