by Lauren Wood
Chapter 7
Rick
“You are ignoring me Rick. What is on your mind?”
Ashlea was smiling at me, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and I could tell that I had done something to make her unhappy. That wasn’t hard to do and though I should have been worried about what she was mad about, I just wasn’t.
“Nothing, just a lot going on at work.”
She rolled her eyes and I stopped. Ashlea never wanted to hear about such mundane things as work. In fact, the more I thought about it, she was only interested in talking about herself. Which was fine most of the time, the short visits that I would make to her bedroom, but I had taken her out to dinner and there was no way to silence her like I could when we were alone. When we were alone, I chose an approach that left her unable to have these conversations. It was easier that way and I wished now for the check.
“You are always talking about work. Don’t you have enough money yet?”
Her question threw me off. I didn’t really work for money. I mean, I needed it like others did, but I did not work for that reason. I had enough money for the rest of my life. I liked my work and I didn’t think a woman like her was going to understand it. She modeled for a living and I wasn’t sure how much she got out of it as far as giving her satisfaction.
“Not yet. I like to help companies. It was what I was meant to do.”
She didn’t get it and Ashlea didn’t even try to.
“So I was thinking that you should come with me to the shoot in Barbados. We could spend some time on the beach and we could take that hot little jet of yours.”
I just shook my head. It wasn’t in the cards. I had a lot on my plate and running off with her was the last thing on my mind. She wanted me to sit there and smile, look good while she had her shoot, maybe hold stuff for her. That was not a good time to me, at all.
“I don’t think I will be able to swing it Ashlea, sorry.”
“Let me guess, work?”
I nodded my head, unapologetically. I wasn’t going to say I was sorry for what had to be done. I needed to do my job and if she had any inkling of what was on my plate, she wouldn’t have even asked.
I kept asking myself the same damn question. What was I doing here with her?
“Let’s get out of here and go to my place.”
She looked down at her plate and Ashlea made a comment that she wasn’t done. I was already getting the waiter’s attention to bring me the check. It was time for this dinner to be over. I had no more patience for all of this chatting, especially when I was bored to tears with the subject.
“Well finish up while I pay.” I almost made a comment that she wasn’t going to eat it anyways, I knew her too well, but I didn’t say a thing. Instead, I got my card out and was prepared to get up and seek him out myself. I wanted to get the hell out of here.
My phone rang and I was almost happy to hear it ring. It was a helpful distraction for Ashlea who was still chatting to me. I didn’t recognize the number, but I recognized the voice when I answered.
“What’s up?”
“I needed to talk to you about the McClennen account.”
“I gave it to you a few hours ago, what do you want to talk about?” I was just happy to hear her voice and I ignored the dirty looks I got when Ashlea realized that I was talking to another woman.
“It’s okay Claire. I am not doing anything important.”
Ashlea made a scoffing sound and I turned to the side a little, telling Claire that it was fine for her to call me now. I could see Ashlea getting agitated in my peripheral vision, but I wasn’t going to try and stop it.
“So what is it that has you worried?”
“It’s the doubtful accounts. Did you notice how high they are? They should be at 3 percent for this industry and it is well over twice that amount at almost seven percent.”
I had noticed it as well, but as the economy was having troubles, I figured that it was going to see an uptick in customers that got things on credit that they were never going to pay for. It was quite high, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t necessary for the way things were going at the moment. When I mentioned my theory to her, I could tell that Claire was not in agreement with me.
“What do you think we should do?”
“I think we need to investigate the process in which they are giving out credit. Maybe there is a flaw in their approval system that is allowing people to be approved that shouldn’t be. If that isn’t the case, then there is going to be a human error. I take it that there are incentives made to the employees who are in the customer care of this?”
“Yes.” Though I didn’t really know where she was going with this.
“Well then we might have to look into the employees. If they are getting rewarded by bonuses and commission for each sale, there may be less of a push to find sound borrowers.”
I had never thought about it like that and before she looked into anything else, I had a feeling that she was right. I was again amazed at how quickly she was able to make out the problem from all of the numbers. This was a huge company and I wasn’t even going to begin to understand how she was so far ahead already.
“If I remember correctly, the salespeople are paid fully in commission, so there is a big incentive to sign people up. You may be on to something.”
“Richard?”
It was the third time I had heard my name in the same amount of minutes. I didn’t want to look over to Ashlea, but she was making it clear that she was going to no longer be ignored. I was realizing quickly that a dinner alone would have been preferable.
“Hold on Claire.”
I covered up the phone because I didn’t want Claire to know that I was on a date. I don’t know why that was so important to me, but it was. I had my reasons.
“What?”
“I thought we were leaving?”
I looked at the plate of food that was untouched since she claimed she was still eating. I had known that she wasn’t going to touch her food and I had been right.
“I thought you wanted to finish?”
She looked at me bashfully. “You know that I don’t need all of these carbs. I have a shoot in two days and I don’t want to be bloated for it.”
I could have argued with her, but I had learned long ago that it was going to do me no good to argue with her or to point out the obvious. Ashlea was a hard woman to deal with and the more I talked to Claire, the more I realized that I didn’t want to deal with Ashlea anymore.
“I knew you wouldn’t. I will be finished on the phone in just a minute Ashlea.”
She threatened to throw the phone away if I didn’t get off of it and for some reason I did not find it very funny. Ashlea said it in a joking manner, but I just looked at her. Turning to the side again, I held my hand up to indicate that I needed another minute. I heard her huff, but was used to her dramatics.
“Sorry about that Claire.”
“If I am bothering you and you are busy, just let me know Rick. I shouldn’t have called, I just saw that and you know, warning bells went off in my head. I wanted to see if you had seen that too or was I just looking into the percentage change too much? It is not that high, but for the industry it is.”
She was going on and I found that I didn’t mind hearing her. She was not like Ashlea or rather my feelings weren’t the same towards the two women. I heard some more sounds from across the table, but I didn’t even look up. It would only invite another exchange that wasn’t going to be any help besides making more of a scene. I liked the restaurant and I didn’t want to have an altercation with her here. I just needed another minute.
It was about that time that I was thinking that, I heard the chair legs screeched on the hardwood floor. Everyone was suddenly looking at us and I wanted to melt into the carpet. She had a knack for doing this.
“If you are just going to ignore me Rick, I am leaving!”
She stormed out and since I hadn’t covered the receiver, I was sure that C
laire had heard it all. The other side of the phone was quiet and everyone in the restaurant was looking at me. It really was a mess and I just wanted to leave. I waved to the waiter to take my card so I could do just that.
“Um, sorry Rick. I didn’t know you were with someone.”
“I’m not now. No need to worry about it.”
Claire was quiet for a few more seconds before she got back into her rhythm about the new company I had given her to look over. She reminded me of myself. She got so excited about everything that had to do with the job. I looked at each client like a mystery that I had to solve, several mysteries that would weave together and make the big picture. Claire seemed to like the challenge as much as I did and I can’t say that I didn’t like her enthusiasm.
“Have you had dinner yet?”
“No Sir, I am still at the office.”
“Why don’t you come down here?”
“I thought you already got your check and had dinner?”
“It is sitting here cold in front of me. I never got to have a bite.” My plate was empty and had been for a time.
“Now you are making me feel bad.” That was basically the point.
“But I am not going to. You could have said something and you shouldn’t ignore your date. Work is just work. I will talk to you about it in the morning.”
She was rushing me off the phone and while I wanted to stop her, tell her that Ashlea didn’t even matter, it wasn’t in the cards. I didn’t have a choice but to tell her that I would see her the next day.
Hanging up, it was strange to think about how long that night was going to be. I had botched up the night’s plans that I was going to have with Ashlea. Now I needed to figure something else out because the last thing that I was going to do was sit there thinking about my employee in a way that I shouldn’t. It was a rule of mine that I had never even thought of breaking, except in a moment of weakness. But never like this. I contemplated it far more than it was right to do and I had to get Claire off my mind.
I knew just who to call to take care of that.
Chapter 8
Rick
“It’s been a couple of weeks since I have heard from you Rick. Busy, huh?”
I nodded to Cliff and waited next to Ron to get to the bouncer that was letting people into the club. I had been busy, but more recently I had been preoccupied, much like I was now.
“Yeah, work has been hectic. I expanded the clients and then struggled to expand the staff. It is hard to find qualified people anymore.”
Ron agreed. He ran a construction business and I was always hearing him mention how hard it was to fill up his crew. Now I was feeling the pinch as well and I can’t say that I liked it that much.
“Have you looked into those temporary staffing places? Sometimes you can get a good employee that you can hire on fulltime, but I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t hit or miss. Half of them don’t know their head from their ass.”
Cliff scowled at us both. “No work tonight, jeez. I want to get some titties and ass smash in my face and you two are talking about staffing?” He just shook his head and turned his back to us. He was right. Work was the last thing that I should be thinking of.
“You’re right Cliff. I want to see some titties too.”
He chuckled and told me that he was sure I had seen my fair share. “Who are you dating now?”
“I don’t date. It is too complicated and women are better in small doses.”
Ron was the married one out of the three of us and he was happily married, something he reminded us of quite a bit.
“How did you even get your old lady to agree to let you go?”
“To go out? Carol doesn’t care. Besides, she thinks that we are going to dinner and a movie. Told me that it was good I was getting out with the boys.”
I had to laugh like Cliff. Ron was the good one out of us, but even he was as apt to lie as the rest of us. It was hard to get a little freedom sometimes and that was one of the reasons that I didn’t even consider getting together with another woman for any long period of time. After the divorce, there was no way that I was going down that road again.
We finally got up to the man and got in. I could have gotten us in quicker, a bill would have done that, but I didn’t like to draw attention to myself. There was no telling who was around and one bad pic would be a PR nightmare. Some clients might not like the idea of me going to an establishment like this. I had a lot of female clients and even though I had a checkered past, I was doing my best to keep it under wraps. One of the many reasons that I had discouraged Ashlea from making a scene, even though she had in a way.
“Okay, no wives and no work talk. How are you guys doing?”
Ron didn’t have much to answer and I noticed right off that he was no longer paying attention to me and Cliff. His eyes were on a dark-haired woman that was half-dressed, walking around with a tray of drinks and shots.
“I think I need a drink.”
He moved to follow her and I and Cliff laughed amongst ourselves. He really was like a lost puppy and it just cemented the idea that I was never going to get married again. I didn’t want to be like him, not ever again.
Cliff found a couple of seats at the bar and we ordered some beers and shots. The stage was empty at the moment and though I could have cared less either way, the night out was certainly getting the job done. I had forgotten all about the good girl that I wanted to turn bad.
Then the lights went lower and a soft music started to play. The woman on stage just appeared and I wasn’t the only one that thought that way. She was just there, half-clad in shiny material that covered most of her up. Cliff made a comment about the joint going to the birds.
“I thought this was a titty-bar?”
I just shook my head, unable to take my eyes off of the moving body that rolled and danced slowly to the beat. She was not at all like anyone else I had seen before, she was serene and I hadn’t even seen the front of her yet. As her hips rolled and she looked over her shoulder, I had to rub my eyes, sure that I was seeing things. It looked just like Claire.
The cover that the woman was wearing over her legs was quickly gone and now she was showing, long slim legs that went on for days. She was facing away from us again, but I wanted her to turn back around, needed her to.
“That one has a real nice ass.”
I looked to the mentioned body part and I would have admitted along with him that the woman in front of me was beautiful. Her backside was tight and pert, the string doing nothing to hide a bit of her.
While we were talking, the cover of her top came off and now she was only wearing the black string bikini bottoms and stilettos. Her back arched as she moved and I started to breathe a little heavier. Her blonde hair moved and swayed with her hips. The woman was nothing short of hypnotic and I wasn’t the only one in the place that felt the same way. It was as if no one could take their eyes off of her, even if they tried. She was that beautiful and there was an aura in the room since she got on the stage. I had a feeling that people were here because of her and no one else.
When she finally turned around, Cliff was making comments about the perky breasts that were hard to deny, but I was looking at the woman’s face. It was Claire. Or well it looked just like her. I kept looking to see the differences, but I just didn’t see them. This couldn’t be Claire, my Claire. While the guys were jeering and cheering her on, I wanted to rush up there and cover her up. She was mine and I didn’t want anyone to see her like this, only me.
How could I have been so wrong about her? I had been way off, thinking she was innocent. There was nothing innocent about the woman dancing and gyrating against a stranger in front of me now. I had entered some kind of twilight zone and I didn’t like it.
“Hey Rick, are you okay?”
“I think I know her.”
“You lucky bastard.”
He thought that I was saying I had nailed her, but he was so wrong. I didn’t want to say who I thought
it was, but I knew they would never forget her face. Even Ron was beside me now and he was slack-jawed looking at her too.
“Damn, I wish I knew a woman like that.”
I didn’t correct either one of them, but I felt an agitation in my body. I couldn’t believe that she worked here. Why would she when she made so much more money with me. Was it more money? Did I pay her so little that she had to resort to this?
The woman on the stage may have looked like Claire, but she didn’t act like her. This woman had a confidence that beamed out of her and it was easy to tell that she rather enjoyed toying with men. I remembered the comments Claire had made at the sushi place. Maybe this was her.
The stage went black and I was like most others, commenting that the show was too short. The announcer gave the name of another stripper as she appeared on the now lit stage. It wasn’t who I wanted and I didn’t even try to pay attention. I needed to find out who that was and if it was Claire. I was still holding out that the lighting was off and it didn’t even look like her. Or that my mind was too worried about thinking about her and I didn’t have the ability to turn it off.
“Where are you going Rick?”
“I am going back here for a minute. I will be back out. You are missing that sweet muff on the stage.”
The woman that I was referring too was dark-skinned and she was upside down, her legs wide open. Cliff smiled and grinned, not even paying attention. He waved me off and the two men scoped out the woman’s pussy like they had never seen one before. I was on a mission. I had to find Claire and find out what the hell was going on.
***
“Some guy is here to see you Amber.”
I heard the bartender telling the girl that I was there, but I didn’t recognize the name. My heart started to alleviate the pounding and I was able to breathe. This wasn’t Claire and when I met her, I would see that she looked nothing like her.
But damn if she didn’t. The woman could have been Claire and I said her name as a question.