A trip to the bar with a friend.

By the time Claire got back from her vacation, the whole office knew that Tom was screwing his assistant. Yes, "assistant". At Tom's request, Mr. Roberts had changed the "junior editor" title to "assistant editor", a change that everyone except Sandy thought was degrading. Nobody had walked in on them or seen any other direct proof, but her fawning over him and her disheveled clothes when she left his office made it clear what was going on.

Tom was making good use of Sandy's tight, little body almost every day. The only problem with that was that it barely ate up half an hour of his newfound free time. So he'd been inviting his new best friend out for afternoon drinks most days.

"Another round of martinis?" asked Mr. Roberts.

"Fuck the fancy drinks, lets get some beers!"

Charles Roberts had never had a beer in his life, but he said, "Yes, of course!" and ordered two fancy IPAs.

Another side effect of Tom's commands was that his last command of "Just fucking give me whatever I want, you little shit!" had left his boss slightly intimidated of him. Tom liked that. It gave him the room to act however he wanted.

"So what's the deal with the French bitch you hired as your secretary? God, she'd fucking obnoxious. I don't think she's ever let me finish a sentence. You just hired her so you could fuck her, right?"

The older man fumbled with his glass. "Oh, no, Angelique is a terrific employee."

"Un huh," said Tom, taking out his phone.

• You can always open up to me. I'm your best friend, you've got nothing to hide from me.

"Well, it's like this," said Mr. Roberts, taking a big sip of his beer and scrunching up his nose at the unfamiliar taste. "Originally, yes. God, she was an amazing fuck. I think she has the best tits in the office, and that's saying something since I hired female employees based on their looks as much as their editing talents when I did the hiring."

"When you 'did' the hiring? Past tense?" asked Tom.

"Yes. You see, after my heart attack I wasn't in shape to do much of anything, but I couldn't let anyone know that. Angelique sat in on the interviews, took the notes, and made most of the decisions about hiring. She also started doing the books, she's a whiz at math. She also handles most of the work in finding new clients. Plus she writes most of the policies and sends out most of the memos."

"What?!" Tom was in shock. He signaled the bartender for another beer. "She barely speaks English!"

"No, no! Everyone assumes that because her accent is so thick and she barely speaks. She's actually very good at English, especially when she can take her time and write something."

"No fucking way. You really can't do this stuff yourself?"

"Well, I couldn't after my heart attack. I got better, but then I looked over the books. Profits are up 40% since she took over. She's actually very good at running things. I wouldn't say that recent hires like Sandy are as sexy as the ladies I chose, but we've had to let fewer people go for being incompetent bimbos."

Tom took a drink, mainly so he could think about this for a moment. "Okay, so why is she okay with doing all this extra work? Is she in love with your old, wrinkly butt, Chuck?"

Mr. Roberts smiled wistfully. "I think that she has a certain amount of affection for me. But no, that's not it. I'm old, and I really don't want to be working so hard anymore. Right now I'm helping her get her green card. Once that's done, I'll name her the new president of the company."

"Holy shit, you mean that nightmare bitch is going to be my boss?"

"Yes, within a year, most likely."

Two weeks ago this would have been terrifying news. Now, it made him chuckle. Angelique thought that she was going to be in charge. How cute.

"Okay, let's get back to the office," said Tom. "You're paying the tab, right?"

"Of course," replied his boss. He always paid the tab.

When they got back to the office Abby, the new receptionist, was talking to Luisa, an Italian-American woman who was the company's graphic designer. Seeing them made Tom think about Mr. Roberts' statement that the women Angelique had hired in the last couple of years weren't as sexy as the ones he used to hire. These two were a good example of that. Abby was definitely not bad looking. Her curly red hair and freckles put her solidly in the 'cute' category. However, Luisa was more proof that Mr. Roberts had liked his employees busty. The brunette was packing a great set of tits under her blouse and fitted jacket, and she wasn't afraid to leave a couple of buttons undone to show off some cleavage. Unfortunately her tan slacks didn't show off as much. Tom would have loved to see her legs.

"Hello, ladies!" said Mr. Roberts.

"Good afternoon, sir!" they both said, almost in unison. Then they turned to Tom and sweetly added, "Good afternoon, Tom!" However, as soon as the boss moved into the hallway, Tom saw their expressions towards him turn into poison. He only got the good treatment when in front of the boss.

"Chuck, we need to talk about the lack of respect I'm getting from the other employees," said Tom, following the older man back to their offices.

"Oh, yes, well, you are the most senior employee, so-"

"Mr. Roberts!" interrupted Claire. The tall blonde women looked agitated, and she barely glanced at Tom.

"Yes, Claire, what is it?"

"I really need to talk to you. About him." She looked at Tom like a snake.