The Perception

by Adriana Locke

  I wrote down his number and chuckled, betting he was right. “Fax us over something in writing, if you don’t mind. Just so we have it.”

  “I’ll get it sent over now. Cane, you want it sent to your house?”

  “Please.” His jaw was firm as he looked at me. “Quick question—did you happen to figure out how Chalgon got the number on the Chandler project?”

  “No, and you know what? That’s one helluva mess right now. I don’t know how they got our number but we sure as shit didn’t send it to them. I’m not happy about doing that work for just anyone for that price either. You guys I know and respect and I have confidence there won’t be any games played with billing or anything like that. Every other contractor had a few grand added on as a protective measure.”

  “That’s strange. Maybe you’re assistant faxed the wrong paper out?” Cane theorized, but with his raised eyebrows, I knew he didn’t believe that.

  “She faxed them all out but yours. I sent it myself, so she didn’t have your number. Chalgon says it just showed up on their fax, so they went with it. Now I have to honor the sonofabitch just to keep good business.”

  Cane and I exchanged a look.

  “Alright, we gotta get this bid in. Thanks for the call, Wade. I’ll call you in the morning if we’re low bidder,” I said.

  “Good luck to you guys.”

  Cane pressed the button, ending the call. “Well, that’s interesting as fuck.”

  “Yeah, sure is. Hey, why have him fax the number to your house?”

  Cane smiled to himself as he rolled the plans up. “Just a little something I wanna see.”

  MAX

  The room was stuffy, even though it was large, and there were only four other bidders in it. We had deposited our sealed bid into the box at the front of the room and waited for them to be opened and read.

  Waiting on a bid to be opened was one of the most nerve-wracking things for a contractor. You’ve worked on this project for weeks, sometimes months, and the answer as to whether it was in vain or not was in a box and you had to wait to find out.

  Brian Lytrell, a man I hadn’t seen before, and Dan Collins took their seats in the chairs facing the red-haired lady at the front. Dan saw us and looked away, dipping his chin like he thought he could become invisible.

  I led Cane to a seat on the other side of the room, figuring it was a good idea to keep him away from Dan. Cane smirked, knowing what I was up to.

  “Let’s see how this goes,” Cane muttered, sticking his sunglasses in the front of his shirt.

  “Thank you for coming,” the redhead announced, effectively hushing our conversation. She identified the project and went through the legal bullshit. Then she opened the box and pulled out the first envelope.

  “Lytrell Construction—$8,760,112.05.”

  She reached inside and pulled out the second envelope.

  “Gooseway Builders—$9,001,287.24.”

  Brian Lytrell sat a little taller.

  “Alexander Industries—$8,754,020.97.”

  Cane and I watched anxiously as the lady dipped her hand into the box a final time. “Chalgon Construction—$8,782,432.10.”

  Cane elbowed me in the ribs, a megawatt smile across his face, as Dan dipped his head lower at his defeat.

  Instantly, I felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. We won by a few thousand dollars. I blew out a breath and just appreciated not feeling like the pressure of the entire future of Alexander Industries was sitting on me.

  I tilted my head to the ceiling and filled my lungs with air.

  We did it.

  “It appears that Alexander Industries is our lowest bidder. Thank you all for coming.”

  Everyone stood to leave, Brian shaking our hands as he walked by. The guy we didn’t know followed him and Dan brought up the rear. He extended his hand to me, shook it firmly, and then shook Cane’s.

  “Congrats, guys,” he said a bit nervously. “This will be a good project for you all.”

  “Thanks,” Cane said, cocking his head to the side. “We’re excited about it.”

  “I saw your name on the Chandler project awhile back and I figured you’d get it. You’d have had it, too, if Grady didn’t send a crazy low number.”

  “How’d ya get that number?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. “Have any idea?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “No, they said they didn’t send it but it sure as hell is on my desk. It’s been a fight to get them to honor it, though. Chalgon hadn’t worked with them before and I convinced them to go with it because I knew them from you guys.” He exhaled harshly and looked to the floor.

  “Look, I owe you both an apology,” he said. “I know I acted a little crazy when you let me go. I was under a lot of pressure at home and it obviously affected me in a bigger way than I realized. I would have fired me over that bid, too.”

  Cane looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “Answer me this—did you have anything to do with the asphalt out on the Mesa job? Did you call the City about the thickness? If you did, I just want to know.”

  “What are you talking about? Yeah, I bid that for you guys and I remember getting AmEx to do the asphalt part of it. But that’s all I know. What’s going on?” He looked between us, genuinely confused.

  “Nothing. It’s fine,” Cane patted his shoulder. “Can you do me a favor though?”

  “Sure. I owe you, anyway.”

  “See if your company keeps their fax log. See if you can find the fax number that quote from Grady came from, okay?”

  He looked confused but said, “I’ll get back to you this afternoon.”

  MAX

  I tossed my phone on my desk and leaned back in my chair. I stretched my neck and just breathed. Finally things were starting to work themselves out.

  I had sent Kari a message, letting her know we won the bid and she had responded with a slew of sexy things she wanted to do to me to celebrate.

  I grabbed my work calendar and flipped through, seeing what we had coming up. I wanted to take Kari to Cane’s cabin in Payson to get away as soon as possible.

  Cane buzzed in and I hit the speakerphone. “Yeah?”

  “Pick up your receiver.”

  I lifted the phone to my chin, pressing it against my shoulder. I unrolled the sleeves of my dress shirt as I listened to Cane continue.

  “Dan just called. Chalgon doesn’t keep their fax records, so we won’t know who sent that quote. But you know what I’m thinking, right?”

  I exhaled roughly, tossing a pencil onto my desk. I knew exactly what he was thinking and the thought had crossed my mind, although I found it hard to believe. The fact that Grady’s number this time had been sent to his house and not our office and didn’t get sent out to our competitors didn’t hurt his case.

  I didn’t want to even consider it. But I knew damn good and well what Cane was thinking.

  “It can’t be,” I said.

  “Explain it to me then. You heard Grady and you heard Dan. Tell me how they got our number or tell me which one of them is a liar.”

  I took another deep breath. I saw Cane’s point and thinking Samantha would have faxed the number to Chalgon was the logical answer. It was the simplest choice . . . but one I just couldn’t imagine; I thought he was jumping to conclusions. It could’ve been anyone in our office. It could’ve been Norm or Lucy just as easily as it could’ve been Sam.

  Keep tellin’ yourself that.

  “Do you really think Sam would do that?” I asked warily.

  “I do and I think she did.”

  “Cane, that’s a big accusation . . .”

  “And it’s not one I’d throw around for the hell of it either. But it makes sense and I just have this feeling . . .”

  I looked at the ceiling, the clock ticking on the wall making me feel like a bomb was getting ready to go off. It was an ominous sound.

  “It sure as hell kept her around longer,” he said. “She would’ve been let go a couple of weeks
ago if we had gotten another job. Think about it, Quinn.”

  I knew, down deep, he was probably right and the fallout from it, if it were true, would be giant. But I just wanted to spend the next couple of days enjoying the feeling of not being drowned in work.

  “I’ll deal with it next week. I just need to relax for a couple of days. On that note, would you mind me taking Kari to your cabin this weekend? I really want to get away with her and relax, no interruptions.”

  “No problem. You still have a key?”

  “Yeah,” I said, looking up at the sound of my door opening and Sam walking in. “I appreciate it. I really want this weekend with Kari to be special.”

  He laughed. “You’re both family to me. Now you just need to be to each other.”

  No shit, Alexander. No shit.

  KARI

  The front door opened way before I expected it to. I heard Titus fly down the stairs, yapping his head off at Max coming home from work. It was early for him to be home and although I was eager to see him, I was just a bit disappointed. I had plans to make the night sexy as sin to celebrate him winning the bid and us getting back on track, but he hadn’t given me enough time.

  I walked into the living room to see my man bent down, rolling his puppy on the floor.

  “Titus gets your love first, huh? Is that where I rate?” I joked, leaning against the wall.

  “Ah, sweetheart. Are you jealous of Titus?” he smirked.

  I stuck out my bottom lip. “I want you to pet me like that.”

  He growled as he stood up, crossing the room in three long strides. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him as he captured my mouth with his. His tongue slid into my mouth, staking claim to it. I moaned a little, feeling my body respond to his instinctively. Far too soon, he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against mine.

  “I want to take you out of town for the weekend. Can you call off from work?”

  “Where do you wanna go?” I asked, nuzzling my nose against his.

  “Payson. Let’s go to Cane’s cabin—away from everyone and with bad cell coverage. I want all of your attention for a couple of days. I need it.”

  I sighed dreamily, the thought of spending a couple of days wrapped up in him sounded fabulous. “I can probably do that. I just have one shift and I think Chandra will pick it up. I can call and see.”

  He lowered me to my feet and swatted my behind. “Do it and let’s get outta Dodge.”

  I smiled brightly and gave Chandra a quick call. Besides having to work with Dr. Manning, she was more than happy to pick up an extra shift. She found it hard to be professional around him, she said, when she just wanted to throw him on a gurney and have her way with him.

  “Pack some stuff. Or pack nothing, if you want. I want you naked most of the weekend, anyway.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” I said, eyes widened for effect. I watched him move across the room to his office. “I’m glad you didn’t let me leave you,” I whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.

  He turned to face me, a serious look on his face. “There was never a real chance I wouldn’t come for you. I think we both just needed a minute to get our brains wrapped around everything.” He started towards his office again before turning back to me. “Just to be real clear though, that’s the last time you get to pretend to walk away from me. Got it?”

  I tried not to smile, but the effort was futile. “Got it.” I blew him a kiss and headed to the bedroom to pack my things for a weekend with Mr. Quinn.

  MAX

  “Hey, sweetheart,” I said cautiously, peeking my head around the side of the door. She was bent down in her closet, digging through her shoes. “I have to do a couple of things before we go. Is that alright?”

  “Sure,” she mumbled, rummaging around. “Can I help with anything?”

  I cleared my throat. “I need to gas up the truck and grab some road snacks. And, um, I need to run by and see Sam real quick.”

  Kari’s hand paused in the air. She didn’t turn to look at me, just paused before tossing the shoe. “Really? Why?”

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled, not happy about the interruption from Samantha. “She called and said it’s really important. She almost sounded like she’d been crying. Cane was throwing around accusations this afternoon and I’m wondering if maybe she heard him.”

  “What was Cane saying?” Kari bent up from her stoop, a pair of sneakers in hand.

  “He thinks Sam might have sent a fax to one of our competitors.”

  She walked slowly to her suitcase on the bed and sat down beside it, mulling over Cane’s theory. “What do you think?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t want to believe it. I see why Cane thinks it’s a possibility, but I don’t know.”

  “Cane’s usually right.”

  “You sound like him,” I laughed. “But I’ll just run by there and see what’s going on. She does help me a lot, but if she did overhear something and wants to quit, it’ll just make my life easier.”

  She nodded and chewed on her lip in thought before standing up and walking to me. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. “Go do what you have to do and get home so we can go. I’m excited to get away with you.”

  I pulled her in close, nestling my nose in her hair and breathing her in. “Me, too, sweetheart. Me, too.”

  MAX

  I knocked on the door, remembering the first time I’d ever been there. Kari had stayed with me the first night we’d met and snuck out the next morning. She’d ignored my calls for nearly a week, just giving me a quick text here and there. I finally just showed up at her door.

  I smiled at the memory and knocked again.

  A few minutes passed and I checked my watch and knocked for the third time.

  If she doesn’t answer this time, I’m going home.

  The door opened slowly. Sam stood on the other side and smiled hesitantly. She had changed from work and was wearing a pair of black tights and a blue strapless shirt. She smelled all fruity and obnoxious.

  “Hey, Max,” she smiled, opening the door wider so I could walk in.

  I took a few steps in the house and looked around. She changed the way the living room was organized from when Kari had it. It looked more cluttered, things laying haphazardly everywhere. Dishes and shoes and papers were tossed on every surface; Kari’s OCD would’ve gone crazy and the thought made me chuckle.

  “You want a drink or something?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

  “Nah, thanks though. I need to see what’s going on with you and then get back home. Like I told ya earlier, Kari and I are going to Payson.”

  She turned her back to me and walked into the kitchen, leaving me standing inside the door. Shrugging, I followed her a moment later. She was filling a glass with water at the refrigerator. “Sure you don’t want a drink?”

  “Nope. What did you need, Sam?” I eyed her curiously. She seemed pretty laid back and unrushed, not at all the near panic-stricken Sam I had heard on the phone.

  She grinned. “I’m good. I just, um, wanted to talk to you, that’s all.”

  My jaw began to twitch. She wanted to talk to me? We couldn’t have talked on the phone? Or at work an hour ago?

  “Okay. Something bothering you or what?”

  She watched me as she took a drink of her water, licking her lips slowly. “I just . . . can’t figure you out, that’s all.”

  I twisted my hat around backwards then shoved my hands in my pockets. Confused, I shot her a look. “You can’t figure what out?”

  “Let me ask you a question. Why are you going to Payson this weekend?”

  “To spend time with Kari.”

  She rolled her eyes and sat the glass down with a thud. “Don’t you think this is getting a little played out, Max?”

  “I’m sorry. What’s getting played out?” I watched her fight to keep a calm look on her face, but I could see anger twisting its way out.

  “This thing with Kari, whate
ver it is. She’s manipulating you. She doesn’t love you. Blaine told me—”

  “Look,” I said, my voice thick with annoyance, “I don’t give a rat’s ass what Blaine told you or what you think.”

  Her jaw dropped wide open, her eyes wild. “Max! Why are you talking to me like that?”

  “I’m just a little bothered that you had me come over here and now ya don’t seem to want anything.”

  “So we can’t just, you know, hang out?” She shrugged her shoulders, like us “hanging out” was the most common thing in the world.

  “I . . . we . . .” I fought back a laugh. “No, we can’t just ‘hang out.’ When have we ever done that? What’s going on with you?”

  An eerie calm came over her as she leaned against the island, her arms crossing in front of her. “You’re making the biggest mistake of your life.”

  “Oh, really? Is that so?” I bit down, feeling my jaw tick. I didn’t know what was going on with her, but she was starting to cross a line. “Sam, I gotta go.”

  “You are. You’re making a huge mistake.” Her voice was flat, unemotional, but her blue eyes were blazing. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, because I do. I know what you’re up to. You and I . . .” Her voice trailed off, her eyes gazing into thin air as she lost herself in whatever memories she was reliving. She looked back to me again, this time visibly steeling herself. “We have this connection, we always have. I don’t know why you don’t see it. Or maybe you fight it, I don’t know. I’ve thought before it was because I was so close to your family or something. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t make it untrue. You and I are meant to be together. I won’t stand here and watch you ruin everything!”

  “Ruin everything? What in the hell is wrong with you, Samantha? We are friends, if that. You are a friend of Brielle and I’m trying to help you get your life together since I-”

  “Since you’re the reason it was fucked to begin with!” she shouted. “You are never there for me! You act like I’m a piece of trash, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks! It doesn’t matter what I do, it’s never good enough for you. I’m never good enough for you,” she said, her tone changing to anger. “Why, Max? Why am I only some little girl you pity?”