Feral Bachelorism Read Online Free PDF

short, stout woman in her mid-forties who ran the office as though it was her kingdom, gave Sean a practiced smile. “Mr. Sheen wants to see you in his office immediately.”
    “The meeting…”
    “Is over,” the woman confirmed. “But he still wants to see you.”
    Sean nodded, gritting his teeth resolutely. He knocked on the mahogany door and waited until he heard Aaron’s gruff voice beckon him inside.
    Sean walked in, closing the door behind him. He stood just inside the room, waiting for the tirade he knew would come. Aaron Sheen wasn’t known for his patience. He’d made a fortune in the gambling industry, and his reputation for being ruthless with everyone from his enemies to his business partners made his employees avoid dealing with him unless absolutely necessary.
    In Sean’s case, it was absolutely necessary.
    He let his gaze wander over a ring of chairs evenly spaced around the center of the room. They were empty, but Sean knew that an hour ago they’d been filled by his co-workers. The meeting had been held for one reason: to determine the best location in or around Vernon, Connecticut to build Aaron’s new casino.
    Aaron didn’t believe in conference tables, so he never used them. The only flat surface in the entire room was a small desk with a glass top that sat in front of the rear window. A stack of folders stood neatly off to one side. Behind the desk, four paintings hung on the back wall. They all depicted various views of Aaron’s favorite casinos.
    And between the paintings, seated behind the small desk, was Aaron Sheen himself.
    “Where’s your proposal?” Aaron said, leaning back in his chair. He wasn’t a large man, but his reputation and the sheer authority in his voice made him seem twice as imposing.
    Sean bunched his fists at his sides. He straightened his shoulders, knowing there was only one answer that would be acceptable to Aaron. “I don’t have it.”
    “Why not?”
    Because I was busy fucking a man who seems to have stolen my wits along with my anal cherry .
    He would have smiled at the absurdity of that thought, but one look at Aaron’s stern face wiped away any trace of amusement.
    “I didn’t find a suitable location,” Sean said, knowing as soon as he did so that he’d sealed his fate.
    He’d heard his co-workers grumble that Aaron could smell a lie a mile away. Sean never quite believed the rumors… until today.
    “Really?” Aaron said. “Because before you left here on Friday, you said you had the perfect place in mind. I believe you were going to… what did you call it? Ah, yes, you were going to ‘scope it out’ that night.” His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, steepling his fingers beneath his chin. “Well? Did you?”
    Oh, Sean had scoped out something all right, but it was altogether the inappropriate thing. He shook his head. “No.”
    Aaron nodded once, briskly, then clapped his hands together. “You’re fired.”
    Though he’d expected the worst, the statement still came as a blow. Sean took a step backward, a myriad of responses settling on his tongue. He bit them all back and then, for the second time in three days, he walked out of a room without casting as much as another glance over his shoulder.
    He dashed past the secretary, narrowing his field of vision so that he blocked out everything around him but the quickest path to the exit.
    After leaving Brad’s cabin Friday night, he’d stumbled through the forest blindly. He remembered watching the moon as it ducked behind a cloud, turning its back on him like everyone else. Darkness had closed in around him, making it difficult to see beyond the next tree in the lengthening shadows.
    And yet he’d pushed through and made it out the other side only slightly worse for wear. Just as he’d do now.
    Sean shoved the office door open with his foot and stormed out, taking a small amount of comfort in knowing that this was one unanticipated encounter he wouldn’t be dreaming