~*~
Alicia watched as the number changed on the clock on her car stereo. 7:58. She knew she needed to go in. Missing work after being there for less than two months wasn’t a good thing, but could she handle the questions that were sure to come her way?
She reached up to touch her cheek, wincing when her fingertips came in contact with swollen flesh. Would telling them that it could have been so much worse make it better? Somehow, she doubted it would. She had spent the hours since the California incident trying to come up with a plausible story that hopefully Marcus—first and foremost—and the others in the office would buy.
Just one more lie to add to the others.
With a sigh, Alicia pushed open her door and then got her laptop bag and purse out of the backseat of her car. She slowly—and painfully—made her way to the front door and gave a quick wave to the security guys, keeping her face averted as she went to the elevator.
Once she reached the admin floor, she noticed that the seat behind Kelsey’s desk was vacant, although it did look like she was in. Alicia hurried past it, grateful for every possible meeting that was being postponed. When she got to her desk, she sank down on her chair and carefully leaned over to put her purse in the bottom drawer. As she straightened up, she found she had to keep her breathing shallow until the pain in her ribs subsided enough to allow her breath normally. Trying to ignore it, she leaned forward and turned on her monitors.
Her heart was pounding so hard as each minute that clicked by brought her closer to coming face to face with Marcus. She took a couple of deep breaths as she tried to focus. Normally, she would have gotten up and said good morning to Marcus, but obviously today she was going to have to wait for him to come to her.
Although, if she had nothing to hide about the attack, then she wouldn’t be trying to avoid seeing him, right? With that in mind, Alicia pushed back from the desk and stood, rubbing her damp palms along her hips. She lifted her chin and walked toward the open door of Marcus’s office. It was somewhat anti-climactic to find the office empty. Relief rushed through her, however, and she quickly returned to her desk, determined to be hard at work when Marcus returned from the meeting she now remembered that he had scheduled for that morning.
~*~
“Thanks for all the info, Marcus,” one of the men said as the meeting ended.
They all shook hands then Alex led the way out. Anxious to get back to his office and see if Alicia had shown up, Marcus let Alex take care of walking the men to the elevator. As he made his way down the hallway, he spotted Alicia sitting at her desk. If anyone ever asked him about the huge sense of relief he felt at seeing her there, he would deny it. He was having a hard enough time coming to terms with it himself.
“Good morning, Alicia,” Marcus said as he approached the desk. When she looked up and smiled, Marcus’s heart just about stopped. “What on earth happened to you?”
Alicia’s smile faded as she touched the side of her face. Though all Marcus could see was the swelling that puffed out one side of her face and into her eye, he had no doubt that there was some severe discoloration under her makeup.
“Kind of had a run-in with a drunk fist,” Alicia said, a rueful tone to her words. “I guess I need to learn to duck a little quicker.”
Marcus stared at Alicia, trying to figure out if he believed her story or not. There wasn’t anything specific about it that made him think that perhaps she wasn’t telling the truth, but there was just something there that seemed off. “Are you okay? It looks painful.”
Alicia shrugged. “It happened on Saturday and hurt the worst yesterday. They said the coloring will get worse before it gets better but at least I can cover that up with makeup.”
“They? Did you go see a doctor?”
She paused, her brows drawing together. “I did. The people who were then when it happened insisted I get checked out.”
“And they said you were okay?” Marcus fought the urge to reach out and touch the swollen side of Alicia’s face. “You weren’t knocked out, were you?”
Another hesitation. “Well, yes, actually, I was. They called an ambulance.”
“Good. You can never mess around with any kind of hit to the head. I guess they cleared you to travel?” Marcus was getting a little tired of the pauses before Alicia answered. “They didn’t clear you?”
Alicia sighed. “I had a ticket already booked to come back. I figured I could go to the doctor here. They told me what to watch for.”
Marcus wanted to ask more questions about what had gone on, but he was starting to think he wasn’t going to get any honest answers from her. At the very least, she wasn’t giving him all the details. “Are you still moving to the house tonight?”
“Do you really think it’s necessary?” she asked.
“Nothing has changed since Friday. We still don’t know who is behind everything. Unless you’ve moved into someplace with better security since we last talked, I think it’s best that you move to the house.”
Alicia nodded. “I’ll get my stuff after work and come over.”
Marcus felt another sense of relief when she agreed. It wasn’t like he could have forced her to move. Though he might have tried, and if that had failed, he might have put a bug in Eric’s ear. Thankfully, it hadn’t come to that.
“Meredith will be happy to hear that. She’s been asking me about what you like to eat.” A corner of Marcus’s mouth quirked up. “Not sure why she thinks I’d know.”
“Lucky for her, I’m not very picky.”
Marcus straightened to head for his office then glanced down at Alicia. Something crossed her face, and he paused. “Alicia, if you don’t live somewhere safe and really don’t want to come to our house, you can move to a hotel. I will cover the cost.”
When she hesitated yet again, Marcus wanted to shake her. Why did she have to be so closed off? He wanted to be able to read her like he read most of the people he came in contact with. Every time she hesitated, Marcus wanted to have a glimpse into her mind so that he could know what it was that kept making her pause.
“Think it over,” Marcus said. “Just let me know if I need to book a suite for you.”
Alicia nodded. “I will.”
As he returned to his office, Marcus pulled his phone out to check for any messages that might have come in during his meeting. He sank down into his chair, noticing that he had five text messages. All from Meredith. Not too surprising, considering how she hoped things would go with Alicia.
Meredith: Have you talked to Alicia yet?
Meredith: Did she say that she’s coming tonight?
Meredith: I still don’t know what to make for dinner. Can you ask her what she likes?
Meredith: Can you call me as soon as you talk to her?
Meredith: Have you talked to her yet?
Marcus sighed and tapped the screen to call her.
“Have you talked to her?” Meredith asked without even greeting him.
“Yes, I did, but it’s not for sure that she’s going to move into the house.”
“But I thought you said she would be safest here.” Her voice dropped to a soft level. “You said she needed to be here. What happened?”
“Meri, sweetie, Alicia still has the right to make this decision on her own. I can’t force her to move into our home no matter how much you might want me to.”
“But if she won’t be safe at her home, why would she stay there?”
“I gave her the option of going to a hotel if she didn’t want to stay with us.”
There was a pause then Meredith said, “Why would you do that? I wanted her to stay here.”
Marcus sighed, loudly enough for Meredith to hear. “This is not about you, Meri. This is about what Alicia wants to do, and as long as she’s safe, it doesn’t matter where she is.”
“It does matter, though. I want her here.” There was a beat of silence before she said, “And I think you do too.”
While he prided himself on not letting s
tuff like that slip, if anyone could pick up on something like that, it would be Meredith. “It doesn’t matter what you and I want, Meri. It matters what Alicia wants. What is most comfortable for her.”
“Fine.” Though the word signified agreement, Meredith’s tone was pretty much the opposite.
He hoped that Alicia had never given Meredith her phone number or she was bound to start getting some subtle—or maybe not so subtle—texts. “Don’t bother Alicia, Meri.”
The slight pause before she said, “I won’t,” let him know she’d been considering it.
The reality was that even though Marcus did kind of want Alicia there because of how he felt, he also wanted her there for Meredith’s sake. His sister had never reacted to someone the way she had to Alicia. And he wanted that to continue on for Meredith’s sake. But he found himself giving equal, if not more, weight to how this might impact Alicia. As much as he wanted this for Meredith, he wanted Alicia to be happy and comfortable, and if that meant arranging a hotel room for her instead of having her come back to the house, then so be it.
“I need to get back to work, sweetie. I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything. Okay?”
Once she’d said goodbye, Marcus set his phone on his desk and turned his attention to his email. Until Alicia came to a decision, he couldn’t let himself become distracted by it all.
~*~
Alicia could hear the murmur of conversation coming from Marcus’s office. It wasn’t clear enough for her to know what Marcus was saying, but she had a feeling that he was talking to Meredith. Just from the tone of his voice. She was the only person that brought out that softer side of Marcus. Alicia knew that not every brother was that way with their sister, but no doubt their past had contributed to the dynamic of their relationship.
She tried to focus on the emails that had come in, but Alicia knew that at some point, she had to make a decision about where to stay. There was still a bit of doubt that she was at risk for anything in Minneapolis. After all, the person she’d been fearful of, and one of the reasons for leaving California originally, had found her and was now in jail facing assault charges…just like her mom. If another person staying at the motel hadn’t shown up and been able to stop the attack, who knows how much worse it would have been.
Living with Marcus and Meredith would make it a bit more difficult for her to keep her defenses up. Right now, when she went home at the end of the day, she could just be herself. She didn’t have to worry about slipping up or doing something that might raise suspicions. As it was, she wasn’t sure that Marcus had completely accepted her earlier explanation. And did he really want Meredith to see her with her face beat up?
“What on earth happened to you?”
12
Alicia hadn’t even realized that Eric had approached her desk. Apparently the swelling was even visible from the side. She repeated what she had told Marcus, but, like with his boss, Eric’s expression said that he didn’t completely buy her story.
“What kind of friends were you hanging out with that someone tried to punch you?” Eric’s voice rose by the end of his sentence.
“They weren’t trying to punch me.” Alicia fought to maintain eye contact. “They tried to punch the person in front of me. They ducked, I didn’t.”
“When did this happen?”
“Saturday. They kept me overnight at the hospital for observation.” After having so many lies roll off her tongue far too easily, she was glad to be able to tell the truth.
Eric’s expression turned hard. “And you didn’t think to call us?”
Tension increased in Alicia’s shoulders, but she willed herself not to show it. Eric would definitely pick up on that. She hadn’t even considered calling them. First of all, she was used to dealing with stuff like that on her own. Secondly, she wouldn’t have wanted to explain where she’d been and why the police had gotten involved. Yeah, there had been no chance of her calling anyone.
“I didn’t think there was anything anyone here could do.” Truth yet again. Thankfully. “No sense in worrying people before I could get back and you could see I was okay.”
“One day, you’ll understand,” Eric said rather cryptically, but he didn’t expound on it. Instead, he nodded toward Marcus’s door. “Is he available?”
Alicia nodded. “He doesn’t have any more appointments today.”
With one last look at her face, Eric turned and headed into Marcus’s office. He shut the door behind him, leaving Alicia to wonder if he was going to talk to Marcus about her. Did Eric know that Marcus had offered Alicia a safer place to stay? He hadn’t said anything about it, and Alicia was pretty sure he would have if he’d known.
Well, she couldn’t control what they may or may not be discussing about her. Hopefully, they would keep personal discussions out of their conversations. She thought about the expression on Eric’s face when he realized she’d been in the hospital. Would she have felt comfortable calling him had the circumstances really been what she’d said? Would her first thought when she’d come around have been to phone Eric?
For the first time since starting, Alicia wondered if it might have been a mistake taking this job. Suddenly, her personal and professional lives were colliding. At her previous job, her bosses would have expressed concern, taken her word for what had happened and moved on. She had a feeling that wasn’t going to be the case here. Moving into Marcus and Meredith’s place would make things even worse.
Eric left Marcus’s office a short time later with a request for her to call him if she needed anything. Melanie Thorpe showed up mid-afternoon, and also, after expressing concern for Alicia’s face but not asking any questions, she went into a closed-door meeting with Marcus. When she came out a little while later, her expression was grim and so was Marcus’s.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” Marcus said. “Just take messages until I get back. Don’t forward any calls.”
Alicia nodded, wondering what was going on and if it had anything to do with Jeff being at Marcus’s place. She found it hard to believe that Marcus would want yet another person living in his home. He struck her as a fairly private person, and yet, he was opening his home to her. She still wasn’t sure what to do, and she didn’t really want to think too much about it.
When an alert sounded for a text, she stopped typing on her computer and stared at her phone for a moment before picking it up to read the message.
Meredith: You never told me what your favorite foods are. Do you like fried chicken?
Alicia smiled at Meredith’s not-so-subtle attempt to see if she was coming to the house. Obviously, if she decided to stay at the hotel, her favorite foods wouldn’t matter. She sat for a moment, suddenly feeling as if she needed to make a decision about where to stay right then.
Since Marcus had left her to consider her choices, Alicia had only let the options play in her mind briefly. She hadn’t allowed herself to really sit and think about it, but it felt as if was time to make a decision.
Before doing that—and before answering Meredith—Alicia finished up the email she’d been typing and then sat for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons. She said a little prayer, asking for a clear sign of what she should do. Making the wrong decision felt as if it would have long-lasting ramifications.
When her text alert went again, she couldn’t help smiling at Meredith’s impatience.
Unknown: Just wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about you. How was your trip to California? I trust your mother was doing well. Too bad you ran into a bit of trouble.
And just like that. Alicia knew what her decision was going to be. A hotel still allowed for too much access to her and with the reminder that she was in the sights of a crazy person, she knew she’d never feel safe.
Ignoring the text, she tapped back to her conversation with Meredith.
Alicia: Yes. I love fried chicken.
With slow movements, Alicia placed the phone face down on her desk. Another alert sounded just as
Marcus walked by her desk, his strides deliberate. She hated to interrupt him, but suddenly it was urgent that he know she’d made up her mind.
“Marcus,” she said, her voice bringing him to an immediate halt.
He swung around to look at her, concern on his face. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” And yet another lie. “I just wanted to let you know that I’d prefer to stay with you and Meredith.”
His brows rose as if her response was unexpected. “That’s good to hear.”
“As long as it’s okay that Meredith sees me like this.” Alicia waved to her face. “I don’t want to upset her by showing up with my face swollen.”
“It’s fine,” Marcus assured her. “I’ll just give her a head’s up on what happened, so she’ll know beforehand.”
“I need to go by my place after work to get my things.”
Marcus nodded. “Derek will let you in whenever you get to the house.”
“Thank you,” Alicia said. “I appreciate you opening your home to me in this way.”
“You’re welcome. And believe me, it benefits me too because Meredith has taken a shine to you, and she doesn’t have a lot of friends, to be honest.”
Alicia was actually relieved that the situation wasn’t all one-sided. Knowing that they would benefit from her presence as much as she would benefit from the security of their home was reassuring.
~*~
Marcus dropped down into the chair behind his desk. For a person who usually didn’t mind Mondays, he was definitely done with this one. Aside from Meredith, he rarely dealt with the personal issues of women. On this Monday, however, he was dealing with Meredith, Alicia and sadly, Kelsey. He was thankful that Melanie understood and agreed that it might be better if she spoke to Kelsey about what had happened with Jeff.
Normally, he didn’t shirk off his responsibilities, but both he and Melanie had felt that Kelsey would be more receptive to the news if it came from Melanie. If nothing else, she’d probably feel more comfortable being able to express her emotions if it was a woman with her. Especially Melanie. She had such a soothing personality which he supposed came from her profession as a psychologist.
A Sense of Security: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 6) Page 16