BLUE ICE (ICE SERIES)

by Carolina Soto

  ‘We are fine baby, tell me, any news?’

  I bored my mom to death with details of our new campaign and how cool it was.

  ‘Oh baby it sounds great! As always you’ll do an incredible job. Say hi to John for us. Nothing else to report darling?’

  Oh God, does mommy know?

  ‘Nothing mom, Michelle and I have a new group of friends, some guys from Chicago we met on our San Antonio trip. They’re nice.’

  This way I wouldn’t be lying, I had never lied to my parents and I was not about to start. But I wasn’t even sure if I liked Dylan or if he liked me and I had never introduced a guy to my parents, they were too important for me.

  ‘Oh that’s nice baby, say hi to Michelle and take care. Please call me soon, your dad sends you lots of kisses.’

  ‘I love you two mommy, I’ll call soon.’

  What’s going on with you princess?! Thinking about telling mom and dad about a jackass just because he’s hot!!!! My brain was right, we weren’t anything.

  Tuesday began as a normal day until I arrived at the office.

  Mrs. Cherry came to me as soon as I entered the office. ‘Ms. Bianchi, Mr. Witter needs you at his office right now.’

  ‘Is everything ok, Mrs. Cherry?’

  ‘He’s waiting for you.’

  This was weird, Mrs. Cherry was never this mysterious, so I hurried to John’s office.

  I opened the door and entered without much ceremony. ‘Good morning John, what’s going on?’

  ‘Sit down kiddo, we need to talk.’

  ‘Is everything ok?’

  I was worried, really worried, he never did this to me.

  ‘Katie, BKY Enterprises has sued us because we used too much of Dylan’s inspiration on the campaign.’ He was serious and worried. This was terrible for us.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yes, I was notified this morning, so we can’t work with this until it is out of investigation.’

  I couldn’t believe it, my heart lost its rhythm. I knew he was an asshole, but backstabbing was too low even for him.

  ‘I have to tell our client that our campaign will be unavailable for a while and that if they want to take the account to another agency I understand.’

  ‘Oh no John, this is our biggest account, we can’t do that, this must be a misunderstanding. Let me go to talk to Berkeley.’

  ‘Sweetheart, did you talk to Dylan about the campaign?’

  Our lunch!

  ‘Yes, I told him some things, please, please forgive me. I didn’t think he could do anything like this.’

  ‘Don’t worry babe, but now we have to take care of it.’ He was being nice, this was awful and it was entirely my fault.

  ‘He must be overreacting. I’ll go to his office in this moment, ok?’

  ‘Yeah baby, but please if he’s an ass to you just drop it. No account is bigger than you ok?’

  Oh God! This was even worse than I could imagine. How could he?! I trusted him and now he was suing us without even a warning. Poor John, this was entirely my fault and even when I was furious with Berkeley I couldn’t believe he had done that to me.

  I took a cab to his office. I was too hurried and angry to stop by the desk so I took advantage of the guard’s distraction and walked through the doors.

  ‘Good morning, Ms. Bianchi.’

  Fuck! Apparently I am not as clever as I thought, but he just let me pass without checking in. I went to the top floor and that nice blonde was at reception, she was smiling wider than the last time. She‘s weird.

  ‘Good morning, is there a chance I could see Mr. Berkeley really quickly. He called me to bring something and I am in a hurry.’

  She smiled at me in a weird way. ‘Of course Ms. Bianchi, go in. Jonathan is not here yet, but I’ll let Mr. Berkeley know. You already know where he is, just go inside.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  That asshole would have to explain himself before I would kick his ass. I opened his door and entered in a crazy rage.

  ‘Oh Dylan, you must be fucki…’

  I was stopped on my feet, Meredith was there; sitting on Dylan’s desk, laughing, Dylan was watching at her from his chair. That stupid bitch that I hated! I felt as if I had interrupted a really intimate moment and I was nauseated. We weren’t anything and I wasn’t allowed to be jealous; but seeing Meredith with him was a punch in my stomach. I always said he didn’t like me, but this was the worst confirmation.

  I needed to leave but I was frozen, Meredith looked really annoyed. I forced my legs to move and walked away, I didn’t want to appear hurt. I didn’t have any right to be hurt and I didn’t want Meredith to feel as if she had stolen something from me. I walked quickly and saw that stupid blonde smiling at me, she knew and she wanted me to see that. If only I had checked in at the desk I would have avoided my stupid performance.

  I walked away. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but I wanted to walk and walk and walk. I texted John to let him know I was not coming back. I didn’t want to talk about Berkeley and how I was humiliated in my way to find an explanation.

  JOHN, I AM TRYING TO FIND BERKELEY, I’LL BE BACK AFTER I TALK TO HIM.

  I didn’t want to talk to him again, I didn’t want to see him again. That’s what happens when you let some asshole in, you get disappointed. He had betrayed me with my most precious possession, my job and when I wanted an answer, he was with that bitch. From all the women in the world, he chose my personal torturer.

  I walked and walked and at some point I noticed where I was… the Bethesda Fountain. How on earth did I get here? I checked my phone for John’s response and I noticed 20 missed calls from Dylan. He could kiss my ass 20 missed times. I sat on the fountain and gave my back to the tunnel, I didn’t want to see that place. I was being such a stupid girl. We were nothing, and I was totally overreacting.

  How could he use information that I gave him in a social lunch to sue us? That was betrayal and any jury would take it like that. How could he have been that cozy with that bitch!? I knew he was the kind of man that messes around with anyone wearing a skirt, but Meredith? She had made my life a living hell for all the years we were in school. She was one of the mean voices that I heard in my head every time I thought I was too fat, too ugly or too worthless and now she had made a point about it. She was the one good enough for Dylan, not me. I was just his now boring challenge.

  Out of nowhere I saw him walking down the stairs, I didn’t want him to see me defeated; no one ever sees me like that. I grabbed my purse from the floor and started walking, but he stopped me.

  ‘No Katherine, you are not running! Tell me what’s happening?’

  I pushed him with a closed fist against his chest. ‘How dare you, asshole!’

  ‘What? What happened? You came to me all angry and then you disappeared!’ He was truly concerned. Good. Guilt would be killing him.

  ‘I wanted you to explain me! To tell me why the hell you threw my trust away!’

  ‘Ok, I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but let’s discuss this. You came to my office and you saw that girl there, you must have felt something about it.’

  Oh no! We were not going to discuss Meredith! I had no right and he couldn’t give himself that much importance in my life. Even when he had broken my heart he didn’t know he had the power to do so.

  ‘Where do you get off, you bastard?! Believe it or not I am not interested in fucking you, so in my book you can be with any bitch you want. I couldn’t care less! I don’t feel, don’t you know that? That’s kind of my thing. You are just too full of yourself to notice! I am not interested in you, I am not one of your bimbos. I have run away from you since the moment I met you, so no, I don’t give a shit if you were with her.’

  ‘Katherine, you are impossible! So how did I offend you then?’

  His voice was louder, he was angry and my little speech just fueled him.

  ‘Why on earth did you decide to take everything I told you about our campaign to su
e us? Why you didn’t say something if it bothered you? Why did you go behind my back?! You are fucking with my career Dylan!’

  Don’t cry baby. I hadn’t cried in public in more than 10 years and I was not about to start, but I really wanted to.

  He didn’t flinch. ‘Katherine I don’t know what you are talking about.’

  ‘BKY Enterprises sued the agency for taking too much inspiration of you on our new campaign. And don’t play innocent Dylan, I know I was the only one stupid enough to tell you about it. I trusted you…’

  He took my face in his hands and stared at me firmly in the eye.

  ‘I give you my word that I didn’t do that, I have no problem with your campaign. I’ll fix it ok?’

  I knew it, I knew this was a misunderstanding, but I was still hurt and I wanted to hurt him back. This explained the lawsuit, but it didn’t explain Meredith. I’ve always used indifference as a weapon and now was a good moment to do so.

  ‘I don’t give a damn’ about your word.’

  I turned around and walked away, but just as fast as I entered to the Angel’s Tunnel I was pushed against a wall. Dylan cornered and kissed me, kissed me hard, even harder than the last time. He was trying to tell me something, to show me something with that kiss. There was anger, confusion and desire, there was everything in one hard kiss. I was too angry to open my mouth, but again I needed to breathe so I opened my lips a little and again he took complete advantage of it. The kiss grew and grew. I was fighting, but soon my energy was absorbed by his strength. One hand on my face, one on my hips, pushing me, I was completely oppressed by his firm body against the wall.

  After what seemed like an eternity, he started to move slower. He was calming down and out of nowhere he bit my lower lip. This was hot enough to distract me from my rage. He slowed down and stopped kissing me, but his hands remained where they were.

  ‘Just stop running! You are driving me crazy! I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you and you’ve just run from me. I just can’t get to you. Please Katherine.’

  He kissed me again. This time a small, chaste, soft kiss. He stared at me but my only reaction was covering my lips with my hand; the place where he had been so powerfully just a minute ago. He looked in my eyes in a very intense way, he wanted me to answer, to say something, but I couldn’t.

  He rested his forehead on mine and talked to me in the lowest voice.

  ‘Please, just say yes, Katherine.’

  I closed my eyes, he was too close and he wanted me to say yes, but I didn’t know to what. Stupid me thought that closed eyes meant to be isolated, but his hands were too warm and there was a lot of energy there to ignore his presence.

  ‘What are we doing Dylan?’

  I couldn’t even recognize my voice, it was a low, low whisper.

  ‘Whatever we want, just let it be Katherine.’

  Even he didn’t know what he wanted, he was looking for my confirmation. Our private encounter was interrupted by my cell phone. It was John.

  ‘Hey boss, yeah, I’ve just talked to Dylan, it was a misunderstanding and he’ll check that. Please don’t call the client yet. I’m on my way back.’ My professional voice was on again. I was really surprised. I controlled myself even when his hands remained exactly in the same place for the whole time. ‘I’ve got to go back to the office.’

  My composure had come back and I was firm with my decision. He was fighting with the idea of letting me go, I could see the battle in his eyes. After a moment he did move away.

  ‘I’ll pick you up at 7.’

  I didn’t answer, I couldn’t answer, I just walked away. This was much more than what I had expected. And even if I had answered, he was not asking.

  Chapter 12

  I didn’t know how I got to my office, I didn’t know what had happened. Dylan had kissed me, he said he wanted me, he was asking me to say yes; but the big question was: what did he want from me? I arrived and gave John a smaller, simpler version of the facts.

  ‘Oh boss, Dylan didn’t even know what I was talking about, it took me long to find him, but he just told me to forget about it and that he was going to solve this. I’m going to talk to him tonight to find out what happened.’

  It was almost the truth, I wanted to talk about what happened to someone, but I never do that. You can’t talk about something like that to someone and not appear vulnerable. I had always hated girls that talk about their problems and make a public deal of them.

  Every single minute of the day I had one image in my head; Dylan’s lips, moving, biting, tasting. I didn’t even watch the clock until 6:30. A quick session of makeup, I fixed my hair and breathed like a crazy pregnant woman until my nerves calmed a little. At 7:15 I grabbed my things and walked to the door. A black SUV was there and Joe ran to open the door for me when he saw me.

  ‘Ms. Bianchi, Mr. Berkeley asked me to pick you up.’

  ‘He’s not here?’ Fuck, my voice sounded a little more disappointed than what I intended.

  ‘No, he’s meeting you at Masa.’

  Oh God! I didn’t even eat sushi and we were going to Masa? This was going to be even more awkward. Against all the efforts of my parents, I was still more comfortable in a McDonalds than in any fancy restaurant. The ride to Masa seemed to last an eternity and I was sweating like a pig, shaking with nervousness. I entered to the place and there he was, looking amazing.

  ‘There you are.’ He stood up, kissed my cheek and pulled out my chair for me.

  ‘Hey.’

  Monosyllables, this night would be a first in my book, not talking.

  ‘How was your day after the park?’

  ‘Uneventful.’

  ‘I need to talk to you about the lawsuit.’

  What!? He said he would get rid of it, what did we need to talk about?! Shut up silly, this is your way out! Legal talk equals no more personal discussion.

  ‘I talked to my legal department and my personal lawyer said he received this last week.’

  He handed me a big yellow envelope.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘Open it. It’s a brief of the campaign and a storyboard. It came to my office from an unknown source. My lawyers noticed the similarities with me and decided that if you hadn’t asked for my permission, they would stop it. And they know me enough to know there’s no chance I would allow something like this.’

  ‘But this is not the storyboard, nor the brief.’

  ‘I know, you’ve told me enough for me to know this is fake. So I told them to stop any investigation or law action, I also told them you have any right over my image if you want it. I trust you and I know you wouldn’t make a wrong use of it.’

  I didn’t understand that part and I am not as stupid as I seem, but I was just not following his words.

  He continued when he noticed I was speechless. ‘But there’s something I want to talk about. Could you read the letters on this image?’

  ‘D. A. B.’ They were tiny letters written in the fake brief.

  ‘This is the reason why my lawyers decided to go against your campaign.’

  ‘Sorry, I don’t understand.’

  He pointed to those letters. ‘These are my initials. Almost no one knows my middle name, I never sign with it.’

  ‘So?’ I was not following, probably because I was staring at his lips, but this was becoming tricky.

  ‘Do you remember the note on the flowers I sent you?’

  ‘Yes…’ That’s when I remembered. ‘You signed with them.’

  ‘What did you do with the note?’ He smiled at me knowing too well what I did.

  Fuck!

  ‘I put it in the garbage.’

  He responded more calm than what I would have expected.

  ‘I know, that’s what made me think that the envelope came from someone in your office and that’s why I need you to be really careful. Talk about this with John, I am going to try to find who did this.’

  ‘I don’t understand, no one in the office is mean
or smart enough to pull this off, your lawsuit damages the entire team. Why would someone do that? And I don’t see why I would have to be worried if you already know this is fake.’

  ‘Katherine.’ Oh God! He took my hand in his. ‘Someone tried to harm you. And I am going to take care of you, but I need you to watch out.’

  Whoa!

  ‘Oh Dylan, you don’t know me, I can take care of myself pretty good. Trust me, you don’t have to take care of me at all.’

  ‘I am going to do it because I want to and you’ll have to deal with it.’ His voice was harsher than he intended, he was dead serious. After what felt like a life-long silence, he smiled at me. ‘Just try ok?’

  In his voice something was telling me this wasn’t about the envelope, this last phrase was about trying something else. One of my rules was necessary: If you ignore it, it is as if it had never happened.

  Without any warning my voice became childish. ‘Did they drop the lawsuit?’

  ‘Yes, they won’t bother you again.’

  ‘Ok.’

  I had barely touched my food, but I wanted to avoid him and his hand on mine.

  ‘Dylan, it has been a really long day, I just want to go home ok?’

  ‘Ok doll, I am taking you home.’

  With that weird name he stood up and walked me to the SUV, never letting my hand go. I thought Joe was driving me home and he was leaving with Max; but he opened the door, put me in and then jumped inside behind me. I sat as far away from him as I could and played with my phone. I was going to avoid him tonight and disappear from his radar. He lived in Chicago after all. After 10 minutes staring at the window I learned that the heat on the back of my head was his terrific blue stare.

  ‘Thanks for the ride guys.’

  I opened my door and ran for my life. Dylan was already on my apartment’s entrance by the time I got around the SUV. Without any reservations he put his hand on my cheek, as if he was entitled to touch me whenever he wanted.

  ‘I have to fly to Chicago tonight. I can’t stop myself from touching you anymore Katherine.’ His voice was becoming commanding, rough and absolutely appealing. ‘I don’t give a damn’ if you want to fight it. I feel it and I think you feel it too.’