Chapter 128

You all went back to work. There wasn’t really any other choice - you couldn’t stay in the men’s washroom, after all.

You left first, waiting to signal it was safe for the girls to come out as well as a couple of Associates were chatting down the hallway. Gemma went and picked up the files she had stashed on top of a filing cabinet when she saw your face, while you and Sabrina headed back to the elevator to go back to the basement.

Your face had soothed and cleared up, and Sabrina had only needed to do minimal wiping under her eyes to clear up the small amount of makeup smudging from her mini breakdown. You’d all agreed on one major rule of thumb at this point - you couldn’t be left alone where Joy could get at you. It was going to be the buddy system all the way, and if that ended up causing problems then the three of you would be honest about it - Joy had made inappropriate physical advances, but since it was he said-she said you hadn’t come forward.

Unfortunately, that meant that one of the girls was always going to be flying solo, and while you could try and make sure Eric and Andy were around there were no guarantees. Especially if Eric was maintaining his horny stance of wanting to try and hook up with Joy.

So you and Sabrina made it to the basement, and you were left worrying about Gemma being alone upstairs.

“It’s going to be fine,” Sabrina said, taking your arm and slipping hers around it. It was a bit too familiar for walking around the basement of an office building to look entirely natural, but it wasn’t crossing any lines either.

“I hope so,” you said.

Thankfully the door to the storage room still had its lock projecting out and was propped open. You and Sabrina went back to work, all thoughts of fooling around well and truly out of your minds. Sure, you’d been more than a little wary of Joy going into things, but you hadn’t expected her to follow you all the way down here.

It took another twenty minutes to sort the files and gather up the garbage bags. You and Sabrina couldn’t find a garbage drop-off in the basement, so you decided to head up to the main floor which would give you a chance to check in with Becks.

Unfortunately, when you stepped out of the elevator, you realized you weren’t going to be getting any advice from your ‘inside woman’ any time soon - Joy was leaning against the welcome desk, laughing and chatting with Becks as if there was nothing wrong with the world.

It was awkward, you and Sabrina approaching and pretending to be less familiar than you were with your slightly older friend. You purposed not to look at Joy, and just walked up and asked for directions to where there was a trash area on the main floor. Becks had to have noticed your odd behaviour and gave you a look with just a slightly raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything other than to direct you to leave them just inside the custodial closet around the corner. You thanked her, and you and Sabrina went together.