by Dale Cadeau
“You did nothing wrong. I just had to work out some things on my own, and had to be alone. I’m sorry if I was abrupt, but being in this chair really limits what I can do. I was feeling trapped, that I just couldn’t get up and just leave. I think it would be best that we have our meeting at my house. That is if you’re still interested?”
“Oh I’m interested. If it makes you feel more secure, being in your own house, I agree that we should stay here. Can you tell me what you had to think of so hard, that you left in a hurry? I thought it was something I had done, or something you didn’t like.”
“Look, Brad…” Raven reached out and placed one of her hands on top of his on the chair’s handle. “I can’t talk about it right now. That’s why I was gone today and my brother brought me back.” Raven yawned.
“Can we take this back up in the morning? Sorry, but it is the middle of the night and I’m exhausted.”
Brad could see the black rings under her eyes and felt like a fool for pushing her. If he had been thinking straight, he would have waited until the morning to come and see her. Straightening up, he put his hand out and brushed her cheek,
“As long as you promise, that come morning, I will be still welcome.”
Raven blushed a little as she looked in Brad sincere eyes. “You’re more than welcome anytime.”
“Okay.” Brad turned and walked to the door with Raven following him. “Lock up and get some sleep. I will be here around ten, is that okay?”
“Sure.” Raven closed the door behind him and made her way back to bed. Her mind was racing with all the things that she had been told today by her doctor and her brother. Not that she put much stock in what her brother said, he always harped on the same thing, her going into assisted living. Pulling herself onto the bed, she swung her legs up and pulled the covers over herself.
What Brad must have thought of her, rushing to get away from him last night? She had let her hopes build up too much and today they just came crashing back down. When she had first realized that she had moved her legs while Brad was making love to her, she thought that this was the big breakthrough that the doctors had talked about. But today her doctor had told her it was probably just her imagination. She was probably so caught up in making love, it being the first time she had attempted to get close to someone since the accident, that her mind had played tricks on her.
She was so disappointed that she called her brother, instead of Brad or the wheel trans. Her brother picked her up and backed up everything the doctor had told her. He was a little blunter, telling her that she would probably always need her chair and not to get so worked up about it, it was bad for her health. She listened to him drone on and on about how she needed full-time help and would be safer in a home. Raven was about ready to pull her hair out by the time he pulled into her driveway, and she thanked him and exaggerated her tiredness, so he left shortly after.
The next morning when Brad made his way over, he noticed that Raven was looking a little depressed. She still wouldn’t allow him to bring up the subject of her day with the doctor and her brother. So Brad knew that it was off the table when she rejected his questions. If he wanted to keep seeing her, he had to let the subject drop for now. She still went jogging with him and to the gym for her biweekly sessions, but kept her distance from anything other than the most casual contact with him. Her brother still came after every gym session and checked out her chair like clockwork. Brad told him he could take over the maintenance of the chair, but he just shrugged it off and said he liked doing things for his sister and not to worry about it.
Chapter Twelve
After about a month of continuing with the same routine, of Raven friendly but still distant toward him, Brad was at his wit’s end. He had started back to work and even the guys were staring to see that all was not well in his life. The meeting he was on his way to today was an update on Gabe and Tony’s job in California. They had spent over a month there working as security guards and this was the first break that they had to fly back and update the team personally.
Walking into the office, Madge was sitting at the front desk. She looked up as he passed her, but she only nodded with a tight lipped look on her face and continued with her work. Brad and Madge had come to an understanding. She ignored him and he let her. He could feel her eyes follow him all the way to the conference room. It always made him feel like he was in the wrong place.
The office room was a hive of activity, as the guys were grabbing coffee and slapping each other on their back and talking a mile a minute. Clay was also smiling as he talked and laughed with James and Angel. Brad walked over to his usual chair and flopped down in it. James, Clay, and Angel stopped their conversation and looked down that table at him.
“What’s up? You look like you have a world of problems on your shoulders,” James asked, taking his seat.
All the guys had quieted down now and had taken their seats. Brad felt like he was in a fishbowl, as they all turned and looked at him.
“Nothing I can’t handle. Clay, when did you get back?” Brad asked, diverting the conversation away from himself.
“Just this morning. I can’t tell you guys what it’s like being married.” Clay gave a sly grin as he made the statement.
“I would recommend it to everyone.”
James almost spit into his coffee and he listen to Clay. “You’re still wearing your rose-colored glasses that you picked up on your honeymoon. Wait until the little lady starts making demands. I know with Avery, life is never dull. I hope you can hold onto that feeling for a while. Tell him I’m right, Angel.” James turned to Angel.
“Leave me out of it James. I love my wife, and that’s all I’m going to say.” Angel lounged back in his chair.
“You’re just scared something will get back to Cyn, aren’t you?” James asked him with a grin.
“That’s right. Clay here might tell Laura and then it gets back to the girls and well…I love my wife.” Angel took a sip of his coffee and gave everyone at the table a stare with his black eyes. All the guys at the table burst out laughing, especially when Clay started to defend himself against him being a tattletale.
James took the conversation back. “You know, Clay, when you go home Laura is going to ask you what our meeting was about. And what are you going to say? You can’t tell her about our jobs that we are working on at the moment, so it will get around to small talk and Laura will find out.”
“How do you keep from telling Avery everything? If you’re so smart, maybe you should let us in on your secrets.” Clay grinned at James.
“Well I guess me being the one with the most experience, that the least I can do is help.” James put his coffee cup on the table in front of him, putting his elbows on the table, and grasped his hands together. Taking a look around at the men at the table now, all quiet and waiting for his wisdom, he leaned forward and said, “When I get home before Avery can ask me anything. I take her in my arms and kiss the stuffing out of her. By the time she comes up for breath, she usually has forgotten her questions and is thinking of other things. Well after fulfilling my duties as a married man, it is usually hours before she asks again. I tell her that we discussed everything while we were making love. And then I ask her if doesn’t she remember? Usually she doesn’t want to admit that my lovemaking scrambles her brain, so she agrees. And that’s it, men.” James sat back, putting his hands behind his head, lazing back in his chair, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“That’s bullshit!” Clay said coming out of his seat.
Angel said with a laugh, “Sure, James.”
Brad and Grant just looked on and grinned. Gabriel and Tony just sat back, stunned at the conversation taking place. They weren’t used to the James that liked to pull every ones leg. James had always been serious with them, but if they stayed around they would get used to his wicked sense of humor.
“Okay. Clay, sit down. There is no way to not tell them, so just make sure you always put us all in a good light
when you tell her. Leave all the bits that might get her upset out. You have to keep your wife happy, you just have to learn to edit what you say.” James moved from his slouch and picked his coffee cup back up and laughed at Clay’s expression.
James sobered his expression as he told Gabe and Tony, “Sorry about that, but I couldn’t resist. Clay was always razzing Angel and me about our woman and now he’s found he’s just like the rest of us. This is sort of his initiation into the group. But let’s get back to what we are really here for.”
“You said you were having some trouble?”
Gabe turned to Tony and at his nod, Gabe spread a folder on the table in front of him. Opening it, he took picture out and slid it down the table to James.
“That’s our charge coming out of a night club.” He handed other pictures to the others at the table The picture show a very curvy redhead walking out of a club, her hands holding the arms of Gabe and Tony as she laughing up at them.
Brad looked at the picture and then at Gabe, “This looks like Willow Grant? Except for her red hair.”
“You got it,” Gabe replied. “That’s her.”
“So what’s the problem? I can’t see any. Working with a beautiful woman and going to clubs. Any of us would like a job like this.” James held the picture in his hand and scanned the table, as the men, with the exception of Gabe and Tony, nodded agreement with him.
Tony ran a hand through his hair and reached a hand out and took the last picture and stared at it. “You would think so, wouldn’t you? That’s what we thought, when we first got the assignment from you. But that picture is deceiving. She is smiling and laughing in it, but that was just for the camera’s waiting outside the club for her. Underneath that smile, she is seething. We got to the car and before we had time to pull away, she was yelling at us. I don’t think we can carry on with this assignment. The lady is a first-class diva.”
Gabe looked at Tony. “I would have said a first-class bitch.”
“No way,” Grant piped up. “I’ve watched every movie that she made. She always comes across as a sweet and innocent girl. You guys have to be doing something wrong.”
When all the men at the table, started putting in their two cents, James held up his hand.
“Wait a minute, guys. Let them explain. And Grant, your infatuation is showing.”
Grant just pushed his glasses back up on his nose and gave a glare at Gabe and Tony.
“Well you have to admit, that is a good-looking woman. Anyone would be proud to have her by their side.”
“Well, you take the assignment,” Tony said and flung the picture at Grant.
Clay stood up and glared at all of them, putting his outstretched hands flatly on the table in front of him. “You’re acting like Chase. I know you haven’t met him, but for god shakes, all of you grow up. This is a job. We just can’t pass them off to each other, we have to find out what the problem is and solve it. We have been doing this job long enough, that we all know that a book sometimes isn’t as good as its cover. So pipe down and let them have a chance to talk.”
Everyone in the room quieted down, even the new guys. When Clay gave a certain look, you could tell to dismiss it would be your own peril.
Tony cleared his throat. “Yes, well I guess that was a bit much, but you have to meet the lady to know what we’re going through. From what Gabe and I could find out, the lady doesn’t need security guards. There doesn’t seem to be any danger or staking issues. We have come to the conclusion that the lady just wants an escort service. We are always on standby to take her places. She treats us like servants. I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but this is not what I signed up for. The money might be good but we’re wasting our time and talent on a job like this one.”
“Well I think you came back at the right time. I received an e-mail this morning from Willow Grant. She told me your services were no longer needed and a wire appeared in our account paying the full amount. So you both are off the hook with this job.” As James told them this, he noticed that they didn’t seem as excited as they should be at being left off their leashes with Willow Grant.
Well, well, that’s interesting, James said thoughtfully to himself.
“Thanks. Great,” both Gabe and Tony replied at once.
“Let’s get down to other business.” James pulled a folder from the pile stacked beside him.
“We have a few jobs coming up. This one is to guard a jewelry display, taking place in a large hotel, two weeks from now.
Brad listened to James discuss the business with only a passing interest. His mind started wandering, thinking about Raven’s and his relationship. Would she ever tell him what was wrong? She seemed to not be able to come out of a depression that started the night that he had made love to her. Whenever he brought up the problem, she changed the subject. He knew in her present mind that he couldn’t push her, she would do away with him. Everyone, even Mary, could not get her mindset changed. That brother of hers just made the matter worse, with his smug attitude of the situation and Raven was buying all of the crap he was spewing. The spunky girl that he had first met was turning into only a shadow of her former self. He knew she wasn’t writing, that was another subject that was closed to him. He was at his wit’s end on what to do to snap her out of her mindset. Brad became aware of the silence in the room and looked up and around at the others sitting at the table.
“Okay, Brad, time to fess up. I know that I can be boring at times. But I just gave you a job, digging ditches out in the Sahara, and you accepted it with a nod,” James said, looking directly at him.
Brad flushed a little as he heard James out. He couldn’t believe that he was letting his personal life distract him from his job. He was slipping and being a sniper, he had learned long ago that you had to pay attention to everything, even the small stuff, your life could depend on you seeing the whole picture sometimes.
“Sorry.” Brad sat up from his slouch in his chair. “I guess it’s bothering me more than what I thought.”
James sat back and sipped from his now cold coffee, “Well, you might as well unload, here and now. If the girls see you in this mood, they will weasel it out of you, then they’ll come to us expecting us to fix it. You’re part of the family we have created together. I for one would like to hear the untarnished version of what is going on from you. The girls will no doubt put a twist on it, and the next thing we will hear is that you’re at death’s door from a broken heart.”
Brad wiped his face with his hands. “Are you sure? I don’t want to be accused of sounding like an old gossip, you know that Clay hates that.”
“Clay won’t say anything. I’m sure he remembers how we helped with his situation.”
“And don’t forget that I told you payback was a bitch,” Clay interjected.
“But if Brad needs help, I’m all for giving him the Braden Security special. I think I would like being on the other side this time.”
Brad put his hands on top of the table and grasped them together tightly. “You all know I’ve been seeing Raven for the last few months. She’s the woman that lives across from street from me. Grant checked her out along with the rest of the people on my block when we had to stay at my place. The check came back clean. Raven is a writer and mostly housebound in a wheelchair. She told me that she hasn’t been able to move her legs since she woke up in the hospital after being in the car accident with her folks. Her folks were killed instantly and she ended up paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors call her condition conversion disorder.”
“Isn’t that when the doctors think it’s the mental disorder because they can’t find any physical reasons for her condition? It’s mostly brought on by a stressful situation or event. I had a friend that dealt with the same condition,” Gabe asked.
“Yes, and she thinks it’s a load of bull that the doctors are feeding her. Everything seemed to be going great between us, until we took things a little further one night at my house. I’m sure that she mov
ed her legs while…well you know. Anyway, right after, she couldn’t wait to get back to her place and away from me. The next day she disappeared and her brother brought her back late at night. Since then, she has withdrawn into herself and is paying more credence to what her brother is spewing. I think something happened that day to depress her and squash her hopes. She’s not writing and I have a hard time convincing her to go anyplace. The one place we agree on is the gym every week.”
“God, that’s hard, man,” Angel said.
“So you think this has something to do with her moving her legs on her own while you were going at it?” Clay asked.
“Yes, it seems to lead there. I think whatever she was told that day by her brother or the doctors really did a job on her.”
“Maybe what she needs is more distraction to get out of her mindset. We’ll do anything to help,” Grant added.
James put his empty cup on the table. “Here’s what I think we should do. First we have to meet her and get to know her better. Maybe a barbecue some night with all of us and the girls? It would be good to meet this brother of hers also. He sounds like a piece of work. Grant didn’t you do some digging on the brother when we were at Brad’s house?”
“Yes, I did. He’s the normal slick politician, as I told you. But nothing came up that was unusual, he lives beyond his means, but so does half the population.”
“So when can we arrange a meeting and at a time when the brother will be around?”
“Tomorrow we are going to our gym workout in the late afternoon, her brother always come shortly after we get back. That would probably be the best time to see them both together.”
“Okay tomorrow it is, around, say, six p.m. I will get Avery gathering what we need. Can all of you make it?” He looked around the table.