by Tara Rose
She didn’t give a shit what they did or didn’t do on their own time. She was only grateful that Alex was finally gone. No more orders from her territory would go out fucked up, and she wouldn’t have to deal with him ever again. A new chapter in her life had begun, and she was going to embrace every facet of it with the same eagerness and attention to detail that she’d embraced everything else she’d ever done.
Once they finished their drinks, they wandered down the crowded, colorful downtown streets, pausing to admire the artwork and clothing at each of the street vendors’ stands, and simply enjoying the warm, fragrant air.
When they came to a stand that sold jade and turquoise jewelry, a stunning necklace caught Alaina’s eye. She’d always loved silver against stones like jade and turquoise because they looked like someone had captured the very essence of the ocean and fashioned it into jewelry.
Taj leaned close to whisper in her ear. “That would make a perfect collar for you.”
She turned to stare into his eyes. A collar. She hadn’t anticipated that, but now that he’d said it, she wanted one. It would mark her as theirs, and set her apart as untouchable. Belonging to them. But she couldn’t ask for it. She knew that as instinctively as she knew not to address them by the title she reserved for their private times together. Instead she simply nodded.
“It’s beautiful. I love these colors against a silver chain or silver backdrop. It looks like the sea, doesn’t it?” She placed the necklace back on its display board with trembling fingers.
“We’ll have to remember that,” said Jeff.
She didn’t dare glance at either of them right now. They’d see how badly she wanted that necklace and no other, and she didn’t want to give them any reason to think she was trying to direct something as important as a collar. This was one time she’d have to bite the bullet and wait it out. Wasn’t that part of what they were trying to teach her, after all? She could do this. She knew she could.
They ate more fish that night for dinner, and for dessert they had a strawberry and cream cheese torte they’d picked up downtown earlier. The sun set, but they still didn’t go inside. They sat on the deck enjoying the view, the sound of the insects, and the warm, fragrant air. “I don’t want to go back to work.” She knew she’d said what they were all thinking.
“It’ll be okay,” said Jeff. “I promise you that.”
“So do I,” said Taj, giving her hand a squeeze.
“Everything has changed,” she whispered.
Taj scooted his chair closer and cupped her face. “Yes, it has, but for the better. Look what we have now that we didn’t have two days ago. All of us. These memories, and an entire new dimension to our relationship. Things are only going to get better from now on.” He kissed her gently. “I know it. It’s going to be just fine. Trust us.”
How could she do anything except trust them in the face of such confidence?
* * * *
Monday morning, they woke early, ate breakfast, and then Taj drove her to her condo. He kissed her with so much longing, just inside her door, that she nearly begged him to forget the whole thing and take a week off with her.
After she showered and dressed, she walked to work slowly, trying to prolong the inevitable. When she walked into the department and approached her office, she was relieved to see Sallyanne’s door wide open. That meant she wasn’t in yet. Most of her staff had already arrived, and she greeted them each before going into her own office.
Taj and Jeff sent her text messages all morning, describing in vivid detail what they intended to do to her once the bruises on her ass healed. They included promises of nipple clamps and a violet wand, which she told them she was a bit wary of. They assured her that if she didn’t like anything they tried on her they would make it a hard limit, and that put her at ease.
Just before eleven, after they had both asked her to have lunch with them, she rose and took a walk around the department to stretch her legs. It was difficult to sit this morning, as her ass and everything else was still quite sore, and she also found that her concentration level wasn’t as astute as it normally was. She chalked it up to the events of the weekend.
Sallyanne’s office door was closed, and Alaina frowned at the realization that she hadn’t come in to say good morning like she always did. She shrugged and went back to her own office. Sallyanne was probably still pissed off that she hadn’t been able to get her fired. The hell with her. As long as she did her job, nothing would happen.
Alaina made a couple of phone calls, then she clicked on an e-mail from an address she didn’t recognize, but had the subject line of “New Order.” Her hands froze over the keyboard. There were images attached to it, and they had file names she hadn’t seen in ten years. Her heart raced and sweat broke out along her hairline.
It had to be a fluke. Or a mistake. It couldn’t be real.
She should simply delete it, but then she realized the e-mail hadn’t only been sent to her. It had been sent to Sallyanne, Jeff, and Taj, as well as to Tim and Asa.
She stood up so fast she nearly tipped over her office chair. “No…” she whispered, staring at the screen. She didn’t know what to do. This had to have come from someone who knew her work e-mail, but that could be anyone with whom she’d worked inside this building, or done business with outside the company, for the past eight years.
“IT…” Yes. Their IT department would be able to trace it. But that meant she had to tell them about it. She had to anyway. And she had to do it quickly.
Her fingers shook as she dialed their number on her desk phone. While she waited for someone to answer the call, she texted Taj and Jeff on her cell, telling them only that she needed their help in person and quickly. She immediately felt foolish for texting them. They’d figure out she needed their help as soon as they saw the e-mail. Tears ran down her face now. She couldn’t stop them.
Before IT answered, she heard Sallyanne’s voice in the hallway, along with Taj’s and Jeff’s. “Thank God.” At least they were out there. She sprinted to her office door and closed it, then got back on her desk phone, where someone from IT finally came on the line.
“I’ve just received an e-mail from an unknown address with images that I believe are…” How the fuck was she going to explain this? “With images from my past. My remote past. That compromise me. It’s been sent to my boss, to the two department shipping heads, and to the CEOs. I don’t know what to do.”
She was crying so hard by the time she finished that sentence, she had to repeat the last part for Christine, the tech on the line. “Okay, Alaina. Just forward it to our general address. Do you have that?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.” She forced her fingers to stop shaking long enough to forward it. The voices outside were shouting now, and they were closer. “What should I do with it? Should I delete it?”
“Yes. Just delete it. We’ll trace it for you and find out where it came from.”
“Thank you.” She deleted it, but it hardly mattered. No one else would do that, sight unseen. They’d open it and look at the pictures. The nude pictures that Alex had taken of her, ten years ago. The fucking bastard had saved them, all this time, and now he’d used them to ruin her because she’d had him fired.
It was over. Just as fast as it had begun, it was over. Jeff and Taj would dump her ass, right after Asa and Tim fired her, and she’d run back home to California and hide for the rest of her life.
* * * *
Taj wished that Sallyanne was his sister instead of Jeff’s because he was close to punching her, and if she were his sister he might get away with doing that. He’d never hit a woman in anger, but Sallyanne wasn’t a woman. She was a demon. To say the look on her face was one of triumph was an understatement. If she and Alex hadn’t orchestrated this, he’d eat every piece of furniture in this office.
“That’s bullshit!” Jeff was right in her face. He could get away with that. Taj could not. “You knew about them. You’ve been sleeping with Alex for two y
ears. Did you think we didn’t know that?”
“I knew only what he told me about his past with Alaina.” She pointed toward the screen. “Why would I keep seeing him if I’d known about those?”
Taj’s stomach turned at the sight of the pictures. Sallyanne had moved every single one of them out of the e-mail, placing them in neat little tiles on her screen. The vindictive bitch. “If they disgust you so much, why are you looking at them?”
She shot Taj a look that would have buried him if she’d been anyone who could actually hurt him. “She’s my employee. I had to see what they were.”
“And line them up, all nice and neat?”
“Fuck you, Taj.”
“Classy. Really. Great management material you are.” He no longer gave a shit what he said to this woman. He would see her removed as Alaina’s boss if it was the last thing he ever did.
“Delete those,” said Jeff. “What the hell is the matter with you? Have you no fucking decency at all? They were taken years ago. He violated her trust with them. He sent them to his friends. And obliviously he kept them all these years. Get your head out of your ass and think about that. He’s been fucking you for two years, and when he gets fired for not doing his job, what does he do for retaliation? He sends out the nude pictures of your employee that he has kept for ten years to you, the woman he’s been seeing all this time. What the hell does that say about his respect for you?”
Sallyanne’s mouth dropped open, and Taj resisted the urge to pump his fist in the air as the emotions crossed her face. She got it. Glory be, hallelujah, she finally understood it. He saw it in her eyes, along with pain that filled him with fresh guilt. She was genuinely floored by what Jeff had just laid out for her.
“That’s the man of your dreams?” asked Jeff. “The man you almost let get your best employee fired? For what? He’s a user, Sallyanne. Can’t you see that? He’s trash. What the fuck are you doing with him?”
She practically fell back into her chair, staring off into space, with a look of total shock and defeat on her face. Taj wanted to feel vindicated, but he felt sorry for her. Clearly she’d had nothing to do with this, and hadn’t known about the pictures. At least there was that much to save her.
He turned at the sound of footsteps, and pulled Alaina into his arms. She was sobbing so hard he didn’t see the point in telling her what had just happened with Sallyanne. He merely held her, stroking her back and hair, the way he had all weekend.
He glanced toward Sallyanne who watched them carefully. Understanding dawned on her face. But instead of becoming upset again, she merely nodded a few times. “Okay. I see. Tell me what to do. How do I fix this?” Her voice was small and tight, and Taj didn’t think he’d ever heard her so rattled or caught off guard.
That realization must have snapped Alaina out of her crying fit, because she pulled out of his embrace and stared at her boss with wide eyes, and a look of total disbelief on her face.
“I didn’t know,” said Sallyanne, looking Alaina in the eyes. “I never knew about these. He never told me. I didn’t send this. I don’t know where it came from.”
“Did you call IT yet?” asked Jeff, glancing at Alaina.
She nodded.
“Okay. Then all of us will simply delete it…” He glared at his sister. “And we will not save the pictures. We’ll let IT do their job.”
“What about Tim and Asa?” asked Taj.
Jeff glanced around. “Unified front. These were taken years before Alaina came to this island. They already know she had a past with Alex, and they know he used Sallyanne to try and get her fired. This is obviously retaliation. Alaina’s work record will speak for itself.”
“But I’m fucked,” whispered Sallyanne. Taj watched her clicking on the keyboard, but just to be sure, he walked around behind her and watched while she deleted all the pictures and the e-mail. Then he told her to empty the recycle bin, which she did.
“Thank you.”
She nodded without looking at him, and then she swore under her breath as Asa and Tim walked into her office.
Tim kept his attention on Sallyanne, but Asa glanced at each of them in turn. “What the fuck is going on here?”
Alaina started to speak, but Taj moved next to her again and placed an arm around her shoulder. He explained to Asa about the pictures, and assured him that no one in this room, including Sallyanne, had been behind this. He told them that IT had been notified, and each of them had deleted the e-mail.
“Fine. But if it goes out to customers, we have a real mess on our hands.”
Alaina collapsed against Taj’s arm, and for a second he thought she’d fainted, until she whispered, “No…”
“It won’t,” he said.
“How do you know that?” asked Alaina. “If this is from Alex, and who else could it be from, he has customer e-mails.”
“Not unless he sent them to his personal computer,” said Asa, looking directly at Sallyanne. “And I hope he didn’t. Because I can call a judge right now and get a search warrant for his home, including his computer, signed within an hour. And if I find out he’s taken home company information, or has it on his computer at home, guess who else will join him on the unemployment line?”
Chapter Fourteen
Jeff and Taj finally left after Alaina told them she wasn’t hungry and couldn’t eat anything. Jeff had a meeting that he couldn’t postpone, and once it let out around two in the afternoon, he texted Alaina, but she didn’t answer. Her Outlook showed her out of the office, so he called her desk phone, but it went to voice mail.
When he called Sallyanne to ask where Alaina was, she told him that Alaina had left the office about one, telling Sallyanne she had a migraine. She said she’d told Alaina to take the rest of the week off if she needed to. Sallyanne said she’d never taken a sick day, and had so much time built up that she could take off six months and still get paid.
Hearing that had Jeff in a panic. What if she’d done exactly that? Taken an extended vacation? What if she left the island? He couldn’t lose her. Not now. Now after what they’d all shared. There had barely been any time to get to know her outside of work. They’d help her through this. They would track down Alex and put a stop to this, forever. Didn’t she knew that? He and Taj weren’t going to abandon her.
He walked into Taj’s office and told him that Alaina had left over an hour ago, and asked if he knew where she was.
“No. Can’t you reach her?”
Jeff shook his head. Taj turned off his computer, and then Jeff went into his office and did the same thing. They drove silently in Jeff’s Jeep to her condo, and knocked on the door. While they waited for her to answer, Jeff asked Taj if he’d heard whether Asa had any success in obtaining a search warrant.
“I don’t know. I was too busy on a phone call. But we need to keep on him about that.”
They knocked again, calling her name. It occurred to Jeff that she had no car, so even if she was somewhere else on the island, they wouldn’t be able to find her by looking for it. He ran his hands through his hair. What were they going to do? They had to find her. Why hadn’t he thought to ask her for a key this weekend?
Finally, they heard movement on the other side of the door, and he let out a loud sigh. When she opened the door, she stepped aside to let them in. She’d been crying again, and her face was all puffy. He pulled her close and just held her, whispering over and over that it would be okay. He only wished he believed it himself.
* * * *
Alaina felt numb inside. Every horrible memory from ten years ago when Alex had first sent the pictures was back, in living color. They were worse now, because the very real threat of ruining her career came with them. She had tried to get some work done after Asa and Tim finally left, but she couldn’t. Jeff and Taj both told her they’d be back after meetings they couldn’t postpone, but she’d had to get out of the complex. She couldn’t even look at anyone.
“Why didn’t you let us know you’d left?” asked
Taj.
“I’m sorry. I just had to get out of there. I couldn’t breathe.”
“Do you want to come and stay with one of us?” asked Jeff. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
“Really? You both still want me? How can you? Why would you? And please don’t say I’m going to be punished for asking that. Please. I’m so confused right now.” She sat on the sofa and hugged her knees.
Jeff pulled over an armchair, moving it directly in front of her, and Taj took a seat next to her. “What are you confused about?” he asked. “About us?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m confused about what to do. How can I go back there and look any of them in the eyes? I’ve lost all credibility. Sallyanne saw those pictures. The CEOs of the company did, for God’s sake. What if Mr. Durante was right? What if Alex sent them to customers?”
“He didn’t.” Taj cupped her face. “He didn’t do that. He sent them to you to hurt you again, and he copied all of us because he knew that would pour salt in the wounds.”
She studied his face, and then glanced at Jeff. “Your sister didn’t know, did she? She was devastated.”
Jeff nodded.
“I guess now she knows how I felt.”
“I’m sure she has a fairly good idea.”
“That should make me feel like I’ve finally been vindicated, but all it does is make me sad. He used her just as badly as he used me.”
Jeff nodded. “I think she realizes that now, too.”
Alaina’s eyes widened. “Then maybe she can help us? She’s been with him a long time now. Does she live with him? Surely she would know whether or not he took things home, or e-mailed addresses and such to his own computer.”
“I think Tim and Asa have probably already driven home that point. We have to let her come to one of us, or to them, in her own time, hon.”