As soon as he got out of his car, I pulled out my license and insurance, and rolled down my window. I wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, and crossing my fingers, without a ticket. “Good morning, Officer,” I said in what I hoped was a pleasant voice.
The asshole cop jerked my driver’s license out of my hand along with my insurance card hard enough to rip the paper my insurance was printed on, and then had the audacity to give me an attitude when he replied, “Ma’am do you have any idea why I stopped you?”
“No, sir.” At this point, I hadn’t a clue.
“As you pull out of Dunkin’ Donuts there’s a stop sign. You drove through the stop sign and pulled into traffic without coming to a complete stop. Did you see the stop sign?”
“No, sir.” My parents always taught me that when talking with a police officer, I should remain cordial, but at this point, I was on the verge of losing my cool.
“Are you supposed to wear glasses? It’s big and red,” he snidely remarked.
Everyone was entitled to a bad day, however, that did not mean he could treat me like the scum of the earth when all I did was run a damn stop sign. No one was coming down the damn road. Pulling in a deep breath, I released it as I snapped, tears running down my face. I had reached the end of my short rope already. “No, I do not need glasses. In fact, I had my eyes examined last week and they are still 20/20. I understand that I broke the law, and for that I’m sorry, but that does not give you the right to treat me like a common criminal. I’ve hardly gotten any sleep and I’m having a bad day and you are making it worse.”
I expected him to cuff me and take me down to jail. Instead, he watched me with a horrified expression on his face as I continued to cry, getting myself so worked up that I could barely breathe. He looked almost uncomfortable. “Miss?”
“What?” I cried some more, my question coming out like a sharp moan.
Clearing his throat, he handed me my license and insurance. “Do I need to call someone?”
“No, there’s no one you can call.” This had me crying even more and I wasn’t sure why.
I think at this point he believed I had lost someone recently and awkwardly patted my shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry. How about I give you a verbal warning and let you go? Just make sure you watch your traffic signs going forward.”
Nodding, I whimpered, “Okay,” and laid my forehead against the steering wheel, where I proceeded to cry, the sobs wracking my body.
“Are you sure there isn’t anyone I can call?” he asked again.
“No, there’s no one. Bryan left me and I think my friends might not actually be my friends, and there’s no one else.”
I know he misinterpreted what I said—how could he not? “Miss—?”
I snapped again, “Just leave me alone!” I wanted to cry in peace.
He practically ran back to his car and took off without another word. I sat in the grocery store parking lot I had driven to when the cop pulled me over for another ten minutes, crying. And when I was done, I grabbed my makeup bag out of my purse, and attempted to make myself more presentable. It didn’t work.
Ten minutes later, I dragged myself into the office building, waiting for the next person who got in my way. If a cop wasn’t safe, no one was.
Closing my office door behind me, I simply desired to be alone. To close out the world and pretend to do my job today, but the universe apparently had other ideas. One knock on the heavy wooden door and Justin opened it without permission. His large smile annoyed me this morning. Asshole boss.
“Wow! Did you have too much to drink last night?” His eyes were wide and he leaned in slightly to sniff the air.
“No. For your information, I hardly had anything to drink last night,” I growled. I could feel the tears burning my eyes again, however, I fought them tooth and nail. Justin was the enemy. Justin withheld vital information. Justin set me up.
“Are you sick? Do you need to go home?”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me that Preston and Santo were no longer on the project, or that you hired Chad to complete the rebranding for us?”
He set his hands on his hips and gave me his own glare. “Why did you tell them that we were putting off the rebranding?”
If he wanted to hash this out here and now, we would. “I didn’t. I don’t know who did that, but it wasn’t me.”
“It had your signature.”
“Are you so sure about that?”
“I saw the fax.”
“A fax could be anything. I can trace your signature onto a document, fax it to someone, and you wouldn’t be able to tell if it’s real or not. I used to do that signature shit, minus the faxing, to get out of shit at school all the time. My parents never caught on.”
“They also said they talked to you.”
“I can call anyone and say I’m so and so from our company and they’ll mark it down as that person.” I could argue my point all day, and by the end, I would make sure Justin didn’t have a leg to stand on.
His withering stare burned into me for a few minutes, and then he threw his head back and laughed. I must’ve missed something, either that or my boss had lost his mind. When he calmed down, he still chuckled as he told me, “I wasn’t sure what had happened. At first, I was angry and almost fired you. Chad talked me out of it, because he said it didn’t sound like something you would do without discussing it with me first. After that, I wanted to see if you would find the problem and how you would fix it. If you have hopes of having my job or something equal to it someday, you need to be able to solve all kinds of problems. Plus, until this moment, I wasn’t convinced you weren’t behind it. I was doubtful, and when I saw the signature, I wasn’t sure. It surprised me.”
“Sink or swim?” I demanded haughtily. He may be laughing, but I was seething.
“Yes.”
“Who did it?”
“I don’t know.”
I sat there thinking, and the only person I could think who would have it out for me to this degree was one person. “Regina.”
“That’s a big accusation,” Justin stated, suddenly very serious.
“I know, but she’s the only one I can think that is capable of doing something like that.”
“Don’t say something you can’t take back.”
“Justin—”
“No,” he said with steel coloring his tone. “Before you accuse anyone, you need proof. You’re gut or your beliefs are not good enough. I recommend you make the most of your second chance and move forward. Leave what happened in the past. If you don’t, you could find yourself in a nasty situation and it may or may not end well. It’s up to you.”
“Someone is going behind my back, pretending to be me, and putting my job in jeopardy.”
“Yes, someone…not necessarily Regina. You don’t know for sure without proof. I’m telling you to drop it.”
“Fine,” I huffed with a fierce frown on my face. I would drop it—for now—but that did not mean I planned on turning over and showing my belly like a dog or coward.
He crossed his arms, his foot tapped impatiently. “I mean it, Rayne.”
“I got it, Justin,” I grumbled. I wanted to mock him much like I had my brother when we were children.
“Rayne, don’t go looking for trouble. That’s the only warning I’m giving you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, this isn’t a schoolyard playground, and you aren’t about to pick a fight in my company.”
I got the distinct feeling that he knew something else. Just as sure as I knew he was hiding something, I also knew he wasn’t going to tell me what it could be. “Fine.” It wasn’t his professional reputation at stake, or his job. It was mine. But I would placate him for now…until I found proof that Regina was behind all of this.
“Go home. Get some sleep, cool your head, and feel better,” he ordered.
A small part of me wanted to argue, but I didn’t. I grabbed my pur
se and stomped out of my office, leaving him standing by the door. A day off would do wonders for me.
I hated that Chad was right about it all, and I hated that I wanted to call him, because right now, it felt like he was the only one I could trust. How did that happen?
Chapter 20
Chad
F rom the moment I had woken up, I felt anxious for Rayne...or it could have been for myself. I wanted to know what was happening at work and whether she confronted her boss. And my most disturbing concern was that I was so worried about her well-being. I shouldn’t care, I knew that, but I could still hear the sounds of her sobs ringing in my ears.
“What’s wrong with you?” my partner, Mark, asked. Ever since I had walked into our office, which happened to be my converted garage, he had been giving me a funny look.
“What do you mean?” I countered.
Chuckling, he said, “You either had a girl who was horrible in bed, you didn’t score, or you’re coming down with something.”
Were those really the only options? This was supposedly my best friend, the person who knew me better than anyone else, and the friendship I’d had the longest. And these were the only things he could come up with for my current state of mind? Heaven forbid it was guilt because my plan was progressing as I wanted it to, or that for some unknown reason I was concerned about Rayne. Honestly, it kind of pissed me off that he thought so little of me.
“Chad, I was joking,” he told me seriously.
I should have known that he was only joking, and yet, I felt too raw to be teased today. “Sorry. It was a rough night. I had dinner with Megan and Rayne.”
Mark’s pencil dropped out of his grip and he became as still as a statue. I wasn’t sure he was breathing since I couldn’t see his chest move at all. As quickly as he played mannequin, he snapped out of it to question me. “Megan, your sister, and Rayne…Rayne who?”
“You know Rayne.”
“The only Rayne I know happens to be Bryan Sampson’s sister, who happens to be the woman we both hate because of how she treats Emma, and by some extension, your sister. Or has she received a heart transplant that I hadn’t been informed of? Not that Rayne. Right?”
I sighed. “That would be the same Rayne.”
“Did she finally get a heart?” Mark deadpanned.
“Funny.”
“I thought so. Want to tell me what the hell you’ve been smoking? Does she have something on you? Blackmail? Did she find your little, or we could say, your large black book? Anything like that?”
“No, nothing like that. I’m the one who asked her out.” My body tightened up and I waited for my best friend and business partner to explode.
He didn’t disappoint. “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? I can’t believe you actually chose to hang out with her on purpose. I know Emma broke your heart, but that’s no reason to jump in bed with her mortal enemy.”
“They aren’t mortal enemies,” I interjected.
If looks could kill, I’d be dead and buried with my body half way to the center of the earth. “They aren’t exactly buddy, buddy either,” he seethed.
Mark had his own issues with Rayne. The first time they met right after Bryan finished boot camp and had come home for a couple of weeks, Rayne told Mark that he wasn’t worth anything and no girl would ever give him a second glance. He was too short, too much of a wimp without any muscles, and his glasses were ugly. She said, “Why would a girl want a geek when she could have a real man?” Through the years, Rayne’s name appeared on more than one hate list. Too bad none of them turned into a hit list.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that Emma married Rayne’s brother, the likelihood of those two women having anything to do with each other…let’s just say there was a better chance of WWIII breaking out. I take that back, there is a better chance at world peace happening,” Mark tersely said before I could say anything.
“I know.”
“You know? That’s it? What the hell are you up to?”
Like my sister, Mark could read me like a book. We had known each other most of our lives, and it gave him insight into me that others lacked. He sat there staring at me, tapping his foot and shifting in his seat as he waited for answers. Shrugging, I smirked and shook my head slightly. “Does it really matter?”
“Yes.”
I chuckled. “Why?”
Tilting his head to the side, he practically growled when he said, “Because for some unknown reason, you and I are still friends, which means I care about you and your well-being. I repeat: for some unknown reason. Then again, it could just be for the sake of the business. She’s a bitch, and you shouldn’t play with fire.”
When he paused for a breath, I inserted, “Or I’m going to get burned.”
“Smartass,” he muttered, but at least now he was laughing and he leaned back in his chair instead of sitting on the edge. It meant he was more relaxed now. “Okay, why don’t you tell me what’s going on in that mind of yours. What diabolical plan are you concocting?”
“What makes you think I have a plan?”
“Have you suddenly taken a liking to her?”
I shivered. “Fuck no. She’s…”
When I didn’t come up with something, Mark supplied a series of answers, “Horrible, a bitch, ghastly, scary, terrifying, unjust, judgmental, hurtful, narrow-minded, bigoted, intolerant. Take your pick.”
I guffawed and rubbed my hand over my face. I might have the computer skills, but Mark had the vocabulary and a mind for business. One year in college, I had tried to convince him to try out for Jeopardy, but sadly, he refused. He didn’t think it was for him. I believed it was because he was so shy, he was afraid he would freeze and forget all of the useless facts in his head. “I guess any of those would work.”
We both laughed, and when it died down, he asked, “So what do you have up your sleeve?”
“I think it’s time that Rayne be given a dose of her own medicine.”
“And you’re going to be the doctor?”
“Yep. I’ll administer the injection and everything.” I winked and we both started to laugh again, clutching our sides when it got out of control.
Shaking his head, he wiped his face free of tears with the palms of both hands, but it did nothing to make his face less red. He almost resembled a cherry. “You’re horrible, but I support you in your endeavors.”
I blinked in shock. “You aren’t going to try to talk me out of it?”
“Am I supposed to? Do you want to be talked out of it?”
My smirk appeared on my lips once again. “No, but Megan tried to talk me out of it.”
“I’m not Megan, and she hasn’t had as much…exposure to Rayne as I have. That bitch needs to be taken down to the lowest level of hell and left to rot there.”
I almost winced. While Rayne was pretty bad, and I did want to teach her a lesson, I honestly didn’t know if she deserved the lowest level of hell that had been reserved for the worst of the worst anymore. While it was true I used to believe she had earned her place there, something made me begin questioning what had happened to make Rayne so hateful.
I hid my reaction to his words. “Maybe.”
“Only maybe?” He studied me carefully before responding. “Are you falling for her?”
“God no!” I shouted quickly. “I don’t wish her on my worst enemy.”
“That’s what I thought.” He snickered, and eventually started to laugh again.
I pretended to laugh, I wanted to join in the mirth, but I could still hear the pain in her voice and see the torment in her eyes. And as I thought about it, my discomfort turned to irritation. Rayne seemed to want to be liked, for people to love her, and yet she only went around spreading hate and vileness. I had to remind myself again that she deserved whatever came her way, and I would help usher it in.
I kept flipping back and forth, and I needed to stop. Since I began my journey, I had given myself numerous pep talks, only to ease up. I would decide I was determined to get
her, and then I wouldn’t follow through completely. Rayne had to be taught a lesson, and until I took up the cause, no one else had been willing to teach her. So I couldn’t stop now. She would learn, and then I would leave. Done.
Done…but those words from her dream still haunted me. “Stop. Please.” They could mean absolutely anything, but for some strange reason, they stuck with me.
Chapter 21
Chad
I waited as long as I could before I called her later that day. It was almost six, and I should have left the office by then. You could call it bizarre, but I had a strange fixation with her situation. I wanted to know her discoveries and what she may have done to someone in her office. At the same time, I wondered how she would react to my call after kicking me out of her apartment the previous night.
I was starting to see her as a person, and that could lead to my undoing.
One ring. Two rings. Three rings. I expected it to dump my call into her voicemail until a sleepy, hoarse voice answered. “Hello?”
She either hadn’t bothered to look at her caller id, or didn’t care. “Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?” I teased.
“Chad?”
“Who did you think it was?”
“What do you want?”
“Excuse me for calling to check on someone like a gentleman. You were crying when I left you last night, and my momma taught me better than to ignore a woman in distress.”
“I’m not in distress!” she barked. I could almost picture her coming through the phone like I always saw happen in the cartoons I used to love to watch.
“Fine then. An emotionally upset woman.” I dared her to argue with that.
“I wasn’t emotionally upset. I was just…just…”
“Yes?”
“Shut up! What do you want?” By the sound of her voice, I could tell her patience had been used up. Her voice still sounded like sandpaper.
“I already told you. I was calling to check on you. How was work?”
“I went and was sent home after ten minutes.”
Redeemed: Book Two of the Love Seekers Series Page 11