by Ashlee Price
The whole way to the elevator, all I could think about was what I was going to say to him. What do you say to a friend who’s betrayed you? I started to wonder if the push to go public the year before was somehow related to what he was doing now. I had argued against the decision; we were making enough money that we didn’t really need to. Now I wondered if there had been an ulterior motive. Had he been planning this the whole time?
I was livid by the time I got to the top floor. Changes were already being made, and I could feel the temperature rising in my face. Who the hell did he think he was?
“Greg, good to see you. I wasn’t expecting you until morning, but no bother, it’s as good of a time as any to tell you.”
He was gloating. God was he gloating. His eyes were alight with pleasure, and I knew that he was enjoying himself. I almost wanted to ask why he was being this way, but I knew it wasn’t something I was going to get a straight answer on.
“I already know. Do you really think it will work?”
Donald did think it would work. His dark brown eyes were sure of it, and so was the set of his mouth. I wanted to hit him. The urge was strong, and I think he saw the change in my eyes, because he stepped back rather cautiously, like I was a rattlesnake. And indeed, I felt like I could strike at any moment. I also knew it wasn’t a good idea.
“It has already gone through. I took the liberty of putting all of your things in boxes, and I will have them sent over to your house in the morning. Nothing is really open around here at this time of night.”
“How did you get them to agree?”
He shrugged and smiled, not moving from the other side of the desk. My desk. I watched him sitting in my chair and I really wanted to wipe that smile right off his face. “You think that everyone likes you, but people like money better, old friend. A lot of the shareholders think we could have done better in the merger with Gary. You let him get it too easy because he was your friend, and that cost us all a lot of money.”
My teeth were gritting. There were a couple of people over by my library taking the books and packing them into boxes as we spoke. I could tell we were getting most of their attention. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had given Gary a discount and a better deal because he was a friend and because he had done business with me for years. Me, not Don.
“You’re going to regret this, Don. I was going to buy you out, but now we’ll just have to see.”
I didn’t take much out of the boxes that I could get to. I didn’t need most of it, and if he was willing to take care of it, I was going to let him. I did take the Rolodex, though. Then I walked away. Violence wasn’t going to solve anything. I knew that I was going to have to be smart about this. It wouldn’t help if I lost my cool. I wasn’t going to be able to take care of this situation tonight, anyway. I had to get my company back, and I knew that the only way to do it was to do it smart and patient.
Chapter 2 – Desiree
I woke up alone and missed the hard body against me from the night before. Being with Greg had been everything I had thought it would be and more. I had told Fran that I was going to be able to forget about him after I was with him once. I knew then as I lay there in my bed that it wasn’t true. I was never going to be able to forget our sunset picnic and my few moments in his arms.
Wondering what his phone call had been about, I got ready for work. I tried to pull my mind from the soreness in my body. Every part of me was screaming from the night before, and it was hard to ignore it. Getting in the shower gave me time to think about his hands on me, and by the end of it, I was ready to go to work and see him again. I knew that I would finally have the courage to go see him in his office.
When I was dressed, I realized that it was the weekend and sat back down on my bed. I had never been as impatient as I was then. The fact that I was going to have two whole days before I saw him did not sit well with me, and it was becoming clear that I had already fallen.
Getting up, I changed into some shorts and a tank top for a run. If I wasn’t going to see Greg, I was going to need something to keep my mind busy and get rid of all of the pent-up energy that I had at the moment. I wanted Greg, but that wasn’t possible, so I’d have to settle for the open road instead.
When I got back from my run, Fran was up. She watched me check my phone again. I kept hoping that I would get a call from Greg, but there were no missed calls.
“Who are you expecting a call from?”
I shrugged and wiped the sweat from my face. I didn’t want to see the disapproval in her eyes when I told her about what happened the night before. I was bursting at the seams, so happy with it all, but I knew that she was not going to see it the same way. She would talk about how he had taken advantage of me, and it just wasn’t so. I had wanted him bad enough to take the chance, and it had been worth it.
“Just checking it. You’re up early. What are your plans for the day?”
“I have to go to work later. You want to go get some lunch at the café?”
I told her maybe. I wasn’t going to say that I was waiting on a call from Greg and would ditch her in a heartbeat if there was a choice. Of course I wasn’t going to say that, even though it was the gospel truth.
“Maybe. I don’t know if I’ll have to do something for work today.”
“You work weekends now?” Her eyebrows were scrunching and I knew that she was wondering what I was talking about. I was starting to get nervous that she knew. How did Fran always know everything?
“Sometimes. If they ask me to. I really like the job, so I will work this weekend if they need me.”
“If Greg needs you, you mean.”
I wasn’t going to argue. Instead of trying to hold it close to my chest, I burst out with what had happened the night before. I avoided her eyes so I wouldn’t see the judgment in them. I knew that what I had done wasn’t exactly right, but how could it feel so good if it wasn’t what was supposed to happen?
“I can’t believe you slept with him, Desiree. After everything that happened there with the rumors and you quitting. How could you do that?”
She didn’t get it, and I wondered for a moment if Fran had ever been in love. I felt like if she had, she would see the sweetness in the midst of the madness, but she sure didn’t seem to. I knew I shouldn’t have told her, and I silently admonished myself.
“He is single, I am single, and I really like him.”
“So now that you did it, are you over him?”
Fran knew the answer, but she was going to make me say it out loud. How could I be over him after last night? I was falling hard and fast, and there was no turning back for me anymore. I had to have Greg. I just had to.
***
The weekend was long, made longer by the fact that Greg never called. At the end of Saturday I was starting to get nervous, but when I hadn’t heard from him all day Sunday, I wondered if I was feeling something that he hadn’t. I couldn’t wait to have my hands on him again, but I knew that I wasn’t supposed to. If he didn’t want me, I was going to be crushed.
I dressed carefully on Monday, with Greg in mind. I was determined to have him again. Maybe even in his own office, I thought to myself. There was only one thought on my mind, and it was the handsome man with the fathomless green eyes.
As I arrived at work, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach. All I could think about was Friday night and the fact that Greg had rushed off and I hadn’t seen him since. The building looked benign as I walked up to it, but the feeling was not something that I could shake.
As I walked in, I saw that there was definitely something going on. There were several people standing around and even more were packing up their things in small white boxes. The feeling of dread followed me into the elevator. I felt a few eyes on me, but I didn’t know anyone well enough to ask anything. That meant I had to make my way up to the fourth floor still wondering what was going on. Surely all of those people hadn’t been fired? Right?
The upset followed me to
the accounting floor. I felt more looks and I didn’t say much of anything. Looking for Paul, I was not relieved to see that he seemed to be one of the ones that were going out the door.
“Paul, what is going on?”
Paul had a look of anger and sadness on his face. I don’t think even he knew which feeling was the dominant one.
“Half of the staff is getting sacked. New cost-saving initiative.”
“What?” I was afraid to ask if I was one of them. I figured if Paul was getting let go, as well as most of the senior staff, there was no way that I was going to make the cut to stay.
“Donald took over on Friday. He convinced a majority of the stockholders that Greg was taking the place down. So now Donald runs the company and he’s getting rid of anyone loyal to Greg and anyone who’s been here so long they make more than he’s willing to pay.”
I didn’t know what to say. I was sad to lose my job. The realization that it was gone was immediate. There was no way that Don was going to keep me around. Of course, there was no way that I wanted to work for him, either. I felt worse for the people like Paul who’d been working there for years. I had only been there a few weeks, and although I was going to miss it, I knew deep down that I was going to have to make peace with it all.
“I am so sorry, Paul. I guess I better take after you and get my things together.”
Paul nodded his head. We both knew that I was going to be on the chopping block, but because it was Donald, I knew that it wasn’t going to be that hard for me to leave. I never wanted to work for a man like that.
“Have you seen Greg?”
He shook his head as he put another framed photo into the box. “No one has seen him. We were told this morning by email to be out by lunch and that Greg was no longer in charge. I don’t know where he is, but even Tommy has been absent. He has been here the longest, and I’m sure he was the first to go.”
I didn’t know how to react. I got my few things together and felt sadness come over me. This was the first real job I’d had, and I had certainly not thought that it was going to end like this.
Seeing Don walk in from the elevator, I made sure to avoid eye contact with him, but he came over to me anyway. “I see you’ve heard the news.”
I didn’t look up. “Yes, sir. I’m getting my things together like the email said.”
“You didn’t get an email.”
His words surprised me and I finally looked up at him. “Why wouldn’t I get an email?”
“Because I want you to stay. Greg thought he saw promise in you, and everyone agrees that your work is impeccable. Besides, you make far less than Paul does… and then we would be able to work closely together, like you did with Greg.”
The last part was not hard to figure out. I shrank from his touch on my shoulder. When I did, he gave me a surprised look.
“I have no desire to work for a man like you.”
He chuckled and told me that I would be back.
“I’m sure you’ll take the company down with you. Greg said that you were always the fuck-up between the two of you guys.”
His eyes darkened almost to black, and again I felt aggression pouring off of him. It was yet another moment where all I could think about was getting away from him. There was no way that I would work for such a man. I would rather go back to serving drinks at the bar.
Chapter 3 – Greg
I was meeting with Gary in a different spot than I had so many times before. It felt a little strange meeting him anywhere but at Bertrand’s, but it was nice to see that he had an actual office and staff.
“So what are we going to do about this, Greg?”
I set down the small tumbler of whiskey. It was too early for hard liquor, but somehow I knew that wine wasn’t going to cut it.
“There’s nothing to do, Gary. Donald did it by the book. I’ve had my lawyers looking at the paperwork, and from what they can tell he’s been planning this for some time. I always thought he was laying up in Mexico or somewhere, but the whole time he was in New York undercutting our deal and waiting for the right time.”
Gary was still confused. “But how did he convince the board?”
That question made me a little uncomfortable. I didn’t want to say why. I knew that it was my actions with Desiree that had clinched the deal. While some of the greedier board members had already been on board with Don, I knew that my lack of control with her was what had done me in with the rest of them.
He waited for my answer, and I was happy that one of his assistants came in and stopped the conversation. She was bringing in paperwork that Gary had asked for. Watching him watch her leave, I figured that he might understand after all.
“I fell for one of the interns. The rest of them got jealous, so I fired the other nine and hired Desiree. Donald and Desiree got into it, and I think that is what started the ball rolling.”
“You don’t fall for the help. That is rule number one.”
Given his own crude ways, Gary wasn’t really one to talk, and I found that I didn’t like thinking of Desiree in that way. I had fallen for before I put my hands on her, and now it was even stronger. There was no getting around it. I wanted her so badly.
“She is smart and beautiful, not the help. Desiree was perfect for the post. She even slapped Don. How could I fire her?”
Gary sat back and whistled through his teeth. “Well, we have quite a mess now, so I hope she was worth it.”
I didn’t tell him that she was, hands down, a million times over. It wouldn’t have been very considerate, because I knew that my actions had caused problem for him, too. I had really messed everything up.
“I haven’t seen her in a couple of days, but it was worth it to see her hit Don. Lord knows I’ve been wanting to since about a year into the business. There was a lot I didn’t know about him when we started working together, and it has just gone downhill over the last fifteen years.”
“Business and money change people.”
I had to agree. I took another drink of the liquid fire. It burned down my throat as I tried to get a grip on the situation. I needed a plan to get my company back and a plan to keep Desiree. The latter seemed far easier to accomplish, and she started to take over my mind. I hadn’t talked to her in a couple of days because of everything that was going on, but now it seemed like far too long to not speak to her.
“It seems like love does as well, Greg,” Gary continued. “I don’t think I have ever seen you like this. You’ve always been cool and confident, but this is the time to be freaking out. There is a lot at stake here, for both of us.”
Nodding, I sat up and tried to push her to the back of my mind. “It’s going to be okay. You have a contract with him, and Donald may be stupid, but he’s not going to break it. He’d never do that. I’m not saying he won’t try to find a way out of it, but I’ll have the company back before he can.”
“I hope you’re sure about that. If you’re just talking out of your ass, I need to know now so I can take care of damage control.”
I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I knew that I wasn’t going to let Donald take over. If he did it wouldn’t be long till the company went under. That was part of the reason that I had taken over and he had bailed out in the first place.
“Don’t worry. Gary. I’ll be back at the helm in no time.”
***
The idea came to me after I had sobered up from my meeting with Gary. It seemed so simple. Donald had the votes, so he thought he could count me out. Well, maybe he could, from the company that I shared with him. But now I realized that instead of entering into a long struggle to take back control of Jefferson & Marshal, I could just start another fund. Several of my largest backers were already on my side, and with the help of Tommy and other loyal staff members, it wasn’t long before I had almost all of the major clients ready to jump ship. I didn’t need Donald anymore. I was ready to move on to bigger and better things.
I sold most of my stock, losing a lot of m
oney in the selling frenzy that followed, but it was all going as planned. I could have been sore about the amount of money I lost, but I wasn’t. It was actually less than I had been willing to pay Don to leave, so in the end, it seemed like a small price for peace.
I spent a lot of my energy on building up the new fund and negotiating my way to a good deal. I thought about Desiree sometimes, but she was a distraction that I couldn’t afford. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see her or hear her voice, but either one would make me addle-brained again.
It was almost two months before I had the new company up and running, and it was another few weeks before I was ready to find Desiree again. I had heard about her and the rest of my staff getting laid off. When I was in a position to take them all back on while Donald ruined my old company, I knew it was time to find my accountant.
At first I had wanted to see her right away, but as time passed, I was nervous about how she would respond. The longer that went by, the less inclined I was to call her. She was surely going to be mad at me for ignoring her. I had her number, but she didn’t have mine, and even if she had, I honestly don’t know if I would have answered. Now that I was finally ready to talk to her, I was scared. What if she had moved on?
The idea of that made me angry, and that was a feeling that I could process better. It was the emotion that carried me through the time that it took to dial her number. It was on my contacts list and I had been letting it go to waste for too long. I knew that I needed to see her, and when I heard her voice, I forgot all about the reasons I hadn’t called before. How could I have denied myself such pleasure?
Chapter 4 – Desiree
“Baby, it is so good to hear your voice.”
I knew the voice instantly, but I didn’t understand the low timbre. It sounded sexy, but I wasn’t thinking about sex. I was wondering why he was calling me after so long.