"You have work to do, sir, and I would advise you to actually do it," Jimmy's secretary Junior said, standing in front of his boss.
"Do I pay you to advise?"
"That is quite literally my job," Junior said as Jimmy stood up. "If I ask you to do something, you do it, do you understand me?"
Junior blinked slowly at him, "I'm surprised that guy even slept with you with this attitude. You have an important meeting coming up with Tay. You have been wanting to do this business deal for months. Please don't throw it away for a one-night stand."
"He's pregnant."
"He's what?"
"I told you that."
"No, you didn't," Junior said, looking at him with wide eyes as his mouth fell open.
"Whatever, small detail…"
Junior interrupted him, "Are you the father?"
"He says I am."
Junior sighed, "You are pissing me all off right now. What do you mean, he says, I am?"
"Apparently, I am the only guy he has slept with in like 4 years."
"And you believed him?" Junior asked.
"You should meet him, he is not at all the kind of guy to sleep around or lie about it."
"Okay, I will postpone your meeting with Tay, and you need to go clear things up with this guy. Do you even know his name?"
"Sea."
Junior sat down on Jimmy's desk.
"Why are you…"
Junior put a finger in Jimmy's face, "shut your fuck ass up, while I try to save your stupid ass." Junior typed on his computer and then turned it around to show Jimmy, "This is him?"
Jimmy looked at the screen and nodded, "That was fast." Jimmy felt his eyes start to linger on the photo. "Look at him, and you wonder why I wanted to sleep with him."
Jimmy felt his skin go hot, and his breathing started to pick up.
"What's wrong with you now?" Junior asked, turning his computer back around.
Jimmy reached down and pulled open his drawer with a shaking hand. He pulled out his packet of suppressants and popped the last three out.
He put them all in his mouth and then swallowed.
"Can you put on my calendar to go to the pharmacy?"
"You shouldn't be suppressing bombing, that's a terrible idea."
Jimmy rolled his eyes, "I don't pay you to judge me."
"You are killing your heart, and when you get your rut, it will make things ten times worst that they need to be, I hope you know."
"I just won't miss a day, that's not hard."
"I feel bad for your future partner. Anyway, that Sea guy you slept with is a boxer, and he boxes at Tay's husband's gym. He is 26, 6'3. He was kicked out of his parents' house, and he was in a long-term relationship with Force Jiratchapong, and then they split up in late 2020 for unknown reasons."
Jimmy snarled. "Why was he abusive?"
"It doesn't say."
"Of course not."
"What would you do in this situation?" Jimmy asked Junior.
"I wouldn't be in this situation."
Jimmy's face dropped, and he rolled his eyes. "If Mark got pregnant, what would you do?"
"He can't, that's why we have the dog. Jummo is our son."
"Please reason with me right now. Hypothetically speaking, if Mark didn't love that damn half blind husky more than you," Jimmy said.
Junior gave his boss a mean look, "Okay, so if I got Mark hypothetically pregnant, what would I do?" Jimmy nodded. "You see him? He's a doll, so I would stay 100 percent. I would probably take him on a couple of dates, get to know him like I normally would, and then things would take off from there. Then we would have the baby, and I would probably propose or something stupid like that, and we'd…"
"Okay, stop with all that smiling."
"Sorry, you have me excited," Junior said, thinking about his husband.
Jimmy rolled his eyes.
"Hey," Junior stood up. "I know the guy is not your type. But you still need to take charge because that is your baby. And I don't want you to just give monetary support, do you understand?"
"Yes, I know."
Tay's words play over and over in his head.
The word coward, he couldn't get it out of his head. He also couldn't go out like that. His ego, his reputation, wouldn't let him go out like that.
"I'm sure he'll look good pregnant."
Junior gave his boss a weird look, "You are a pervert. You sure your rut is not coming?"
"I will blame it on that."
"You need to cool it with your perverted mind; you are going to scare him half to death," Junior said.
"I will. And I do that by keeping my conversation with him to a minimum."
"Bruh, not that," Junior said, rolling his eyes. "Just be normal, but tone back whatever is causing you to say all of these perverted things."
"Okay."
"I actually mean it. You are a cool guy, and I'm sure that if he is the one for you, he can put up with your bullshit. But you need a game plan, a set schedule, because I know that you won't do it if you don't have an exact plan."
"Okay, what's my plan then?"
Junior looked at his laptop and typed a couple of things. He flipped it back around, "his address, put it in your phone. He lives in an apartment on the 2nd floor; the suite number is the apartment number. Don't text me and ask me any dumb shit."
"What if it isn't up to date?"
Junior squinted his eyes at his boss and leaned closer, "Then I want you to turn around and jump headfirst over the railing of the staircase of his apartment, do you hear me? Stop asking me stupid fucking questions and just listen. Go to his apartment, knock on the door, and just say hi. Be nice, don't make any perverted comments. Smile at him, you have a charming smile. Try to get his phone number and ask if you can take him on a date. That's your goal."
Jimmy gave him an awkward look.
"Any questions?"
"Am I allowed to ask any questions?"
"No…" Junior looked down at his phone and smiled. "Okay, you got this, go right now, I cleared your schedule for the rest of the day."
Jimmy watched as Junior put his phone up to his ear, "Hi, darling, what are you doing?"
"You still have to…" Junior put a finger towards Jimmy's face, "Yeah, I am free to talk, how's the gym?"
Jimmy watched as his secretary walked out of his office, and he sat there looking stupid.
He looked at the address on Junior's computer, and he typed it into his phone.
He couldn't be a coward. Sea was pregnant with his child, and he was going to take ownership of that child one way or another. He couldn't let his reputation get ruined for being a deadbeat. He was going to be the best dad he could be, or at least that was his plan to get Junior off his back. But as his mind started to race and fill with perverse thoughts of the beyond sexy men he slept with that night, this was going to be way harder than it looked.