by Alexa Davis
I nodded. “What does that mean?”
“Basically, some of the bankers got caught embezzling to offshore accounts. Our boss was not too pleased and made a blanket ruling that anyone caught doing something illegal, would be kicked out on the spot.”
“Whoa, good for him, I guess.”
“It gets better than that,” he added. “That extends to outside the office, too. Like if you get arrested for a DUI or anything else like that, it counts. He doesn’t want any of the employees conducting themselves in a less than congenial manner.”
“That’s pretty hardcore,” I agreed.
Max didn’t seem upset by these new rules that he was telling me, just intrigued. That made me feel better, knowing that he didn’t have anything to hide. I always knew he was not one of the corrupt people in Men’s Club. We’d known each other too long; I knew his character, and Max was not a criminal.
Eventually, we arrived at Bowling Green at the old fraternity house. After I put the car in park, Max and I got out and walked over to the group of friends. They greeted us cheerfully and directed us toward the drinks. For a while nothing seemed off; everything was going fine, and we were all getting along great. Ted filled us in on the details of his upcoming marriage, and I couldn’t have been happier for him.
Little by little, I started to relax and enjoy myself with familiar company. Max was talking up a storm with some of the other guys in the sitting room, and I made my rounds to make sure that I had the opportunity to say hello.
Out of the corner of my eye, I kept a wary eye for Brandon, wondering if he’d show. I wasn’t sure if it was an idle threat or if he’d be able to swing the hefty bail the court had set, but either way, I felt the need to be cautious.
It was getting stuffy inside with all the people and conversations going so I stepped outside to get some air and decided to call Vanessa. I smiled, pulling out my phone, and was about to dial her when a man stepped outside behind me. He had a tall and brooding figure, and it was just the two of us alone on the patio. I wasn’t sure if he was following me, or if he had just stepped out for some air himself; either way, it made me uncomfortable.
“Who are you calling?” he asked me casually. His voice was dark and throaty, not one I was familiar with from the other men here. There were a lot of new people since I joined, so it was hard to keep track of everyone part if the organization.
I glanced down at my phone and gesticulated nonchalantly, trying to keep the conversation light. “Just a friend.”
“Are you sure it’s not your girlfriend?” he asked coyly. I didn’t like the way he said it; it put my teeth on edge. “Or, maybe, it’s your dad? Such a good son you are, calling home to check in.”
His comment was like a bucket of ice-water had been thrown on me, sending an icy chill down my spine. It wasn’t a pleasantry, but a threat. Somehow, he knew about Vanessa, he knew about Dad, and he was letting me know they were keeping tabs on them.
“It’s just a call,” I stated firmly.
“You don’t want to know how I found them?” the man asked. “You put a giant target on their back the minute you decided to raise charges against one of our members.”
I balked at his accusation and sputtered, “Brandon—”
“Is one of us,” the man insisted, turning to face me properly. His expression was hard, like a stone as he looked back at me with cool blue eyes. “And, we protect our own. You’ll convince them to drop the charges if you know what’s good for you. You never should have gotten involved with this in the first place.”
My teeth gritted together in rage as I clutched the phone tightly in my hand and told him, “I’m not afraid of you. What we’re talking about is an ongoing criminal investigation, and I’m not going to discuss it with you any further. You should know, though, that I’m going to put Brandon away for the rest of his life. Men like him deserve to be in prison, and you should be ashamed of yourself for bringing that kind of filth into our organization.”
The man scowled at me and turned to leave, looking back over his shoulder. “You’ve been warned. I’d watch my back if I were you.”
As he disappeared back inside, I felt my heart rate rising. Even though Brandon had not actually been able to make it here himself, he sent one of his goons to threaten me, and I didn’t like being threatened or manipulated.
My entire body was shaking from adrenaline at being cornered like that, and I quickly returned the phone to my pocket to go back inside for Max. When I glanced around the room, it took me a moment to find him, but then I saw him by the refreshment table and made a beeline for where he stood.
He saw me coming up beside him and smiled, pouring himself a cup of ice water from the dispenser. I took him by the arm and carefully pulled him aside to speak in private. Max could tell that something was wrong, so he didn’t fight me. Instead, he came with me back into the hall where no one else was talking and eyed me curiously.
“Adam, what’s going on?”
“We need to get out of here now,” I insisted firmly. I tried to keep my voice as low and urgent as possible without anyone else at the party hearing us. My heart was pounding a mile a minute, all I could think about was getting home and making sure that Dad and Vanessa were safe.
He stared at me confused, as if I was speaking a foreign language, and said, “But the party is still going strong; they’re about to play some games.”
I gave him the death glare that I only reserved for very special occasions and responded, “Max, I’m serious. We need to leave. Make some excuse about the drive back or something, but I can’t stay here anymore; it’s not safe.”
He was familiar enough with my lawyer voice to know I meant business and it was not a laughing matter. His eyes widened with recognition at the finality of my tone and nodded stiffly. “Alright, but you’re going to tell me about what happened in the car.”
“Done.”
Chapter 30
Vanessa
Saturday
After Adam left for his Men’s Club meeting, I finished my breakfast and walked over to the sink, dropping off the dirty dishes. I loved walking barefoot across the wooden floor; it felt so cool and sturdy. My parents only had tile or carpet when we were growing up, and it was an interesting change of ambiance.
I hummed, walking back into my bedroom and pulling out some clothes. Meghan had suggested we get lunch together, so I needed to pick out the right outfit. I still had a couple hours before she’d be expecting me, but I wanted to get dressed anyway.
As I was sorting through the clothes, I came across the perfect denim mini skirt and a ruffled top to wear with it. I threw them on the bed and turned up some music while I was changing. There was a pep in my step ever since Adam and I started connecting; I was feeling good about the way life was headed.
I combed my hair back into a multi-layered braid and deemed my appearance to be ready. With the extra time, I spent an hour cleaning up the living room and started a load of laundry. It looked almost perfect by the time I finished and had to head out the door.
I grabbed my purse off the coat rack on the way and made sure to lock up behind me. It wasn’t a long drive to the bakery, but I hated being late and was neurotic about getting there on time. On the road, I could see the snow was melting, and tiny blossoms were starting to spring out from the trees.
I pulled into the parking lot outside the bakery Meghan and I had agreed to meet at. The air was getting warmer, and it felt like spring had finally arrived. It was my favorite season; there was so much hope and optimism in everything. Maybe it had something to do with the feeling of rebirth and getting second chances; I wasn’t sure.
As I climbed out of the car, I could see her waving to me on the sidewalk by the entrance. Meghan’s wavy black hair was clipped back on either side of her head, and she had on a dark green sweater. I smiled, waving back to her, and locked the car door behind me. My boots clomped across the parking lot, and I greeted her with a hug. “Hey, you! Ready to get some
lunch?”
“Totally.”
She still had her arm around me as we walked inside the doors and made it to the counter. I looked at the menu carefully before deciding what to eat. We placed our orders and found an empty table to sit at while we waited.
As soon as we’d settled in, she turned to me and smiled. Her brown eyes twinkled in search of salacious gossip and knew I would be the perfect target for her daily fix. “So, what’s going on with you these days? Any news on the Adam front?”
I laughed, sliding into one of the seats and making myself comfortable. “No, things are pretty much the same. I’m really starting to like him, though. He’s so damn cute; I want to kiss him all the time. Don’t even get me started on the sex because that’s amazing and I’m not going to give you any details.”
“Good, you seem happy,” she encouraged with a smile. “I’m sorry if I came across as unsupportive last time. I just want you to be happy.”
“Thanks. I dunno… it just seems right. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but he seems to be having some real feelings for me, too.”
She cocked an eyebrow curiously and said, “Really? How so?
“Well, the other day he asked me to stay with him. We slept in the same bed together after sex; that seems pretty couple-y to me. I’d write it off as just both of us being exhausted, but he asked me to stay.”
“Wow, I’d have to agree, that sounds like a boyfriend sort of thing to be doing, not a booty call. What else is going on? Are you still getting along with Frank and finishing all his projects?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I’m getting all the work done. He can get pretty intense at times, though, can’t he?”
“Yeah, he can,” she agreed. “I would hate to get on his bad side.”
The server came by with our orders at that moment, and I smiled up at him in gratitude. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about maybe starting my own photography studio,” I confided sheepishly. “It would give me more flexibility to set my own hours and pick up projects that really interest me.”
“That’s a great idea!” Meghan exclaimed. Her eyes were wide with excitement, and she had a gleeful smile on her face. “I would love to be a part of it. Whenever you make that happen, I am totally on board. Your work is good, and I think you could do really well at it. I support this idea one hundred percent.”
Touched by her words, I couldn’t help but blush while I was picking up my coffee and said, “Aw, thank, Meghan. I don’t know if it’s going to come to anything, but I like to dream.”
“Well, we should look it up and find out what exactly it takes to start a business like that.”
Meghan was such a good friend; she always supported me and told me what I needed to hear even if I didn’t agree with it. I didn’t know what to think with Dad, Mom, Adam, and now Meghan all telling me to go for it. They believed in me in a way I didn’t even believe in myself.
We chatted a bit more about the kind of things I would like to do with a company once it got started and the project started becoming real. It was real plan, with real possibility for success. I was nibbling on the last part of my pastry when I pulled out my phone and started crunching numbers.
“Okay, how much would it take to actually make this happen?” I asked her curiously.
There were a lot of steps that would have to be included, but I wasn’t overwhelmed by it. She and I did the calculations, and as the figures came in, my hope began to fade.
“Crap,” I muttered dismally.
Meghan looked over at my sympathetically and offered a supportive smile. Even with all my savings, I only had about half of the initial investment. Starting up a business now would be a dream, but without capital to back it, I had no way to make that happen. I’d have to keep working for Frank Howell and saving up.
“Maybe you could do some side jobs on the weekend?” she suggested, trying to be helpful. “That could go straight into a savings account, acquiring interest to make that happen sooner.”
“That’s a good idea,” I told her. “I’ll see about picking some of those up in my spare time.”
“Or, what about a bank loan? Could you apply for one of those and then pay them back with interest over time?”
“It depends on the type of business, and I don’t think that I’d qualify, but maybe I’m wrong. It’s definitely worth looking into.”
“You can do it.”
We finished our lunch shortly after I changed the subject to her live-in boyfriend. She told me the story of how they had met and magically connected. It was sweet and made me cautiously optimistic about Adam and my relationship. When we eventually said goodbye, Meghan walked me to my car and gave me a giant hug.
I smiled when she released me and unlocked the door before climbing down into my car. On the way home, my mind was flipping through ways I could make up the extra cash needed for the initial investment of starting up my own company. Dad was right about what he said the other day: if I wanted something bad enough I was going to have to work for it.
I pulled to a stop at one of the red lights and started thinking about Adam. There was something in the way he kissed me, fucked me, and looked at me when he thought I didn’t notice, that made me think that he was falling for me. I wanted to believe that. There was no way I was going to let myself become a hopeless cliché that had unrequited feelings for her roommate. It started sprinkling rain across my windshield, and I turned on the wipers while I was sitting there.
When I pulled into the parking lot, I let out a sigh and turned off the ignition before grabbing my bag off the seat and heading up the steps.
I opened the door to our apartment and stepped inside, brushing off the light sprinkling of rain that had landed on my arms and hair. As I hung my bag on the coat rack by the door, my eyes flickered over to the kitchen and saw a beautiful bouquet of white roses.
For a moment, it felt like my heart had stopped. Slowly, I walked over to see them, and a smiled started creeping up over my face. The large white flowers were so clean and white it reminded me of purity, like a bride’s bouquet. What could be more innocent than a simple arrangement of flowers?
Are they from Adam? I wondered curiously.
I supposed they would have to be; no one else had a key to the apartment. Still, I didn’t expect a romantic gesture like that from him. It didn’t seem like his usual way of doing things. Adam was many things, but sentimental and gushy romantic were not some of them.
Reaching up, I brushed my finger along the velvet petals and breathed in deeply their fragrant aroma. It was light and crisp, filling the room with sweet-smelling air and brightening up our table. White roses had always been my favorite. I’m not sure how Adam knew that, but I had to assume that Max had told him. He probably put him up to it, I chuckled, smiling widely
I still couldn’t believe Adam sent them to me, so I pushed aside the leaves went looking for a note. Between the stems and fresh green leaves, I couldn’t find a single form of identification to reveal the person who had sent it.
It was odd.
There was no card or anything, but I had to assume they were from him because who else could it be? My heart started beating faster, building up hope that it was a sign Adam was ready for commitment. We’d been going at like bunnies for weeks now; I guessed it was only natural that we’d eventually become attached. Was it getting my hopes up to make that leap in logic? I hoped that maybe it was his way of communicating and letting me know that he’s on board…
I plucked one of the flowers from its vase and brought it to my nose, taking it with me, and I lay down across the couch. The silky petals tickled my skin, and I breathed in the cherished blossom and smiled contentedly.
I’d have to come up with some clever way of thanking him when they got back. “Oh, Adam…” I sighed, brushing the petal across my lips. “It’s perfect.”
Chapter 31
Adam
Sunday
I dropped Max off at his place in the wee hours of the morning bef
ore continuing home myself. On the drive back from Bowling Green, I told him all about what happened and the man who approached me at the party. At first, he thought I was overreacting, until I mentioned the detail of demanding I drop the case against Brandon and the threat against Vanessa: that seemed to hit him pretty hard.
He agreed that we needed to do something about it and planned on meeting later on in the week, but right now I wanted to get home and sleep. My stomach was all stressed and twisted up in knots, and I didn’t know what to do.
He threatened Vanessa and my Dad unless I convinced them to drop all charges against Brandon, who I knew perfectly well was guilty. When I was in law school, I always heard stories about intimidation tactics used to manipulate the court, but I never thought it could happen to me. I didn’t think Brandon would stoop so low as to make this personal.
The sun was rising as I pulled back into my complex and parked the car. I grabbed my things with a tired sigh and walked up to the door to let myself inside. When I stepped into the living room, Vanessa was roused by the sound of it and sat up blearily from where she was sleeping on the couch.
“You’re back!” she cheered happily from over the side of the couch. Her voice was all hoarse from having just woken up, and hair was all a mess, but she looked so warm and soft all I wanted to do was run to her and wrap her in my arms. I was so grateful to know that she was safe. “Did you guys have fun?”
“Yeah, we did,” I told her nervously, rubbing the back of my neck. I didn’t want to tell her about the guy or Brandon and risk scaring her, so I lied. Her sleepy smile was so hopeful I couldn’t bear to put that on her now.
She smiled walking around the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee to brew and said, “I got your flowers. Thank you so much; they’re beautiful.”
Flowers?
I glanced around confused, and she gestured to the vase of white roses on the kitchen table. I hadn’t noticed them when I came in, but now I was terrified at the prospect of where they had come from. Cautiously, I walked up to examine them and felt a sheen of sweat come over me. It was one of the few times in my adult life that I genuinely felt scared. “These arrived yesterday?” I asked her.