Unexpected Turn

by CY Jones

  “How would you know? It’s not like you’ve seen it,” I tell him, worried he knows something. He’s a little too close to hitting the red target on the clown nose.

  “I could look it over for you if you want. Believe it or not, I do care for you and don’t want to see you hurt.”

  “I’m fine, it’s fine. I’m a big girl and can handle myself,” I tell him.

  “If it’s secrecy you’re worried about, you won’t have to worry about that if you take me on as your lawyer. You know lawyer client privilege.”

  “I’m pretty sure I can’t afford you,” I say.

  “I can work pro bono, or if you really want,” he says, moving closer, “you can repay me between the sheets. A little old fashion quid pro quo.”

  Laughing, I say, “Does everything that comes out your mouth have to sound like a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen?”

  “With you, I find I can’t help myself. You intrigue me, Jade. More than any woman has.”

  I don’t know what to say to serious Tyson. I’m used to the flirty one that walks on the edge of doing what he wants. This Tyson confuses me like no other. “I’ll be fine. The Hastings aren’t bad people and you work closely with Grayson, so you’d know if he was a bad guy,” I point out.

  Sighing, he gives me a long look before planting his usual flirty smile back on his face. It’s almost like a mask slipping on right before my eyes. “Before I forget, this is for you,” he says, pulling out a square baby blue box wrapped with a white ribbon. I know this is jewelry and that it’s probably very expensive as it came from Tiffany & Co. With a shaking hand, I take the box and open it. Nestled inside a white satin cloth is a bracelet made of sparkling diamonds shaped as leaves centered with huge round emeralds inside. My hand flies to my heart, and I open my mouth shocked. I have never ever received a gift so expensive before. Hell, this thing probably costs more than the car Grayson bought me. The emeralds, as well as the diamonds, are huge.

  “Do you like it?” he asks, a little unsure.

  “Tyson, this is too much. I can’t accept this.”

  “Of course you can. Actually, you have no choice because I’m not taking it back,” he replies, and I look at him like he’s lost it. You don’t give your booty call an emerald and diamond bracelet, even if you’re rich. Hell, we haven’t even gotten that far in whatever this is.

  Reaching for the box, he puts the bracelet on, closing the delicate clasp, and admires my wrist. “I knew it would look perfect on you. When I saw it, I thought of you and those big green eyes.”

  “Thank you,” I halfway stutter as I gaze at the expensive jewelry around my wrist.

  “Take care of it. I’ll call you later tonight after you get back from the gym.” With that, he strolls away, blowing my mind along with him.

  “I see it didn’t take long for the gifts to start,” Grayson sneers. His voice breaks my thoughts and I turn to him annoyed.

  “You haven’t spoken to me in days and when you do it’s to bad mouth Tyson. Wow, Grayson; you’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

  “I know you’re not as smart as I thought you were if you’re falling for his shit. Don’t you see this is all some elaborate ploy to get you in bed?”

  “I highly doubt he’d spend thousands of dollars on me just to get me in bed,” I scoff.

  “That bracelet is just a drop in the hat, an investment. Trust me, for him it’ll pay off in the end, like a tax deduction.”

  “Well, it’s not like he’s the only man that I know that has used me. So what if I get something pretty out of it?”

  “Wow, I never thought you were that kind of girl, but I guess I was wrong. You once accused me of passing you around here. Looks like you’re acting the part of the whore fine on your own.” Without thinking twice about it, I slap him hard across the face for everyone to see. Hell, those on the next floor probably heard it because that’s how loud the impact was. I don’t act shocked, that I hit him, nor do I apologize because I don’t regret it. Instead, I gather my things because I’m sure after this incident I’m as good as fired and leave.

  I almost leave the car and decide to just take the bus, but I thought that would be stupid since I’m living in the house they provided for me and Grayson did say no matter what, the car was mine. As soon as I leave the parking garage, my cell starts ringing, but I don’t answer. Instead, I silence it by turning it all the way off. Fuck Grayson. He’s a total douche canoe and he can take his opinions of me and wreck all the way to the bottom of his river of judgement. To clear my head, I just drive. Once I clear the busy city of New York, the traffic starts to thin out, giving me a chance to think. What now? Their kid is currently taking up real estate in my tummy, so it’s not like I can drive away forever. This is just a brief respite. My time to regroup. I’m like ninety-nine percent sure I do not have a job anymore. I slapped a partner, one of the head bosses, in front of witnesses. There’s no coming back from that. I’m sure Nancy is on the bottom floor, laughing her ass off, applying for my job right now. I wish I can say slapping Grayson made me feel better, but truthfully, I wanted to do so much more. Like knee him in the balls for being such a dick. I can’t go back to that house. At least I can avoid Grayson by not working there, but not only does he know where I live, he has a key. I could get a place on my own. I do have some cash saved, but that’ll take some time. Where to go until then?

  When a sign for a rest stop comes into view, I follow it and exit the highway until I find a pretty secluded spot to park. Turning off the car, I lean back and close my eyes, exhausted from all the drama. I’ll get a little rest then I’ll get a room to stay the night where I can think of a plan and regroup. This will be okay. It has to be.

  Tyson

  “What the fuck did you say to her?” I shout as I barge into the asshole’s office. Office gossip didn’t take long to get to me and I heard all about how Jade slapped Grayson in the middle of the lobby. Unfortunately, my father heard too and is calling HR to fill her position as we speak. I’m sure I can talk him out of it but first I want to know why she did it.

  “Tyson, why don’t you come in?” he replies dryly.

  “Cut the shit, Grayson. Tell me what you said to her.”

  “Or what? What can you do? Go along with your little threat? Well have at it. You’ll ruin Jade as well as me, but at least give me the courtesy of cleaning out my office first.” Not caring that it isn’t even noon yet, he fills a crystal glass of more than two fingers of scotch and downs the contents.

  “You said something to her didn’t you? What was it? You’ve been silent for days. What exactly made you crawl out of your hole?” Then it hits me. The fucking bracelet. “Ahh, I know. Tell me, Gray, are you that threatened by a little trinket or is it because you’re afraid?”

  “Afraid of what?” he answers, narrowing his eyes.

  “I believe while you were fucking Jade, she got under your cold skin. You care about her, hell you might even love her. Is her cunt that good to make the mighty Grayson Hastings fall? I bet your wife didn’t expect that when she was setting you two up together.”

  “Fuck you, Tyson. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he growls, but I know I hit the nail on the head. The asshole is in love with Jade.

  “Don’t I? Any other woman, you wouldn’t care what I give them or that I’m pursuing them at all, but Jade, she’s different. Do yourself a favor and let her go. We both know you don’t intend to leave your wife for her, not now when you two got a kid on the way to care for.”

  “You act like you care, like you’ll change for her.”

  I don’t know why I even bother to respond. It’s easier for me to let him think what he wants. What everyone thinks about me, but with Jade, I wanted him to know the truth. “I admit at first it was only infatuation, but the more I talked to Jade, got to know her, it became so much more. You got pissed because you know I would never spend that kind of dough on a woman unless I really cared for them. I want Jade fo
r more than a fuck. I want to actually be with her.”

  He doesn’t get a chance to respond before a knock sounds on the door and my father walks in with a member from HR.

  “Grayson, I need you to write a report on the incident so we can get the paperwork going and let Jade go,” Dad says, being his no nonsense self, oblivious to the tension in the room. I know he really liked Jade, but he’s old school and doesn’t tolerate disloyalty.

  “What incident?” Grayson says, looking confused. What a brilliant liar he is.

  “We’ve had reports of Jade slapping you in the lobby and then leaving,” Dad says, looking at him like he’s lost his mind.

  “Oh, that. She didn’t slap me, at least not on purpose. She tripped and my face apparently caught her fall. It was all my fault, actually.”

  My father and the HR rep just stares at him, not knowing what to say. Neither are dumb. I’m sure they know Grayson’s account on the incident is complete bullshit. He’s like the battered woman claiming she fell down the stairs.

  “Are you sure that’s what happened, Mr. Hastings? We can gather many witnesses claiming differently.”

  “I’m pretty sure I know what happened, since it happened to me. Are you trying to call me a liar?” he accuses and the HR rep quickly sputters a reply.

  “Of course not, sir. We’re just trying to sort this all out.”

  “Well, I’ve told you what happened.” Grayson shrugs, looking as cool as a cucumber. Lawyer 101, hold onto the lie with a death grip and never deviate, that’s how you get caught up.

  “And her leaving early, how do you explain that?” Dad asks.

  “She hasn’t been feeling well. The baby has been taking quite the toll on her, so after she almost fell, I told her she should go home. You know, it would look really bad on the firm if we fire someone over problems with their pregnancy. That’s a discrimination lawsuit in the making.”

  “Okay, I guess we’re done here,” the HR rep huffs, agitated. Who knew termination papers gave the man a hard on? As soon as he leaves out the door, my father turns on Grayson.

  “Are you sure you want to play this game? Tell me what really happened because I refuse to keep someone on who thinks it’s okay to disrespect her superiors.”

  “I promise you, Garfield, it was nothing like that. I said something to her that I shouldn’t have and she reacted. Sure, it was poor judgement on her part, but it was completely justified. She shouldn’t lose her job because of me, plus she’s an asset to the company. You yourself said you've never seen anyone pick up litigations so quickly. With proper schooling, she could be fast tracked as a junior associate here. A little gem like her name, cultivated by you.” Interesting, I didn’t know that. I knew my father was interested in her work ethic, but I never knew he was grooming her to be an associate.

  “Fine, as long as something like this never happens again. I expect to see her first thing tomorrow morning, keeping her nose clean. Is that clear?” Dad replies.

  “Of course,” Grayson murmurs. With a curt nod, my dad leaves and I pull out my phone and call Jade, but the call goes straight to voicemail. She’s probably turned her phone off to prevent dick head over here from reaching her.

  “Do you know where she would go?” I ask him.

  “No. Why do you even care anyways?”

  “I’ve already told you, plus you heard my father. You have until tomorrow morning to get Jade back here or her job is as good as gone. She probably thinks she already doesn’t have a job, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out she’s avoiding you and will continue to do so. What if she runs?” His jaw clenches. He knows I’m right. From the little I know of Jade, I do know the woman is stubborn as hell. The little minx will hold out for days before speaking to him again and her job will probably be given to that asslicker Nancy on the lower floor. She’s been trying to get in my pants for a year now. It will be pure torture to see her everyday I come to work, first thing in the morning, and what about Jade? I don’t think I can deal with never seeing her again.

  “Her car has a tracker on it,” he finally replies and I snap my head up.

  “What?” I roar, shocked.

  “Don’t look at me like that. We bought her the car and said it was hers free and clear, but Jade isn’t the most reliable and we didn’t know shit about her besides our crazy first meeting so we wanted to be able to keep tabs on her, just in case she goes off the rails with our kid in her.”

  “You two are a real piece of work, you know that?”

  “Obviously we were right seeing as she’s gone. Look, I have court in a few and like you said, she’s not going to want to speak to me.” Pulling a small black disk out his desk, he hands it to me. “This will tell you where she’s at. Just get her back, no matter the cost.” With that, he leaves as I stare down at the address lighting up on the little black screen while I ponder if he’s asking to bring her back for the baby, or himself.

  Putting the thought aside for now, I tell my father I have something important to do before getting into my Porsche. If I leave now, I can avoid the lunch hour traffic and find Jade.

  16

  Jade

  I wake to an annoying tapping noise. When my vision clears, I scream when I see it’s someone tapping at my window. It’s pouring cats and dogs outside and I can barely make out Tyson’s wet form. Rolling down the window, I yell, “What the hell? How did you find me?”

  “Unlock your doors and I’ll tell you.” Instead of doing what he asked, I just stare at him, dumbfounded. He’s here, out of nowhere, huddled up and freezing his ass off in the rain for me. Finally taking pity on him, I press the unlock button and he quickly walks around the car and jumps in. Not an inch of him is dry. The expensive suit he has on was plastered to his body like a second skin and he was trembling. Starting the car, I turn the heat up all the way so he won’t catch his death. I didn’t want to lose my job and be responsible for the death of the boss’ son all in one day.

  “Are you going to tell me how you found me now?” I ask in a soft voice once the chattering of his teeth subsides.

  “The Hastings have a tracker on your car,” he answers and a string of colorful expletives leave my mouth.

  “That son of a bitch. Free and clear my ass. I should drive this car into the side of their house and be done with them once and for all. Leave town and send them their kid once he or she is born.” I was on a roll with my rant. I mean, I don’t even know why I was so surprised. Putting a tracker in my car is just something both Grayson and Nichole would do.

  “Or,” Tyson says slowly and I move my gaze to him. “You can gather your shit and come stay at my condo. You know, until you can figure out another plan,” he suggests and I look at him like he’s gone coo-coo. Does he have a fever? The rain must have made him delirious for him to suggest such a thing. “Who knows, you might want to stay forever.” Yep, the man has definitely lost his damn mind.

  “And what happens when you finally get sick of me? Me staying at your place will be very difficult for you. What will all your booty calls think?” Someone needs to be the voice of reason.

  “Jade,” he sighs, “you’re no hardship. There are no more booty calls or anyone else, and even though I can’t put a label on this, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of you.”

  “Pretty words from a pretty boy. You say all this shit now, but you’re just like the Hastings. You like to use people, use women. As soon as you get what you want, you’ll be kicking me out your place while talking shit about me in the same breath.”

  My anger was heating the car more than what was coming from the vents and the windows were all fogged up, making it look like we were doing something more than having a heated discussion. “God, what makes you privileged pricks think…” I don’t get to finish my rant before he slams his lips against mine. This is no small kiss like the ones he leaves me at the end of the work day meant to tease me. No, this kiss is all-consuming, no holds barred, just like the one in the office, but a hundr
ed times more heated. If I could burst into fire like a phoenix being reborn, I probably would have. His lips take over, and soon, I’m putty in his hands as my lips try to keep up with him while my brain takes a backseat. His hands roam my body and instead of feeling their iciness from the rain, I feel nothing but a heated trail I’m all too happy to follow to Naughtyland. When he pulls back, I’m disappointed and I poke my lip out like a spoiled child. How can one kiss reduce me to this?

  “Don’t give me that look. If I keep kissing you, I’m going to fuck you in this car and I don’t want our first time to be in a parked car at a rest stop. Our first time will be with you laid out on my bed where I have enough time to do all the naughty things I have dreamed of. I’ll ravage your body and Grayson will be nothing but a distant memory.”

  Oh my, what can a girl say to that? Absolutely fucking nothing.

  “You still haven’t answered me,” he says in a husky voice and I shake my head, breaking the spell. I can’t let this man get to me. His mouth may be saying one thing, the right thing, but I know it’ll lead to another. Like McHottie and why I’m here in the first place.

  “Regardless of what you say, I know I’m right. Let's get real here, Tyson. You’ve never been in a serious relationship. Fuck, I don’t even think you know what one is or the semantics behind one. As soon as you get tired of me, you’ll throw me away like yesterday’s trash and I’ll be utterly broken,” I admit, hating that I’m being so vulnerable with him. I’m stronger than this, and if I’m being honest, I’m still completely messed up in the head about the feelings I have for Grayson. Feelings I have no right to have, but they made a home inside me anyways.

  “Jade, I can’t say it’ll be all roses. You’re right. I’ve never been in a relationship before, but I like you. I really like you, more than I have anyone. I’m intrigued by you, and I want to be with you exclusively. That’s more than I have given any woman. I’m no prophet. I can’t predict the future, but I know I want you in mine.”