In Her Arms

by Gayle Keo

  Tatiana parked at her spot; she always got a lot of attention from work because she was the only African American working at the Travel Agency. She walked briskly to her desk. Amanda was already waiting for her.

  “I’m not in the mood for the office gossip right now,” she said as she sat down.

  “You won’t believe who just walked in,” Amanda insisted.

  “I don’t care if it’s the president,” she said as she switched on her computer.

  “A closer guess,” Amanda said. She looked up and was shocked who was standing next to her desk.

  “You’re such a spoiler Trent, FYI I wasn’t talking about you,” Amanda gave Tatiana a suspicious look as she left.

  Tatiana turned to see Trent, loser, and jerk extraordinaire. He was her stinking-rat-bastard ex-boyfriend. She wasn’t expecting him; she hadn’t heard from him for a long time and wanted it to be that way, total silence between them.

  No, no, no. Lord, what did I do to deserve this? Tatiana mentally whined. Okay, so she may have parked in her boss’s spot the previous Friday when she stopped to pick up her morning hit of java but it didn’t mean that she was to be punished like this.

  She may have laughed a little when some old lady saw her parking in said spot, and honked giving her an evil glare. Sometimes she always felt nice being evil and crafty.

  And… um… she may have laughed a little… or maybe a lot, which might have made Grandma Dynamo somewhat manic, causing her to shake her tiny fist at Tatiana, and then proceeded to shoot her the one-finger salute. Well… then Tatiana might have blown Grandma a kiss, which probably pissed the white-haired stick of dynamite off more, if the bulging eyes, red face and flailing of arms were any indication.

  But geez, Tatiana reflected, there were like, 30 parking spots and only six regular ones. What was she supposed to do? Circle the parking lot aimlessly until someone decided to leave and then hope she could snag the spot before the next caffeine deprived loser snapped it up and have her take a chance on being late for work again?

  “How have you been?” Trent’s question snapped Tatiana out of her musings on which evil sin landed her in this mess. He leaned on the counter looking, if possible, better than he did when he ran off and left her for another woman. The jackass.

  She was devastated when he ran off with her and now she was over him, but she was not ready to meet him again. She kept thinking of him and wanted to know about everything he did and how his new relationship was going. It took her a lot of time to forget him and now he was back with an agenda.

  She knew that he was ambitious and would never stop until he got what he wanted. She was not going to let him use her again. She learned her lesson the first time and would never repeat the same mistake twice. She had to admit that he was irresistible and it would take a lot of energy and focus to reject him again.

  With his smooth dark brown skin and thick dark hair, broad, muscular shoulders that, damn it, looked even more toned, and how fair is that?

  To top it off, he was wearing what could only be a tailored shirt, which probably cost more than her last five hair appointments. I mean, come on. She thought, He should have gained fifty pounds, developed a pot belly, or started to show premature balding. Something, Anything. He looked hot. He loved class and it seemed that was exactly what he got. She couldn’t deny that he had such great taste in clothing.

  She didn’t bother answering him, not that she could if she wanted to, so she folded her arms and glared. Really, what was she going to say? “Hi Trent, how are you? Me? I’m just fine. And how are you and the woman that you dumped me for, things going well for the two of you?”

  He kept talking as if she wasn’t standing there shooting invisible death rays at him and imagining him exploding in a cloud of ash.

  “You look really good Baby.” He smiled.

  Hearing him call her “Baby,” snapped Tatiana out of her trance and sent her into immediate defense mode.

  “I am not your baby.” She said in an amazingly calm voice.

  “Aw, Baby.” Trent crooned.

  “Do not call me that.” She snapped. “You don’t get to call me that ever again.” Her voice rose a bit and she glanced around hoping that no one was close by. She did not want to lay her problems out for the town to see. It was bad enough that everyone knew Trent had dumped her. They didn’t need to hear that she was at work making a fool of herself in front of him and anyone else who wanted to witness such asinine behavior.

  “I will call you baby,” he insisted.

  “I won't allow you to call me that.” She said defensively.

  Tatiana looked to her right and saw Mrs. Morrison, the head of the marketing department eyeing them. Oh great. This little altercation was going to be the talk of every dentist appointment, hair dressing session and grocery line discussion by noon, and it was only 10 am. Lowering her voice, Tatiana asked, “Trent, what do you want?”

  He held up a book, the grin never leaving his face. “Checking up on you.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked furiously while still whispering.

  “I said I’m checking up on you,” he replied.

  She arched a brow and harrumphed. “I know you want something just say it.”

  He chuckled. “Na Baby, I came home to visit my Mom,” raising a brow, he added, “and decided to come by and pick up something from you. Let’s just say that I’ve changed.” He said with a smile.

  Tatiana wanted to laugh at that.

  “Now that you’ve said hi, you go back to your girlfriend.” She suggested.

  “That’s not how you treat people,” he said. He pretended not to know that what he did really hurt Tatiana.

  He calculated his wardrobe, knowing the best things to wear when he was at a meeting to get the optimal outcome and show off his body when he moved a certain way.

  He calculated his meals in public; to be sure that he wasn’t eating anything that could get stuck in his teeth, in the event that he met a potential client and chose foods that he believed would make people think that he was suave and sophisticated.

  “I’ll walk out if you won’t tell me what you want.” She said with a stern face.

  “Okay, I want that ring I gave you back.”

  Tatiana gave him a smile then stood up. “I threw it away the moment you left me. You thought I would keep that piece of trash?”

  *****

  Clyde Fox II watched Tatiana argue with her ex boyfriend. He had been the CEO of his family’s company, Fox Industries after his father retired five years ago. His father, Clyde Fox, started the Hotel Fox brand thirty years ago with one location on the Greek island of Chios. Now there were over fifty locations worldwide. That was what he wanted the media to say about him.

  Apart from being a drug dealer, he was well connected to the police. He had influence everywhere. Very few people knew what he did; he always hid under his father’s shadow.

  He walked slowly to Tatiana’s desk and stopped. Everyone was looking at him, they wondered what he wanted. He was well known in the Bronx area. He was a drug dealer worth billions of dollars.

  “Excuse me, what do you want from my girlfriend?” he asked Trent as he kissed Tatiana on the cheek. Tatiana looked confused but she loved the look on Trent’s face. This was the best revenge she could ever get.

  “I’m sorry, I was just catching up,” Trent said.

  “It doesn’t look to me like you were doing that,” Clyde said defensively. He looked serious and Trent bought the lie.

  “I’m sorry and see you around.” Trent left without looking behind him.

  Tatiana looked confused. Why would a stranger save her from Trent?

  “I’m sorry miss; you may now get back to work.” Clyde said.

  “I want to say thank you,” Tatiana said in a polite voice.

  “Before I forget, your company made a mistake not to make arrangements for one person I was traveling with, so you’ll be my date tomorrow and you will be my tour guide to show me arou
nd the city while I’m still around here.”

  “I don’t understand sir,” Tatiana said.

  “You are a tour and travel agency; I don’t understand how you forgot to make a booking for the extra person I mentioned, so I’ll see you tomorrow at La Paz Hotel, dinner at 8.00. That is the reason I canceled my appointment, to come to make a complaint personally, but your boss suggested that you could show me around town to cover for the mistake.”

  “But—” He left before she could finish what she was saying. She didn’t even have a dress for the occasion. She had to leave early to go and prepare herself.

  “That is who I wanted to tell you about before Trent walked in but I can see that you two have already met.” Amanda said.

  *****

  Trent had to force himself not to drag his hard headed woman down the slick library steps and across the street.

  “Slow down.” Maya demanded breathlessly in an attempt to dodge and jump over the remaining rain puddles. “Trent, slow down!”

  Rounding the corner of the bank, Trent let go of her arm, practically spinning her around at the same time. Hands on hips, he glared at the woman standing in front of him.

  “Babe, I asked you to let me handle this.”

  Maya crossed her arms defiantly. “Well, did you talk to her?”

  “I told you, I can’t just come right out and ask her for the ring. I have to handle it delicately.”

  “How hard can it be? Just say, ‘Tatiana, remember that engagement ring that I gave you? Well, the guy that I purchased it from, he stole it from some really bad men. And these bad men are going to cut off an essential body part if I don’t return it, so I’d like to have it back please,’ and if she refuses, offer her money. If you offer her enough money I assure you, she will return that bloody ring.”

  Trent cringed at her mention of having anything hacked from his body, and he felt nauseous thinking about the body part that he was sure she was referring to being chopped off. “It’s not that easy.” He went on to say.

  “And why not? You act as if she has a sentimental bond with that ring, or that she’s above a little monetary persuasion. I promise you, she’s not.”

  Trent sighed. He had tried to tell Maya on several occasions that Tatiana would not just willingly turn the ring over. Well, she wouldn’t turn it over to him. If he told her that the ring belonged to someone else, she’d want to find the rightful owners, and give it to them, and he couldn’t have that.

  There was no way in hell that Trent wanted Tatiana going to see Mad Dog’s men. That was totally out of the question. If she did, she might find out how he’d come to have that damned ring, and as soon as she did she’d tell her stupid friend Amanda. The first thing that that bitch would do would be to track Maya down.

  Amanda would gladly fill Maya in on what she thought were Trent’s indiscretions. And when Maya heard what Amanda had to say, be it truth or lies, Maya would run straight to her father and tell him everything.

  Before Trent moved to New York to work for Maya’s father, he really didn’t know what the good life was. Yes, he grew up in one of the nicest homes in their little town, and was the envy of most of his friends who had two parents that needed to work just to make ends meet. Trent’s mother, Eugenia, never had to work a day in her life thanks to his grandfather Theodore Fox. Theodore was a shrewd businessman who, after his first wife died, married a much younger woman. Several years later, Theodore died, and to his young widow’s surprise, Theodore made sure that his 4.7 million dollar estate went to his beloved daughter Eugenia.

  After losing her father, Eugenia thought no man could possibly love her as much as he did. Her father was her provider, her daddy, her best friend. All of that changed when Eugenia met Brant Weston the third. Eugenia thought Brant was everything she could have wanted in a husband, he was handsome, intelligent and he seemed to think that Eugenia hung the moon. That was until Eugenia realized that Brant had a thing for beautiful women, and more beautiful men.

  Eugenia got rid of Brant, but not before he squandered a large portion of her inheritance on bad business ventures, worse investments and of course, his whores.

  To almost everyone in their little community, it would seem that the Foxes were a wealthy family, in fact, most thought that the Foxes were one of the wealthiest families in their community. No one knew that Eugenia went as far as 30 miles, just to go grocery shopping, so none of their neighbors would know that she was coupon shopping, trying to make their monthly stipend stretch. No one would have guessed that she went to high end thrift stores in New York or New Jersey to purchase designer clothes. In all reality, the Fox family estate had enough money to support Eugenia for maybe another ten years if she was careful with her finances. After that there would be no more money.

  But now things were different. Trent was living the good life. He would not be caught dead in a suit that was less than $1000, ate caviar whenever he wanted to, and would not let a glass of wine touch his lips unless it came from a bottle that cost no less than $150.

  Trent had worked too hard to get where he was to let a stupid mistake mess everything up for him. He would do whatever it took to keep that from happening.

  “You don’t understand Tatiana; money is not going to buy that ring from her. It’s going to be all about the principle with her.”

  “Yeah, right. Did you see that outfit she was wearing? And that hair? Really? She’d take the money. No doubt about it.”

  Trent continued to shake his head as she spoke.

  She narrowed her eyes, saying, “What?” and then folded her arms. “Don’t do that to me.”

  “Do what?”

  “Shake your head as if I don’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about. You have no idea if she would.”

  “Yes, I do. To Tatiana, nothing is about the money; it’s never about the money. She likes her job at the travel agency, she doesn’t care that she doesn’t earn a butt load of money, she’s an agent, because she’s happy doing it. She doesn’t have the desire to be rich or famous or anything grandiose. She’s happy with her simple life, with her simple job and maybe one day being a simple wife and mother, with three kids and a dumb dog. Buying her isn’t going to work.

  For a moment, Maya stared at him, as if what he was saying was the most absurd thing she’d ever heard, and then, sighing, she said. “Then convince her that giving you the ring is…”

  “Is in what? Her best interest or mine?”

  “Yes.”

  “Baby.” Closing his eyes, he scratched his brow in frustration. “Tatiana is still upset that I left her. She probably wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire. There is no way that she’d just give me that ring to help me out. I have to get in her good graces first.”

  “Then tell the men who are after you that she has possession of the ring, and let them handle it.”

  Trent had thought about that. He was so close to telling them that Tatiana had that damn ring and be done with it. To spin everything so it seemed as if she knew where the ring had come from, and wanted to keep it anyway.

  Then Trent pictured Tatiana with her bright guileless eyes, telling them that she had no idea where the ring came from, that Trent had proposed to her one day, presenting her with the antique ring.

  And of course they would believe her. It was Tatiana. She was the girl who, when she realized the cashier at McDonalds had given her too much change, had held it in her glove box for almost two weeks. And then on her return visit, she told them that she was given too much change and wanted to return it, because she couldn’t bear to think that she was the cause of someone being docked the extra money.

  With Trent’s luck, one, if not all of the goons would fall completely in love with Tatiana after hearing her story of how, after giving her what she’d thought was the perfect engagement ring, that Trent had up and left her, not bothering to telling her that he’d decided he didn’t want to marry her, until after Trent had packed up his belongings and moved from North Carolina to Ne
w York.

  Then he could expect at least four apes to be waiting at his apartment when he returned home from work late one evening. They’d rip his arms and legs off and proceed to beat him to death with his own limbs.

  The thought of that happening just made Trent’s balls want to crawl inside his body and hide.

  “So, you can’t go to her and explain that it’s crucial that she give the ring back.” Maya asked watching Trent’s reaction closely.

  Maya wanted to know what the mystery was behind this ring and why he couldn’t tell Tatiana he wanted the ring back. It was absurd, and this really made her suspicious.

  “You don’t understand. As soon, as I show too much interest in the ring, she’s going to get suspicious. Then she’s going to have someone look at it, and when she finds out that it’s not a piece of junk she’ll wonder where I got that kind of cash from, or worse start investigating the ring’s origin.”

  “So? Let her. Let her know who the ring belongs to. Let her give it back to them.”

  She didn’t care whether Tatiana knew who the ring belonged to, all she wanted was for him to get the ring but not spend much time with her. Why would he want to spend time with her if he was only interested in the ring? She did not like how Trent was handling this ring thing.

  “No, I can’t do that.” Hesitating, he ran his hands down his face.

  The hesitation wasn’t long, but it was just enough that Maya noticed it, and that small hesitation made Maya wonder what was really going on. Did Trent have unresolved feelings for Tatiana? And why did they care if Tatiana investigated that damn ring and found out who it belonged to? Maybe she needed to find out who it belonged to, so she could return it. Then this whole farce could be over with, and they could go back to the Bronx.

  “Do you have feelings for her?” she asked angrily.

  “Hell no, why would you say that? You know the reason why we are here.”