Mr. Always & Forever

by Ashlee Price

  “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 money 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 be
fore. 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.

  “Greg?”

  “Of course this is Greg.”

  “What do you want?”

  I could hear the harshness in my voice. It didn’t sound pleasant, but there was really no way I could keep it out. I wanted to pretend like it didn’t matter, like I hadn’t pined for the man who was talking to me so nonchalantly now. But I couldn’t act like that. I had waited for far too long for a call from Greg. After a month, maybe two, I had tried my best to accept that I was never going to hear from him again. Now that I had, after all of that time, I didn’t have much good to say.

  There was a pause while the thoughts and emotions rolled through me. I didn’t know what he as thinking, but I supposed he would most likely hang up. My heart was pounding so hard that the sound in my ears drowned out everything else.

  “Hello? Are you still there?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to be or not. But I repeated it one more time and then he answered me.

  “Yes. I need to talk to you.”

  “I don’t think we have much to say to each other, Greg, do you?”

  “We have a lot to say to each other. I haven’t seen you since our picnic.”

  The mention of the picnic made me mad. It had been the night that I had fallen for him. I had waited for him to call or come over, but he never had. I didn’t even know where he lived, and it was impossible to get a phone number for a man like Greg Jefferson. No one was going to give it away, and since he had cut ties with the company, there was nothing I could do to find him. Greg popping up again now was very unsettling, and I was instantly on guard.

  “I think you should have called a little sooner, Greg. In most circles, three days is pretty customary, not ninety.”

  “Has it been that long?”

  I sighed out loud into the receiver and then just put the phone down. There was nothing that he could say to make it better, and I didn’t have anything to say beyond a few curse words.

  The phone rang again. After a few minutes of it going through the four-ring cycle and then repeating, I turned it off. Fran came in and asked me if I was okay.

  “Yeah.”

  “You don’t look okay. Who was that?”

  “A ghost.”

  She looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. I certainly hadn’t been feeling myself for a while. Now that I had just about convinced myself to move on, it was disconcerting to have him surface again. Just the sound of his voice made me realize how much I had missed him, and I damned my body for falling for it.

  “So are you ready to go?”

  Fran eyed me warily and said that she was. I knew that my eyes were most likely red-rimmed, but I was going to pretend that I didn’t care and that his voice on the phone hadn’t been like a punch in the stomach.

  ***

  The news seemed to be about my luck. I hadn’t been feeling well, and Fran had pushed and prodded until I finally agreed to go the doctor to see what was going on. She took me there herself one night, and I quickly found out what it was that was making me feel so sick to my stomach in the mornings and then so tired throughout the day. I had thought it was the flu or some other virus that was just taking its course. I had never suspected that it would be what it was. The answer was so obvious in retrospect, yet I refused to say anything about it to anyone, not even Fran.

  There were choices to be made, but the last thing I wanted to do was make a decision too quickly. I had the urge to call Greg and tell him everything, but then I remembered all of the days and nights I had waited for his call. I didn’t want to be that way again, but I knew that eventually I was going to have to talk to him. I told myself that I would be ready for him when he called again.

  I wasn’t planning to see him, though. I waited the rest of the day for him to call back. I had a lot on my mind, and I decided that I was going to tell him the truth.

  I just didn’t expect him to pop up at my house. It never even crossed my mind, so when I heard the doorbell, I let Fran get it. If I had thought for a moment that it was Greg, I would have rushed to the door.

  Instead I got Fran coming into my room and announcing that Greg was there. “Is he in the house?”

  Fran shook her head. “I am not letting him in.”

  I gave her a look and she looked back with sympathy. “Just let him in, Fran, and send him back here. We need to talk.”

  Fran was skeptical about that, but she was a good friend and sent Greg to me. I took a look in the mirror and then put a hand to my stomach. Would he know? Would he believe me when I told him it was his?

  The second question made me nervous. Greg and I had only been together once and we hadn’t even thought of using protection. But he was rich, and he might think that I had tried to trap him on purpose. The more I thought about it, the less I actually wanted to tell him. I wouldn’t be able to handle him looking at me like I had tried to put one over on him.

  When I heard him at the door, I opened it slowly. I had no doubt that it wasn’t as nice as his place, but I didn’t want him around Fran in the common area. Fran had a lot to say about him just taking off, and I didn’t want her to say it to him. Fran was not known for keeping her mouth shut.

  “Hi, Greg. What are you doing here?”

  His eyes took me in, and the look he gave me made me a little nervous. I took a step back and offered him the chair. I sat on the edge of my bed and tried not to think about the last time we were together.

  “I’ve missed you, Desiree.”

  His words were sweet, and I wanted to believe him. I had missed him so much, but in the end, there was nothing I could do. He had vanished and now, like a ghost, he was back. Why did I want nothing more than for him to touch me, kiss me like he did before? Couldn’t he see that I was dying for it?

  I looked away so that he couldn’t see my need and my confusion. I didn’t know what to say. When I looked back he was staring at me from his chair. God, he looked predatory.

  “I was sorry to hear about the business,” I offered.

  He waved me off like getting forced from his own company wasn’t a big deal. “I’ve taken care of Donald, and now I’m here to offer you a job. The pay is better, and the hours are too. All you have to do is say yes. I need you there with me, Desiree.”

  It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was a start. “I will think about it. I have a few offers I’m looking at right now.”

  He didn’t like my answer. I saw the flare in his eyes.

  “What other offers?”

  “Schwartz and that place down on 3rd.”

  He frowned at me. For some reason I liked that it bothered him. I wanted to bother him, because Lord knows that he had bothered me for the last few months.

  “You need to come back to me.”

  His words were soft, and I couldn’t help but smile at him. I wanted to go back to him more than anything. I wanted more than to work for him, though. My dreams were filled with us together forever, even though I knew something like that would never happen.

  “I don’t know if I can, Greg.”

  Chapter 5 – Greg

  Desiree was sitting on the side of the bed, facing me, her arms underneath her thighs. I could tell that she was nervous about something. I hadn’t seen her in so long that for a while I just wanted to fill my thoughts and eyes with her. Her hair was a bit longer and her eyes were shiftier, but she was still so damn beautiful.

  “I’m sorry that I took so long to call and come by, Desiree, but you know I had some things to take care of. I had to deal with Donald, and it took longer than I thought it would.”

  I was practically begging her, and I wasn’t too proud of that, but I didn’t understand why she was so mad. I was back now, and that
should be enough.

  “It wouldn’t have taken any time to call, Greg. After that night and the picnic, you just took off.”

  Desiree’s eyes were getting red, and I realized then that I had hurt her more than I had imagined. I’d thought that I was the one in love, but now I knew that she was too. The idea made me happy. I got out of the chair and moved next to her. The space was only a few feet, but just then it felt like miles, miles by which I couldn’t stand to be separated from her.

  Her body shifted imperceptibly away from me. I didn’t like it. Desiree was supposed to be in my arms already, not moving away from me. “I just wasn’t ready to talk to you. When I’m around you, Desiree, my brain doesn’t really work. All I can think about is being with you. I knew that as soon as you were back in my arms, I wasn’t going to be getting anything done. I had to take care of business first.”

  She didn’t like my answer, and I knew then that I should have put her first. I’d had my reasons for staying away, but as I gently touched the side of her face, I knew that it had been a mistake to wait. Her look set my body on fire even though I knew she wasn’t doing it on purpose. She didn’t have to do anything to make me want her. All she had to do was look at me with those blue eyes of hers and I was lost. She was mine.

  Leaning in, I waited for her to make the last bit of distance between us disappear. I wanted her to want me. After a few seconds poised to take her lips, she made a small sound and leaned in for a kiss. The whimper made me growl and what little control I had left was gone in a flash.

  Pushing her down onto the bed, I covered her body quickly with my own. She seemed so tiny underneath me, her curves rubbing against my whole body. She was driving me to hysteria, and before I knew what I was doing, my hands were pressing between her legs to feel the wetness that I knew I would find there. She was already ready and I couldn’t stop the momentum. I didn’t want to.

  Desiree hissed and her hips rose up to meet my hand. I silenced her with my mouth as my fingers strummed on her need. She would squirm underneath me to get away and then the next minute her hips would rise to get more. Her body signals were as confusing as the woman herself. One would say stop while the other was a green light to go all out. I ignored the red signs and moved to push her over the edge on which I knew she was teetering.