You're Fired!

Matt Moreau wrote a Loving Wives story some time ago about a husband and wife that work for the same company. The wife is the CEO, the husband a regular employee, and the wife fires the husband. The wife, of course, is having an affair.

The idea of a CEO wife firing her husband, as a business decision without the infidelity factor, and how that might affect things intrigued me.

I prefer to write in the first person but sometimes part of the story takes place when the protagonist isn't there, so there will be some switches to the third person. I apologize if that bothers anyone.

*Note: The Powers That Be at Literotica asked that I obtain permission from Matt for the use of his plot device, and he has generously granted it. Thank you, Matt.

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YOU'RE FIRED!

I'll see you at home.

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"I'm sorry, Henry, but your results for the past 4 quarters haven't been up to the standards we need. We're letting you go."

My mouth was agape and I was stunned. I couldn't form a coherent thought. Sure, I had been fired before, though it had been years. But I must admit that this caught me completely by surprise. That it was my very own wife lowering the boom was probably the reason for that. I finally got the brain signals going to my mouth.

"You're firing me? You can't be serious."

"I'm completely serious. Your numbers have dropped off considerably from last year and we simply can't afford to keep you in the position any longer."

"And just why the hell are YOU doing this? You're not my direct supervisor. Is that candy-ass Adams too much of a wuss to do it himself?"

"I chose to handle this personally to prevent any misunderstanding. I signed off on the decision and didn't want there to be any sort of showdown, with you threatening to go to me when he told you the news. I thought it best to handle this myself."

"Well that's just fucking great!"

"I'll need you to get your personal effects from your desk. Just so you're not surprised, per protocol there will be a security guard there. I don't want you to think the company, or me, believes you'd take anything that didn't belong to you. It's just policy."

It felt like an iron ball was forming in my stomach. How in the hell do you fire your husband? I mean, seriously?

"Sure. Anything else?"

"Henry, this wasn't an easy thing to do. I hope you understand that."

"Whatever."

I got up and left her office. Perhaps introductions are in order. My name is Henry Weston and I'm...or rather, I was...a sales account manager for ABG Products (the name doesn't officially stand for anything, but was inspired by the first three letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha Beta Gamma). I'm about 6 feet tall and in decent shape, though a spare tire had started to form recently that I wasn't too happy about. I'm reasonably intelligent but just didn't have an interest in being the boss. I did, however, have the ability to sell and had made a good living out of it, until recently apparently.

My wife, Angela, was the CEO of ABG. That's right: The Head Honcho. The Big Cheese. You get the picture. She was always ambitious and intelligent so it came as no surprise when she got the position. She's 5'6" with straight brown hair that she usually has up in a bun when she's at work. She's probably about 30 pounds overweight but it doesn't bother either of us. She attractive but not remarkably so, and we have (had?) a good marriage.

We've been married for 15 years and are both in our early forties. We didn't have any kids but we did have an active social life when our schedules allowed, though I spent some time on the road servicing my accounts and she put in a lot of extra hours, as necessitated by her position. She uses her maiden name, Jarrett, at work. Our marriage isn't a secret from the staff, or even from the local competition, but she felt that it would be better to keep our business and personal lives as separate as possible. I was fine with that.

We had met on the job when I was hired in the sales department 20 years ago. She was already part of the junior executive class and was highly regarded. I won't bore you with the courtship since it was unremarkable. We met, we dated, we fell in love, and we married. She rose in the executive ranks and I rose in the sales department, frequently earning the high sales for the quarter, though I must admit it's been a while.

Anyway, I could feel the eyes on me as I left my wife's office, which surprised me because we hadn't been loud so I didn't think anyone overheard the goings on. I supposed word may have gotten around; it wouldn't surprise me if Adams, who couldn't Vice President of Sales his was out of a paper bag (I know, a crappy metaphor), had purposely let it slip. But as I turned the corner to my office I saw the security guard waiting for me and realized that probably gave it away.

"I'm really sorry about this Mr. Weston. I know you wouldn't take anything that don't belong to you but..."

I held up my hand.

"It's okay, Vic. It's the way things are done and you're just doing your job. Think nothing of it."

I actually kept very little in my office since I spent almost no time there. It all fit easily into the small box the company had provided for my convenience. I took a quick glance around and, satisfied that I had everything I wanted, walked out of the office and left the building for the last time.

"Mr. Weston, you forgot this picture of your wife," Vic called to my back as I walked toward the door.

"No, I didn't," I responded without a look back.

The room, which held upwards of 15 people as I walked away, was deathly silent as I made the walk. It crossed my mind that these people now knew that no one's job was safe. And then I thought that maybe that was the point, or at least part of it.

I tossed the box into the front seat of my car and drove back home. Justified or not, I felt completely betrayed by Angela. I was aware that my numbers were down but I had every reason to expect them to rebound in the next couple of quarters. I had promises from several of my accounts that orders would be going up, and I supposed the new rep would probably get credit for turning things around. Too bad I wasn't given the chance to see it through.

I spent my afternoon doing some things around the house. I imagine Angela wouldn't be too happy but I really didn't care at the moment. I was curious how she was going to be when she got home. We had always tried to separate work from home, leaving company business at the office, but this was obviously different, at least to me.

I was on the couch watching a baseball game when she came in the door at about 7:00pm. I never bothered to even look up at her, keeping my eyes riveted to the TV. We had never failed to greet each other when we got home so my silence was probably speaking volumes.

"Honey, I'm home..."

"I heard you come in."

"Is there a dinner plan?"

So, she was apparently going full-steam-ahead with 'what happened at work has nothing to do with our lives at home'. Interesting.

Dinner was usually the responsibility of whoever got home first, but that was before. The day's events, at least for me, had caused a paradigm shift in our marriage, and nothing was at it was.

"I already ate."

"Did you make me anything?"

"Nope."

I remained focused on the TV so I have no idea how she was reacting to my brushing her off, but I didn't imagine she was taking it well. Finally, realizing I had nothing further to say, she turned and went to change out of her executive suit. I imagined another unpleasant conversation would be coming soon when she realized...

"Henry, where are your clothes? And your toiletries?"

"Right where they should be, Angela. In my closet and my bathroom."

She disappeared for a minute while I watched the game some more. I knew the conversation wasn't over but I imagine my response had confused her so she went back to double check. She was back quickly.

"Henry, there's nothing in your side of the closet at all, and your side of the vanity is also clear. No toothbrush, no mouthwash, no deodorant, nothing."

"There's your problem, Angela. You're looking in your closet and bathroom. I very clearly said my things were in MY closet and bathroom."

"But they're the same..."

She stopped talking suddenly and disappeared down the hall again. It appeared that she suddenly got what I was saying. And when she stormed into the living room with every part of her body seething in anger (I was surprised there wasn't steam coming out of her ears, but I think that's only in cartoons) I knew she had figured it out.

"What the hell are your things doing in the guest room?"

"It's not a guest room. It's my room and I'll thank you to remember that."

"Oh no it's not. You'll put your things back where they belong or I'll do it for you, and I won't be so gentle."

"I'll just move them back. After all, I suddenly have all day free to do what I want."

"God damn it, I knew that's what this was about! That was a perfectly legitimate business decision and you know it. We've fired people in the past who had better numbers than you did."

"True, but you weren't married to any of them."

She tried to calm down, taking several deep breaths and finally sitting down next to me.

"Henry, I had to do what was in the best interest of the company. I may be the CEO but I answer to people the same as you do. The board, the stockholders, they all expect results and I'm responsible for providing them."

"I get it, Angela. You chose the company over me and our marriage. So now the company can keep you warm at night."

"Stop being so childish, Henry. We've always kept work and home separate. Always. I did what had to be done at work and now that I'm home we're supposed to leave it behind. We agreed to that a long time ago. How would it look if I held you to different standards than everyone else?"

"Like you loved your husband?"

"No, it would be outright nepotism and favoritism, and company morale would sink. They'd see you as untouchable and wouldn't have any respect for me. You're not being fair."

"Screw fair, Angela. I'm your husband, not just some employee. I deserved better!"

"No, Henry, you didn't. Not at work, you didn't. You weren't getting it done and I did what I had to do. We've talked about this a million times, about keeping things separate. I can't believe you're acting like this, and I expect you to move your things back into our bedroom."

"And I expect you to be disappointed."

I went back to my game and she went back to HER bedroom to finally change her clothes, which she forgot to do after getting distracted by my change in geography. She returned wearing a plain t-shirt and sweatpants, her don't-even-think-you're-getting-laid-tonight outfit. It would probably surprise her to know I had zero interest.

I heard her banging around in the kitchen, making more noise than was necessary I was sure, as she made herself something to eat. About ten minutes later she walked into the living room and dropped something in my lap. I immediately recognized the picture of her, taken the day she got the promotion to CEO, that had adorned my desk.

"Vic brought this to me after you left. He's says you forgot it on your desk."

I looked down at the picture and then up at her. I'm fairly ashamed now to admit that what I said was intended to inflict as much pain as I could, but at the time the pain I was feeling was fresh and I was lashing out.

"I didn't forget it. I only took the things I still wanted."

Bullseye! She was in tears before she got out of the room and she went straight to her room. I heard the door slam and frankly at that moment I didn't give a crap. I went back to my game, and didn't see Angela for the rest of the night.

I woke up in the middle of the night still asleep on the couch and some damn infomercial on the TV. I now had a blanket over me and all the lights were turned off. A glance at the clock showed it was 3:27am. Angela would be up in a couple of hours and I didn't want to be here when that happened. I got up, folded the blanket, and went to my room.

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The offices of ABG Products

CEO Angela Jarrett walked into her office at 7:00am just like she did most every morning. She was a firm believer in leading by example and that meant being the first one to arrive in the morning and was often the last to leave at night. It also meant that she had to keep her personal feelings from affecting her job performance.

When Jack Adams had come to her with his request to terminate Henry's employment she reviewed the numbers as objectively as she could and came to the same conclusion as Jack: Henry wasn't keeping up the totals in his territory and he had to be let go. It was something that had been done many times before and had never failed to yield an increase in orders from that territory.

She suspected that a level of comfort and complacency had set in on Henry, like it had to many before and would to others after, and he was just going through the motions. Getting fresh blood into a territory meant fresh energy and a new perspective, and the numbers invariably went up.

While Jack hadn't asked Angela specifically to handle the termination personally, he had made it clear during the meeting that he expected Henry to play the 'my wife is the CEO' card. He had fired people before but wasn't looking forward to this one for this very reason, and he was relieved when Angela suggested she should do it to prevent that very thing from happening.

At 7:30am Angela's assistant, Melissa, came through the door with her coffee and pastry, just as she did every morning. They had a vendor that delivered fresh each day and Melissa always chose something for her boss. This morning she was eager for the gossip.

"How'd it go at home last night?"

"Terrible. He's moved into the spare room. And he didn't forget the picture. He left it behind on purpose. He said he only took the things he still wanted."

"Did he mean the picture or you?"

"I'm honestly not sure. We had always agreed that work wouldn't affect things at home and I counted on that in making this decision. I guess you were right after all."

"I'm not happy about that, Angela. But it was reasonable to expect that your firing him wasn't gonna be like everything else. So, what now?"

"Nothing. It was still the right decision for the company and it was my job to make it. I guess I'm just hoping that once the anger fades he'll see that I was right and we'll get back to normal. Once he gets another job I'm sure things will be fine."

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Things remained the same around the house for the next week. I got caught up on projects around the house that needed doing, and I'll admit that in the back of my mind the thought did occur to me more than once that I was fixing it up so we could sell it as part of the divorce.

Neither of us was going to give an inch. Though we hardly spoke, it was clear that Angela was sticking to her position that she had made a business decision that was part of her job and I was the one at fault for not sticking to our 'separation of work and home' agreement. And I continued to believe you just don't fire your husband. Your marriage deserves more loyalty than your company does.

Once the home projects were done I decided it was time to start the job search. Of course, I did it in the evenings. I spent all day while Angela was at work watching TV or playing cards or whatever, and then I'd close myself in the office just before she got home and do the job search thing. That went on for another week before Angela tried to turn things for the better. I was still angry and took every opportunity to try and hurt her for what she had done to me.

One Saturday she knocked on the door of the office where I sat applying for jobs (read: looking up old friends on Facebook). I didn't say anything but the door was unlocked so she came in anyway.

"Henry, let's do something together today. We need to try and rebuild our marriage. Please."

Could I have just taken the offer for what it was and made some plan to go out? Sure, I could have, but I wasn't ready to do that. So, I did what any bitter man who felt emasculated by his wife would do: I struck back.

"Sorry, I can't. I suddenly find myself in need of a job."

Then she said perhaps the worst thing she possibly could have.

"Can't you take a day off? There's no hurry, baby. I make more than enough to support us."

I was immediately and significantly enraged. I swear I literally felt my blood start to boil.

"Just couldn't fucking wait to throw that in my face, could you!"

"What? Henry..."

"Oh yeah! You're the rich and successful CEO married to the loser that can't even avoid being fired by his own wife! I'll bet you and Adams just get together and laugh your asses off about how you got rid of me! Do you guys fuck in your office and make fun of what a loser I am? I'll bet it's all just a big fucking joke to all of you."

The slap across my face caught me by surprise.

"Henry Weston, I have never in my life even considered being unfaithful to you and you better God damn well know that! You can be pissed off about getting fired and believe all you want that I shouldn't have done it, but don't you ever...EVER...impugn my integrity by suggesting I would cheat on you!"

She turned on her heels and walked out, slamming the door behind her. I actually thought the little glass panes were going to shatter but they held fast. Things were going downhill quickly, and I had no idea how to stop it, and worse, I didn't know if I even wanted to. The only positive thing to me was her reaction to my suggesting she screwed Adams: The very thought had offended her and that's how I would have expected an innocent person to react. So, there was that.

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I finally got a response to the millions of resumes I sent out. Well, maybe it just seemed like millions. Anyway, it was from a local company called Capstar Sales and Service and they were looking for a territory representative. It paid a little less than what I had been making but that wasn't unexpected. It had a lot of travel requirements, even more than I had at ABG, but right now that was actually a benefit as far as I was concerned.

I guess I was in a noticeably better mood because even Angela picked up on it, asking what had gotten me so cheery.

"I have an interview today at Capstar."

"That's great, baby. I know you'll do great. Call me and let me know how it goes."

I didn't say I would but I didn't say anything mean either, and when she tentatively went to kiss me on the cheek I even let her. She was a little lighter on her feet as she walked out to her car, and I felt positive vibes for the first time in a long time as I did the same. I'm sorry to say they didn't last.

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The offices of ABG Products once again

"You're awfully happy this morning, boss. Some improvement on the home front?"

"He's got an interview at Capstar today. I just know he'll get it and then things can finally get back to normal. He was nice to me this morning and even let me kiss him goodbye. It was on the cheek but that's a start."

"Still no bedroom action, huh?"

"Not a thing. I haven't had to relieve my own tensions this much since I first discovered orgasms when I was 14. I hope it at least goes well today. I really need to get laid."

The call letting her know how things had gone at Capstar never came and while it was possible Henry had just forgotten, the worse thought was that he simply didn't want to share the good news with her. She left for home at 6:00pm and drove home anxious for news, but it would have to wait because Henry wasn't there.