by Alexa Davis
I followed him back into the pristine executive office. As soon as I stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind me, and I jumped at the sound. Frank was completely unfazed and strode around to his seat at the desk. Quickly, I drew the flash drive from my satchel and handed it to him with a smile. He didn’t bother thanking me, which was unusual, and he plugged it into his computer.
“It should be right there under Project One,” I told him quietly, hoping that I sounded braver than I felt.
He pulled it up and started looking through the pictures. At first, his face was impassive, but the further into them he got, I could see his eyes begin to sparkle.
“Vanessa, these are wonderful!” Frank complimented. “These ones you took of chef are perfect. I’ll get them to the graphic designer right away and have them uploaded to the website.”
“Good, I’m glad you like them.”
“Very much,” he nodded eagerly. “I’ve got another assignment for you later on this week. Meghan will contact you with the details.”
“Great.”
He sat back in his chair with the hint of a smile and clicked his pen while looking at me. “So, how are things going with Adam?” he asked me casually.
“Oh… Things are good, I guess.”
“You’ll have to pardon my obtuseness; I’m not really sure what the nature of your relationship is,” he apologized. “Is he your boyfriend or…”
“Um, we live together,” I told him nervously. “But I’m not really sure what we are, to be honest.”
He nodded thoughtfully, pursing his lips into a line and said, “Well, I hope you figure it out. The boys and I at Men’s Club are curious about what he’s been up to nowadays.”
I smiled thinly. “I’m not sure. you’d have to ask him that yourself.”
Frank chuckled dryly. “Oh, I will. We’re a tight group of men, and it doesn’t sit well when one of us is keeping secrets.”
“Okay…”
“It might be nice if you reminded him that Men’s Club is a family, and we take care of one another.”
I frowned. “Mr. Howell, is something going on? I’m not really sure what you want me to say here.”
He shook his head and sighed, removing the flash drive from his computer and handing it back to me. “Hopefully, it’s nothing. I won’t keep you any longer; I’m sure you’ve got some other stuff to do.”
I nodded slowly and walked out of his office as fast as my feet would carry me. Something was obviously going on, but I didn’t know what. The warnings I’d received in the past about working for this company started screaming in my subconscious. Meghan smiled and tried to wave as I made it to the door, but I couldn’t stop because my heart was racing like a jackhammer.
It wasn’t until I made it to the car that I finally started to relax, turning the ignition and backing out of the parking space. I turned on the radio and pushed the meeting to the back of my mind so I wouldn’t think about it.
When I got home, I was feeling a little better and breathed out a tired sigh. I grabbed my bag off of the passenger seat and got out of the cab, walking over to unlock the door. The house was completely silent when I got inside.
Good, Adam must still be at work, I thought.
I sighed, setting my bag down on the kitchen table and getting a cup of water from the fridge. Bringing the cup with me, I wandered back into my room and started up my laptop. As the hard drive booted up, I sat back in my seat and took and swig of the ice-cold water.
Alright, let’s see what’s happening on Instagram.
I spent the next few minutes indulging in my social media accounts and updated my profile on Linked In with the new employment information. After that, I pulled up some old pictures from my portfolio and got a head start on some editing a few stragglers that needed to be cleaned up a bit.
While I was working, I got a message from my father telling me to check my email. Confused, I opened another tab and logged into Gmail and found an unread message waiting for me.
Dear, Vanessa,
I thought this could help with your business ventures. Feel free to edit or change anything you don’t like. :) Your mother and I are so proud of you.
Love,
Dad
Attached to it was a link to Vistaprint that pulled up a business card design for freelance photos. He’d clearly put a lot of time and love into designing it for me and put my name across the top in calligraphy. It was simple, but elegant: exactly what I needed to have for handing out to clients when I was on site.
I felt overwhelmed with emotion at the gesture and felt tears welling up behind my eyes. I immediately sent back a reply, thanking him for the lovely design, and let him know I’d be ordering a few hundred of them presently.
I went back into my bedroom and changed into some pajamas for maximum comfort and a fuzzy pair of bunny slippers. With a tired sigh, I came back out into the kitchen in search of something to eat. Thankfully, there were some microwavable meals tucked away in the freezer, so I pulled one out and got it cooking right away.
I didn’t know what was wrong with me lately; maybe I was getting sick. It just felt like everything on my insides was all twisted up in knots. I didn’t know what to do about Adam. I didn’t even know how I felt about Adam to begin with. In my head, I kept scolding myself that I was over-thinking things, but that just brought me back around full circle.
The microwave let out a loud electronic beep when the meal was ready, and I carefully pulled it out.
“Oh, ouch!” I complained at the heat and discomfort of picking up the package with my bare hands. That was stupid.
By the time I made it over to the table, I was almost crying. The emotional toll from the day, the conversation with my boss, and and my upset about the situation with having Adam as a roommate had me completely drained. Now, my fingers were burning, too.
I ate the meal in quiet and picked away at the caramelized apples for dessert before deciding to turn in early.
I heard the sound of the front door unlocking, and my heart skipped a beat, knowing Adam was finally home. Quickly, I shut off my phone and lay my head against the pillow with my back toward the door, pretending to be asleep. The covers were pulled up around my shoulders and waited silently for him to retire for the evening and know the coast was clear.
A moment later there was a gentle knocking on my door. “Vanessa?”
I didn’t answer.
The door creaked open, and a stream of light came streaming in from the hallway. He only paused there for a second, but it felt like an eternity. I heard him half chuckle at the sight of finding me asleep before he closed the door behind him.
Whew!
Part of me felt guilty for deceiving him and not talking to him about how I felt; it seemed childish. My heart just couldn’t handle seeing him right now. I wanted him so badly, and there was no good end to how that conversation would go. As the door clicked shut, I finally allowed myself to exhale.
Wuss.
Oh well; tomorrow is another day.
Chapter 25
Adam
Thursday
Walking up the steps to Jon Hansen’s office after arriving at work on Thursday was a struggle. The day already felt as though it were dragging through the mud. The atmosphere on the first floor was all a-buzz with whispers, and it only made me more anxious to get back on the case. The wooden stairs creaked beneath my weight as I clomped up the narrow stairwell. I got used to it after a while, accepting it as part of the quirks that came with working out of the historic buildings around town.
When I came to his doorway in the hall, it was already open, so I knocked on the frame and smiled. “Mr. Hansen?”
He looked up from his morning coffee at me and smiled. “Adam, good! I’m glad to see you. Come in and have a seat.”
I obliged, stepping into his office and pulling out one of the chairs. “Is this about the drug case?”
Jon nodded with a sigh and clicked the back of his pen decisively.
“Messinger picked up Brandon Fletcher last night.”
“Oh!” I acknowledged suddenly.
“We’re going to be talking to him tomorrow at the county prison. I just wanted to warn you ahead of time that he might try to play the bro-card with you and weasel out a plea deal. You mentioned earlier that you belong to the same fraternity, yes?”
“Yes, sir,” I confirmed. The skin between my eyebrows puckered, not sure where he was going with this.
“Is that going to be a problem?” he asked me seriously.
Alarmed, I sat up taller in my seat and asked him, “Sir?”
“I’m asking if your connection is going to make that difficult for you. I need someone in there I can count on.”
My face hardened with determination and said, “No problem here, sir. I think we should lock him up and throw away the key.”
Hansen nodded approvingly and seemed impressed with my decision. “I agree, we need to put this man away for as long as we can. Otherwise, he’ll get out and start this thing all over again. I don’t want him wriggling free on a technicality.”
“So, how do you want to work this? Are we asking for bail?”
“No bail,” he insisted flatly. I could see the wheels turning behind his calm brown eyes and knew he meant business. “Somehow or other, we’ve got to convince the judge against bail of any kind. I’m going to push for that really hard. He’s too well connected, and a flight risk. One slip up and we’ll have lost this case forever.”
“I agree.”
Jon sat back in his chair and smiled, kicking his leg up on the end of the desk. “Good. I want you to take the rest of the day, do some more research and make sure all our I’s are dotted and the T’s crossed. When we get there tomorrow, I want us both to know this case like the back of our hand.”
I nodded thoughtfully while swallowing the lump that was rising in my throat and responded, “Will do, sir.”
As I was getting up to leave, Jon stopped me in the doorway by calling out after me. “Adam?”
“Yes?”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry this took a difficult turn for you. I know it can’t be easy having it strike so close to home like that. I’m proud of you for being able to compartmentalize and put your personal feelings aside for the betterment of our community.”
I swallowed hard and nodded once again before walking out the door and back do to my office.
I spent the next few hours looking over all my notes, when and where everything was documented and the evidence that would be admissible in court. We had Patrick and Jeff, who each agreed to testify against Fletcher, and plenty of evidence to back it up. It was far from a slam dunk, but there was a decent chance that we could win the case But things could go either way during the trial.
As I was looking through things, my mind kept coming back to what Jon had mentioned earlier about Brandon using Men’s Club as a bargaining chip. I didn’t believe in that sort of unethical favoritism, and it made me uncomfortable that it had even been suggested.
Could he be right? I wondered. Is Brandon going to try and use the Men’s Club to try and guilt me into letting him off easy?
That made me angry to think about. I couldn’t stand the thought of him dragging me down with him and dirtying my good name all for the sake of a stupid group.
I’d just like to see him try that shit on me, I chuckled. It won’t work.
After I’d exhausted all the information available to us, I decided to head home early. The situation had me feeling uneasy inside, and I needed to get away from it as soon as possible. I folded up my laptop and notes, setting them safely in my briefcase, and headed for the door. On the way out, I grabbed my coat and waved goodbye to Leslie.
She glanced up from her desk a little confused and asked, “Taking a half day, sir?”
“Sure am, Les. Let me know if there are any messages that come in later on this afternoon. I’ll be working from home.
She nodded, “Of course.”
“Have a nice day, Les.”
Instead of waiting for a reply, I simply smiled and continued on my way out before anyone else could stop me. I slipped into my car, rolling my neck to relieve the tension building up inside.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
I drove home and picked some lunch up on the way. It was one of the small concessions I allowed myself when I was feeling down. Usually, I tried to avoid fast food and opted for a healthier option, but this was one of those days that I just didn’t care anymore. The streets were somewhat crowded with everyone else running out during their lunch hours, too, making their way less than carefully through the ice and snow. It was hardly more than slush at this point with the changing of the seasons, but the roads were filled with frozen dirty water that hadn’t made it to the runoff yet.
When I arrived at the apartment, I pulled into the parking space and cut the ignition, grabbing my things and then heading for the door.
It was completely silent when I got inside, so I breathed out in relief. I finished my lunch in no time and decided to take a shower. The heat from the water would relax me, and I could spend the rest of the afternoon unwinding. No more thinking about Men’s Club or Brandon Fletcher. No more worrying about Max and whether or not he was still mad at me about the other day. Just a little quiet and relaxation.
I walked back to the bathroom and flipped the faucet in the shower on. While it was heating up, I stripped off all my clothing and stepped into the welcome stream. The hot and steamy water did wonders for my back and shoulders, but the tension didn’t fully subside. I washed my body quickly with a little soap and then rinsed off. Grabbing a towel from the hook on the wall next to the shower door, I dried myself and then changed back into some flannel drawstring pants and a t-shirt. It might have been a little too early for pajamas, but I wasn’t in the mood for anything else.
I had just finished drying off my hair and made it out into the living room when I heard some rustling at the door. Vanessa unlocked it with a key and came inside surprised. “Hey, you! I saw your car outside, but I wasn’t sure that you’d be home.”
I chuckled, throwing the towel over my shoulder and sitting down on the couch with a quiet oomph! “Yeah, I’m taking a half day,” I told her pleasantly. “What about you? I didn’t expect to see you home so soon.”
“Oh, well, I can pretty much do my photo editing anywhere,” she explained while removing her coat. “I just came back from a photo shoot and was going to work on that this afternoon.”
I nodded, watching her body move as she hung the coat on the rack and loving the way she could excite me with such an innocent act of domesticity.
“Sounds good.”
Her lip twitched as she glanced over, looking at me thoughtfully before she came over to have a seat on the cushion next to me. “Is everything okay?” she asked with genuine concern.
“Yeah, I’m just frustrated at the moment.”
I couldn’t tell her everything, mostly because I didn’t want to upset her. Vanessa was already nervous about working for one of the guys from Men’s Club, and it wouldn’t make that easier throwing fuel on the fire.
“It’s a case I’m working on,” I told her honestly. “It’s getting to me.”
She smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”
I shook my head and sighed. “No, not really.”
She climbed behind me on the couch and wrapped her hands around my shoulder, massaging them slightly. “Will you let me try?”
I smiled, cocking my head toward her, and was met with her clear hazel eyes and freckled smile. Without even thinking about it, I reached up and placed my hands against her cheek to kiss her softly.
At first, she was surprised, but then leaned into it and kissed me back with equal vigor. Our bodies shifted so that she was pressing up against me. Her hands snaked their way around my torso, holding me tight as I pulled away and just looked at her.
She smiled weakly,
obviously confused about why I stopped and asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
I brushed a tendril of her hair away and tucked it behind her ear. “No, I just want you.”
Vanessa smiled and leaned in to kiss me. It was soft and sweet at first, but she switched gears and began sucking hard on my bottom lip, then traced her tongue along it. I groaned with delight at the aggressive display and opened my mouth to kiss her deeper and wove my fingers into her hair. It was incredibly erotic and turned me on just knowing that she was turned on, too.
I didn’t want to wait to be inside her.
When our lips broke momentarily, I heard her breathe out huskily, “Okay.”
Our foreheads pressed against each other as she and I both chuckled slightly, caressing each other’s skin and letting our hands wander. Her lips were plump, with the remnants of the cherry lip-gloss. I couldn’t get enough of. With her body pressed against me, I could feel the rise and falling of her chest and her soft womanly curves.
I gazed back at her, completely smitten, and was about to help her up when she grinned wickedly, lowering herself so that her face was brushing up against my groin. Her fingers carefully undid the zipper of my jeans and my arousal immediately came to life. My cock twitched with longing as she released it from the confines of my pants and wrapped her fingers around it.
I let out a hiss and lowered my head back against the cushion of the couch, closing my eyes in pleasure. After a few strokes, Vanessa paused, and I opened my eyes to see what was happening. I looked down at her just in time to witness her wrap her lips around my cock and suck lightly on the tip.
“Oh, fuck!” I groaned.
Her head moved slowly up and down, sucking and licking, until I leaned forward and gasped with euphoric pleasure. Vanessa looked at me, making eye contact, and smiled. Powerful waves of pleasure rocked through me, radiating from where she touched me, and I collapsed against the couch and let her have her way with me.
Chapter 26
Vanessa