Tear Down These Walls

by Sarah Kay Carter

  “I wasn’t going to do that!” Teagan snaps. She pulls the shirt down again. “I have nothing on underneath this.”

  “Really?” Trent retorts, sauntering over to her. “I shouldn’t have said anything then.”

  “Shut up!” Teagan laughs.

  “Nice choice,” Trent says, flicking the collar of the shirt. “This is my favorite.”

  “Oh!” Teagan exclaims. “I’m sorry. I wanted to wash my clothes.”

  Trent smiles, “It’s all right. It looks much better on you.”

  “Do you want some breakfast?” Teagan asks quickly. “I am making bacon and eggs.”

  “No, I ate already,” Trent replies, going to the coffee maker.

  “What are you doing here anyway?” Teagan asks, turning the bacon over, while still holding the bottom of the shirt down. “I thought you had meetings.”

  “I did,” Trent answers. “They just went a lot faster than I thought they were going to. I figured I would see what kind of mischief you were up to.”

  Blushing, Teagan walks over and reaches up to turn down the music. When the shirt rides up, she drops back down. Turning, she looks at Trent. “Can you turn it down?”

  “Why?” Trent shouts. “It’s not loud or anything.” With a glare, Teagan turns around, reaches up and cranks the music. Trent quickly comes over, reaches over her, and turns down the music. “I like the free show of your ass that you just gave me,” he whispers in her ear.

  “Yeah, well, that is the only show you will be getting,” Teagan jokes. “Move, I don’t want to burn my bacon.”

  “Dear lord, the world would end if the bacon burned!” Trent teases.

  Teagan goes back over to the frying pan. “I’m not going to cook for you ever if you are mouthy.”

  “I’ll stop,” Trent laughs. “Do you want some coffee?”

  “Yes, thank you,” she politely replies. Trent starts to fill the carafe with water. “So, what are the plans for today?”

  “I have to go back to work soon.”

  “When can I go to my apartment? Can you take me over there?” Teagan asks. “I need to get a handle on everything. It’s going to take me a few days to clean it all up.”

  Trent doesn’t say anything as he puts the coffee in the filter. “My people are over there right now.”

  “Doing what?”

  “They are investigating the scene themselves and putting in new locks,” Trent states, as he turns to her. “I won’t have you go back in there without knowing you will be safe.”

  “Well, can you take me over there after work?” Teagan asks. “I have to have somewhere to sleep tonight.”

  “Sure,” Trent replies. “You are more than welcome to get some stuff and stay here until everything is done.”

  Blushing a little bit, Teagan whispers, “That’s okay. I want to clean up my place.”

  “Well, we will see what we can do later,” Trent says. “I am going to take you out to eat beforehand though, since your apartment is in disarray.”

  “I can make something there,” she replies softly. “I doubt they trashed my freezer.”

  “Your microwave is gone,” Trent exhales.

  “What!?” Teagan exclaims. “I can’t afford a new microwave!”

  “I have an extra one you can have,” he assures her. “Relax, we will figure it out.”

  Feeling the frustration rising up again, Teagan throws the spatula on the counter. She grabs her head and bends over. “Everything I have….is gone. What in the hell am I going to do?”

  She feels Trent walk up next to her. He rubs her back. “I promise you, we will figure it out. We need to take it one step at a time. Eat breakfast. Get your clothes clean. I will take you out to eat, and we will tackle your apartment together.”

  “You’re going to help me?”

  Trent chuckles and says, “Of course I am.”

  “I bet Victoria and Emily will come and help; Isaac, Michael and Blake will come by, too.”

  “Well, let’s go see what needs to be done first. Too many cooks in the kitchen can make things more complicated. We can get everything ready and then assign duties,” Trent suggests.

  “Okay,” Teagan exhales.

  “Is there anything you need right now?” Trent asks, as he gets out the creamer.

  She shakes her head. “Having clean clothes is enough at the moment.”

  “Do you want to come into work with me? I could probably have you do some stuff and give you a bit of money.”

  Teagan blows air out and runs her fingers through her hair. “I was supposed to work on my paper today, but hell, all that is gone. I have to do all the research again.”

  “You can use my computer,” Trent offers. “I have one here and at the office.”

  “Well, I won’t dry my bra or top in the dryer. So I would have to wear your shirt with my jeans,” Teagan says, looking down.

  “Sexy,” Trent rubs his chin while his eyes graze her body. “But totally inappropriate for work.”

  “I figured as much,” Teagan laughs. “So, your computer here, where is it?”

  “Upstairs in my office,” Trent replies.

  Raising her eyebrows, Teagan reminds him, “I thought I wasn’t allowed upstairs.”

  “Well, just don’t go into any rooms with closed doors. The rest of the house is yours to roam.”

  “I still say you have a sex room,” Teagan teases, as she takes the bacon out of the pan.

  “Yeah, you caught me,” Trent groans.

  A huge grin passes over Teagan’s face. “Can I see it!?”

  “Only if you use it with me,” Trent mocks back.

  “You wish.”

  “I do,” Trent sighs, as he walks away.

  “Liar!” Teagan yells. “Hey, where are you going?”

  “To close the doors upstairs,” Trent replies. “Make your eggs before your bacon gets cold. I will be right back.”

  Teagan scowls at him but turns around. She cracks two eggs into the pan and shakes her head. As they are cooking, Teagan hums to herself, oblivious to what is going on around her.

  “DEAR LORD GRAYSON, what are you doing?” she hears from behind her. She spins around to see Kyle standing there. Teagan screams and covers herself. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Kyle shouts. “Calm down!!”

  “TRENT!”

  There are footsteps and then, “What?”

  Kyle turns to the doorway and puts his hands up. “I didn’t realize you had company.”

  Her cheeks light on fire from embarrassment, and she pulls down the bottom of the shirt. Trent comes into the kitchen and grabs Kyle by the back of his collar. “Did you get asked into the house?”

  “No! You told me to meet you here. I figured you were the only one home!”

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” Teagan whines.

  “She stayed in the guest room,” Trent asserts. “Her apartment is the one that got broken in to.”

  “Oh,” Kyle murmurs. “Sorry.”

  Trent lets go of Kyle. “Why don’t you go wait outside?”

  “Yes sir,” Kyle mumbles.

  “You are also a half an hour early,” Trent adds on. “You’ll be waiting a while.”

  “You like it when we are early for things!” Kyle exclaims.

  “Outside….” Trent orders. “Wait there.”

  Kyle nods and turns to leave. Teagan steps forward. “Stop! He can’t wait outside by himself for that long.”

  “Why not?” Trent scowls. “He has to do it all the time.”

  “Not when he is at your house,” Teagan snaps. “Kyle, stay in here. Are you hungry?”

  “Whoa!” Trent interjects. “First, you think it’s okay to tell my staff what to do, and second, you think it’s okay to cook him breakfast?”

  “It’s rude to eat in front of people and not offer them something,” Teagan declares playfully.

  Kyle rubs his hands together. “This is excellent. Breakfast served by a hot chick.”

  “Kyle!
” Trent growls. “Show her respect, like you would any other client.”

  “Since when do you take clients home and let them prance around in your dress shirts?” Kyle retorts.

  “We did not have sex!” Teagan exclaims. “My clothes are merely in the washer. I needed something to put on.”

  “No judgment calls here!” Kyle replies.

  Pointing toward the door, Trent says, “You….out.”

  “Trent,” Teagan sighs, throwing her hands in the air. “Come on.”

  He looks at Teagan, and she crosses her arms. Trent narrows his eyes. “He is on the clock, and he’s my employee. He doesn’t listen to you and neither do I when it comes to business. He will wait outside.”

  “Fine,” Teagan states. She turns to Kyle. “I will make you some food and then come outside and sit with you.”

  “Sweet!” Kyle shouts.

  “No, you will not,” Trent snaps. “All you are wearing is a dress shirt. You will not go outside.”

  “That’s all that you are wearing?” Kyle says as his eyes drift down.

  Teagan looks at Trent. “Thanks for telling him that.”

  “Fine, we will leave now,” Trent exhales. “The office is open, and the computer is on. You will go on under guest. That doesn’t need a password.”

  “Okay,” Teagan replies, pouting a little.

  “Eat your breakfast, call or text me if you need anything,” Trent says sternly.

  Copping a little bit of attitude, Teagan retorts, “Aye, aye, captain bossy pants.”

  “Captain bossy pants,” Kyle laughs. Trent shoots him a look, and he shuts up.

  He turns to Teagan. “If you need anything let me know.”

  “Okay,” Teagan exhales, shaking her head at him.

  Trent looks at Kyle. “Go outside. I will be there in a minute.”

  “Yes sir,” Kyle retorts. “It was nice seeing you Miss Murphy.”

  “You can call me Teagan,” she sighs.

  “I will stick with Miss Murphy,” Kyle states, stealing a glance at Trent. “Trent, I will meet you outside.”

  When he is gone, Trent sighs, “I know you are sweet and didn’t mean anything, but my staff is my staff. I have to handle them a certain way, especially in the field that we are in. They need to do exactly what I say. So, next time, please do not try and undermine what I say. I know you were only being nice.”

  Teagan looks down, “Sorry.”

  “Hey, no reason to be sorry,” Trent murmurs, coming up to her. He brings her face up with his finger, “I was upset that he walked in here and saw you this way. I was only trying to protect you.”

  “Thanks,” she whispers. They stare into each other’s eyes for a minute, not saying anything. A yearning starts to build in Teagan. All she wants to do is bring his head down to hers. She closes her eyes, quickly shakes her head, and steps away. “You should probably get going.” She nods toward the door.

  “Yeah,” Trent mumbles. “I will call or text later and let you know when I am going to be home.”

  “Okay,” Teagan replies. “Have a good day.”

  “You, too. I will see you later.” With that Trent turns around and walks away. Teagan feels sad when he leaves but brushes it off and finishes making her breakfast.

  After she is finished eating and cleaning up, Teagan gets her clothes out of the washer. She hangs her bra and shirt up and throws the rest in the dryer. Knowing she wasn’t supposed to go upstairs, she hesitates before making the ascent wondering what’s up there that is so secret and forbidden. Reluctantly, she makes her way to the second floor.

  When she gets up to the top, Teagan looks down the hall. She counts six doors. Two of them are open. She walks down to the first one. It is the office. There is a computer on a desk and a lot of electronic devices sitting on a table. Teagan has no idea what any of them do. She shrugs. The other open door catches her eye. She wanders down there and looks in. “This has to be his bedroom,” Teagan whispers.

  There is a king size bed on the far wall. All the furnishings, including the bedspread, are black. She stands there for a second, wondering if she should go in. Teagan looks behind her. She knows no one is in the house, but she is still nervous. Her luck, he has the whole house bugged with cameras, watching her every move. It wouldn’t surprise her. Turning back around, she grins and steps into the room. Everything is neat and orderly. There aren’t any pictures in the room, just a painting on the wall. Teagan walks over to the bed and runs her hand against the comforter. It is really soft.

  Going over to the first door, Teagan opens it and looks inside. It’s his closet. There are three different sections. One contains all his dress clothes. The next one holds all of his jeans and regular shirts. The third section confuses her. She walks over to it and pulls one of the hangers off the rack. Hanging off of it is a pair of shorts. They look a lot like shorts that boxer’s wear. There are about twelve of them. Each one of them is a different mixture of blue and green. Cyclone is written on each pair, plus there are patches of different company logos. Teagan puts it back. “I didn’t know he boxed,” she mumbles. There are also exercise shirts. A shelf sits off to the left with rolls of white tape on it. She picks one up and looks at it. “I wonder what this is for.” She puts it back and picks up a pair of gloves. There are four different pairs. They are all lightly padded and fingerless. She slides one on, and it’s way too big for her. She giggles, “He has big hands. I wonder what that means.” That makes her laugh even more, and she puts the glove back.

  With a shrug, Teagan turns around and walks out of the closet. Behind the other door, she finds a large master bathroom. Teagan is rather tempted because there is a whirlpool bathtub. The stand-up shower is all glass. Teagan notices controls on the wall, and she steps in to look at them. She instantly realizes that it is also a steam room. “Man, I could stay in here all day,” she whispers. “Jealous.”

  Finally, it dawns on her that she has snooped enough. She quickly walks out of the room. Before she starts working on the computer, she goes downstairs to grab her cell phone and sees she has a missed call from Victoria. She calls her back as she goes upstairs.

  “Hello girl!” Victoria exclaims. “Please tell me you spent the night with that delicious man!”

  “No,” Teagan laughs. “Gosh, I barely know the guy.”

  “I don’t care. LOOK AT HIM! I would jump on that if I had the chance.”

  Teagan rolls her eyes. “No you would not. You’re not a slut.”

  “For him, I might be,” Victoria laughs.

  “You’re awful,” Teagan snorts, as she sits down at the desk. “I did get drunk last night, stripped to my undergarments, hopped into the Jacuzzi, and he was a perfect gentleman.”

  “Well, first, way to throw your inhibitions to the wind,” Victoria starts. “Second of all, that sucks. He should have been all over you. You’re gorgeous!”

  “Oh, Trent admitted to having dirty thoughts,” Teagan replies slyly. “But we are going to stay friends. That is what was agreed upon.”

  “If he had tried to seduce you last night, you wouldn’t have thought about it, not for a second?” Victoria pushes her friend.

  Pausing, Teagan says, “Well, I don’t know…..”

  “So, you do like him!” Victoria yells. “I knew it!”

  Shaking her head, Teagan says, “I never said I wasn’t attracted to him. He has to be the most delicious man I have ever known, but it’s not like that with us. We’re strictly friends.”

  “Whatever,” Victoria groans. Teagan imagines her rolling her eyes.

  “So, what are you up to today?” Teagan inquires, as she clicks on the guest icon.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing. When are you going to your apartment?”

  “Later. Trent is going to help me tackle everything,” Teagan states. She opens the web browser and then raises an eyebrow. The home page is a little kid’s website. “Kya must use this computer a lot.”

  “Excuse me?”
<
br />   “Oh! I am on Trent’s computer. I was saying that his niece Kya must use it a lot. It has a children’s website as its homepage.”

  “Weird,” Victoria replies.

  “No, it’s the guest account,” Teagan tells her. “I bet he has certain things blocked on here. It would make more sense why there is a puppy as the icon.”

  “Trent could like puppies,” Victoria laughs.

  “True,” Teagan giggles. “Ugh, I am going to spend the whole day redoing all my research. I hope I can remember where I found everything.”

  “I have all the faith in the world in you,” Victoria assures her.

  “Well, my computer was destroyed,” Teagan sighs. “Everything’s gone.”

  “WHAT!?” Victoria yells. “What about your writing?”

  Feeling her chest tighten at the memory of her smashed computer, all of her work gone, Teagan whispers, “It’s all gone.”

  “NO!”

  “Yeah,” Teagan chokes out. “My sisters have a few of my books, but all my new stuff is gone.”

  “That’s horrible!” Victoria cries. “Maybe someone can save something off of it.”

  “It was smashed, and I mean SMASHED,” Teagan exhales. “I guess I can rewrite it all, but it breaks my heart.”

  “I bet,” Victoria sighs. “I’m so sorry sweetie.”

  Exhaling, Teagan continues, “Yeah, I don’t know what to do. I’m still in shock. Most of my furniture is destroyed. Dishes are broken. Microwave is gone. I give up. I am going to have to live off of ramen noodles for a while.”

  “We can all chip in and help. I will get money from my parents,” Victoria declares. “They love you and have more than enough to help.”

  “I can’t ask that of them,” Teagan replies. “I’m not their kid.”

  “This isn’t your fault. Do you have renter’s insurance?”

  “NOPE,” Teagan emphasizes. “I think I am going to cry a lot tonight.”

  “Do you want me to come over?” Victoria asks.

  Teagan runs her fingers through her hair. “Let me look at it all first, and I will call you. Trent says we should figure out what we want to do before everyone comes over.”

  “All right, I will be ready whenever you need me.”

  “Thanks,” Teagan replies softly. “Not to cut this short, but I really need to start doing this research.”