Enduring Mr McGregor

chapter 14

Things weren't the same as they had been. Robert was a raving lunatic. He was insatiable, unappealing, irritable, and demanding. He was like a wet diapered infant.

All she did was wrong in his eyes, and he snapped at her for the littlest of things. Instead of yelling, he'd say one hurtful word. And whenever she tried to defend herself, he would refer to her as rebellious.

Nia let out a sigh as she refreshed her computer. On her desk, she had a stack of papers that needed to be sorted, courtesy of Robert. Only he could make such a mess.

A knock sounded and the door opened a crack. Beth poked her head through.

"Hey. It's time for lunch. Aren't you coming?" She asked sitting on the chair.

Nia exhaled.

"No. Mr McGregor gave me these a while ago. I need to finish sorting it before he comes asking for it. It will only give him another opportunity to ridicule me if he comes to ask for it himself," Nia said softly as she looked through the files.

"Aww you poor girl."

Nia suddenly felt like crying. The stress of the day was weighing down on her.

"I'm off to lunch now, but I'll help you when I get back," Beth said getting to her feet. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No thanks, I'm all set," Nia said showing her the packet of chips.

Beth nodded and silently left the office.

Nia rolled her shoulders and picked the first paper. She was going to get it done.

True to her words, Beth came back thirty minutes later to help her. But she had her own work to do so she left after some time.

Finally, after two hours, she was done with the back breaking work. Now all she had to do was give them to him.

Crossing her heart twice and taking deep breaths, Nia knocked on his door.

"Come in," she heard him say.

Oh man.

She hadn't seen him all afternoon, and she didn't want to, but she didn't have a choice.

Pushing the door open, she walked in. He was seated at his desk and had his feet up on the hard wood. His jacket lay discarded on the couch, and he had rolled up his shirt to his elbows.

Nia found that terribly attractive. Not him, his arms. It was something Dean did that she had always liked.

She stopped in front of his wide desk and looked at him.

"Where do you want these sir?"

Robert looked up surprised. He stared at the stack of papers in her hand like he hadn't expected her to finish so soon. His next statement confirmed it.

"You're done?"

Nia scoffed inwardly. Did he think I was lazy?

"Yes I'm done. Where do you want me to put them?"

He returned his gaze to the file he was reading and flipped to the next page.

Motioning to the drawer in his desk, he spoke, "You can put it in here. I need them now anyway, and I don't want to have to walk all the way there to get it."

Nia gulped.

"You want me to put it in the drawer beside you?" She asked for confirmation.

"Yes," he said and dropped his feet from the desk.