Chapter 14: The Intern’s Shadow

Tuesday morning hit the office like a cold front rolling in off the bay. The usual buzz of keyboards and coffee machines felt sharper, every laugh a little too loud, every glance lingering half a second too long. I stepped off the elevator in the same navy pencil skirt I’d worn yesterday, but everything underneath had changed again. No panties. Sheer black thigh-highs fresh from the weekend suitcase, lace tops already rubbing a secret reminder against my skin. The remote vibrator Rob had given me weeks earlier sat nestled deep inside me—Rob’s app open on his phone, set to the lowest pulse that thrummed like a second heartbeat every time I shifted.

My thighs still carried the faint ache from last night’s call with Linda. Her voice on speaker while he fucked me slow and deep in his office chair, her suspicious “Where are you really?” cutting through the wet sounds we tried to muffle. I’d come silently around him, walls fluttering as he answered her with a perfectly calm “Just finishing slides, babe.” The memory made me clench now, the toy pulsing in answer.

Coworkers nodded hello. Sarah from accounting gave me the usual smile, but her eyes flicked to Rob’s glass-walled office across the floor. Mark from sales paused mid-conversation, phone halfway to his ear. The group chat from yesterday still glowed on my lock screen: Anyone else notice Emily and Rob have been ... close lately? Rob’s innocent reply had bought us time, but the air felt charged, like static before lightning.

I dropped into my chair and crossed my legs tight, the vibrator’s low buzz rolling through me in gentle waves. My nipples tightened against the thin white blouse. I opened the pitch deck I was supposed to be reviewing, but the words blurred. Rob’s text arrived at 9:15.