Chapter 5: I Am Doomed

"What do you say, Stacey? Want to play with me?" Hunter asked cheekily. But the words were a little heavy-handed and laden with an emotion Stacey couldn't quite put his finger on.

"I want to play with you," Hunter stated clearly before Stacey could even respond. Hunter grabbed his chin and tilted it up towards him. The pressure was light, barely there and yet Stacey couldn't pull himself away.

'Lust… definitely lust. Maybe after something he couldn't have. Like a prey that elusively kept just out of reach.'

"Or did you forget that I told you never to look away from me? Watch me, never take your eyes from me."

Hunter dipped forward, his lips stopping centimeters from Stacey's right ear.

"Play with me, Stacey?" Hunter asked. But his voice was heavy and so layered with arousal that Stacey felt a flush rise and overwhelm him.

He felt like he had just exposed himself and was standing naked before Hunter in his workplace with his friends, watching as Hunter ravished him alive.

Undressing him with his words.

He felt hot, and an irrational amount of desire taxed him as if Hunter had just whispered the dirtiest naughty sexual thing he could have.

'Dear god, I am doomed. I should have called in sick.' Stacey thought.

Lindan snickered. "Don't mind us two besties over here, just keep doing what you are doing. You got this, Stace." Lindan cheered sassily, making zero effort to rescue Stacey at all.

"I feel like maybe four is a crowd," Aiden commented sarcastically.

"I also don't feel one bit sorry. Do you?" He asked Lindan. Lindan shook his head no with amusement, delight twinkling in his eyes.

"Nope, I feel like we should be calling Alice because she will be very unhappy to be left out of such an important… No, not important. Colossal," Aiden added.

"Yes, that's it, the perfect word, colossal. Mhhm, a colossal update." Lindan said.

The phone on the desk rang out, startling everyone, and Stacey's body jumped in surprise, trying to jump back from Hunter, but Hunter held onto him tightly, an evil smirk making his gorgeous features shine.

'I hate your stupid face. God. Why did I have to gossip and shit talk about him here?'

Aiden held up the phone with a smile. "Awe look, there is my, hunny now. I gotta take this."

"Wait, don't say anything." Stacey started, but before he had even gotten the first syllables out of his mouth, he had already darted off and down the corridor. Stace heard him start with, "You will never guess what?"

Stacey sucked back a breath. But before he could pull away and felt horrible for doing something so contrite in front of his friends. Or even just have his brain process anything that had just happened. The front doors of the office exploded open with force. As Lia walked through the doors talking loudly on the phone before hanging up. Her voice echoed all the way up the stairs to the second floor and her heel clicks grew ever closer.

She was from Asia, tall and gorgeous, with dark brown hair and with bright hazel eyes. She was everything that people said was the ideal. Exactly what you pictured in a woman who looked like the cover of a magazine. Except that she was over six feet tall and had the very idea of being bossy. She had tried bonding with him when he first moved to the States when he got a job here. Because they had both been immigrants. But they were too different in personalities. Frankly, she scared him.

She always wore heels despite her height, and it seemed as if she had a new pair every day. Some were more outlandish than the ones before. And you would think she would wear anything else due to her already dominating size, but Stacey was sure she slept in the things.

She said she wore them because she loved towering over men. It made her feel like she was a queen. And she acted like one. Not that any of us minded it, in the office. In fact, he was pretty sure there were more than a few men who might have developed a link for it because of Lia.

Not one of the staff in the whole building seemed to doubt a word she said. She was the type of girl who had zero problems meeting anyone head first. Powering forward with her opinions with something she didn't agree on. She was headstrong, sassy, and a huge flirt, and she knew it. Better than knowing it, she was okay with being known for those features. She was proud of who she was and owned it like a trophy she wore around her neck. A happy-go-lucky gossip who was always ready to tell your secret with a sassy eyebrow twitch and a seductive smile.

And now she was about to walk in on the two of them in a very compromising position. Which would kill Stacey's reputation. That would just add to Hunter's already bad one. But more than anything would give everyone the wrong impression. That Hunter and he… That they were in that kind of relationship.

Stacey looked around and saw it. The only saving grace they had. And before he could do anything to warn or give him any sort of signal. He gazed at Hunter, begging for Hunter to pity his situation.

It was a dumb idea, but standing around here, with Hunter in his face looking like he was ready to devour him, was an even bigger one.

Besides, Stacey had a problem with pressured situations. He tended to think like a turtle. All shells and avoidance of any issues at all. So hiding was the first and only thing that popped into his mind.

He wished he could have said something, but his heart was in his brain and the two were using up all the power he had over his body, of course, none of that logic went where it should have. To his mouth, to speak up for himself, aloud. Making a completely common sense excuse for why Hunter was practically on top of Stacey and eating him with his eyes. Not that there had been a readily available good option, but if he didn't panic and Instead shut it all down. But he did.

So without even so much as a May I please, he pushed Hunter down and clambered atop of his body without any thought to the consequences of his frantic panic, whatsoever.

He took a few slow, deep breaths while sitting on top of him. Just to calm down.

'In through the nose out through the mouth. You are calm, you are zen. You are not panic, panic is not you. They are separate.' He reminded himself.

He reminded himself of the breathing techniques his sister had taught him during their weekly yoga dates. It took a second before he had calmed down enough to notice that their faces were close. Inches from each other, as they squished together beneath the desk.

"Lia, what are you doing here?" Stacey heard Lindan ask. Lia's cheery bird-like laughter filled the room, and she nattered something about papers and alcohol not mixing well last night.

Or something along those lines. 'Maybe…' He couldn't say as it was hard to concentrate when he could feel Hunter's heartbeat in his thighs.

'What are you even thinking about, pay attention to what is happening out there and what if she discovers you? Listen to see if Lindan signals you. Think of anything else but that.'

'Did Hunter's heart just start beating faster?… Harder?'

Stacey let out a sigh as she walked back out of the general area near them. ….. Lindan walked her out, their arms linked together. He smiled sweetly and Stacey was just able to catch what he was saying.

"Do you think we should just reprint it all in the copy room?" He ushered her towards the main floor again, not really waiting for her to answer. Lindan gave a small wave of his hand behind his back as he headed down the stairs. And as they headed to the second level below, he heard Lindan launch into how much he had drunk at the party, too. His soft whining echoed upwards as he nattered all about his headache and how much coffee and food would take to fix it.

Stacey let go of the breath he had been holding in as he watched them go. He took another gulp of air before peering over the edge of the desk and down to the second floor desperately. If Lia looked up, that would be it. They would be seen.

But they went into the copy room and he saw Lindan close the door slyly.

Stacey deflated, leaning into the burly warmth in front of him. Letting it catch him as the tension flowed out of his body.

There was a soft, warm guttural sound and Stacey turned his head back from the side to see Hunter staring at him, pain etched across his face.