Indiscreet Box Set

Chapter 2-2

“Hmm,” Donald mused, he noticed Robbins lurking in the reception area outside his private office suite when he arrived. He knew his voice carried and frustration always raised his decibel level from bellow to roar. Robbins had heard him tell Sally ‘no calls’, yet, he had thrown this cub into the Bear’s cage.

Interesting, Donald thought.

Donald knew Robbins hated his low-end job at Drummond.

Moreover, he is rabid in his hatred of me, but well-paying jobs are not close to the ground around here, so Robbins stays where he is and takes his innate meanness out on his co-workers. This kid is gay to boot.

Mavis, his Director of Human Resources, called Robbins an unexploded s****l harassment suit. She had complaints on exit interviews, but no one would put it in writing. Office gossip portrayed Robbins as one vindictive son of a b***h. However, if Robbins set Brian up, it was a completely new ball game.

Donald had been out of the closet for years, but he did not flaunt his s****l orientation. Most of the senior employees had been with the company since the beginning. They knew which side of the fence Donald played. He never gave a thought to what his employees felt about his s****l orientation. Since he owned the company, he didn’t care.

Drummond Real Estate had a reputation in the surrounding communities as being a place that encouraged minority employees and gave benefits to live-in partners, whether they were same s*x or heterosexual couples. He insisted on generous maternity leave for both mothers and fathers.

Donald surveyed the surrounding area and made sure he paid a wage at least equal to, if not higher than the competition.

He subsidized a pension plan, not a 401K, and promoted from within. Few employers in the area gave anything comparable to Drummond’s liberal benefits, vacation days, holidays, or work environment. These policies, he felt, brought him the best and the brightest and if he lost a few good employees because he was gay, he gained many more because he was fair and generous.

He was right. Most employees thought Drummond was a great place to work. The majority of Drummond personnel didn’t give a damn about the s****l orientation of the boss, because he wasn’t tight-fisted with the help. However, there were exceptions and Robbins was one.

“Brian, I am going to ask you something. You do not have to answer me. If you refuse, you will still have a job. Do you understand?”

“Uh…yes, Sir.”

“Look up at me, kid. I am not going to bite, at least not yet,” Donald joked to break the tension. The kid was frightened and he didn’t look like a young man easily led to emotional excess.

Donald had caught and filed the hints Brian threw his way without acknowledgment. He already knew Brian was in this situation due to his s****l orientation. Donald was unable to do anything with a hint.

Brian looked up at Donald. Those huge navy eyes were over bright with worry. Master Bear overtook Donald and he did not think, he acted. He brought his big paw up and held onto the right side of Brian’s face, thumb working at light calming strokes down the smooth jaw. The kid shivered and Bear thought for a moment he was about to nuzzle his hand. “Cub,” Bear asked in a very gentle tone, “Are you gay?”

The kid heaved a sigh of relief. Bear had asked. He had not accused.

“Uh…yes Sir. I did my job in Accounting, and I did it well.

Mrs. Mueller wrote up my clumsy communication skills. I may be better with numbers and code than with people. Even if I misspoke, I always made it a point to apologize. I was fine in Accounting, and hoping for a promotion to IT. I had my own cubicle and didn’t get in anyone’s way. Mr. Blake over…”

Blake was Donald’s Vice President of Information Technology, which included Accounting, Systems Integration, and Data Coordination. Commercial Real Estate in the Mid­Atlantic Region of the U.S. had to rely heavily on the instant exchange of information, if John Blake took notice of the kid, the kid was a star…

“…in IT commented on a report I prepared for Mrs. Mueller and told me I had potential. Mrs. Mueller…” he stopped for a moment and took a breath.

“Brian, anything you say to me here, in this office, will remain confidential, unless I have your permission to do otherwise.”

“Mrs. Mueller didn’t care too much for me after Mr. Blake asked to review all my work. He said he liked my succinct style and wanted me trained for a better position.”

“Why, Brian? Please feel free to give me your opinion as well as the facts.”

“I believe Mrs. Mueller was seeking the same promotion. She had been taking credit for all of my work and she wanted Mr.

Blake to continue to give her the credit for any exceptional work done in the department.”

“Refresh my memory. What does Mrs. Mueller do in Accounting?” Bear asked, still stroking Brian’s face. The kid was beginning to calm down.

The adrenaline shot of fear dissipated at a slow pace, his boy almost purred under Bear’s hand. Yet, he forged on attempting to explain to the Big Boss what happened. Whatever it was, it was evident the kid was desperate to keep his job. Bear made a decision, this boy was his boy and the sooner he got him in his life and in his bed, the better.

“Do you smoke?”

“No sir, why?”

“I don’t like the smell,” Bear replied.

Brian gave him a strange look.

The next thing Bear needed to know was why the kid was in such a dire need of funds.

“Mrs. Mueller is the Administrative Assistant to Mr. Bartolomo, he manages the junior accountants.”

Bear put his hand up signaling Brian to quiet. Brian’s babbling took the story on quite a circuitous route, showing Bear Brian’s compassion, but not giving him the answers he needed. With his curiosity at its peak, Bear asked, “And how is Mrs. Mueller related to Mr. Robbins? I can’t seem to understand how you wound up in the mailroom?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Sir.” He was blushing again. “Mr. Robbins and Mrs. Mueller go to the same church. Well, she was my boss…”

The same Church—Alarm bells went off in his head. Bear put up his hand again and Brian went silent. Very well trained, he thought.

“I understand that the Manager of Junior Accountants is Mr. Bartolomo.” Brian squirmed.

“Mr. Bartolomo is getting a divorce, Sir. He stayed in his office and Mrs. Mueller ran things the last few months I was in the department.”

Bear was impressed. Brian felt sorry for Bartolomo, even though it looked as if his negligence put Brian in harm’s way. Yes, definitely a good heart, Bear thought.

“Continue, Brian, what happened when she became your boss?” Bear growled a little. The kid squirmed at his change in tone, unused to Bear’s decibel range. Bear boiled with anger, and not because one of his employees dared to damage a boy he was about to claim. Employees at Drummond were not doing their job. Bear paid well and expected his employees to perform.

He understood things like divorce, sickness in the family, and that is why he made sure to hire an empathic but competent HR manager, whom he was about to promote to VP. But now, Mavis’ ass was in a sling and her promotion might be in the wind. She was not going to be playing happy families with the miscreants.

The kid continued in almost a whisper. Bear’s brows furrowed and a few deep lines stretched across his forehead. The street kid in Bear knew what he looked like when he was on the verge of violence and the boy picked right up on his mood. He took a breath, and remembered he and those he protected were no longer defenseless against the likes of Mrs. Mueller. He c****d his head to encourage Brian to continue.

“Why do you want a job in a mailroom when your degree can get you a better job elsewhere without the hassle?”

Herein lay the tale, Donald thought.

Brian sighed. “Medical insurance, Sir, my mother is on Social Security Disability. It is not enough to live on, never mind pay medical expenses. Medicare covers most illness but Mom has special needs. Your insurance plan allows me to claim Mom as a dependent, so her medical bills and prescriptions are covered and what’s more, the policy took effect the day I started work. I still get a decent salary, and I can give a lot of it to her. I would not get as much somewhere else. I am saving so I can get enough to put up a down p*****t for an assisted living facility for Mom. I can handle the monthly fees. I need to get together enough for the down p*****t. I should have it by next month.

“Mrs. Mueller saw my earring and asked if I was gay. I didn’t think anything of it and said, yeah. Next thing you know, I was in the mailroom with Mr. Robbins. I’m not stupid, Sir. I pretty much got what happened. However, as I explained, I need my salary.

The job is mindless and Mr. Robbins is…well he doesn’t care too much for gays, Sir. He makes downright nasty comments.”

He always had, Donald thought, remembering the old days when Robbins spoke to Donald with his fists. Robbins now found a different way to claw at his gut.

Bear looked at Brian with his eyes aflame. “What kind of comments, Brian?”

“The usual, Sir,” he responded. “He never calls me by my name, he says ‘Hey faggot.’ He tells me to bring my own water because he doesn’t want his staff getting ‘those homo diseases’.”

Bear noticed the distressed look flicker across Brian’s face. The look told Bear the kid was more upset by all of this than he let anyone see.

“I think he’s trying to get me to give up and quit or provide him with cause to fire me. That’s why even when Sally, err, Ms.

Tierney, said I shouldn’t disturb you, I knew I had to give you the package directly, or Mr. Robbins would use it as an excuse to get rid of me.”

Or, on the other hand, have me do it for him, Donald thought as he became all business. Aloud, he said, “You stayed and consented to be harassed for your mother’s sake?”

“No, Sir. I am gay and out of the closet. I earned the right to be whom and what I am. Drummond is a minority-friendly company. Most companies say they are minority-friendly, but extend privilege only to the popular minorities. If you are African-American, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslim, whatever, you are it’s fine and you can work in peace without harassment. Nevertheless, if you are gay, you have no benefits and no protection. Drummond was reputed as being gay-friendly and outright supportive of life-partner benefits, everything we are denied for not being ‘regular folks.’”

Donald looked at Brian. He seemed resigned to his fate.

Donald wondered as to what fate he felt himself resigned and didn’t care for the path his brain was taking. Zeke Robbins would no longer victimize this boy. He had to be very careful here.

“Brian, I don’t make a big deal of it, but I’m also gay, I’ve been out since my teens. With your permission, you and I are going to rid this company of Mr. Robbins and his cohort, Mrs.

Mueller, and put the rest of Drummond Real Estate on notice.

We won’t stand for harassment of any kind.” Donald buzzed Sally from the phone on the table next to the sofa. “Sally, call Mavis and tell her I want Brian Murphy’s employment file on my desk in two minutes.”

“Yes, Mr. Drummond.”

The light in those bright blue eyes seemed to dim. Bear came out to roar. The boy was no more than twenty-two or three. He was much too young to look so defeated. Bear wanted to kiss that look off his face and bring back the sparkle in those bright blue eyes. He also wanted to see those eyes when he first stuffed his nine-inch, fist thick member into his boy’s well-lubricated ass. He wanted to watch them glassy with ecstasy, shining with mischief and desperate to please his Papa, only his Papa. He wanted his ass red hot with strokes from his hand until his cub’s d**k was leaking and he was begging to come. He let go of Brian’s chin and put his arm casually around the back of the boy’s shoulders and pulled him closer in a gesture of comfort. Bear then rose and crossed to his desk. “Relax, Brian. You are safe. You have a job here.”

Bear looked out from under his eyelashes at Brian. The boy’s relief became obvious. His face lit up like a Christmas tree.

Clumsy or not, he remained a beautiful man. He wanted him. His c**k was tenting his pants. He felt the pre-c*m leaking from the tip. Bear was glad he wore a dark suit. The small stain would be less obvious.

Once he straightened this mess, Bear was going to concentrate on how to get Brian Murphy into, preferably tied to, his bed on a permanent basis. He smelled it. Brian would be a perfect sub.

Brian was squirming on the sofa like a fish on a hook. Bear was quite pleased, because he intended to begin to reel him in. A hesitant knock sounded. Mavis Moore, a short, curvy woman with a dark chocolate complexion stood in the doorframe, a paper file folder in her hand. Bear stood and mentally shifted over to a business mode.

“Don, you asked for Brian Murphy’s file? Has HR screwed up? I thought it was a bit strange such a promising intern would request a transfer to a dead end department like Mail, but Iris Mueller and Zeke Robbins both assured me he wanted the transfer, something about having more time to take care of his mom.”

“I looked at his record. When he was hired, Brian stipulated we transfer sixty percent of his salary to Mrs. Murphy’s account. Since we do the split for child support, I thought, why not for parental support. He also listed her as a dependent for insurance. With the insurance request in his file, I figured it was the truth, she was going through a bad patch and the kid needed time.”

Mavis moved toward Donald’s desk, agitation showing in the staccato beat of her heels on the planked floor.

“And you never thought to ask the employee the extent of his problem or to look and see if Drummond could find a solution other than take a valuable, trained Accounting and IT professional and put him in the mailroom with an IT professional’s salary?

Did you speak to either Blake or Bartolomo about it? Damn it, Mavis,” Donald boomed, “you figured wrong. I have Brian right here. Why not ask him what you should have asked before the transfer?” Donald watched as Mavis’s face set in ire.

Donald also watched Brian’s reaction. He saw that the HR director’s obvious anger distressed his boy. Nevertheless, he could not reassure him right now, he had to act as Donald, not Bear. Mavis would reassure the cub soon enough and any damage would be recoverable. Mavis Moore didn’t like to be wrong and seldom was. Donald moved behind his desk, taking the file.

“Are you telling me Iris Mueller lied to me? Witch,” Mavis fumed, her hip c****d with her right arm crooked at the waist, body vibrating. An angry Mavis looked like a wasp circling in for the sting, Donald mused as he sat down at his desk, flipping pages and making notes.

“Yep, looks like,” Donald replied easily. “It also seems Mrs. Mueller is running Bartolomo’s group since Bartolomo’s brain went on vacation when his wife left. He signed this and I doubt he even looked at it.”