by H.H. Fowler
Chapter Nine
When I finally made it to the fourth floor of my office, Reuben was sitting on the carpet like he was the day before. The only difference was that he didn’t have those silly earplugs wedged in his ears. But he did have a look of excitement on his face and I figured it had something to do with the job he’d recently landed at the gym. However, I was not interested in dealing with Reuben and his mixed up priorities. I greeted him half-heartedly and then proceeded into my office. As I had suspected, he jumped to his feet and fell in line behind my strides.
“Sierra, did you get any of my messages?”
I rested my laptop, along with my handbag, on the desk. I then walked to my swivel chair and sat in it, sighing like the entire world was on my shoulders. “Of course I got your messages, Reuben. I got them all. I can’t believe you’re running me down just to tell me that you’ve landed a job with some stupid gym.”
It seemed as if my words knocked the proverbial wind out of Reuben’s sails. He took a seat on my sofa and then looked at me with a dozen questions in his eyes. “Why do you perceive that my only mission in life is to hound you and to make you miserable? Have you ever considered the reason why I want to be around you so much is because I care a great deal about you and I want nothing but the best for you and your career?”
I stared at Reuben, not knowing how to respond. For the five years I’d known him, I’d never been audibly direct with my feelings toward him. I’d always given him the cold shoulder or the irritated eye, or said words that would pierce him. But I’d only done it because I felt as if Reuben was a nuisance to me. Our personalities just didn’t mesh well together. Now, here he was confessing something I wasn’t prepared to deal with.
“Well, I’m sorry if I made you feel that way,” I finally told him. “It’s just that I have a lot on my mind and so many things to do that sometimes I can’t see the forest for the trees.”
“Why didn’t you wait for me yesterday at the kiosk?” he queried. “Esther told me she tried to stop you, but you were in such a mad rush against time that you totally ignored her.”
“Did Esther tell you that I had a client waiting?” I snapped. “I had three properties lined up to show him.”
“You’re not talking about Taj Brooks, are you? The minute Esther described him to me, I knew who he was.”
My eyes widened with shock. I’d made a vow to keep my focus away from Taj, but I couldn’t resist the bait that Reuben had unsuspectingly thrown into my path. “How do you know Taj…er, Mr. Brooks?” I stammered.
“Does it matter? You’re not interested in anything I have to say anyway.”
That was true, but I wasn’t going to let Reuben win the argument. “Why are you in my office? I thought you had a job to go to.”
“I’m not going to let you push me out of your office just because you can’t get your way.”
I pushed my swivel chair away from the desk, folded my arms, and glared at Reuben. “What do you know about Mr. Brooks? That’s the only thing I want to hear from you right now.”
“No, I’m not giving you what you want just like that. Things are never that easy in life.”
I was thoroughly offended by Reuben’s resolve. I told him point blank, “Please leave, or else I will call security to escort you off the premises.”
“My father owns more than forty percent of this company, but I will not use that as a means to be malicious. If you want me to leave that badly, I will.”
Reuben shook his head as he stood. He walked up to my desk and dropped a manila envelope on my desk. I was amazed that I hadn’t recognized that it had been resting next to Reuben the entire time. His gaze pierced me and I could’ve sworn I saw a measure of pain in his eyes. I wondered if I had been the cause of it or if there were some other issue he was battling with in his personal affairs. At the moment, I really didn’t care.
“I don’t understand what it is about Taj Brooks that you’re so interested in,” he told me. “But you had better be careful. Taj Brooks is not all that he purports to be.”
I watched Reuben hurry out of my office door, leaving me with an unsettled feeling in my stomach. What did Reuben mean? Was Taj a known rapist? A child molester? A killer? I composed myself and tried to understand what was really going on with my boss’ son. Was he jealous of Taj Brooks? But why? I tried to imagine Reuben crossing paths with Taj, but it wasn’t making any sense to me. What could be the reason why those two would know of each other?
So I did the next thing any sane woman would do. I pulled up the Internet on my laptop and typed Taj Brooks into the search engine. Dozens of pages came up with his name on it, but I could tell I would be wasting my time. Why would I want to put myself through this torture anyway? I refused to believe I’d almost given up my virginity to some unscrupulous pervert. Oh God, feel like I’m digging myself into a pit. What is it with these men? I exited out of the browser and then stared at the manila envelope Reuben had dropped on my desk. I pushed it aside. I had no interest in seeing whatever it was. It was quite clear that Reuben had an agenda and I wanted no part of it.