Free WLUV Box Set: Ignited, Consumed, Burned by Jayne Blue Page B

do not
to punch the news director in his bloated face. No one was going to treat Macy
that way, no one.
    “What?” Walters turned to him, shocked, perhaps only just
now realizing that he’d acted like an ass in front of the station owner. He was
the type to bully underlings and then suck up to management.
    “I said you’re fired,” Wes calmly restated the obvious. “We
do not speak to co-workers this way and this is the second time this week that
I smell alcohol on your breath at 9 in the morning.”
    Alcohol, embarrassment, and the overall bad judgment that
Pat Walters had made his trademark, led him to do the most stupid thing he
could possibly do at this point. He blustered towards Macy and shoved her
against the support beam that stood in the center of the newsroom.
    It was shocking, violent, and totally unexpected in an
office setting. It was more like the behavior you’d see in a bar at closing
time—of course, for Walters the world was a bar at closing time.
    Wes’s eyes flashed red. He launched himself at Walters and
grabbed him by the collar. Pat Walters had bullied his last employee.
    “Bernie, I’ll be escorting Mr. Walters out of the building.
I’d like you to call the police.” Wes was manhandling Pat out of the newsroom
and into the lobby when he heard the clicking of heels on the floor behind him.
    “Wes, Wes ! Ugh.” She stopped in the doorway and
called back to Bernie, who was completely confused by the conflicting orders,
“Bernie, put the phone down. We don’t want to be on the police scanner for
god’s sake.”
    “He just committed assault in my newsroom. There will be a
police report.” Wes was struggling not to pulverize Walters.
    “So what, sticking up for your little con slut ant now?”
Walters didn’t know when to quit. “Did you ask her why she wasn’t at network?
Just ask her!”
    This time, Wes pulled his fist back and wound up and only
Macy yanking his arm back stopped him. The force of his forward motion
practically pulled her off her feet.
    “I will not press charges against Pat. He can leave quietly
now.” Macy scurried to get between the two men. What was the deal with this
woman?
    Bernie showed up in the lobby with Pat’s coat and bag. Macy
grabbed the things and pressed them to the former news director’s chest, “Here.
Now get out of here before—”      
    “Before what? Your boyfriend over here tries to hit me
again?” Walters was right in Macy’s face, sneering, “I wouldn’t stay at this
third-rate, piece of crap, backwater, fucked-up excuse for a television station
one minute more if you paid me!”
    Wes felt himself take another step toward Walters, but Macy
stood her ground between them. It was a quiet but tense moment before Pat
Walters finally saw the reality of the situation and turned on his heel. He
used his bag to slam the glass window in the reception area, which shattered,
and as a grand exit he kicked open the front door.
    Bernie, Macy, and Wes stood together silently, watching the
man huff and puff and curse out to the parking lot.
    “You may not want to press charges, but look at him! He’s
drunk and roaming the streets! If he even figures out where his car is, he’ll
just get into an accident, and if he wanders around out there on foot, God
knows what,” Wes realized he was shouting.
    “I’m NOT pressing charges! He’s ridiculous and not worth my
energy. Besides, I have work to do” Macy was yelling, too, and squaring off
against.
    What the hell? He’d just watched her get assaulted,
displayed a ridiculous amount of restraint in not eviscerating Pat Walters, and
she was yelling at him ?
    At this point Bernie piped up and interrupted Macy’s
gathering tirade, “You know, I’ve got a few friends in the department. I’m sure
they’ll be able to pick him up and drive him home…that way no one gets hurt and
none of the other stations hear about this drama.” He paused for a moment.
Something about the current situation