[subby999uk]

Chapter 2
"Come on Tina, you're not leaving me on my own with him" Sue said as she slid her arms into her coat.
"Fuck, I don't need this, I need to do some shopping tonight, I've got nothing for dinner" Tina replied, managing to pack her bag and pull her jacket on without once putting her phone down, she was an expert, she could keep texting while talking, driving, eating, it was a joke in the office that the thing must be superglued to her hand.
"Tell me about it, he's been hanging around me all day, I don't need this tonight" as Sue replied they both saw Ken approaching.
The girls groaned, they were still out of earshot, turning away they shared a look, raised eyebrows and an ironic smile before they turned back to Ken and smiled at him politely.
"Hello ladies, are we ready then?" Ken said, he was excited and a bit nervous to be taking out the two girls, his nerves were evident by the large dark patches under his arms, he always sweated a lot, but today was worse than usual.
Sue and Tina were part of his team, they worked in the packing department printing shipping labels and dealing with returns. It had been months since he'd split with his wife and he was determined to get back in the game. He'd tried going to the bar after work on his own to try and meet someone but that hadn't got him anywhere, his chronic shyness and the fact that he would only drink Coke probably didn't help, his was a familiar face in the bars close to the office and the women who frequented them knew to avoid him now.
These two were a different matter, he'd always found both of them very attractive, Sue was twenty eight, Tina was nineteen, they obviously liked him, they were always laughing at his jokes, he was only thirty five so why wouldn't they be interested, he was still a catch.
"Yes Ken, we're ready" Sue replied, trying to suppress a sigh.
"Ok then, let the drinking commence, we're going to a little place round the corner, they know me there"
Tina couldn't suppress a giggle, she had a friend who worked there that knew Ken was her boss, she'd often tell Tina about his creepy, awkward attempts to approach any woman unlucky enough to walk into the place alone and they'd both have a good laugh about it.

Ken walked into the bar with Sue and Tina hanging back slightly, they were arm in arm, there heads were almost touching as they walked along, whispering and giggling together, they had been close friends for a couple of years, Ken wished he could hear what they were saying.
"Take a seat ladies" he said, indicating an empty table and walked up to the bar.
Jane spotted Tina as the pair of them sat down, she raised her hand and waved and they exchanged smiles, she groaned inside as Ken approached.
"Hi Ken" she said with a thin smile.
"Evening Jane, I'll have my usual, I've got company tonight so get them whatever they want, put everything on my tab"
Aren't we the bigshot, Jane thought "Yeah, about your tab Ken...."
"Don't worry about it sweetie, I'll settle up next week" he wasn't sure how he was going to do that, he only drank Coke, he had for years, he'd had a drink problem when he was younger and now he didn't risk drinking at all. The women that he cajoled into taking a drink from him were a different matter though, they usually picked something expensive, it was only fair if they were going to spend the next half an hour stuck with him. Some of them recognised him and knew he was always good for a few free drinks and would take advantage, letting him get them nicely tipsy before slipping out when he wasn't looking or just telling him they had to go, the bar bills soon mounted up.
"OK Ken, what would they like?" Jane replied
Ken turned to the table they were sitting at, it was the other side of the bar "What can I get you Ladies?" he shouted across to them, far louder than was necessary, the bar went quiet for a second as half the room turned to look at him, there were a couple of sniggers.
Sue put her head down and brought her hand up to her forehead "Fucking prat" she whispered.
"Just one drink and I'm out of here, he's so fucking embarrassing" Tina replied, then she got up and walked over to the bar, she told Jane what they wanted, exchanging looks of amusement while Ken wasn't looking. Then went back to Sue while Ken waited for Jane to prepare the expensive cocktails they'd asked for.
"Why did we let him talk us into this?" Sue said.
Tina laughed "I don't fucking know, he's the boss, got to keep him happy I guess"
"I hope it's worth it, I'm not sure I can take any more of his anecdotes, If he starts telling another drinking story from when he was at college then just shoot me in the head, please, just shoot me" They both laughed, cutting it short as Ken arrived with the drinks "There you are girls, drink up, the night is young"
"Thanks Ken" they both said in unison.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
Silence for a moment as they exchanged glances "Oh nothing Ken, just something that happened at work" Sue ventured, hoping he wouldn't probe any more.
The next few minutes seemed to last for hours, the girls sipped there drinks quietly as Ken got more sweaty as he struggled to think of something to say, he'd killed the conversation dead. This wasn't what he'd hoped for, when he was in the office he'd always managed to entertain them, but now, without work to talk about he realised they had nothing else in common.
The drinks were soon gone as they all sat there sipping them awkwardly, as soon as the glasses were empty Ken jumped to his feet "OK, same again is it?"
Tina glanced at Sue and got to her feet as well "Errrr, actually Ken, I really need to get going, I've got some shopping to do" she said as she pulled her jacket over her shoulders, she looked down at Sue who was glaring at her, Sue mouthed "You bitch!" silently, making sure Ken couldn't see it.
"Oh...OK, well have a good evening then" Ken said, looking a bit crestfallen but feeling relieved that it wouldn't be so awkward.
"Well it looks like it's just you and me then" Ken said, Sue forced a smile and he went to the bar for more drinks.

As they sat there in silence he spotted Alex walking in the door with someone , he couldn't see who it was at first as she was the other side of Alex but as they got to the bar he realised it was Sophia. For fuck sake! Oh so now she's going out drinking with the boss is she?
Sophia had been at the company for three years, she'd started as a packer but had soon managed to get a job in the office, first as a secretary, then soon after as Alex's PA.
Ken had been at the company for twelve years, when he'd started, Alex's father had been running the place, he'd had a good relationship with him and had soon been promoted to shipping manager, it had been a sad day when he died and Alex took over the running of the company.
She was a beautiful woman, the sort of woman that would fluster him whenever he tried to talk to her. She'd never thought he was any good, she just tolerated him as long as he didn't fuck up too badly. If only he could talk to her properly he could make her see that he had good ideas, that he was more than capable of taking the company forward, but he just clammed up whenever he tried to present anything to her, getting so tongue tied that she often just walked away in mid sentence, leaving him sweating and stammering.
He sat there contemplating his life, he couldn't stop himself glancing over at the two women as they laughed and chatted, they seemed to light up the room, they were getting attention from many of the guys, who were all rebuffed with easy by the confident commanding Alex. Fucking bitches, he resented Alex for cutting his career dead, and Sophia for being promoted above his head so quickly, she was technically his boss as well, it was all their fault, his life was going nowhere, no wife, no children, a dead end job, he was throwing his money away chasing women who just treated him with contempt, sometimes openly laughing at him, he wasn't even sure if he could make the rent this month.
He turned his attention back to Sue, she had her head down, typing something on her phone "I see the boss is here, Sophia seems to be well in there" he said, hoping he would find an ally in her.
"hmmmmmm" she didn't even look up.
"Sophia, she's done well for herself, I wonder how she managed that" he pressed.
Finally Sue glanced up from her phone "Sorry, Oh.....yeah, she has, I like her, she's a bit shy, but she's a lovely girl"
For fuck sake, how can she like that bitch? Ken felt alone, everyone loved Sophia it seemed, well fuck them "I've got to go Sue, enjoy the rest of your evening" he said.
He got to his feet and stormed out the bar, knocking a couple of people in the process, getting him some threatening comments.
"Oh Ok, Night Ken" Sue said, but he was already gone, she turned her attention back to her phone.
He was seething at the injustice of it all. When he got back to his empty apartment he'd calmed down slightly, but he was still angry, things were going to change, he wasn't going to let those cunts treat him like shit any more, his mind turned over and over as he lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling.