by Tyler Grey
“I can fire people if they aren’t listening to me.”
Something flashed in Alisha’s eyes then. She finished buttoning up her rain jacket before nodding to me.
“I have to go,” she said. “It’s my son’s birthday tomorrow. I need to get some shopping done before he’s home from his academic group.”
I resisted the urge to reach out and grab ahold of her. For the past three days, neither one of us had talked about what happened. I didn’t know how to process the tumult of emotions inside of me. Distance seemed like the better option until I figured out how to proceed.
“Have a good weekend,” I said.
“Thank you for coming to my defense,” Alisha blurted out. “Jim told me a few things in the elevator that were horrible.”
“Such as?” I inquired, frowning. “Please tell me he didn’t talk about rumors.”
Alisha blinked at that. “You knew about these rumors?”
“It was brought to my attention,” I said, with a stab of guilt at the angry look on Alisha’s face. “I’m sorry. I was trying to handle it without dragging you into the middle of mindless gossip. That’s all it is, Alisha. Don’t pay attention to any of it.”
“Everyone thinks I have my job because I’m paying you back in sexual favors,” she said. Tears glittered in her eyes. “Do you have any idea how hurtful that is? I was trying to avoid this sort of thing in the first place.”
Grateful that the lobby was empty, I scanned the receptionist desk just to make sure that we were alone. The two receptionists, including the dark curly-haired one, were already gone to start their weekend early.
“It’s just talk,” I said. “Don’t worry about it, Alisha. They have no idea of the reason I brought you into my office.”
“No idea?” She swiped an angry hand over her eyes. “Do you know why you brought me into your office to do this disclosure?”
“Of course I do,” I replied steadily, catching Alisha’s eyes. “You are good at your job. Something I’ve always known. You’ve earned everything through hard work and dedication to this company. No other reason.”
“That’s why we can’t let anything happen between us again,” Alisha said. “You have an endless amount of money to cushion you. My income is all my family has. That’s it.”
“You’re not going to lose your job!” I exclaimed in exasperation. “Why can’t you just trust me?”
“It’s not a matter of you firing me,” she shot back with just as much anger. “It’s a matter of my reputation. If I leave Jackson Finance, what then? You realize that my livelihood is at stake here because you want me to yourself? I am the one who will suffer if someone finds out, or if this continues. That’s why it can’t happen.”
Those words settled coldly in my heart. Alisha wiped away the tears in her eyes before turning to stride out of the lobby.
Cold hearted and selfish bastard. That’s what I am.
I pinched the bridge of my nose to fight off the threat of a headache. She had a good point. A damn good point that I hadn’t thought about. No matter what happened to me, or to the future of Jackson Finance, I had enough money to live on the rest of my life with no concerns. I didn’t have any family to worry about at the end of the day. My parents were long gone, and the rest of my relatives were distant ghosts with their own lives.
A shroud of icy loneliness settled on my shoulders then. I texted Billy to meet me in front of the building in five minutes. Pacing the inside lobby, I tried to shake off the image of the tears in Alisha’s eyes. Not because she regretted what happened between the two of us. That much I gathered when she didn’t openly disagree with Jim’s observation of perhaps having some interest in me beyond that of a professional relationship.
She didn’t feel anything else for me besides a professional relationship? I doubted it. I had felt her respond to my touch and kisses with enthusiasm and passion.
I spotted Billy as he pulled up to the curb outside. Ducking against the chilly rain, I slipped into the passenger seat with a relieved sigh to find the leather warm. Billy turned to nod at me in greeting.
“Evening, boss,” he said. “Shitty weather, huh?”
“Shitty weather,” I agreed with a sigh. “Just straight to the penthouse tonight.”
“Are you sure? Nothing going on tonight?”
I ignored the surprised glance that Billy gave me in the rearview mirror. “Just the penthouse. Not really in the mood to go anywhere. Consider yourself off for the rest of the night.”
“Wow,” Billy said. “Thanks, boss. I appreciate it. My girl will be happy to have a Friday night to do something.”
The entire city of Boston was alive despite the cold rain and temperature. I rested my forehead against the chilled window with a sigh. Everyone would be out and about tonight enjoying the start of their weekend. Not me though. I needed time to figure out how to handle the situation with Alisha.
If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that I didn’t want to give up anything when it came to Alisha. Now that I’d enjoyed a taste of her, I was addicted. I didn’t want to give her up.
Chapter 20
Alisha
I stuffed the last bits of birthday wrapping paper into the trash bag. New computer. New television. Brand new Xbox Two with games worth at least two hundred dollars. None of it within my budget either.
“You shouldn’t have let him sign his rights away,” Nana said, sighing. She took the trash bag from me so I could grab the empty boxes. “He wouldn’t be able to afford all of these things if he had child support payments.”
“No shit,” I said.
Anger still resonated from deep within. It had taken forever to settle Christian down after coming home to find his presents from Todd. A part of me wished that I had opened the presents beforehand just to see what was inside the boxes. It would’ve spared me a lengthy argument about why he couldn’t stay up all night playing video games on his new television and Xbox. The only bargaining chip I had left by the end of the night was a promise to go to the amusement park an hour outside of Boston, something that I questioned how Nana could handle without a wheelchair at the ready. I didn’t even want to handle it myself.
I shook my head in disbelief at the mess my living room was in because of the wrapping paper and boxes. “This is Todd’s way of dealing with the bullying issue. Showering Christian with all these new toys to distract him from the real issue.”
“It undermines you, too,” Nana said in disapproval. “He doesn’t understand that a majority of your money goes to things that Todd isn’t paying for.” She looked down at the name-brand boxes with a sigh. “He didn’t need any of these fancy toys. He needed his father to give him some attention—or at least some sort of advice on the situation at school.”
“My message obviously wasn’t delivered either,” I said dryly. “His wife picked up the phone, and she didn’t seem very pleased with my phone call.”
“He deserves a little bit of hell considering what he’s done to you.”
We finished cleaning up the living room a few minutes later. I headed upstairs to find Christian in the same spot I had left him an hour ago: sitting in front of his new computer equipped with a nice desk. He twisted about in his computer chair to look at me.
“I know,” he said. “I haven’t showered yet. I’m going to in a minute.”
“You might as well wait now,” I said, exasperated. “I’m going to jump in first. We are going to head out here in the next hour.”
“Do you think that Dad will come along with us?” Christian asked eagerly. “Can I invite him?”
My throat clenched sourly at the thought of Todd walking along with us while he pretended to be the doting father. I didn’t want to burst that hopeful look on Christian’s face though.
“If he picks up the phone,” I said. “I’m going to get in the shower right now. You better be ready within an hour.”
“Yeah, yeah. Dad always picks up when I call.”
�
�Of course he does,” I muttered under my breath, closing Christian’s bedroom door to give him privacy.
I took a quick hot shower to help ease the past eight hours out of my shoulders. First, it had been everything at work between Seth and Jim. I had no place of peace anywhere now. There was officially chaos in all aspects of my life. My personal life had always been chaos, and now my professional life was tense because I had given into that tempting fantasy of being with Seth.
My body still craved his touch, and a constant ache filled me whenever I thought back to how good his fingers had felt on me. I couldn’t deny that even if I did want to pretend it wasn’t that great.
I dressed quickly in a simple pair of jeans and a chunky sweater. Much to my relief, Christian’s door was open when I came out of my room. His computer was powered down too. I picked up his pajamas off the floor next to his bed to toss them into the laundry basket.
For a brief moment, I had the chance to take in Christian’s room with a wistful sigh. There were still a few toys from his childhood on the shelves, but he had hung up posters of his favorite band weeks ago. He didn’t sleep in Lego sheets anymore. Torn between childhood and being a teenager. I didn’t know how much longer I would have the sweet boy who wanted to hold my hand or help me in the kitchen while I made dinner. Those moments seemed to be getting fewer and farther between these days.
I found Christian sitting on the bottom step with the phone attached to his ear. He turned to look up at me with pained eyes that instantly told me what Todd’s answer had been. I smiled sympathetically at him.
“It’s fine, Dad,” he said. “I get it. I’ll talk to you later.”
He set the phone down on the bottom step next to my feet. Should I mention that his dad would probably be headed back to Arizona any day now? I crouched down to look Christian straight in the eye. While my heart yearned to be completely truthful with him, I still wanted to protect him from the pain of being rejected. Todd’s love was conditional and on his terms. I knew that Christian would eventually figure that out as the years went by, but it seemed too soon for him to figure it out now.
“He said that the baby is sick,” Christian muttered. “So he can’t come with us to the amusement park. That’s what he told me.”
“I’m sorry, buddy,” I said sympathetically. “Your father loves you. Things just get a bit complicated when it comes to him being around.”
“Nothing complicates it more than his new family, Mom. He’s made it clear that he can’t come around because of them.”
“I don’t want you to hate those kids,” I said. “They didn’t do anything to you. Sometimes adults do stupid things. Lord knows that I have.”
Christian gave me a skeptical look through glittering eyes. “I doubt that, Mom. You were perfect the last time I checked.”
My heart swelled with happiness to hear that. Motherhood wasn’t glorious. Half the time, I felt like I was messing it up all somehow.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling. “That makes me feel a bit better, so let’s make you feel better. It’s time to get ready to go.”
“Can we stay a long time?” Christian asked excitedly, bouncing up to his feet then. “Make sure to bring that wheelchair for Nana in case she gets tired.”
“If you can grab it from the garage, I’ll get the rest of our things in the car.”
I watched as Christian bounded off in the direction of the garage. Tears filled my eyes as I rose to my feet to grab the lunchbox full of snacks and drinks next to the door. Still my sweet boy at heart.
The sunshine felt warm when it peeked through the gray clouds above. I carried the lunch box in the direction of the driveway when I stopped short, surprised to see Seth’s SUV parked outside the front of my house. My heart skipped at the sight of him walking up the concrete pathway dressed in a pair of casual jeans with a dark blue sweater. His dark hair was smoothed back as usual to highlight the bit of gray hair peppering his hairline. He flipped his dark Ray-Ban glasses up to greet me with icy blue eyes.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, breathless with surprise.
He stopped short of me, shoving his hands deep into the pocket of his jeans. “I wanted to come talk to you about some things.”
That fluttering sensation went away immediately at that. I held up the lunchbox to show him that I was on the way out.
“It’s not a good time right now,” I said. “We are on our way out for the day.”
“It’s never going to be a good time if I let you make all the decisions,” Seth said dryly. “We really do need to talk about—”
“Mom! I need your help with this wheelchair for Nana.”
I turned to find Christian struggling to get the wheelchair through the front door. He stopped short when he saw Seth standing along the pathway with me. He frowned in Seth’s direction.
“Isn’t he your boss?”
“Christian,” I scolded nervously, meeting Nana’s surprised eyes with a grimace. “You’re forgetting your manners. This is Mr. Jackson. Please say hello.”
“Hello,” Christian parroted and took notice of the SUV parked on the street. “Is that your car? It’s really nice.”
“Thank you,” Seth said, smiling. “I heard it’s your birthday, too, young man.”
I grabbed ahold of Seth’s arm to tug him a bit further down the concrete pathway out of earshot while Christian helped Nana down the front steps.
“I’m not trying to be rude when I say it’s not the time,” I whispered, letting go of Seth’s arm quickly when sparks went up my arm at the contact. “It’s my son’s birthday. We are going out to the amusement park right now as part of his birthday present.”
“I’ll come along then,” Seth said. “It’ll give us time to talk about what we need to talk about.”
“No way,” I interjected, horrified at the thought. “We can’t talk about that in front of my grandmother and my son. That is completely inappropriate!”
Seth chuckled at me in amusement. “You think I am going to talk about what happened between us in the car or something? I do have some modesty here, Alisha.”
“It’s not right, Seth,” I said, chewing on my bottom lip nervously. “You are my boss. You don’t need to have to hang around me on the weekends. That wasn’t apart of anything.”
“Is Mr. Jackson coming along?” Christian asked. “Can we go in his car, mom? It’s a lot better than yours.”
“I don’t think—” I started.
“I’d love to drive us up there,” Seth interrupted, offering Christian a smile. “I happen to have some good ties to this amusement park too. VIP tickets.”
Christian’s jaw dropped open before he let out a happy and excited cheer. He rushed up to the side of Seth’s SUV to look inside the windows eagerly. I turned to look at Nana in exasperation, but she shrugged her frail shoulders in response.
“I won’t be the one to tell him no,” she said. “It’s his birthday, Alisha. Have a little heart here and enjoy that your boss is being extremely kind to us today.”
“Have some heart,” Seth repeated with a teasing grin on his lips. “Let’s get what you need in the SUV. I’m driving. End of story.”
Railroaded by the turn of events, I had no other choice but herd my little family along after Seth up the walkway to his SUV, toting Nana’s wheelchair and the lunchbox. I didn’t like the idea of spending more time with Seth when he clearly wanted to talk about what happened between the two of us. He was using my family as a way to keep me hooked.
He helped Nana climb up into the back passenger seat next to Christian, who was bouncing excitedly. I glanced over at Seth as he approached to open my door for me.
“What are you doing?” I asked, still wary. “I don’t know if I trust where this is going to go.”
“Maybe you should trust me a little bit more,” Seth said. He cocked an eyebrow at me. “I’m doing something nice for you and your family. That’s all I’m doing. Do you always question people when they do nice thin
gs?”
“No,” I said, even though it was a lie. “I don’t. I’m just a bit uneasy.”
I climbed in the front before turning to look back at Christian, who was buckling his seat belt reluctantly. “Behave in here, Christian. This is an expensive SUV to be playing around in.”
Christian stuck his tongue out at me. “Don’t be such a worry wart, mom. This is my birthday after all.”
I turned back to face the front. What else could possibly go wrong today?
Chapter 21
Seth
“So how fast can this thing go?”
“Does the sunroof work?”
“Are you kidding me—this is a convertible?”
As Christian barraged me with questions, I answered each easily. To Alisha’s apologetic smile, I only responded with a wink.
“Exact same questions I asked when I was buying it. Smart son you’ve got there.”
Alisha visibly brightened, while Christian’s unimpressed voice came from the back.
“You’re just saying that because you want my mom.”
“Christian!” Alisha scolded him.
“Basically, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t true,” I shot back.
In the rear-view mirror, I saw the boy give me a sheepish smirk. Gotcha.
“Can we bring the roof down?”
“Christian!” Alisha responded, just as I hit the button. The automatic roof slid open to let a nice whoosh of wind in.
Nana sucked in a grateful breath, while Christian threw his head back an eager whoop.
“Think that’s something?” I asked the kid. “Watch this.”
I pressed another button, which made the roof retract. Now, we were completely exposed to the wind rushing by. I eased my foot into the gas, and we shot along the highway even faster.
At Alisha’s uncertain look, I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“Don’t be such a worry wart,” I said quietly, as I tossed the remote back to Christian. “Check out the stereo system.”