FicWad

Chapter Twelve

Jared saw Mr.Hendricks waiting outside almost impatiently. His arms were crossed and he kept glancing down at the watch at his wrist. He got a bit nervous watching his boss in such a state, especially after having called him telling him to come in. He was afraid this had something to do with everything that was going on and he had the thought to pull out of the lot and just go away from all of this. He knew though that wasn't the way to solve anything. That would only coat it over for awhile but leave the sting of it ever so prominent. So he opened his car door and stepped out. He walked with his head low to his boss catching his attention immediately.

"Mr. Hendricks? What is it?" Jared asked, trying to calm himself although his nerves were about ready to explode.

He looked at him almost apologetically before he dropped his arms to his sides and made his way to the door. "Come with me."

Jared glanced around before going after his boss into the office. People stared at him, some looks were different than others. Some people seemed upset, others were angry, embarrassed, even sorry. He looked away from their watching eyes, taking his sunglasses off and hanging them on the front of his shirt. They made their way to Mr. Hendricks' office and Jared shut the door once they were both inside.

"You don't look so good." Mr. Hendricks remarked as he looked over Jared's tired and disheveled appearance.

Jared reached his hand up to his unstyled hair and nodded. "Sorry about that." He replied in a small voice.

"We heard about Alessandra...that's just terrible." His eyes for a moment grew sad, as if he was expected to show that sort of emotion.

Jared nodded again, hoping that no one else besides the police knew about the writing on the wall. "Is that what I'm here for?"

He let out a small sigh and shook his head. "Would you like to sit down?" He gestured to the chair across from the desk.

Jared's brows furrowed a little with confusion before he took the chair. "What's going on?"

Mr. Hendricks went to his computer, letting the mouse send out a couple of clicks before he turned the screen towards Jared. "This look familiar?"

Jared held his boss' eyes a moment before he finally looked at the computer. He saw images of himself there from the security cameras in the break room. He was there with a girl who used to work here in the most compromising situation. He inhaled his breath and looked away. "That was a long time ago." He said, unable to meet his boss' eyes.

"I didn't even know these existed. They were sent to my office this morning with a message." He pushed a small note towards Jared.

Jared sighed a little and took the note in his hands. 'Fire him.' the note read. Jared let out an almost nervous laugh and shook his head. "This is ridiculous. Who the hell would send this?"

"I don't know Jared but I can't risk it...what if it's my investors? I don't know."

"So you're....you're firing me?"

"Of course not Jared, you're my best employee, I wouldn't fire you." Jared smiled relieved then but then Mr. Hendricks continued. "I was hoping you would put in your resignation."

Jared couldn't believe what he was hearing but he knew that he had no choice. Heavily he sighed, nodded and stood up. "Yeah sure, I'll quit." He muttered before he walked out of the office ignoring Mr. Hendricks' calling out his name.

He stood in the office where Emma usually worked and leaned on the desk. He tried to calm down, tried to tell himself that this wasn't the end of everything, that it actually had nothing to do with what was going on but he knew better.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of laughing coming from the main office. He straightened himself up and made his way out there. He stopped though when he saw Shannon, neatly dressed, his face brightly lit as he talked to a group of about six women. They were laughing at what he was saying and he was enjoying every minute of it. He felt a bit of confusion fill him, a bit of uneasiness as he watched his brother slip into a life he had never been a part of. He watched Shannon taking from him the life he once had as he languished away in his fear.

Jared walked past them , trying to ignore Shannon calling out his name. He couldn't walk away when he came outside to him, jogging right up to his car as Jared unlocked the door.

"The pictures were sent to the whole office." Shannon said right away.

Jared looked at him and shrugged a little. "Was getting bored there anyway."

Shannon laughed. "Just like you, always looking ahead to better things." He lightly slapped Jared on his back as a gesture of encouragement. "Thank God Emma wasn't here though, right? I mean didn't that happen when you two were already together?"

Jared looked at him, unsure really what to say. "What are you talking about?"

Shannon only smiled and shrugged. "But who knows maybe whoever did it had sense enough to get them into her hands."

Jared watched him walk away and swallowed harshly, unable now to calm the tightening in his stomach. Something was happening and the one person he feared was responsible was the one person he hoped to God wasn't the one doing it.