Taming the Whirlwind

by L. M. Heidle

I walked over to get my phone. When I turned my phone on, I had forty missed calls, twenty-three voicemails, and fifty-one texts. I put my phone on speaker, and we started listening to them. The more I listened, the angrier I got. He ranged from calling me ridiculous, to fucking stupid, to irrational, to it’s better we never talk to each other again, and there were a few I’m sorry ones too. The text messages were pretty much the same.

  Meg turned to look at me, shocked, “What a jerk! You’re so going Saturday and you’re going to look better than you ever have before!”

  “I told you I wasn’t overreacting. I’m going to call Brent really fast, though.” She nodded and walked into the living room. I dialed Brent’s number, and he picked up on the second ring.

  “Liz? You haven’t changed your mind on me, have you?”

  I sighed, “Brent, I need to talk to you.”

  “This can’t be good. You have changed your mind.”

  “No, I’m still going. I just need to tell you something. I’m calling about the guy I was supposed to go with. He’s being a huge jerk. I don’t think he’ll do anything, but I wanted to make sure you were okay with being possibly caught in the middle of it.”

  “This is going to make the night fun!”

  “You’re really okay with this? If you aren’t, I won’t go.”

  “Heck yeah, I’m good with it. It’ll be fun pushing buttons. Besides, it will be nice to see someone else get your wrath for once.”

  “Ha, ha, very funny, Brent.”

  “About tomorrow night, I’ll pick you up at 7. Is that okay?”

  “That works fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I hung up then turned to see Meg shaking her head. “I can’t believe you’re going to do this. If he doesn’t blow a gasket, I’ll be surprised.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Friday, September 13

  I woke up smiling when I thought about how tomorrow was going to go. I wonder if I was the first person ever to put Kade in his place. I’m sure most people would consider this childish, but damn if it didn’t feel great. I got ready in a hurry for work. I was in an amazing mood as I walked to work until I realized that he had an appointment today. Crap, crap, crap! How was I going to make it through that? Maybe Danny would handle it. I could fake sick or something. NO! I was not going to let him affect my professional life.

  The whole morning flew by, unfortunately. With each passing hour, the more and more nervous I got.

  Danny must have noticed, “Liz is everything okay? Yesterday you seemed angry and today you’re anxious.”

  “No, I’m okay. I just have a lot on my mind. I’m sorry for the moods.” I silently cursed Kade. “I’m going to head to lunch, if you don’t mind.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want the afternoon off?” That’s exactly what I wanted, but if I weren’t there it would look bad. “No, I’m fine, I promise. Nothing a little chocolate can’t fix.”

  He murmured as he walked away, “What is it about women and chocolate?” I just smiled. For me, chocolate was a fix all.

  As I was walking off the elevator, Kade was walking across the lobby. Our eyes met and he started walking towards me, but I turned and went out the side entrance. I walked as fast as I could to get lost in the traffic in case he followed me. I stopped at the coffee place near work to get a small chocolate shake but decided for the large because this afternoon was bound to be brutal.

  I slowly made my way back to work, praying that I didn’t see him again. I saw his SUV parked outside the building and he was getting in it. I let out a huge sigh. Maybe he was going to skip the appointment altogether. I was sure I wouldn’t be that lucky though.

  The rest of the afternoon I constantly had to remind myself to focus. Lucky for me, all my clients were established so the exercises were like second nature. I’d just started my appointment with Betty when she turned to me, “Are you all right, dear? You seem like you’re a thousand miles away right now.”

  “I’m sorry, Betty. I’m just having a little trouble focusing right now.” Right on cue, he walked in the door. If it was possible, he looked better than usual. As we locked eyes, she patted my hand.

  “I’m going to guess it has something to do with Mr. Parker.” She broke the trance when she said his name.

  I turned to look at her, “Why would you say that?”

  “The way you’re looking at each other. It’s the same look my Benny and I used to get when we were fighting.”

  I couldn’t lie to her. “Yes, it has to do with him.”

  She nodded. “Let me give you a little advice, if you don’t mind listening to an old lady for a minute.” All I could do was smile, because she was going to give it either way. “There’re always going to be problems in any relationship, especially ones involving the heart. Love is like fire and ice. It takes a lot of patience and compromise. I’m going to guess with him it’s going to take a lot more of both.” I snorted at that.

  What? Love? “Betty, thank you for the advice, but you couldn’t be more wrong. There is no love between us.”

  “Trust me, sweetie. I saw that look every day of my married life; that’s love.”

  “Thanks for the advice, Betty, but even if it were love, sometimes that can’t solve everything.” I took a quick glance in his direction to see him talking to Danny, but I could see from the corner of his eye he was watching me.

  I walked Betty to the door, “Trust me dear; everything will work out.” She kissed my cheek and walked out. As I was checking her out on the computer, the phone rang.

  “Thank you for calling Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation.”

  “Hello, I need to speak to Danny. Tell him it’s Rita.”

  “Let me get him for you.” I put the call on hold and took a deep breath before walking over to him. “Danny, there is a Rita on the phone for you.”

  His head snapped up. “Rita? That’s one of my new clients. Liz, can you finish up with Mr. Parker?” I only nodded, because I couldn’t speak. I was cursing myself for not taking up Danny’s offer to go home early today.

  I turned to look at him. “Hello, Mr. Parker. Let’s do your last exercise and then you can go soak.

  I jerked my hand back when I touched his knee; it was like a shock was sent through my whole body. I took a breath and touched his knee again so I could get this session over with. We were completely silent except when I asked him to move his knee in a certain way. Finally, it was over. I pretended to pick up the towels so I wouldn’t have to look at him when I said, “If you’ll head over to the next room, we can start soaking your knee.”

  He pulled my chin up to look at him. “You aren’t even going to talk to me? Let’s be adults and talk about this. We both behaved badly.”

  When I looked into his face, I was instantly mad again, remembering everything he had said. I leaned in to whisper, “Really? That’s all you have to say after leaving me those messages? You have got to be kidding me!” I started walking towards the spa to get everything ready.

  “Stop walking away! We need to fix this before tomorrow night.”

  “Are you brain dead or deaf? When I said I wouldn’t be caught dead on your arm, I wasn’t talking to hear my own voice.” It took all I had not to yell at him.

  He pulled me closer to him. “I said I was sorry. What more do you want from me?” His eyes had turned to stone. He scared the crap out of me when he looked at me like that.

  “You don’t need to say anything. Your messages said it all last night. I don’t want or need your charity, but I’m sure Assholes of America would appreciate your support. Or are you already a member?” He just glared at me. “Now sit down and soak your damn knee!”

  Surprisingly, he sat down without another word but as I turned to go, he grabbed my arm. “I didn’t mean any of what I said. I was just so pissed. Why don’t we have dinner tonight to talk this, through? I still want you to go with me tomorrow.”

  He was brain dead. That was the only explanation. “Sorry, I have plans
with Brent tonight and I already made new plans for tomorrow night.” There were several emotions that crossed his face. They ranged from shocked to just plain pissed. I walked over to Danny, “Mr. Parker is soaking his knee. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll take your advice and leave a little early.”

  “Thanks for the help, Liz. Yeah, go ahead and cut out; there isn’t anything left to do. Have a good weekend.” Oh, I fully intended to.

  “You too.” I grabbed my stuff from the back and hightailed it out of there, hoping to avoid Kade.

  Of course, I wasn’t fast enough. He was waiting for me at the elevators. I thought about taking the stairs, but he’d already seen me. Why couldn’t he just leave this alone? I walked over to the elevators waiting for him to go off. To my surprise, he said nothing. He said nothing on the elevator ride down. He didn’t even look at me.

  He didn’t say anything to me until we got to the door, “I would offer you a ride home but since you’re acting like a child, I’m sure you won’t take it. Have fun on your dates,” he sneered. Really? Who was the child in this situation?

  I snapped right back, “You’re right, I wouldn’t take it. I wouldn’t want to impose on you.” With that, I made my way down the sidewalk to the apartment.

  Meg was already home lounging on the couch when I slammed the door shut. “Wow, sounds like someone had a bad day at work.”

  “You could say that again. He gives a new definition to the word ‘asshole.’ I mean, he called me a child and then he gave me the silent treatment. Who is the child in that situation?” She started to speak, but I interrupted her. “What a jerk! Then, he still expected me to go to the charity with him! Can you believe that? Who in their right mind would still go with him after the way he acted? What an arrogant prick! Does he realize the world doesn’t revolve around him? He probably thinks the sun rises and sets because he wants it to! How can someone be so self-centered? ” The more I talked, the more pissed I got.

  “Take a breath, Lizzy. Everything is going to be fine. He’s just a guy. There’s no reason to get so worked up about it.”

  “I can’t wait for tomorrow night!”

  “About that, Liz, I’m not sure you should do this. I did a little research on our not-so-friendly billionaire, and he has quite the reputation.”

  “Yeah, as a womanizer.” The thought disgusted me. “I wonder how many women he has slept with. I wonder if he even knows.”

  “No, I’m not talking about that reputation. I’m talking about his temper. Before he was a big shot, he gave new meaning to the word trouble. He was arrested several times for fighting in high school alone and was expelled from two schools. After high school, he was supposed to be the next big star of the MMA world until he was banned for some bar fight he started. From what I read, apparently, he has quite the temper with an extremely short fuse. He was even court ordered to take anger management classes, and I’m sure they helped, but do you want to push it with him?”

  Really? That would explain a lot. The tattoos, the temper, the glare. For some reason, my attraction to him just got stronger. “I promise I’ll be careful. Besides, what can he do at a crowded charity event? He isn’t going to want people to see him explode.”

  “Okay, I just wanted you to know what you were dealing with.”

  “Thanks, but I can handle him. I may not have a tough past but I’m not afraid of him.”

  She laughed and shook her head. That was a total lie and she knew it. I was a little afraid of him at times, but I knew he would never physically hurt me. I tried to forget about it, as I got ready for Brent.

  I decided on something simple—I mean, it was Brent. I wore a shimmering black halter-top and my best jeans with black heels.

  Meg walked in and whistled. “Damn, girl. Who’re you trying to impress?”

  “Oh, stop it. It’s just Brent.”

  “Yeah, yeah. He’s here.”

  “Really? I didn’t hear the door.”

  “You do look great, though. He’s going to regret not moving to New York with you.” I rolled my eyes at her. I followed her down the hall to see Brent standing in front of the window, admiring our view. He was dressed in jeans and had on a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and the top two buttons undone. Wow. I turned to Meg and she nodded. He looked amazing.

  He turned like he heard my thoughts and gave me my favorite half smile. “Damn, girl! You clean up nice.”

  “You clean up pretty well yourself.” I smiled at him as he offered me his arm. I turned back to Meg and waved.

  “So where are we off to?”

  “I thought you were picking.” I looked at him, confused. “I’m kidding. I thought we would go to Biscatti. My aunt said it was pretty good.”

  “I’ve heard that too. How did you get reservations for a Friday night?”

  He winked at me, “I have connections.” What connections could he possibly have? He’s been here less than two weeks. “Or my aunt has connections.” Now that, I believed.

  “Sounds great. Unless you picked a club already, I heard West Side was pretty good.”

  “Works for me.” We were silent the rest of the ride. Brent opened the door and helped me out of the cab. He put his hand at the small of my very bare back to guide me through the line to the front. He stopped at the maître d’. “We have reservations under Hahn.”

  “Right this way, sir.”

  He looked over at me. “Sir? I could get used to this treatment.” I smiled and smacked his arm before I followed the maître d’. As we made our way to the table, it felt like someone was staring at me.

  I looked around the room and saw Kade. Great. Could I go anywhere without him being there? Our eyes locked and then he looked me up and down. My step faltered a little at the smoldering look he gave me.

  Brent put his hand at my elbow, “Are you okay?” I didn’t think I could talk, so I just nodded. Thankfully we were seated out of Kade’s line of sight.

  After the waiter took our order, Brent started talking about all the errands his aunt had him doing before the event tomorrow.

  “Well, at least she’s keeping you busy.” He nodded and acted like he was going to say something, but he looked up instead.

  Just as he looked up, I felt a hand on my bare shoulder. I didn’t have to look up to see who it was. “Liz, what a coincidence seeing you here. You look lovely, by the way.”

  As I turned to look up at him, he didn’t remove his hand. “Yeah, what a coincidence.”

  He chuckled to himself. He finally looked at Brent. “You must be Brenton. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kade.”

  Brent stood up to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you too.” It was weird seeing them toe-to-toe. Brent was a hair taller, but Kade was a little bit more muscular. Brent had a past too, but he looked like a choirboy standing next to Kade. I could feel the tension growing between them.

  I figured I should say something before they fought it out right here, “Well, Kade, it was nice to see you, but I’m sure your table is missing you.” He let go of Brent’s hand to look at me.

  His eyes were their usual piercing blue, “I suppose you’re right. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your dinner. Again, it was nice to meet you, Brenton.” Brent nodded at him as he sat down. As he was leaving, he brushed his fingers over my shoulder. It sent tingles down my back against my will. I let out a sigh of relief as he walked away.

  “Please tell me that’s the guy that will be at the charity.”

  I smiled. “Why?”

  “Sweet! This is going to be awesome. He can’t stand me being anywhere near you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re kidding me, right? That guy wants you bad. I’m guessing he doesn’t want anyone within twenty feet of you. It’s going to be hilarious to see his face when we dance.” He chuckled to himself.

  I thought about it for a second. Brent may be right about the twenty feet thing. I flicked back through memories. There were the obvious ones like the
club, but I realized anytime we were together there was never another guy very close. Huh, I never noticed that.

  “To answer your question, yes, that’s him. I should warn you he has somewhat of a rough history. He has been arrested a few times for fighting.”

  “That makes it even better. Plus, it’s been awhile since I had a good fight. In case you hadn’t noticed, I grew a little since high school.” He flexed his arms. I shook my head at him. Guys…I don’t think I will ever understand them.

  Eventually, I began to relax and enjoy dinner. Brent could always calm my nerves. We mostly talked about his family.

  “How is Mary doing? Are she and what’s his name still dating?” He started laughing, hard. “I’m glad you find me funny, but what are you laughing at?”

  “Sorry, it’s just that you nailed it on the head.” I’m sure my face looked puzzled because I was so lost. He clarified, “The ‘what’s his name’ part. I love my sister but I swear she is with a different guy every two weeks. I can’t keep up anymore. I just call them all Bob. That way I don’t have to try and remember anyone’s name. It drives my parents crazy.”

  “Seriously? What happened to the guy she dated like all the way through high school?”

  “He proposed and she dumped him. She decided she didn’t want to be tied down, and she hasn’t been since.”

  “Wow, seriously? That doesn’t sound like your sister at all.”

  “A lot has changed since you were home. You should come back and visit soon. You would be surprised. I could show you my new place.”

  “I’ll have to think about it.”

  “I know you. That means there is no way in hell it’s going to happen.”

  I smiled. “It’s amazing, Brent, that you still know me so well. I guess time hasn’t changed me as much as I thought, but I honestly will think about it.”

  “No, it hasn’t. You’re still the same girl I fell in love with.” I’m not sure I liked the look in his eyes.

  Just as I was about to ask him about it, the waiter came to clear our plates. “Would anyone like dessert?”