Loyal Employee

Hi! It's been a while, but I'm back with a new story and some exciting updates.

Quick heads-up: this story explores the relationship between a female bodybuilder boss and her employee, touching on themes like body shaming towards muscular women. These topics might not be for everyone, so you might want to skip this if it's not your cup of tea. But if you don't mind some impressive female muscles, enjoy! :)

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It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, with fantastic Californian weather, not a single cloud in the sky, and I was about to get fired. What a wonderful way to start the weekend.

Sitting across from me, my boss, Sienna Hammond, took off her elegant glasses and rubbed her temples. On her laptop screen was an email--the reason for my inevitable dismissal.

To say that Sienna was stressed was an understatement. More like devastated by what I had done. It wasn't pleasant to see her in such a state, but at the moment, there was nothing I could do about it.

No hiding the fact: I screwed up a very serious and lucrative deal for her company--a chance for a substantial financial boost through securing an investor. And I did it intentionally, but also with a clear conscience. No regrets whatsoever. I thought I did the right thing, but others, especially my boss, might see it differently. She didn't have the full picture, but that was about to change soon.

"Kian, please, help me understand how this happened. I'm just shocked. You know, in this case, I have no choice but to--" She paused, not wanting or not being able to say that she was firing me.

It rarely happened that Sienna was in such a state. Usually, she was very composed, knew what she was doing, had a plan, and could come up with solutions to any problem. But then again, I didn't usually pull off things like this. Or never, to be specific, because, in essence, I was her best employee. And very loyal, without a hint of false modesty.

"I know how it looks, Sienna. And yes, what they wrote in the email is true. I was as rude to them as possible and, in the end, told them they could go fuck themselves. However, I didn't start that argument. Those guys were a band of jerks," I replied, surprised at how calm my voice was. Apparently, doing the right thing gave me a significant boost to my self-confidence.

"Many people are jerks in this business, Kian; you know that perfectly well. But we need to see the bigger picture. What happened? You always handled these conversations so well, whether someone was rude or an obnoxious celebrity," Sienna said, shaking her head in resignation.

It was tough to look at her face, painted with a sense of betrayal. She was entitled to feel that way, for sure.

"I know, Sienna, and believe me, if they were rude to me, I would've brushed it off. You know me. But they were offensive and completely disrespectful... toward you," I said quietly but with conviction.

"Toward me?" she repeated, visibly surprised.

"Yes, toward you," I emphasized. "They said things that deserved a punch in the face, not just firing back verbally. Especially that CEO's son," I replied, and for the first time, irritation crept into my voice. But only because I recalled what those guys were saying about Sienna.

She remained silent for a while, obviously not knowing how to react. I looked at her attractive face, still beautiful despite her forty years, and felt torn inside. On one hand, I certainly didn't want to hurt her business and the company I had been in for seven years. On the other hand, I couldn't stand by as some clowns insulted a woman. Yes, I white-knighted for my boss. And it felt great.

"What did they say?" she asked after a moment, lowering her eyes to the desk.

"Ah, they were so disgusting that I don't even want to repeat it. But I recorded our argument. In case of a lawsuit or something. I mean, not the whole thing, because I didn't expect it to take that turn, so the first exchange is not on the recording. But if you want to hear it, I can send it to you."

"Yes, please," she replied.

So I pulled out my phone and quickly emailed her the audio file. Sienna was confused and disheartened, but paradoxically, hearing at least a part of my version of what had happened seemed to improve her mood slightly. However, I didn't want her to see it as an attempt to avoid the consequences of my fuck-up.

"Listen, I know how important this deal was, and I want you to know I'm ready to face whatever comes next," I said, standing up from her desk. "I don't want you to feel limited by what you hear in the recording. This deal could have been salvaged if I had ignored their comments and not engaged in an argument. I take full responsibility. I know business is business, but I couldn't bear it as a man and as your... close colleague."

I purposely didn't use the word "friend", although that was truly how we could be described. Heck, there was a one-time episode in our history that could have been even more. But that's a story for another time.

I didn't want to put Sienna in a position that could be perceived as playing on emotions or even using emotional blackmail. I blew the deal; I knew what I was doing, and I had to take it on the chin. Isn't that the way a man should handle things?

"Kian, we'll talk about this after I listen to it, okay? I'm sorry; I'm very confused. This is madness," she said, looking almost pleadingly at me.

"Of course. I'll be at my desk and can stay longer if needed," I replied and left her office.

It was madness, indeed. Seriously, I didn't expect that in the business world on such a tier, people could operate completely devoid of culture and class. But evidently, you can't buy that with money.

But, step by step--the whole story went like this: Since I was always good at smooth talk and Sienna trusted me, I was sent to close a deal with an investor. It was a company from the Middle East with vast capital, truly what I call "fuck you money". They could invest in whatever they wanted, however much they wanted, and in any way they wanted. They could burn money and not worry about bad decisions. Maybe that's where their arrogance came from.

Sienna ran the company AthleteAdvantage, which gathered former professional athletes from various fields, including herself, me, and practically every other employee--maybe except for the accountants and cleaning staff. We, in turn, took care of active athletes, young newcomers, and promising talents. The job involved scouting talent in colleges, securing sponsorship deals for them, managing them, arranging their participation in commercials, and sometimes even guiding them through life like toddlers to ensure they squeezed the most out of their talent so we could make a profit off it.

And here was the reason why these clowns started insulting Sienna. I mean, primarily because she's a woman and runs a successful company. For some narrow-minded idiots, that's reason enough. I don't want to say it's because of where these guys come from, as we've dealt with many counterparts from that cultural background, and no one has ever behaved like this. Here, it was more about individual deficiencies in personal culture.

But misogyny and sexism aside, in this case, there was also body-shaming and blatant questioning of her gender.

My boss was a professional female bodybuilder. I mean, she used to be a pro, as she no longer competed, but at the peak of her career, she consistently ranked in the top ten of her category, and in one season, she even secured a podium spot at the Ms. Olympia.

This meant she was the real deal in the industry, so it wasn't surprising that she was very muscular--more than the average gym-goer, or the typical athletic soccer mom. Sienna was really big, even though she toned down her muscle mass after retiring from active competition. But despite the size of her muscles, she looked feminine and acted the same way. And she was the mother of a college-age girl, Annie.

First and foremost, she had a truly beautiful face that, despite her age and the sacrifices demanded by professional bodybuilding, retained its freshness and had minimal wrinkles. Her distinguishing features included large green eyes with subtle yellow accents, full lips, and nobly sculpted cheeks and nose. As far as I knew, she hadn't had any work done, which was even more impressive considering how good she looked at her age. Most likely, the healthy diet and lots of physical activity paid off.

Yes, she had well-developed arms, muscular thighs, and a strong back, but at the same time, a wasp-like narrow waist, sexy shapely buttocks, and large breasts. The latter were the work of a surgeon, but who cares? I know what the fitness industry demands and the times we live in. In California, every other woman had implants. Sienna's bust was very proportional to her entire figure. However, her waist did the most work for her feminine silhouette, and it was her best asset during her career, always earning her a lot of points from judges in competitions. I'm no expert, of course, but I've heard that if bodybuilders have bloated abs or a disproportionately wide midsection, their physiques are rated much lower. That's why Sienna's waist was so outstanding.

And then there was her style--she knew how to dress exceptionally well, elegantly, and with class, emphasizing the advantages of her silhouette, such as that killer waist and her curves. I couldn't help but marvel at how her large biceps didn't burst the seams of her perfectly tailored satin shirts. Whether she wore jeans, suit pants, fitted skirts, looser tunics, or dresses, she looked one hundred percent feminine. And that's how she carried herself.

I'm aware that this type of female body is not everybody's cup of tea, and that's fine. Some people are shocked to see such a muscular woman, others are curious, and so on. It took me some time to come to terms with the fact that here was an attractive woman more buffed than I am. But I never thought about it out of spite or disrespect.

I also know that at the mention of "female bodybuilder," many people imagine some monstrosity with stubble, like the women's Olympic team of East Germany back in the Cold War era. Sienna was the complete opposite. Besides, even if she did look like that, it doesn't give anyone the right to demean and mock her. After all, it wasn't high school anymore. Although, in the case of these guys, it wasn't even locker room banter; it was just plain sewer-level trash talk.

So when this pathetic goober hit me with the question about working under a "lady-dude" and then started implying that Sienna was a man in a dress and stuff like that, I really lost it. Damn, even now, I was still shaking from nerves, and I don't know how I managed to restrain myself from punching him in the face.

I returned to the room I shared with two other colleagues, Maggie and Jeff. As soon as I sat at my desk, Maggie immediately turned to me.

"And how did it go? Was she furious? Did she... you know?" she asked, with such a fake expression of concern on her face that it almost gave me a stroke.

"No, Maggie, she hasn't fired me yet, but don't worry, you'll find out if she does," I replied somewhat wryly, not giving a damn about what she thought.

She made a slightly offended and innocent face, like, 'what's your problem, dude, I'm just asking,' but fortunately, she kept quiet.

Maggie was also a bodybuilder, but definitely not at Sienna's level, both in terms of musculature and professionalism. She was more of a modern female bodybuilder--or should I say, fitness influencer type. She didn't participate in any bodybuilding competitions, unless they were about contests of who could stick their ass out more on Instagram. However, she had broad connections in the industry and a lot of followers, so she did well at work.

She was a hottie, but unfortunately, the content of her quite pretty head didn't match her appearance. Maggie had a TikTok brain. She was addicted to attention, gossip, easy money, attention, social media, glam, attention, and Botox. Did I mention that she was addicted to attention? Yeah, that sums her up pretty much...

Curiously, Maggie was interested in me only when I was married. When I got divorced, her interest evaporated. But all is well; apparently, I dodged a bullet. Now, she was at the stage of pretending to be my good friend, for God knows what reasons. Probably to have an alternate source for some gossip.

Jeff, a big black guy and a former NFL quarterback, listened to my exchange with Maggie and then gave me an approving nod. I knew what he wanted to convey, since he roughly knew what happened at the meeting. We had a pretty decent friendship, of course, by modern workplace relationship standards. Our daughters attended art classes together.

So, Maggie somewhat doubled Sienna's expertise since the boss couldn't handle everything on her own. Jeff was our football guy, and to a lesser extent, rugby. We also had people for basketball, wrestling, hockey, athletics, and other sports.

As for me, as a former MLS player, I dealt mainly with soccer but also with softball and lacrosse. But football was my passion--and by football, I mean soccer. I always bantered with Jeff that we Americans got all these names wrong and that the rest of the world was right. Kicking a round ball with your feet should be called football. Carrying an egg-shaped ball in your hands and kicking it once in a while simply shouldn't. I digress, but you get what I mean.

Yeah, I know it kinda sucks to be born with a talent for the most popular sport on the planet in the USA, where that sport is like the sixth most popular or so. But what can you do about it? If life gives you lemons, you take them and... juggle them with your feet because that's what you're good at.

I spent most of my career with the Los Angeles Galaxy, playing as a defensive midfielder. Not the most spotlighted position, but it was my element. I was the heart, lungs, and liver of the team, breaking down opponents' attacks and patching up holes in the defense. Most people overlooked me because of my unassuming poster-boy look, but I had the ferocity of Gennaro Gattuso, the game-reading ability of Claude Makélélé, and passing skills like Toni Kroos. So where's my damn Ballon d'Or?

Of course, I'm kidding; I knew my place. I was good at what I did, at least by American standards--not good enough to play in Europe, so Messi, Ronaldo, and Lewandowski could sleep easy. However, when I was twenty-nine, Hellas Verona, a club from the Italian Serie A, showed interest in me. I never made it there, though, because I tore my cruciate ligaments, and that pretty much ended my career.

That's when I started working for Sienna. Her company was only three years old at the time, and I helped build it from the ground up. It was quite a journey. And if I'm painfully honest, I didn't want to be let go. I was ready to face the consequences, but I didn't want to leave the company. It was a cool job, helped me grow in many ways, and Sienna was a great boss.

Over these seven years, our relationship, both professionally and personally, was perfect. Sienna was demanding but always held herself to the highest standards first. This set a good example, and people wanted to work for her.

We also became close personally, and I can confidently say we had a friendly relationship. Since she was a divorcee herself, she was a great help and understanding during my own divorce proceedings.

Speaking of my divorce, it reminded me of the moment I mentioned earlier. During the time I was battling Cheryl, my then-soon-to-be ex-wife, for the assets of my life, Sienna and I flew to Fort Lauderdale to secure players from Inter Miami, a club that had joined the MLS during that period. We landed some interesting contracts, so our little delegation turned out to be a success.

One evening, we were celebrating in the hotel, and, let's not beat around the bush, we got quite drunk. Especially Sienna, while I held my liquor pretty well. We had fun, things took their own course, and we ended up in my hotel room, lying in each other's arms on the bed. And that's when Sienna kissed me.

We kissed for a good two minutes, and, of course, it was as amazing as it was surprising. But after a moment, Sienna pulled back and broke the kiss. Leaning her head against my chest, she mumbled "sorry" probably a hundred times, saying that she didn't want to take advantage of my current divorce situation, that she was drunk, and so on. A moment later, she fell asleep, snuggled up next to me.

I drifted off shortly after her, and when I woke up, she was no longer in the room. Sienna never brought up the topic again--maybe she didn't remember because she was so drunk, or maybe she was embarrassed. I also didn't revisit it for other reasons, like my nasty divorce or the fact that I was, after all, Sienna's employee, and things could get very awkward between us. Nevertheless, that happened.

Since then, or maybe even from the very beginning, I had a crush on her, and everything indicated that it was mutual. Still, for various reasons, we never took it further. One thing was certain--Sienna was an exceptional woman, and I respected her as a boss and as a person.

Reflecting on my seven years in her company, I was mindlessly clicking on my work computer, mostly doing nonsensical file organizing, and I didn't even notice when Maggie left. Only later did I absentmindedly say goodbye to Jeff. A moment later, I found myself alone in the entire office with Sienna.

It was already past five, and since she hadn't called me into her office yet, I decided to take a quick shower. Yes, we had a bathroom--it was pretty much a necessity in a company full of athletes. Sometimes, during client meetings, we had to get dirty, kick a ball, break a sweat, or something. Besides, many people commuted to work on bikes; some even ran. A shower was necessary to keep the office from smelling like a locker room.

On my way to the bathroom, I saw Sienna through the glass doors of her office. She was sitting at her desk, wearing headphones and leaning over her phone. Was she still listening to the recording? Wow, that was surprising. The whole brawl with those idiots lasted less than ten minutes, or twelve if you count what I couldn't record at the beginning. Interesting...

A quick, cool shower helped me clear my head and pull myself together. Whatever will be, will be, I thought. It wasn't like losing this job would put me in any financial trouble--fortunately, I wasn't a spoiled, free-spending, always-partying soccer star, and I earned quite a bit during my career. I had savings and made successful real estate investments that brought in passive income. I didn't splurge on luxury cars, even though I could have. And despite my ex-bitch-wife's efforts to strip me of everything, I could live comfortably for many months without working. But that wasn't the point. I just liked this job and found fulfillment in it. That's what I felt sorry for.

After leaving the bathroom, I went to the kitchen to grab something to drink, and there I found Sienna. She seemed surprised to see me and looked a bit distracted. Her eyes were slightly red... as if she had been crying? Damn, that was unexpected.

"Kian! Um... I thought you had already left. It's past five," she said, glancing at her watch.

"I said I could stay longer. We were supposed to talk," I replied calmly, looking at her attentively.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I'm a bit scattered." She raised her hands to her face and, with a distracted gesture, pushed back her chestnut hair. Her big biceps momentarily became visible. She looked at me and said, "Let's go to my office."

Although it wasn't the right moment, I couldn't help but glance at her shapely butt tightly encased in smooth graphite pants. And that waist! Her waist got me every time. The contrast it created between her hips and muscular back was mind-blowing.