Lines of Truth

Chapter Eleven

Mel's POV:

The meeting seemed to drag on and on. Bradley stared at me almost the entire time unless he was speaking to Mr. Martin and even then he would take glances at me. Bradley wasn't a bad person, he was actually kind to me... in the beginning. We met at a gym that I went to for all of three times and we hit it off almost instantly. He was a trainer there and he was giving me some pointers. We also had a couple of classes together since he was also a business major.

We went on a couple of dates and I refused to sleep with him until I got to know him more. The longer I held out, the more aggressive about it he became. One night we were having a little movie date at my house when he started to grope me and kiss my neck. I brushed him away at first but then he started to grope me harder. When I finally pulled away and told him I wasn't comfortable with doing anything at that point, he slapped me so hard across the face I heard ringing for a few minutes.

He scared me and it looked like he instantly regretted it but it was too late to fix it. He left my house and I refused to answer any calls or texts that he left me for the following three weeks. I even switched to online classes for the ones I had with him so I wouldn't run into him. I never pressed any charges or anything because I felt like that would just put me in more danger. I just let it pass and never saw him again until now.

"Okay, gentlemen, that seems to be all I need for now. I will have my assistant call you with another date to meet again and get this up and running. Thank you and have a good day," Mr. Martin said to all the men. I stood after him and started to gather my laptop, notepad and my favorite rhinestone pen. Next thing I know, there is a shadow standing above me.

"Mel, hi, how are you?" Bradley said.

"Brad," was all I responded with. I tried to move past him but he just moved over in front of me to block my path. I sighed and decided to talk. "What can I do for you, Bradley?"

"Please, Mel. I know we ended on a bad note but I'd really like to sit down and buy you lunch or something so we can talk. Please?" he asked.

"Look, Bradley, I don't think it's a good idea and frankly, I just want to forget I ever knew you," I sneered at him.

"Come on, Mel, I..." he was interrupted by another voice.

"Miss Loxner, is there a problem here?" Mr. Martin asked.

"No, sir. I was just on my way out for our meeting," I said while bypassing Bradley. I have never been so thankful for Mr. Martin in my life. I didn't even realize that all the pent up adrenaline was making me shake until I got out of the room. I didn't say anything the whole way to my office so I could put my things down and made my way to his office.

Once I went in, I stood by the chairs in front of his desk and waited for him to say what he needed to say. I had too much adrenaline flowing through my body to sit down. Mr. Martin was writing something and he waited until he was finished with that before he looked up at me and just stared for a few moments. I closed my eyes for a moment and swallowed all the saliva gathering in my mouth.

"First of all, are you alright? I don't know how you two know each other but I could tell by the uncomfortable look on your face and the way your body was shaking that it wasn't a good experience," were the first words out of Mr. Martin's mouth. I just slightly shook my head and held back a smile at how sweet he was to check on me.

"Yes, sir. I promise this will not become a regular thing of having issues with people you are working or meeting with," I promised him.

"It's alright, Miss Loxner," I missed him calling me Mel. He's all professional now and it makes my heart hurt, "I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. You don't have to explain anything to me." My heart felt the pang again because last time he offered to be a sympathetic ear and this time he doesn't even care. We really did make a mistake by dancing with each other it seems.

"Now, I have called you in here because I'm going to need lots of help in the coming weeks. I am planning on getting a vasectomy in two days. Kenzie is going to take me to there and then take me home afterward. I will not be working at all that day due to the medication they will be giving me so you are welcome to take the day off as well.

"I will not be able to come in to work for at least one to two weeks. Which means that I will be working from home. This also means that I will need you to come to my home and help me with the work I can do from home.

"I have an office in my home and it has a desk for you as well set up in there. I will be doing everything I can from home and that includes any meetings that I can do over Zoom. Any meetings that cannot be done over Zoom will need to be rescheduled until after I will be back in the office. For the next two days, you will need to contact all clients for over the next two weeks and set up a Zoom time or reschedule them. Any questions?" He explained the plan thoroughly.

"No, sir. Is that all?"

"Yes, you can go ahead and get started, thank you."

With that, I went to my office to start my tedious task.