Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 95311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
"Oh, gross, Tad," Hannah scoffed, throwing a calculator across the room at him.
Tad grabbed it and toyed with it between his hands, laughing. "Hey I'm just trying to get the whole picture here.
"Yeah, well, that is not the picture. This picture would be in an entirely different gallery. Like one of the French revolution, the people being crushed between the boot of the monarchy or something."
"You're a mouse. You're a destitute French civilian. Hannah-Banana, why would you ever accept yourself as the victim?"
Hannah looked up at Tad then. For someone so silly and carefree, he really was wise in unexpected ways. And he was right. She was letting herself feel unjustly used. This wasn't a monarchy. True, he was her boss but no where in her employment contract did it say she couldn't put him back in his place when he overstepped his boundaries. She wasn't going to be the goddamn mouse anymore.
–
But that was before everything changed. It had been a week since the making out in her office after hours. And it only took two days for EM to stop pushing at her buttons when she would no longer let herself be so frustrated by it. Eventually things slipped back into their usual rhythm and she could feel like she could breathe again.
Then, when walking across the floor lobby, she heard her name being whispered. Followed by "every guy who looks her way" and "I knew she was a slut the second I laid eyes on her".
Hannah felt her spine straighten, her stomach doing flip-flops in a way that made her instantly nauseated. Were they actually talking about her? Why would anyone call her a slut? And no guys ever looked her way, let alone paid her any attention. Maybe she had misheard. There were so many women at EM Corporation. Hannah could easily sound like Briana or Joanna or any number of other names. Hannah shrugged off the incident as a misunderstanding and went about the rest of her day.
Though that wasn't the end of it. Every day she would come into work, there would be something small. Things so small that, at first, she convinced herself it was just her mind playing tricks on her. That maybe she was feeling guilty about what had happened with her and EM and she was projecting it out onto other people.
There were sideways looks and sometimes downright hostility aimed at her from other peoples' eyes. And there was always a constant hush whenever she walked into the room or got on the elevator or walked into the lobby. The kind of hush one remembers from middle school cattiness when girls would gossip about other girls behind their backs.
Then one evening she was sitting in the stairwell, just trying to get away from everyone and everything for five minutes. And she heard female voices coming from below her.
"Yeah, I heard she had sex with Aaron from IT," one voice said.
"Oh, not just Aaron. It sounds like she's slept with half of the guys at the company. Including both of the Michaels brothers. It's disgusting."
That did sound disgusting, Hannah silently nodded. Where did a woman think all that sleeping around would get her?
"Gross," the first voice responded. "I mean both of the Micheals are hot as hell but why would they nail someone who has been with all of their male employees?"
"Yeah, well. Elliott I guess just reached for what was easiest. He doesn't have the time to go out and wine and dine someone. So his assistant is the most logical choice. I guess he thought she was pretty."
The voices got closer and closer and Hannah felt herself wanting to slink into the walls. She hadn't been paranoid. The last few weeks of feeling like something was wrong wasn't all in her head. People really were talking about her. Not only were they talking about her, because she could handle that, people talk. But they were spreading downright lies about her. Bad enough they might have thought she was sleeping with one person at the office, but how had it gotten to the scale where she had been in practically every man's bed?
Who would start a rumor like that? Of course rumors spread and get fabricated until they are no longer even a hint of what they started out as. But still... someone had started it. Someone had disliked her so much that they had accused her of screwing around at work. She had never even met Aaron from IT for God's sake!
Just then the gossiping women came into view. The older of the two, a harsh brunette, nudged her red-headed companion and glanced pointedly down at Hannah. They opened the door to the floor and walked through and Hannah could hear as it closed, "Eww her? Really? She's chunky."
Hannah cringed. She had been called worse in her time, but women always knew how to hit below the belt. She wasn't a lithe little supermodel, but neither was the redhead. What was it about women who down talked someone who wasn't even that different from themselves?