by Nella Tyler
“I think we should try a new type of battle today,” the instructor said with a smile. “Since we have an equal number of men and women; how would you all feel about a guys versus girls battle?”
Everyone looked at each other for a moment and I could tell what they were thinking. The men were all bigger and stronger than the women. It didn’t seem like a fair battle at all.
“Let’s kill those suckers,” one of the women yelled out.
The game was on!
If the women didn’t have a problem fighting the bigger and stronger men, we certainly weren’t going to turn down the battle.
“When I push this horn you will have ten minutes to gather your team and head into the woods. Remember, any hit to the torso is a kill and you will need to return here. Last team standing will win.”
The instructor blew his air horn and I ran after all the men as they went south from the cabin. The women didn’t run off at all and instead stayed in front of the cabin and seemed to be discussing something. I felt bad for them, there was no way they were going to beat this group of guys. Half of them looked like they were in the military and the other half looked like they were going to do anything possible to make sure they didn’t get beat by the women.”
I’ll admit that the men’s strategy was not as good as it could have been. Basically, they decided to spread out and move in slowly toward the women. Shooting them as we went. On the surface, the plan seemed alright, but we clearly had not thought it through. Or paid very close attention to how many women had stayed at the base camp.
Our group of 13 men talked only briefly before we spread out and made a large ½ mile radius around where we had last seen the women. My goal was to just shoot them when I saw them. I didn’t know anything else that would work better.
The problem was, I didn’t see any of the women. I could hear the group of women far ahead of me, but I didn’t see any others outside of the group. I wondered if the other men were having similar issues.
Then I heard a paintball gun go off and a guy yelled out.
“Fuck,” he said. “She’s in the tree.”
Two other guys went over toward where the first one had been ‘killed’ and they looked up toward the trees and were immediately snipered with purple paint.
The instructor reminded the guys that they couldn’t holler out tips if they were dead and the three dead guys went back to the cabin. I had seen what happened, but I couldn’t see the woman who was in the tree. I didn’t want to risk going over there so instead, I made my way toward the women’s voices that I heard about 200 yards away from the cabin.
Without warning, I felt a horrible pain in my groin. It was worse than any elbow to the area during basketball and I realized I had just been nailed with a paintball. The second one came quickly after and nailed me in my vest. I was down on the ground screaming in pain when the instructor reached me.
“Oh, bro, that’s a tough one,” he said as he helped me to my feet.
I wasn’t sure what happened next since I had been relegated to sitting on the couch with ice on my balls. But one by one, the men dragged their asses into the cabin. Two women were eliminated as well, but by far it was a cabin full of men.
Finally, the last man brought himself into the cabin with the biggest look of defeat I had ever seen. I couldn’t help but laugh. There were ten women still left in the woods and no men; we had definitely underestimated them.
When Alicia came into the cabin with the other women, it was exciting for them. They all jumped and hollered about their victory over the men. It was a well-deserved victory and luckily none of the men acted like assholes about it. Most likely because they were all on dates with their women and didn’t want to ruin their chances of getting lucky.
“It looks like you took a pretty good hit there,” Alicia said as she looked at the ice pack between my legs.
“A soldier has to do what a soldier has to do,” I said as I tried to get up off the couch.
Chapter 26
I didn’t have enough energy to resist Alicia’s insistence that we swing by my house and drop me off before her. I was in more pain than I cared to admit to and really did just want to lay down.
“So that sure was a night of fun,” I said jokingly as I got out of the vehicle.
We had spent the last thirty minutes laughing and talking as we drove home from the paintball camp. It really had been a fun night, even with the ball pain I was having.
“I’m sorry you got nailed in the nuts,” Alicia said and tried not to laugh as she said it.
“Me too,” I laughed.
I leaned in and kissed her. It was a comfortable kiss. They kind you give a woman you had been dating for a very long time. I liked the feeling. I liked that we had started to become more comfortable with each other.
Slowly, I pulled her bottom lip into my mouth and let it stay there for a few seconds. Her lips were delicious and I wanted to taste them all night long. Her hands reached up and wrapped around my neck and I forgot all about the pain I was in.
“Do you want to come upstairs?” I asked.
I didn’t know how I would make it through the pain, but if she had said yes I would have figured something out. I could have made the pain go away out of pure excitement for finally getting to have her in my bed.
“No, I better get going,” she said.
I gave her one last quick kiss on the lips and then turned to head into the building. She stood at the vehicle for a moment before she got back in and I thought for a second that she might have changed her mind.
As I walked through the front door, I expected to see the doorman, but instead I saw Stacey standing near the elevators. I swung around toward the door to see if Alicia had already left out of fear that she would see me talking to this woman. But she had just pulled away.
“Hi, Stacey. What are you doing here?”
I had no desire to be with her and had no idea how she had figured out where I lived.
“I didn’t get your number when you were over the other day, but I remember you had said you lived on the thirty-second floor here.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s alright. I don’t think it would have worked out anyways. I think your husband didn’t like me.”
The conversation was awkward and I really wanted to just get in the elevator and head up to my apartment. She didn’t want to let me go, though.
I had been in a situation like that before; a woman stalked me to my apartment and wanted in. The previous woman had found my actual apartment number from my ID and had been waiting in front of my door, though.
“Sweetheart, I think we can make something workout. Maybe I could come upstairs with you and we could talk about it?”
My answer, historically, would have always been yes. Even if the woman was getting a little crazy for me. Why would I turn down a night of hot sex? I could always break it off after the night was over. But on that night I couldn’t bring myself to say yes. I didn’t want her, I wanted Alicia.
“I’m sorry, it’s not going to work out Stacey. I wish you all the best.”
I motioned for the doorman who came over and stood next to me.
“Ron, can you help this young lady get a cab, please?” I said and I handed him some cash.
She was pissed. I could see it in her face, but she tried not to show it. She was a high-class woman who didn’t freak out on people. Luckily for me.
“Alright sweetheart, we can talk another time. Have a good night,” Stacey said as she gave me a kiss on each cheek and then left the lobby.
I made my way to the elevator and then quickly up to my apartment. It was oddly satisfying to have said no to her. There wasn’t an urge to fuck her at all, which surprised me.
The rest of my night consisted of me on my couch with a back of frozen peas between my legs. I actually turned the television on, which was a first for several months. It was quiet relaxing. I could see why other people enjoyed their time at home on their couches so much.
I
ended up falling asleep on my couch and was woken up by my phone vibrating incessantly.
“Yes,” I said as I saw it was Mike calling.
“You missed the staff meeting. I covered for you, but you better get your ass in here.”
“Fuck, ok. On my way.”
We had a weekly staff meeting at Taylor Trading. It was nothing all that important. Basically, the partners tried to get everyone all worked up about some upcoming companies. They would give out bonuses and talk about how everyone was doing so great. If we worked harder, then they could work less; that’s the only reason they had those meetings each week.
I despised our partners, but also admired them as well. I couldn’t wait until I had accomplished enough in the stock trading world that I was asked to be a partner. It was a huge goal of mine and I always promised myself that I would be less of an ass than those guys were. I wondered if they had said the same thing before becoming partners?
My suits were always ready to go so I just got into the shower, put one on and headed over to the office. I had missed staff meetings before, there was nothing shocking about me missing another one.
“They talked about your ALL Warren Clothing company today,” Michael said as I walked into the office.
“What did they say?”
“That you were the best thing since sliced bread since you had invested in it and everyone else should look up to you.”
“Really? They talked about me?”
“Yeah, I think they gave you a bonus too. But they wouldn’t tell anyone what they were giving.”
“I could always use a bonus.”
“So, why were you late?” Mike asked as we went into my office.
Natasha was back at her desk and I waved to her as we shut the door. It was good to see her again, although I had really liked Darla.
“I got shot in the balls and passed out on my couch,” I said with an awkward smile.
“Was this some sort of sex game or something? I’ve never heard of such a thing. What did you get shot in the balls with?”
“I went paintballing with Alicia. Some other chick shot me in the balls.”
“Oh, fuck. That sounds painful.”
“It was. I fell asleep on my couch with a bag of frozen peas on myself. First time for everything I guess.”
Mike laughed at me. We had that kind of relationship. When the other was in pain, we could hysterically laugh and it was all just fine between us.
“So have you found out the information you wanted on ALL Warren yet? Seems like you’re going to look really bad if something goes down and you have all that money tied up in the company.”
“I know. But right now I don’t know anything more than I did before.”
“So you’ve been out with Alicia, fucking her and paintballing with her; yet you don’t know anything about her company?”
“I’m not fucking her,” I said with a smile.
Mike must have thought I was kidding because he just continued on.
“Seriously, Evan you need to get the information and either get out of the company or tell me to invest. Stop screwing her and start getting real information.”
“Mike, I really am not having sex with her.”
“What?”
Mike looked bewildered as he looked at me. At first I thought he might not have heard what I had said to him, but then I realized I had just stunned him into silence. He looked at me and then out my window as he tried to figure out what the heck was going on.
“So she said no?”
“We just haven’t made it that far.”
“Ok, now I know something is going on. No woman would refuse you this long. I’m all for getting to know a girl. But you have been going on dates for weeks now.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“So is she a lesbian? Or maybe one of those women who like both men and women?”
“No Mike, she’s into guys. She’s into me; we just haven’t had sex yet,” I said with a straight face.
“Wow, Evan, I’m impressed.”
I know he didn’t mean to sound as condescending as he did. But the way he said it made me think he didn’t expect me ever to actually get to know a woman. Had he really thought I would spend my entire life fucking one night stands? It gave me a pit in my stomach to think that the persona people knew me as was such a jerk. That wasn’t really who I wanted to be.
“I took your advice. Getting to know her a bit. She’s a pretty amazing woman.”
“Good for you Evan, maybe she’s the one that will finally tame you.”
“Now if I could just figure you if her company was legitimate or not, then I would be totally happy. Rebecca helped me with some research, but there are some pretty big glaring warning signs with their productions.”
“Yeah, I haven’t had a good feeling about the company at all. I’m not putting any money into it until you have the answers you need.”
It was fine with me if Mike waited for a bit. I didn’t want to be responsible for urging him into a company that ended up not being a good deal. I would feel much better about recommending ALL Warren after my investigation had finished. I just hoped the partners in the firm didn’t come and talk to me before I was done.
They obviously had seen my numbers and the growth so far, it would be really hard to explain to them why I wasn’t fully recommending the company to the firm yet. I wasn’t prepared to have that conversation yet and needed to avoid them for as long as possible.
“I understand. I’ll let you know when I find out anything more.”
“Alright man, I’m going to get back to work. You let me know if the big wigs check in with you. I’d like to know what they had to say.”
“Sure thing.”
I pondered what to do with my day as Mike left. I really needed to figure out what was going on with Alicia’s company and I didn’t want to have to rely on Rebecca for the information.
As I went through the files that I had copied from Rebecca, I decided to start making some phone calls and see if I could figure out what exactly happened with her first company. If I could get those answers, maybe I’d have a better idea of what I was looking for with this one.
I knew I needed to confront Alicia at some point, but I wasn’t going to do that until I absolutely had no other choice. I still believed that she was innocent of any wrongdoing and I wasn’t about to just throw everything at her all at once. If she was really innocent like I thought she was, it would be really overwhelming to know that her company was being managed improperly.
“I’m calling to get some information on the Alicia Warren case from five years ago,” I said to the clerk from Chicago.
“I can fax you over a request form for the public records, but we don’t share information over the phone.”
The woman sounded like she had repeated herself at least a dozen times that day and she wasn’t excited at all about having to say it again.
“Sure, I’ll fill it out and fax it right back to you.”
“Include a credit card so you can be charged for the copies. It will take one to two weeks for the file to be sent.”
“Is there any way to rush it?” I asked.
It was always worth asking.
“Yes, for a forty dollar processing fee we will copy the file today.”
“Deal,” I said. “I’ll get the fax right back to you.”
Forty dollars was more than reasonable to save me two weeks worth of time. That was a prime reason why I always asked for a rush job. Forty dollars to one person might not be worth it, but to me it was extremely reasonable.
I continued to make some phone calls to get the past records from the legal case against Alicia and her employees from her previous company. The problem I kept running into was that no one had information on Alicia. They had information on the court case against her company, but anytime I requested records specific to her and her name; there was nothing.
It was extremely mysterious that there was pub
lic information on all the other people but nothing on her. I had even been able to request the records from Bill Yobi’s case without issue. Why the heck was I not able to find Alicia’s information?
I hoped when the records arrived from the company and the court cases that it would shine a light onto why I couldn’t find any information on Alicia. She was the owner, surely there had to be something about her in all the documents.
My day was extremely productive and by the time I went home I had received confirmation that over a thousand pages of records were on their way from various agencies. There was no way I wouldn’t be able to figure out what happened. I was going to have all the hard evidence right in front of me.
The urge to call Rebecca filled me as I got excited about all the records that would be on their way. I thought Rebecca would have really enjoyed going over the information with me. But something inside told me not to call her. I didn’t want to string her along anymore than I already had.
So that night I went home alone. It was another unusual night for me, but I felt a little more comfortable than the previous night. At least my balls didn’t throb in pain anymore.
Chapter 27
I didn’t last long at home alone. Even though I had pushed through my urge to call Rebecca and invite her over, I still had the need to hear a woman’s moans. I tried to fight it but by ten o’clock I walked into Edwards and had my woman in sight.
She was a petite blonde girl who sat with a group of people that looked like they were from her work or something. Every now and then she would laugh and interact with them but the majority of the time she just stared at the television. She was obviously bored. I could fix that.
“Can I buy you a drink?” I asked as I approached her.
It was a bold move. She had a guy sitting on either side of her, but honestly neither of them looked like her type. They were more interested in the game than any of the women at the table with them.
“I don’t take drinks from strangers,” she said.
“Well, Steve at the bar there would be the one who made the drink. He’s a little strange, but I think you can trust him.”