The Reluctant Assistant - Book One

The Ambush Part 30

"If you ever call me honey, sweetheart or baby at work again, I'll ask Glenn to move in with us!" Raymond was standing in front of a grinning Jackson, who'd just done that over the intercom, much to Raymond's embarrassment. Glenn had laughed when he heard this, but thankfully didn't ask any questions.

"Then what do you propose I call you?" Jackson had a pained expression on his face, the grin completely wiped away. 

"Well, Cook has worked for you so far. It's not like I'm giving you a pet name for every day of the week" he sighed, watching Jackson, who started to grin again.

"I have no objection to having you give me a pet name." he continued bullheadedly. 

"Let's just keep work, work, okay?" A sigh escaped his lip. "Look, you'll be seeing a lot of me at home. You're already seeing a lot of me at work as well. Let me do what I need to do and you just sit here quietly doing your work." He couldn't believe that he had to explain this to Jackson. He was like a love sick teen these days.  

Okay, I've learnt my lesson." he said sourly, getting up from his desk to take Raymond in his arms, leaning down to kiss him. Instead, Raymond put his hand to Jackson's mouth and moved out of Jackson's reach.

"What did I just say?"

"My tie is crooked! Look!" he pointed to his tie, pulling Raymond closer. "Will you let me go out in this state? What would people think?" Jackson asked in mock surprise, to which Raymond just grumbled while he straightened the tie.

"I'm going to be out for two days. Glenn is here and has everything you need and your schedule is fairly open. So there are no major issues for you to deal with, except for signing off on your latest project, which you will read, because I've made a few changes." he just hoped that Jackson would actually do what was asked of him.

"Why are you away from the office so much these days?" Ever since his resignation, Raymond had been away from his desk for long hours or even days. It's not something new, but these days he seemed to be away more and more.

"Jackson, I've explained to you. Before I go, I need to make sure that everything will continue smoothly, as if I were never here." Why does he feel like he's explaining the same thing to a child every day, he thought. Time was running out and he had so many things to put in place before his term ended and Jackson moaning about it, was not going to improve the situation. As it was, he was having to quell a lot of fears from every department. He was surprised when Jackson just nodded with a frown, but didn't say anything else.

"Junior!!" Jackson yelled. While he was talking to Raymond, a plan suddenly hit him. He knew that he'd never convince Raymond to stay, but he could at least take some of the strain away in his last few months. Trying to pull his plan off without Raymond knowing, was going to be nearly impossible. He knew that staff would immediately report to Raymond any unusual activities or requests he made. And to think, he was the CEO who had to get permission from his assistant and that the staff were more loyal to Raymond than him. Figures.

--

As soon as they got home that evening, Raymond was holed up in his study, completely ignoring Jackson, who was moping around the house. Damn that office! He's going to have to make a new rule; no work at home.

"Can we eat now?" he moaned, standing in the door, after Raymond had chased him out a few times.

"Okay, you overgrown baby." Raymond got up and went to hug him. "I received a strange request from HR today." he started as they were seated at the table, Jackson finally looking happy again.

"Oh?" he asked non-committedly  

"Yeah, apparently they wanted to appoint new staff. I wasn't aware that we needed more people." he watched as Jackson dropped his head and became very interested in his food. "You did something, didn't you?" he accused.