Wild Cards

by R. C. Stephens

  “Would you stop gawking at me?” she said with her lip tugging up in the corner. Her tone was one of irritation, but I knew she liked my attention on her. She craved it, just like I craved her.

  “You like it…” I grinned, turning away.

  Once she was dressed, we walked down the stairs to the main level in my apartment. I had a local French bakery deliver croissants this morning and they were waiting at my door, fresh and hot.

  “This is for you, I didn’t want you skipping breakfast. As it is, you don’t take time to eat lunch in the office. Your father will fire me for overworking you.” I smirked at her.

  “Oh, you worked me real good last night, Luc,” she laughed, spinning the meaning of my words. “I think Bryce is suspicious that something is going on between us,” she said, grabbing her coat and purse. “Do you think we should tell him about us? He likes you, Luc, he will probably approve anyway.”

  “Vicky, Bryce knows about my past, he may like me, but I don’t think I’m the kind of guy he wants for his daughter…” I trailed off. I didn’t think that he would consider an ex-mafionnaire to be good husband material.

  Vicky walked over to me with a sad look on her face and placed her hand over my heart. “You are the perfect kind of guy, Luc. I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. I came to this city a mess, and it’s because of you that I was able to pull myself together. Please believe me when I say that I think we should tell him soon. I think he will be happy for us. I don’t see him often, but he came by my office yesterday and asked if there was someone special in my life. I got the sense that he knew something but wanted to hear it from me. He’s been kind to me, Luc, and I feel like I owe it to him to be honest,” she said, placing a soft kiss on my mouth. I love to feel her warmth against me. She was the only thing that made me feel whole. Lately, even when I had my dark moments, when I thought of my past and my family, it was the thought of her that pulled me back into the light.

  “Okay, if you want to tell him then go ahead, I feel like maybe I owe him an explanation, but you are his daughter, if you want to tell him I can’t stop you.” I grinned, grasping her behind in the sexy blue skirt she was wearing, hugging every inch of her curves. I knew all the males at the office would be ogling her today, as they did every day. Only today I wouldn’t be there to give them my death stare in return. I inwardly cringed thinking how possessive I was of her, but I couldn’t help myself, she was mine.

  As Vicky left my apartment, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out wondering if it was the Japanese canceling our breakfast, but when I saw the screen, I stumbled back. It couldn’t be. Not now. Not when everything was falling into place.

  Chapter 22

  Vicky

  Leaving for work without Luc felt strange. I still stopped by my apartment to check on Nessa but her bed was empty. After sending her a quick text, she said she had crashed at Brad’s place. I was worried about those two. They had developed some sort of relationship that included going to sex parties and screwing other people. I wasn’t naïve and I understood that monogamy wasn’t for everyone, but deep down I felt like Nessa wanted more for herself. I had a feeling that Brad did too, but they were both too lost to realize it.

  My thoughts quickly drifted to Luc and me. We are also two broken people, we are still living with our fears, despite the risk we took with each other but at least we were open to take the risk of falling in love, and so far we were happy.

  Luc insisted his driver drop me at the front door of Tyson, since he refused to let me take a cab this morning, or allow Bryce’s driver to pick me up. I had to notify Bryce’s driver that I wouldn’t need him. It seemed like it was important to Luc for his driver to take me around now that we were together. It was the caveman in him; he felt the need to protect me all the time.

  As I entered Tyson, knowing that I wouldn’t have Luc to flirt with all day, or watch his beautiful body as he was busy at work, I felt off about being at work. Yes, I enjoyed my job more than anything, and I was so grateful, but it was spending time with Luc that had become the highlight of my day. Not that we were together all the time. We definitely weren’t. Luc was the boss, he was busy taking care of everything and running in and out of meetings, but he would always take a second, here and there, to step into my office. He would close the door and embrace me in his strong arms. He gave me a quick hug and a hot kiss before he stepped back out, but it was enough to reassure me that things were good and I wasn’t alone. We had fallen into a routine without even realizing it. One minute I was forcing myself to try something with him because he was lost and so was I, and in our attempt to save each other we found something real. Something worth fighting for.

  “Good morning, Vicky,” Sheila, the secretary, lifted her head smiling at me.

  “Good morning, Sheila.”

  “Mr. Lebaum thought it would be a good day for you to visit the plant, they are putting a new model together,” Sheila suggested. Luc never mentioned anything to me, but sometimes he does things like this, so that I truly look surprised when confronted by coworkers and they won’t be suspicious of us.

  “That sounds great, Sheila, I just have a few things to finish up from yesterday. Can you let the shuttle know I will be ready for noon?”

  “Sure dear,” she smiled kindly and continued her work.

  As I sauntered into my office I placed my purse on the floor and started up my computer. Thinking of my night with Luc made me feel warm in all the right places, but I put my dirty thoughts aside since I needed to get my work done.

  As I went through all the building logistics the hours passed. By the time I noticed the clock on the bottom right screen of my computer, it was a quarter to twelve. Darn, I had to get down to the shuttle in fifteen minutes. I didn’t have time to eat lunch and I’ll probably be at the plant until the end of the day. I was grateful to Luc right now for my warm morning croissant. I quickly ran to the bathroom to relieve my bladder and headed down the forty floors in the elevator to the main lobby. Since the night of the sex party I hadn’t heard from Scott Wellington and I hadn’t seen him either. Luc mentioned that he brought up Scott’s name to Bryce and Bryce only mentioned that his company wouldn’t be a good fit for Tyson. Although I am guessing that Luc maybe convinced Bryce that Scott wasn’t a good fit for Tyson. Having been in the building for over a month there are some familiar faces. As I arrived in the lobby my cell phone rang. I figured it was Luc. He probably had a minute and wanted to check in with me, but when I pulled my phone out of my purse it said, No Caller ID. I figured it’s one of those telemarketers trying to sell me something, and I didn’t pick up. It was already five to twelve and I didn’t want the shuttle to leave without me.

  “Hi, Maggie, is the shuttle here?” I asked. Maggie was one of the ladies that sat at reception in the main lobby, she directed people around Tyson and she was also responsible for setting up the shuttles.

  “No, hon, he should be here any minute.”

  “Thanks,” I said, walking outside. Working in an office means I didn’t get much fresh air, so I tried to get outdoors when I could. As I waited outside, the November air had a cold bite to it, but the sun was shining and I looked up to the beautiful blue sky. The wind picked up and sent a chill through my body. My cell phone rang again and once again I hoped it was Luc. It was ridiculous I knew, but I missed him. The same No Caller ID popped up on my screen and I began to worry.

  Hesitantly I pressed the green button to pick up the call. “Hello?” I asked questioningly, not knowing whom to expect.

  “Oh thank goodness, Vicky, I was trying to get a hold of you….”

  As I heard the voice I tried to place it. It sounded familiar.

  “Marie?” I asked, my voice turning up a notch.

  “Yes, honey, Oh, Vicky….” she whimpered into the phone and my stomach dipped.

  I stopped my pacing on the sidewalk. I’d been here before; I could hear the despair in her voice. Something bad had happened.


  “Vicky…where are you, honey?” Marie pled and I knew she was asking because there was bad news. I could feel every bone in my body tensing.

  “I’m in the middle of a sidewalk…” I muttered as my heart beat a mile a minute. “Please, Marie…” I pleaded with her to tell me. Whatever it was I needed to know. Was it Joe? Was it my father? What could it be? I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs.

  “Can you go inside somewhere and take a seat?” she asked with a calm voice. I knew she was worried about me after everything that had happened with my mother, but I needed to know. I needed to know now.

  “Dammit, Marie, just tell me,” I snapped and then regretted it. I knew she didn’t mean any harm, but my nerves were so on edge I thought I might lose it completely.

  “Sorry, honey… it’s your papa. Hal went to check on him just now, and he didn’t have a pulse, honey. He died.” As her words rang in my ears, I knew they couldn’t be true; he could not have died. He was an alcoholic but he was okay. He would eat a little and spend his days drinking in the kitchen or on the balcony but he was okay. “Are you there, Vicky?” Marie asked frantically.

  With the phone still to my ear, I fell to my knees and held onto my stomach. Pain radiated through my body. I couldn’t handle anything she’d said. It was too much to process. This was my fault. I had left him all alone. He needed me and I was angry with him. He had cared for me and loved me since I was a baby, and I didn’t do the same for him. I had tried to convince him to go to rehab, and he refused to admit he even had a problem. He ignored me and it infuriated me. He didn’t step up to help when Mama got sick. I loved him but he let me down, he let Mama down, and he chose to live his days searching for the end in a bottle. It was painful for me to watch. Marie and Hal tried to come over and help me get him to rehab, but nothing we said mattered. I knew deep down he didn’t want to live, and this was his way of ending it. I just couldn’t believe this was real. I heard myself crying loudly on the street, and I wondered how long I had been on the ground this way.

  I was pulled out of my trance when I heard Bryce’s soft voice from behind me, he was trying to lift me, but I was fighting him.

  “Vicky, its okay, what happened? It’s Bryce,” he whispered softly in my ear. His voice was soothing, but the news was too painful. This was my fault. I should have tried harder to get him into rehab. I shouldn’t have left him alone. Bryce lifted me up and cradled me in his strong arms. I placed my head into his shoulder and sobbed. He carried me back into the building and I thought into the elevator. I felt like I was on a cloud. This was not reality.

  “Hush,” he whispered, still holding on to me. As we reached the top floor I could feel that I was getting heavy for him by the heavy steps he was taking. We made it into his office, and he walked over to the couch and placed me down gently. Then he got on one knee and caressed my head and looked at me through worried grey eyes. He looked fatherly, and he is my father, but the only father I had known growing up was now dead. “Vicky, what happened?”

  “My papa back home died,” I responded through heavy sobs. I knew my eyes must look bloodshot and I felt slightly embarrassed now that I had come to. I must have made quite a scene. I think I saw cameras flashing, and I wondered if the media had taken pictures. I knew the reporters tried to follow Bryce around a lot, and he spent too much effort having to evade them.

  “Oh, Vicky, I am so sorry to hear that,” Bryce said taking a seat beside me on the couch. “Tell me what I can do? Anything you need…” Bryce trailed off looking at me with sorrow filled eyes.

  “I need to go home, there will be a funeral, I will need to make the arrangements,” I said with a monotone voice. I was scaring myself. Saying those words again was like reliving my mama’s death and that was the most traumatic experience of my life. Having to do it again scared me. I thought I would break and if I break again I fear there wouldn’t be any turning back.

  “Okay, I will send my driver to get your clothes and I will have my jet ready for you, I wish I could go with you, Vicky, but I can’t leave right now,” he explained regretfully.

  “I don’t need a jet Bryce, I will just buy myself a plane ticket and go home. And your driver doesn’t have to get me anything I will go back to my apartment to pack.”

  “Vicky, you are taking the jet, trust me you will get there faster and you won’t need to deal with airport lines, but if you would like to pack I understand, my driver will be at your disposal and take you to the plane when you are ready. We just need to provide a takeoff time,” he explained. The truth was that I was so shaky I didn’t want to be alone, but I knew Bryce was a busy man. I’ve learned what I could and couldn’t expect from him.

  “I appreciate your generosity,” I said, standing from the couch and swiping my tears away.

  “Vicky, I am sorry,” he breathed out. He looked torn. “I have meetings this afternoon, I really do wish I could come with you and pay respects to the man that raised you. He did the job I was supposed to do, even though my gut tells me that you were probably better off,” he said, bowing his head to the ground.

  “Thank you for helping Bryce, don’t feel bad. I know you have a lot of responsibility. I can see how torn you are between choosing family and work. Tyson is like your family, and they depend on you too,” I replied, giving his shoulder a squeeze while trying to reassure him.

  “You’re a kind girl, Vicky. Your parents raised you well. I know you feel alone now, but I do want you to come back to New York. We still need to spend time together, and I hope to make more time in the future,” he said, giving me a sad grin. I understood in that moment what Luc meant about him being a good person. He was a good person, but his responsibilities to Tyson came first.

  As I thought of Luc, I knew he was busy but I needed him like I needed my own breath. I sent him a text.

  Hi, how are things with the Japanese?

  I didn’t want to deliver my bad news through a text message. I would wait for him to call, and then I would tell him that I needed him. The idea of wanting to lean on someone and depend on them made me feel vulnerable, but I needed him so badly because I was in danger of falling into a dark place. I knew he could keep me grounded. I made my way back out to the elevators and back to the second tower where I collected my things. I notified Sheila that I would be leaving and to notify the shuttle that I wasn’t going to the plant today. She looked sad and worried and my lack of an explanation probably didn’t help.

  Bryce’s driver took me back to the apartment. I went to my own apartment first, figuring I would pack my things then head up to Luc’s to get the rest of my belongings. As I opened the apartment door Nessa was in the kitchen wearing a pink tank top and short cut-offs. She was singing some tune on a high note while flipping pancakes. I almost wanted to laugh at the scene but I was overcome with sorrow.

  Her spatula fell out of her hand and her hand flew to her chest holding her heart. “Shit, Vicky, what are you doing home in the middle of the day? You just scared the living shit out of me,” she said with a scolding tone. When she noticed I was at a loss for words her own face paled. “What’s wrong? What happened? Talk to me right now,” she demanded, with her sassy voice and her hands on her waist.

  Without answering I walked over to the white leather couch at the center of the main room and fell back, my mental agony was draining everything out of me. “My papa died,” I finally managed to get out. Nessa’s hand flew to her mouth and she yelped. “Shit, that’s bad.” Her responses to things were sometimes unexpected because she tended to say exactly what she was thinking.

  “Yes….I have to go home and arrange things…I’m the only one….” In that moment I realized that I had to find my brother, Joe. He had been gone too long and it was time for him to return. Nessa threw her arms around my neck, but it didn’t console me. “I need to pack, Nessa,” I said patting her hand. She released me and I stood up. I felt spacey as I made my way to my room to pack. I also realized that I wasn’t fitting all my new clot
hes into my old duffle bag. With nothing to look forward to but a funeral in Thunder Bay, I realized that once things were taken care of I would return to New York. Luc and Bryce were here, and now even Nessa was staying here. I grabbed a small backpack I had in the closet and filled it with as many clothes as possible. I figured I still had some clothes back home in my closet, so I would make do.

  Before leaving my room, I checked my phone again to see if Luc had replied to my text message. There was still no response and I didn’t know what it meant. It was very unlike him not to get back to me. I wanted to drop by his apartment anyway to pick up some of my toiletries. If he didn’t respond by then I would call. As I walked back into the main room Nessa was still seated on the couch, twiddling her fingers and looking lost and sad. The smell of something burning immediately invaded my senses, and I quickly ran to the source of the smell to see what was wrong. “Shit, Nessa, you charcoaled the pancakes,” I said, quickly lifting the pan from the gas stove. Even the handle was burning hot and I dumped it into the sink. “Nessa,” I snapped again and she lifted her head and jumped to her feet.

  “Sorry, Vick, you really threw me off. I think I should go back to Thunder Bay with you,” she offered looking pale and distant.

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to, I will manage. I guess I usually do. You just started working at the deli, I don’t want you to jeopardize your job.”

  “I could always find another one if you need me.”

  “Thanks, Ness, I appreciate it but it’s okay. Bryce is flying me back to Thunder Bay on his jet. I will just grab my backpack and head up to Luc’s to grab a few things, and then I will leave. I should be back in New York right after the funeral.” I gave Nessa a hug and she squeezed me a little too hard. “I will keep you posted.” I patted her back hoping that she would release me from her vice grip. She looked as lost as I felt, and I knew why we were quite a pair.