The One of Many

by M. Jane Early

  She looked up at David. “When you left the party that first night and I saw you talking to Farren—it hurt my feelings.” She looked at me. “I thought maybe you liked her.”

  I glanced at David.

  She continued. “I sat at the party, waiting for you to come back, but when you didn’t, I went to the hotel bar. Nick was there. We drank and talked about work.” She looked down at her hands. “I told him how I felt about you and that I thought you were with Farren. I was angry because I knew things about you that would be bad for you and the company, but I kept it a secret because…I liked you.”

  “Gwen?” I asked, and she looked at me. “Did Nick hurt you? Did he force himself on you?”

  She shook her head. “No, no, he didn’t.”

  “Are you sure? Because if he did—”

  “Farren, no, it never went there.” She fiddled with her fingers. “But the more I drank, the more he started asking me questions about what I knew. At first, I brushed him off, but then he started talking about the two of you together and how he noticed the way David looked at you—it just made me angrier… So I told him about the money.”

  David ran his hand through his hair and then cupped it over his mouth. The room fell quiet.

  “He told me that if I helped him, he’d get me a spot in IT,” she said.

  “IT?” I questioned.

  She shrugged. “I hate accounting.”

  I exhaled and stood. My urge to pace returned.

  “What happened after that? When did he tell you what he was planning?” David asked.

  “When we got back from Mexico. He pulled me into his office and said that he needed a favor. He told me what he wanted me to do. I was to give him all the copies of the financial records that showed the transactions to the offshore accounts. Then he told me he had a video of you two in the pool.” She said the last word like it stung. “He said he would force Farren out so I could try to make you see I was better for you. If she wouldn’t leave, he would threaten her with releasing the financial stuff.” She stopped and glanced at me. “He said it was just a threat, he’d never really use them.” She cried again. “After I gave them to him, he said he wanted the director position, maybe even get the board to throw you out so there wouldn’t be anyone in his way.”

  David leaned against the window, his hands in his pockets, watching her as she continued. “I told Nick I couldn’t let him do that to you.” She looked at the floor. “He said if I didn’t…” She paused and took in a shaky breath. “He said he would release the photos and text messages I sent to him last year.” She hung her head and put her face in her hands.

  David and I looked at each other, then I turned to her. “What photos, Gwen?”

  She didn’t answer me as her shoulders shook from crying.

  David walked over and kneeled in front of her again. He pulled her into him and hugged her while she cried on his shoulder. When her breathing stabilized, she pulled back from him and wiped her face.

  I joined David, and we sat on the edge of the conference table in front of her.

  She looked up at me. “Last year Nick and I made out at one of the company parties. He said he really liked me and flirted with me all the time. One night when we were texting, I sent him some photos.” She wiped her nose with her sleeve. “He and I are friends on social media. He said he would post them there too and tag me so all my friends and family would see it.”

  I brought my hand up to my face and ran it from my forehead to my chin. This was bad. My mind raced while I got up and paced the room again. I thought about what all this meant. Nick owned an incriminating video of me, proof that David was trying to cover up what his father had done with company money, and text messages and photos from Gwen that might ruin her career and reputation.

  As much as we disliked each other, Gwen didn’t deserve to get ridiculed for privately sending messages and photos to Nick. But I knew how this would all go. Men could be playboys. They could get head from a girl in the office and never even get written up for it. Women, however, would be labeled sluts from one photo or salacious text message.

  If I stayed and Nick released my video, he’d have to release Gwen’s photos too. We’d be called whatever derogatory term for a whore was popular, to a point where we’d quit because of the side-looks and comments. We’d never know if they were giving us a promotion or raise without being expected to give something back. Not to mention how the rumors would start over again if we advanced.

  “Who’d you sleep with this time?” I cringed at the question, even just in my head.

  What Nick had on Gwen and me was bad, but it was nothing compared to David getting fired or, worse, going to jail for helping to protect his father.

  David had walked to the end table at the other side of the room to get Gwen a tissue. Once he handed it to her, he looked at me.

  “Farren, what is it?” he asked. Gwen looked at me too.

  My chest rose and fell noticeably. My forehead creased the more I realized there was no other answer.

  “I have to leave,” I whispered.

  “No,” David said forcefully.

  “I have to, David. I don’t have a choice,” I said, despondent.

  “Absolutely not,” he cautioned. He walked around the table towards me.

  “It’s the only way Gwen and I don’t get thrown to the wolves. If he releases my video and her photos, we’d both have to quit anyway. And if he releases those records, this company will never recover. You’d never recover.”

  “Farren—” He laid his hand on my neck to grab my attention.

  I ignored him. “They’d crucify me for sleeping with the boss, you for illegally covering up your father’s doing. Do you realize what this would do to us?”

  “What?” Gwen blurted. “You slept with him?”

  I took a deep breath and glanced at her.

  David turned to her too. “We’re together, Gwen.”

  Her mouth fell open. Her breathing increased as the anger slowly spread across her face. “It was true? That’s why you didn’t like me? Because of her?”

  “Gwen, now is not the time.” David turned back to me. “But yes,” he said. He met my eyes and put his other hand on my waist.

  She scoffed and flopped back in her chair, crossing her arms.

  “David,” our chests touched, “there’s no other way out of this. I can make this go away for all of us.”

  His eyes bore into mine. “I won’t let you quit because of him.”

  I shook my head. “I’ll get another job.”

  “No,” he admonished.

  “David—”

  “You can’t leave.” The desperation in his voice and wrath in his face was agonizing.

  “Just because I’m not here doesn’t mean we can’t be together,” I whispered. I put my hand on his neck, caressing the stubble on his face with my thumb.

  He focused on my lips instead of meeting my eyes. “I can’t lose you,” he whispered.

  “You won’t.” I tried to answer him as confidently as I could.

  He swallowed. “What if you resent me?” His voice was small.

  I shook my head. “Why would I?”

  His eyes pleaded. “For kissing you in that pool in Mexico. For putting a job you worked so hard for in jeopardy because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Because I took what I wanted without even considering how it would affect you.” He turned away.

  “Hey.” I put the other hand on his face and made him look at me again. “You didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to do. This isn’t your fault. I will never blame you.”

  His jaw locked and his brows pulled together. This wasn’t about me or this situation. Something was pulling him to a place of torment from his past. I hated the way it made him feel.

  I reached up and kissed him softly.

  “Get. A. Room,” we heard from the other side of the table.

  I pulled back and looked at Gwen, who stared at us with a pronounced pout.
<
br />   I exhaled and turned back to David. “Listen, if you have another plan, I’m all ears. I just don’t see any other way out of this.”

  David ran his hand through his soft hair. “We need to get everything that Nick has on us. That’s the only way we take away his power,” he said, stepping from me and placing his hands on his hips.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Yeah, but how? You know he’s made copies, and they could be on the cloud or a dozen different places by now.”

  Gwen snorted.

  I turned to her. “What?”

  She leaned forward. “Farren, Nick’s a technological idiot.”

  I gave her a confused look.

  She rolled her eyes. “He couldn’t set up his email when he first started. You should see his inbox, it’s a mess. There are no other folders besides the main inbox, and it’s got at least ten thousand emails. He made me set up his ancient phone when we got them a thousand years ago.” She glared at David.

  “I know, I know,” he muttered.

  Thinking on it, I had never seen Nick use another device besides his company phone and laptop. He had a desktop, but I hardly ever saw it on.

  I walked towards her. “Gwen, where did you send the photos and text messages?”

  “His number.”

  “Which number?” I pushed.

  “The one here.”

  I furrowed my brow. “But he has another personal phone, right?”

  “He has a flip phone,” she said, annoyed.

  I inadvertently leaned back as I gave her a ‘you’re kidding’ look.

  “Yes, he has a burner phone you use for mistresses and drug deals.” She shook her head. “He barely knows what to do with his old company smartphone. The fact that he knows how to work the camera amazes me.”

  I sat on the table next to her. “How is that possible? He knows how to use Google, right? You said he had social media.”

  She grimaced. “He only uses Facebook, and I set that up. Every time he has a question about how to do anything, he asks me. Just last week, he made me back up his phone to his computer.” She tapped her fingernails on the table.

  I tilted my head. “His home computer?”

  “No, the laptop here.” She shrugged. “He doesn’t have a home computer.”

  I faked a shiver. “The amount of porn on that thing must be disturbing.”

  Gwen raised her brows. “I’m sure he’s still using DVDs and VHS tapes, Farren,” she said sarcastically.

  “Wait,” David said and came next to me. “You’re telling us he doesn’t know what the hell the cloud even is and doesn’t have a personal computer?”

  Gwen gave a small shrug and nodded. “Basically.”

  He turned to me. “We need to get his laptop and phone and delete the evidence. All of it.”

  My shoulders slumped. “Do you think he’s just going to give them to us?” I asked.

  A smirk appeared. “It’s company property, he’ll have to give it up.”

  I scratched the back of my head, aggravated. “David, he’s trying to blackmail us. I’m sure he has a backup plan.”

  “But what if he doesn’t?” His smirk deepened.

  I paused and watched him. “Are you willing to take that chance?”

  He nodded.

  I exhaled and walked around to him to work this through. “Gwen, you said you backed up his phone the other day, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That means there’s two copies of the video and your texts. One on the phone and one on the computer.” I stopped and watched David walk to me. “Trying to take them out from under his nose is way too Mission: Impossible right now.”

  “There’s three of us. I’m sure we could get it done without falling from the ceiling.” David’s face relaxed a little.

  Gwen answered, “Nick barely takes bathroom breaks. He eats his lunch in his office. How would we get to them?”

  I chewed on my lip as I walked around the table to the windows and stared out into the city, looking at the pier in the distance. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the neon sign that hovered above the ice cream shop Jeremy had taken me to the night of our date. He had rainbow sorbet, and I had chocolate chip. Then it hit me.

  I turned to David and Gwen. “I got it.”

  Twenty Three

  The following morning, David and I went to the eighth floor.

  “Jeremy?” I said and walked into his cubicle with David close behind. Jeremy had a framed picture of his dog and two little girls in pigtails on his desk. They must have been his nieces he had told me about on our date. There were pictures of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and LeBron James pinned on the short, gray, fabric-covered walls.

  “Hey, Farren.” He looked past me and stood. “Mr. Powers?” He extended his hand. “Jeremy Peterson.”

  “Pleasure.” David shook it.

  Jeremy looked between the two of us. “So… What can I do for the CEO?”

  I exhaled. “I was wondering if you can get into someone’s work computer?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We, um,” I glanced at David. “There’s an issue with Nick Dumas we need help with.”

  “What did he do?” Jeremy pulled his brows together.

  “Without getting into personal details,” David leaned closer, “we believe Mr. Dumas has some…information on his computer that is somewhat disturbing.”

  I interrupted. “We can’t really give any more detail than that. You understand.” I inched closer. “We’d rather handle this internally, if possible. There’s enough going on with the company. We’re trying to rebuild Imperium—we don’t need another distraction.”

  “I get it.” Jeremy exhaled out of his nose and put his hands in his pockets, his face troubled. “How can I help?”

  “Is there a way to get into Nick’s work computer? Without him knowing?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we’ve set up remote access on all computers in the building.”

  David stood behind me, then leaned forward. “Doesn’t he get an email saying you’re working on his machine automatically?”

  “Well, yeah. We had to set that up so the employees didn’t feel like we were spying on them.”

  “Can we disable it?” David asked.

  “No, I can’t do anything about that.”

  I chewed on my lip.

  Jeremy looked up. “But I can send him a message letting him know I’m updating his operating system remotely.”

  “Yes!” I said. “Make it as technical as possible so he doesn’t know what the hell you’re talking about, okay?”

  “Yeah, you got it. What am I looking for?”

  “We need you to wipe his hard drive,” David said, his body rigid behind me.

  Jeremy considered for a moment, then answered, “Yeah, that’s no problem.”

  “How long will it take?” I asked.

  “Right now, the server I need is running maintenance, but that shouldn’t take more than a few hours.” He looked between David and me as he spoke. “Once that’s back up, I can do it in about fifteen minutes.”

  I finally felt some relief. “Perfect. Can you text me when you’re in?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, absolutely.”

  I grabbed Jeremy and hugged him. “I owe you.”

  He pulled back and gave a smirk. “Ice cream?”

  I laughed.

  Jeremy looked at David, and his face fell. “Or something else.”

  I glanced at David, who had a clenched jaw and narrowed eyes directed at Jeremy.

  I blocked David’s glare as I turned back to Jeremy. “We’ll talk. Thank you so much.”

  Jeremy nodded once and swallowed.

  I pulled David by his jacket to the elevators. I pressed the UP button, then made him face me. “Seriously?”

  He looked to the floor, then to me. “Sorry.” His smirk appeared. “I’m not exactly used to being jealous.”

  I furrowed my brow. “Jealous of what?”

  He
hooked my pinky finger with his. “He got to take you out before I did.”

  I laid my other hand on his chest. “Not true. The taco stand.”

  He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “That wasn’t a date.”

  I shrugged one shoulder. “I thought it was.”

  “That’s not what you said,” he challenged.

  I smiled. “I lied,” I whispered.

  He smiled and looked away. When his eyes found mine again, we stared at each other until I could feel my heart race. The green around his irises glowed and took my breath away. He stepped closer, raking his bottom lip between his teeth. I took a step back and darted my eyes to the side, well aware we were in the office and people were around. I shook my head slightly.

  “What?” he mouthed.

  “Not here,” I mimed back.

  The ding from the elevator grabbed our attention, and the doors slid open with no one inside. David looked at me again, then grabbed my hand and pulled me past the doors. He pushed me to the side of the car near the control panel, hiding us behind the small wall. He pushed the button to the top floor, then leaned his hands on both sides of my head. The intensity of his stare both excited and scared me. I didn’t want anyone to know about us still, but I wanted to taste him even more. His chest rose and fell as he waited for the doors to close.

  Once they did, he leaned his entire body into me, crushing his mouth against mine. His tongue forced my lips open more as his hands traveled to my breasts through my button-down white shirt. I prayed for the elevator to stop due to some mechanical error so we could fill the car with our clothes, then our moans. I felt his rock-hard arms through his jacket. His hands went to my ass and squeezed, and I sighed in his mouth. His erection pushed against the apex of my legs, causing me to giggle.

  A noise from the top of the elevator indicated we had reached our destination. David moved away from me, waiting to see if any passengers were coming on. Feeling like the sexiest tornado in history had picked me up for a ride and then dumped me on the ground, I tried to straighten my clothes and smooth out my hair. When the doors closed again with no intrusion from anyone, David came over and stood in front of me.

  His mouth pulled up at one side. His eyes danced. “Ever have sex in a broom closet?”