by Kylie Parker
I hear Eddies’ cell phone start to go off. He sighs and answers it, “What?” he hisses into the phone. He pauses and then looks up at me, “Do you know a Sylvia?”
I nod, “Yeah.”
“She wants in,” Eddie says.
“Tell them she can come in,” I say, and Eddie tells whoever he’s talking to, to let her inside.
“So who is she? Some new fling?” He asks.
“I’m not sure what she is,” a slight smile passes over my lips, but I quickly try to hide it. Eddie noticed, I think, but he does not say anything about it.
Eddie sighs, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. One of my sister's kids is in trouble again, and I-”
“You don’t have to do anything.” I snap. This is what really pisses me off. Ever since Eddie found out my dad –the man who raised him –was not his real father and that he has all these other half siblings, he’s been blowing his money on every one of those leeches. They keep taking advantage of him, and it is really starting to get to me. “This is why you’re in debt, Eddie.” I say, “I mean it, man. Knock it off. Stop letting them screw you like this.”
“They’re family, James.” He says.
I roll my eyes, “I’m family. You hardly know these people.”
He stares at me with this perplexed look for a minute. A wry smile crosses his face, “James, are you jealous of them?”
“I’ve never even met them,” I say.
“No, but you have always been my only baby brother until all this craziness.” Eddie says, “Does it bother you?”
“Fuck you, man.” I say, “That’s not it. What bothers me is how you keep letting them take advantage of you.”
“These people did not live with the way we did.” He says and stands, “I’m going to go try to talk to the guys in the factory to see if they know anything.”
“The police are probably already doing that,” I say.
“Yeah, well… I have to do something.” Eddie says and leaves the office.
I’m not alone for too long. Soon Sylvia is entering into my office, and her presence makes me feel a little less miserable. “Hey, beautiful,” I say, and she smiles.
She holds up a little brown bag and says, “I was on my lunch break… thought you could use a pick me up.”
I stand up and meet her halfway across the room. I want her, and I wonder if she is starting to realize how desperate I am. I reach around her waist with my left arm and decide to give her a flirty pinch on the ass. “Cute.” She says, sounding a little annoyed. She bypasses me and puts the bag on the desk. She turns back around to face me and sits herself down on top of my desk. “This place is pretty fancy.”
“Come on,” I say and hurried towards her. She is wearing tight yoga pants with a zebra print waistband and nothing but a sports bra; she has clearly been out testing equipment today. She tests gear for a living: bikes, skateboards, rock climbing gear –anything kind of extreme. There is something about knowing she’s been out there doing that sort of thing that really has me turned on. I can imagine that tight little ass of hers on a skateboard. I wonder if she is any good. Probably if she tests skateboards for a living. “You show up at my office dressed like that, and you get mad because I give you a little pinch on the-”
She puts a finger to my chest so that I keep a few feet away from her. She smiles at me, “I'm not teasing.” She says with a wink. “But you are still on pain meds, remember? Last time you and I got a little frisky, you fell asleep on me.”
“Not my fault,” I say.
“You and I have not exactly had the best of luck.” She says, “The first time we tried, we got interrupted because you found out your company was getting sued. The second time you passed out. Do you think fate is trying to tell us something?”
“All fate is trying to tell us is that you have to work for something if you really want it.” I smile, “Besides, a woman like you, you’re worth the wait.”
“Well then, I guess I’m just going to have to make you wait a little longer.” She lowers her hand.
“Sylvia….” I sound like a child pleading for an extra cookie at snack time. She laughs at my plea and then waves me over with her finger. Finally! I came towards her and stood between her legs as she sits on the desk. We kiss for a bit first, and then I decide I got to get my arm out of my sling, which I manage to figure out after a minute of incredibly ungraceful gestures. She laughs and wraps her legs around my waist, pulling me closer to her.
I remove my suit jacket, flinching slightly when I pull my right arm out, but I’m more than happy to push through to get to the final prize. She unbuttons my shirt and leans forward to kiss my bare chest. “Mmm….” She whispers in my ear, and I shake slightly with anticipation. This is about to be a dream come true: doing my fantasy girl in my office! And it’s just a bonus that she’s wearing an outfit similar to the one she modeled in on the building board I’ve stared at every day on my way to work.
The door flies open. It’s Agent Roman. He looks embarrassed, but he doesn’t excuse himself. Sylvia jumps away from me, quite embarrassed. She embarrasses easily, I’ve learned, which means one thing: fucking Agent Roman just cock blocked me. “Um…” Roman loosens his shirt collar, “We’re rounding up everyone for interviews.”
“Of course, you are.” I snap. Well, doesn’t look like I’m getting laid today.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The voicemail on my cell was alarming enough to get me up out of bed at four in the morning. It was from Eddie, and he sounded completely freaked out. As I am getting dressed, I work on calling Eddie back –struggling to throw shoes on my feet and get them laced up as quickly as possible. I hold the phone between my shoulder and ear as I finish getting dressed, doing my best not to fall over or injure my sore arm. As I am getting my arm into my sling (I had taken it off to sleep because it is painfully uncomfortable), Eddie answers the phone in a whisper. “Hey… James?” he says.
“What’s going on?” I ask as I get my shirt buttoned; I had already called my driver, so I know he is on his way and that I need to be ready shortly.
“We need to meet –now.” He says anxiously.
I frown, “All right. I’ll meet you at the factory in like half an hour. My driver is on the way-”
He cuts me off, “No. Not the factory. Meet me at the gym.”
Before I have a chance to ask why he hangs up. Something does not feel right about this conversation. Eddie is normally a pretty well put together guy, but the tone and uneasiness in his speech are setting off an alarm in my head. I start to feel just as anxious as Eddie had sounded. Soon I am in the elevator, hoping that my driver has already made arrangements. I really need to have him take me to a dealership to get me something new. I may be sitting on a large fortune, but I’ve never been a big car guy. I’ve always just had one car. I suppose I could have my driver get one of my dad’s collectible cars I had inherited, but it would feel strange sitting in the back of one of those after spending half of my childhood being yelled at not to come near them. They are still sitting in his warehouse he had bought to store them. I hate cars, but I really hate car shopping. Maybe I could just pick out one of the less extravagant vehicles in that warehouse to become my daily driver until I can make it to a dealership. Car shopping is just one of the last things on my mind right now.
I have to wait for a few minutes before my driver pulls up out in front of the apartment building. I tell him to head to the new gym, and I lean back in my seat –becoming increasingly nervous with each passing second. A part of me wants to tell my driver to step on it, but after my car accident, I’m not so willing to make such a request. Soon the gym appears in the distance. I frown to see the empty parking lot. The gym had only just opened before all of this craziness had started. Eddie and I had opened up the gym strictly as a publicity stunt to promote our new supplement line, so it looks like after the news of the poisoned product hit headlines people decided they were not going to support the supposedly corrupt company.
> I had really been looking forward to coming to the gym full of people, but right now the parking lot is resembling a ghost town more than anything else. I tell my drive that I’m not sure how long I’m going to be, so to go pick himself up some breakfast or run an errand. He nods, and I head inside. The gym is empty. The employees are not even here; according to Eddie, most of them quit, so now the gym stays closed.
Eddie is not here yet. I try calling him, but he does not answer, so I wind up roaming around the empty gym for half an hour. It is a little depressing. I wind up staring at the rock climbing wall for a while wishing that I could give it a go, but the last thing I want to do is irritate my injuries. Then there’s the pool, the smoothie bar, the sauna, and the old school work out equipment. All completely meaningless. All out of commission because of some bad publicity. I wind up standing and staring at one of the large posters that reads “GET SHATTERED” with the picture of my bare chest; I had modeled for the promotional material myself. I wish I could work out; it has always been my fall back whenever I have needed a distraction, but there is no way I’m going to give that a try anytime soon. The doctor wants me to take it easy for another couple of weeks at least. My last x-ray had shown some pretty significant improvement, but I’m about to lose my mind from boredom.
Finally, my phone starts ringing just as I am making my second walk around the building. Apparently I had missed Eddie during my walk, and he made it inside to the second floor where the offices are, so I head up that way. I wind up running into him in the hallways, but he dips into an office quickly and waves me over. I follow him, and I close the door behind him. I feel a little awkward being in the same office where I had banged his girlfriend not too long ago, but we are both adult enough to pretend that did not happen. Eddie paces the room slightly, unable to start the conversation he had wanted to have.
“Why are we all the way out here, Eddie?” I ask.
He responds with a half-hearted explanation, “The cops are still swarming all over the office and factory.”
I stare at him, waiting for a deeper explanation as to what has brought us here today, but he does not seem willing to just offer up that information. Finally, I ask, “What’s going on, Eddie?”
“Okay, so, you know how the cops are sending off some supplement samples to be tested?” he asks.
“Yeah?” I ask.
“Well… I was worried what it is they would find, so I sent off some samples to be tested myself.” He says, “And I got the results back.”
“Well, what’s going on?” I ask.
“The supplement vitamins were laced with rat poison.” He says.
The room starts to spin slightly. Rat poison? What does that entail? “Rat poison?” I question, trying to figure out how the hell rat poison got mixed in with our supplements. “That’s not like an accidental mixture of bad combinations of shit! That’s weird and messed up… what… how… how did rat poison… I don’t understand…”
“Me either,” Eddie says, pacing slightly. He takes in a deep breath. “Someone poisoned the supplements, man. It’s like sabotage or something.”
“But who would want to sabotage Shattered?” I question. “All right, all right. Let’s try to keep our heads together for a minute here. Let’s inform the cops what you found, and then we can-”
“Whoa!” Eddie holds up both hands, “I don’t think we should tell them. They have their own samples of the stuff anyways waiting to be tested. They’ll figure it out on their own time. Instead, we should use this information to try to figure out for ourselves what is going on.”
“Are you serious?” I question. “You think we should just keep this to ourselves and do our own little private eye bullshit?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Eddie says, “Look, I just wanted to let you in on what is going on. Keep your mouth shut about this,” he points a finger in my chest, “Let me handle this.”
“If you say so,” I say, feeling somewhat bothered by Eddie’s bizarre behavior. How could he think calling the cops would be a bad idea? I write it off, but I cannot shake the unsettling feeling inside of my chest about Eddie. I can’t figure out what it is that is bothering me exactly, but I know something is amiss.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I have finally started answering a few questions from the press, and it has been an exhausting day. My lawyer had written up a few statements that were safe for me to comment on, so I have done my best at sticking to those. I have spent the last four hours at a news conference pretty much repeating the same handful of comments over and over again until I’ve about been driven insane by it all.
It’s been a long day, to say the least. After all the stress of avoiding the media for the past couple of weeks, to have them suddenly invited up in my face was a new experience entirely. Despite the rather depressing disposition on my face, I am able to force a smile as I leave my company headquarters. My arm is finally out of its sling, and tonight I have a date with Sylvia. No interruptions this time –there is no way I’m going to let that happen again. I am going to bang my fantasy girl, and there is no way in hell I am letting anything get in the way of that this time around. I have made sure of it. I have talked to the press and given plenty of statements to calm their asses down for a while; I spoke with my lawyer extensively this morning, so there is no reason for him to talk to me; I have gone down to the police station twice in the past two days to make sure they would not need me for any reason whatsoever in the next couple of days; and I have even spoken with my employees to settle their nerves and set Eddie up to make sure he would be able to handle things for at least a couple days if I were to dip out. There is no reason for any interruptions this evening. I have made sure of it.
My driver takes me home, dropping me off in front of my apartment. I head up to my penthouse and make the appropriate last minute arrangements for my big date tonight. I shower off and pick out one of my best suits. I’m feeling up for some intense romance tonight, and my pain pills are fucking amazing –so now that I’m out of my sling, I don’t feel like there should be anything to get in my way this time around. I have rented a limo for the evening, and we will be driven by my regular driver.
About an hour after I am showered and ready to go, my driver buzzes in –right on time. I head down, and he takes me the short distance to Sylvia’s apartment. I have flowers, of course, so when I pick her up for our date, she pauses to put the flowers on water. She looks absolutely stunning. She is wearing a tight, green dress that most certainly does her justice. It flows in the back, but it’s short in the front to show off those tight legs of hers. Her hair is done up slightly –half of it is pulled up on her head while the rest flows down in the back with elegant waves. Her nails are freshly manicured, and she has just a hint of makeup on –not too much, though. She has a natural look about her that does not require much makeup. Her lips are carefully painted with a simple, clear lip gloss. “You look beautiful,” I say, and she gives me a peck on the cheek.
“So,” she says with a smile, “What’s the plan for the evening?”
“You’ll see,” I say, and we head out.
She’s impressed to see the limo. We take it to an old movie theater, and I can see she is a bit surprised. Our last real date had been at a fancy restaurant, and the one before that had been a trip to Paris, but I have something up my sleeve. She seems kind of relieved, though; I think the whole dating a rich guy is not really her style, and she prefers thoughtful and simplistic over extravagant.
“So what movie are we seeing?” she asks.
“Gone with the Wind,” I say, and I see her brow raise slightly from both surprise and excitement.
“They’re playing that here?” she asks.
“For us, they are,” I say and lead her inside. The theater is completely empty. Of course, it is, I had rented it out days ago for this night.
“So…” she smiles, catching on that we are completely alone apart from a few employees. “How the hell did y
ou know I loved Gone with the Wind?”
I smile, “That’s my little secret.” I say, although it really would not be that hard to figure out. I had been to her apartment and had noticed a Gone with the Wind poster hanging on the wall in her kitchen –one of the few items in her home that was not related to extreme sports or her modeling career.
We head down the hall to the specific theater that will be showcasing our film for the evening, and when we enter inside, I can see her face light up with excitement. In the front of the theater is one oversized beanbag chair surrounded by candles and roses. A small table that rests about a foot off the ground is seated next to the giant bean bag chair with a bottle of Champaign on ice with some red velvet cupcakes placed at the center of the table. There is also a large blanket for us to curl up under.
“Well, I’ll be.” She says, clearly impressed.
“Too much?” I ask.
“It’s no trip to Paris.” She says, “But I can definitely get into this.”
We sit down on the bean bags, and she shyly crosses her legs, realizing the short dress was probably not the best option for this type of date. Not that it matters. I’ve seen a lot more of her than that by now, and I’m hoping to get her out of her underwear this time. “We’ve got the whole place to ourselves.” I say, “Once they start the movie, the employees are heading to the other side of the building.”
“Good to know.” She says, and we pop open the Champaign just as the movie starts. “Are those red velvet?” she whispers excitedly.
I laugh, “Most definitely.”
“Are you spying on me or something?” she asks, “Red velvet is my favorite.”
I had no idea red velvet was her favorite. That was just luck. We start snacking on the red velvet, and I don’t notice that I have some on my finger. She takes this as an opportunity to grab my wrist and suck the icing off my finger. Damn.
“Mmmm….” She says and leans closer to me on the beanbag, pulling the large blanket I had provided up to cover both our legs. She sinks into me, and I feel myself blushing from her sudden forwardness. I can hardly contain my own excitement.