Tell Me - Ashe Barker Page 0,73

they have seen I can only apologise. You should not have been involved. But the fact is, each of you is involved, and you are now in possession of very private information, very personal information, about myself and Mrs Richmond. I hope you will treat this appropriately. I’m not about to insist you respect our confidentiality, you are under no such obligation. But I am entitled to require everyone who is employed at Dart Logistics to behave towards everyone else connected with this company with respect and courtesy. These rules apply equally, and encompass everyone. So, is there any person here who envisages any difficulty in complying with this?”

Still the room remained silent.

“Excellent. I appreciate though that for many it is difficult to speak out in a large group, especially about a sensitive issue such as this one. If anyone wishes to raise any concerns with me in private I am happy to hear them. Or you may prefer to talk to your head of department. So, that’s all I need to say to you, but before we all get back to work, are there any further questions that I can deal with now?”

The silence was palpable. And uncomfortable. Thea cringed inwardly. Talk about an elephant in the room.

Tony shook his head. “You people are a disappointment to me. You’ve been shown a picture of your boss at a BDSM club, and no one has anything to say? Hell, if I was sitting where you are I’d have barrage of questions to ask.”

There were a few nervous titters, a shuffling of feet, then a voice piped up from somewhere in the middle of the room. “Mr diMarco, what would you ask then? If you were us?”

Thea scanned the sea of faces in front of her but couldn't pick out who had spoken. Tony seemed to have no such difficulty.

“Well, Archie, I’d start by wanting to know where that club was and how much it would cost me to join. But that’s just me and we all know now that I’m a kinky bastard.”

There was collective gasp before the room erupted in laughter. And Thea knew it was going to be okay.

*****

“That went well.” Thea perched her glasses on her nose as she opened up a spreadsheet on her PC. Her heart wasn’t really in grappling with the complexities of their end of quarter projections, but her instincts were screaming at her to get back to normal. She shot a glance across the office to Tony, seated at the other desk.

The door to Isabel’s outer office stood open, but they knew she wasn’t there. Isabel was taking her lunch down in the canteen. Thea was pondering how to broach the matter of the PA’s continued service with Dart if her petulant mood continued. Tony had made it clear he was not about to put up with a negative attitude from anyone on his team, but even so Isabel had worked for him for several years. She was good at her job, or she had been. It was difficult to see how that would continue if the secretary refused to speak to either of them.

“Yeah. A little gallows humour goes a long way, I always think.”

“It could have backfired. Referring to yourself as a kinky bastard…”

“I was banking on knowing my staff. They like a giggle, and you have to admit, this whole bloody mess has its comic side. BDSM always does.” He cast a sardonic grin Thea’s way. “Will you believe me if I tell you we’ll look back on this in years to come, and laugh?”

“I’d have taken some convincing yesterday.”

“And today?”

“Maybe. I confess the funny side of all this is a lot less obvious to me than it apparently is to you. Or to Archie Fellows.”

Tony chuckled. “Ah yes, old Archie. He certainly opened the floodgates. I think you were right though, not to agree to incorporate flogging and nipple clamps in the revised disciplinary procedure.”

Thea snorted. “I can’t believe he actually said that. I didn’t know where to look.”

“You did fine. Really.” He leaned forward, propping his elbows on the desk, his expression serious suddenly. “It was always going to be an ordeal, more so for you than me. We both knew that. Still, it’s over now and you were brilliant. However uncomfortable, I’d rather they exhausted their curiosity all at once, and with us present. Far better that than to have everyone whispering in corners. It’s out in the open now and I think our reputations will