Cougar Boss

by Kerry Belchambers

  “Why don’t you ask her out?”

  “She’s Amelia Gallagher’s daughter. Girls like her don’t go out with guys like me.”

  “What is that supposed to mean? You’re an amazing guy and any woman would be lucky to be with you. Plus, didn’t you notice the way she was looking at you? She likes you.”

  He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment then laughed.

  I was pleased to see him like that. “Did you get her number?”

  He nodded.

  “Good, ask her out when this is over.”

  I saw him searching the room and my gaze followed his, unexpectedly falling on Jaime’s across the room.

  “Jaime’s here,” he said.

  “I know. We talked a while back and I didn’t know what to say. After finding out Mrs. Gallagher was the reason behind her pulling away from me, I feel like I owe her an apology.”

  He turned to face me. “I don’t think you owe her an apology since you did nothing wrong, but I do think you should talk to her. Its time you started moving on.”

  “Are you saying that I should start things up with her again?” I didn’t think that was a very good idea. Anything I did would most likely end up hurting her because I didn’t know if I could be with someone else when I was still so deeply in love with Amelia.

  “I think you should stop holding on to the past and go over there and talk to her.”

  “And say what exactly?”

  “It’ll come to you,” he said and gave me a little shove, forcing me to keep walking.

  I made my way over to her art display and started slowly perusing, while she carried out conversation with one of the guests in attendance. She was extremely gifted so I wasn’t surprised to see all the bids on her work.

  “Did you take a real interest in art or are you here to support Rex?”

  She came to stand right beside me as I studied one of her magnificent landscape paintings. “I think a little bit of both,” I said.

  I turned to face her and found her watching me with a familiar look on her face.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “Tell you what?”

  “That Mrs. Gallagher asked you to stay away from me?”

  She raised her eyebrow in surprise. “How did you find out?” she asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  She shook her head. “I guess not. I’m sorry. I tried, the last time we saw each other but I didn’t think you’d care to learn the truth.”

  I wondered what would have happened between us had I never fallen in love with Amelia. Would we still have been together? Would I have been there supporting her, as I was Rex?

  “I’ve missed you,” she said.

  I met her soft gaze and bit my lower lip.

  “I’ve missed you too.” I missed how easy it had been to be around her, to talk to her, to have her look at me with pure interest and curiosity. Things between us would have progressed so calmly as compared to the turbulence I had faced at the hands of Amelia.

  “Are you seeing someone?” she asked.

  I thought about Amelia. “I was, but it’s over now.” I was always going to love her, but she’d made it clear we could never be together. I’d said I’d wait for her, fight for her, but I wasn’t so sure she’d ever want me the same way I wanted her.

  “You want to talk about it over coffee sometime?”

  “No,” I said as I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about it.” A look of understanding came across her face. “But coffee sounds good.” We smiled at each other.

  We were interrupted by someone who wanted to talk to her, so I left to give her space, made a bid I knew no one would beat on the landscape painting and walked back to Rex’s art with a smile on my face.

  I went and outbid the last person who’d bid on my Brexton Phillips painting just as Rex came to talk to me.

  “By the look on your face, I’d say it went well,” he said.

  I nodded. “She asked me out.”

  “That’s awesome! The first step to moving on. I’m so happy for you.”

  He seemed more excited than I was.

  Pleased as I was though, I couldn’t help thinking whatever I was starting was doomed to fail but every time I looked at Jaime to find her looking back at me, a spark of hope flickered.

  I stayed close to my painting until the auction ended and I was the top bidder on both Rex’s and Jaime’s paintings. When it was over, I went over to Jaime to say goodnight and as soon as she wrapped up talking to yet another guest, she came over to talk to me.

  “You’re very popular tonight,” I said.

  “I’m sorry. I haven’t attended a silent auction in years. Most of these people are just old friends,” she said.

  “Hi Jaime,” Rex said when he joined us.

  “Hi Rex,” she said.

  Before anyone of us could talk, Adrianna came to talk to Rex. I was happy he’d taken the initiative to put himself out there. It was about time he got himself a girlfriend.

  “Since you spent so much on my painting, how about we decide early that coffee will be on me,” Jaime said.

  I laughed at the joke, and when I was about to respond, Adrianna said, “Excuse me, Olivia. I’m sorry to interrupt.” I looked at her, then turned my gaze to Rex but I couldn’t read him because he looked as confused as I was.

  “Where’d you get that pendant?” she asked.

  I ran my fingers over the rose pendant and raised an eyebrow when I realized how she recognized it. I was tongue-tied because I didn’t know how to answer. How could I tell her Amelia had given it to me?

  When Adrianna noticed my hesitation, her eyes widened in what appeared to be surprise and understanding. “You’re the one she was talking about,” she said.

  My shock slowed my thinking as I remembered Amelia telling me her kids knew of my existence but didn’t know my identity. I wanted to deny whatever she thought she knew but I couldn’t think fast enough.

  “You and my mother?” she said, then shook her head in disbelief as she walked away. Rex went after her and I was left standing awkwardly, knowing Jaime had a few questions for me.

  “You and Mrs. Gallagher?” Jaime asked.

  I looked at her in guilty silence and she scoffed as she shook her head.

  “That certainly explains a lot.”

  “It’s over, she ended it so it doesn’t matter,” I said.

  “Are you still in love with her?”

  I couldn’t answer.

  “See Liv, it does. It matters.” She walked away and I could feel my heart starting to break.

  I couldn’t believe the first single step I’d taken towards moving forward had landed me flat on my face. How was Amelia still influencing my personal life when she was the one who’d left me?

  I ran out of the building and hailed a cab, ignoring Rex when I heard him call after me. I wanted to cry, to scream, to curse, but instead, I headed to Mrs. Gallagher’s penthouse. I was so upset I had no idea what I was going there to do.

  Thoughts and emotions tore through me during my ride to the penthouse and by the time I was paying the driver, I was too rattled to move. It took me a few minutes to catch my breath and when I did, I was unsure of whether I should have been there at all.

  I got into the elevator and when the doors opened, I walked in and found Mrs. Gallagher standing out the balcony. I’d almost forgotten how much it affected me to see her in one of those silky robes and nightgowns she wore to bed.

  She seemed surprised to see me, which was fitting because I shouldn’t have been there.

  “Liv, is everything okay?” she asked in concern as she approached me. I was a little taken aback until she touched my face and lightly ran her fingers over my cheeks, wiping away tears I was unaware I’d shed.

  I pulled back and recalled what had happened as I tried to push down a painful ball of air from my throat.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  I closed my eyes shut in an attempt to
fight the tears and took a deep breath. When I tried to speak, I choked on my words and took another breath, turning away from her because I couldn’t look at her while I spoke.

  “Did you know Adrianna organized a silent art auction?” I asked.

  “She told me about it. What does that have to do with what’s going on?” I’d never heard impatience in her voice until that moment.

  “Rex was one of the artists whose work was being auctioned, so I accompanied him. I saw Jaime,” I faced her at this juncture to gauge her reaction but my eyes were blurry from the tears I was fighting back so I couldn’t hold her gaze, much less read her.

  “Rex encouraged me to make the first step at moving on from you, so I went and talked to her. We hit it off and it was going well up until Adrianna saw this pendant you gave me and put two and two together.” I saw the look of surprise that came across her face. “She knows about us and she said it in front of Jaime.”

  A mix of emotions went through me and I fought to keep them at bay. I wasn’t sure whether I was more concerned about Adrianna finding out about us, or the frightening idea of being in emotional captivity for all of eternity.

  “I want to stop hurting over you, Amelia. But how do I do that when the first thing I do in an attempt to stop it lands me flat on my face?” I took a deep breath. “I hate this and it doesn’t even seem to affect you. You’re going on with your life as if I never even existed.”

  “Don’t you say that Olivia. You know it’s not true.”

  “That’s the thing, I don’t know. I’ve never been in love but you’ve done this sort of thing before. I was someone else’s replacement and after this, there will be someone else to take my place.”

  She walked up to me and made me face her. “You’re no one’s replacement and this isn’t easy for me either.” She tossed her arms aside and hopelessly stepped back.

  “I’ve never been with anyone quite like you, Livvy. Before you came into my life I led this void, plain, colorless life. I felt like I was in constant suspended animation. Just doing what I was meant to do, never feeling or seeking anything outside what I knew.

  “Then you stepped into my world and knocked everything off balance. You kissed me and I felt like my heart had been electrocuted. It started beating again. Every single day after that, I fought myself because I was so confused. I’d never experienced anything quite so different.”

  She’d never expressed herself to me before, not like this.

  “Imagine seeing color for the very first time, learning to enjoy it, to let it be apart of you and let it fully consume you only to realize you’ll have to let it go and resume with life in that void, plain, colorless world like none of it ever existed. With that knowledge, wouldn’t you want to create some sort of resistance?”

  After taking a long deep breath, she said in a low sad voice, “As far as I’m concerned Livvy, there was no one else before you and there will be no one else after you.”

  Her words hit me so hard, tears started falling down my cheeks. I didn’t know who I felt sorrier for, me or her.

  We both turned towards the penthouse when we heard clapping and my gaze widened when I saw Eric. Amelia walked back inside and I followed after her, quickly wiping away my tears.

  “So the ice queen does have a heart after all,” he said in a mocking tone.

  What was he doing there? Hadn’t Amelia said she’d take care of him? Had he somehow managed to evade her since the last time they’d seen or spoken to one another?

  Amelia walked over to the phone and Eric pulled out a gun, pointing it to her. “No, no, no, get away from the phone,” he warned, motioning her with the gun.

  She came and stood in front of me, almost as if shielding me from him. I closed my hand over her arm and she held me back, showing me to stand behind her and stay still.

  “Eric, what do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

  “You turned Kathy against me when all I tried to do was help, and then you put a manhunt for me. What did you think was going to happen?” he asked, waving the gun as he spoke.

  “Whatever happened between you and Kathy was between the two of you, I had nothing to do with it. Now why don’t you let Olivia get out of here and then you and I can talk about this,” she said.

  I wasn’t going anywhere without knowing if she was going to be okay. This man had killed Greg. I doubted he’d hesitate pulling the trigger when it came to Amelia. He looked so resentful towards her.

  “No one’s going anywhere,” he said. “I’ve done everything Kathy ever asked of me and you’ve done nothing but resent her and disrespect her. Merging Price Healthcare and Winston Enterprises was the only thing she ever wanted and I told you to do it or I’d expose your nasty little affair to the public. But you didn’t listen. Instead, you went and told her garbage about me and she kicked me out like a dog.”

  “The only thing I did was confront her.”

  “Confront her about what? Ordering me to get that guy out of the way? She did that for you. You should be grateful to her for what she’s willing to do to ensure your happiness.”

  I pulled back in shock and asked. “What’s he talking about?”

  “Oh, you haven’t told your young lady friend what your mother made me do for you?” he asked.

  “Eric, there’s another way of doing this,” Amelia said.

  “Shut up!” he yelled and the room fell silent.

  “Olivia, can I call you Olivia?” he asked as he walked towards us and Amelia continued to shield me from him. “I’m going to tell you something you don’t know about your precious Amelia.”

  He continued nearing us and grabbed my arm, forcefully pulling me away from Amelia as he pointed the gun to my head, motioning her to stay back. I was terrified because a madman was holding us at gunpoint.

  When he created enough distance between us, I tried not to show fear and held Amelia’s assuring gaze.

  “This heartless cold bitch has been the bane of my existence since the day I met her.” He sounded so bitter and angry. I kept my eye on his hand as he continued frantically waving the gun at Amelia while he spoke.

  “The problem was, she couldn’t get hurt because she had no weaknesses and I couldn’t hurt her without hurting Kathy. But you worked your way around that one for me, didn’t you?” he asked Amelia, slowly moving his hand to point the gun right at me.

  “Eric, please. It’s not too late. You can have it all. You can have your merger, and you can join the board. Anything you want,” Amelia said, expressing fear for the first time.

  “She’s the precious little gem I can use to cause you misery, harm and pain like you’ve done me and Kathy over the years,” he said.

  I stared at the gun as my heart pounded loudly in my chest, afraid for my life because he seemed so sure about what he was about to do.

  “She’s your weakness.”

  “Eric, please point the gun at me. Olivia has nothing to do with this. You’re right about everything. I’m to blame. I should’ve been better for mom and for you. I’m sorry for all that I’ve done,” she said.

  Eric watched her for a minute then broke into laughter. “Oh, you have no idea how good this feels. You must really care about her,” he said, moving closer to me.

  As terrified as I was, I wanted the gun to stay aimed at me instead of Amelia because I now understood why she’d pushed me away so many times in the past.

  I had become a weakness to her and now Eric was using that against her. If we ever came out of this alive, Amelia was going to push me away for good. Today it was Eric, tomorrow it’d be someone else. I was a threat to her.

  “Shoot me.” I didn’t want to see Amelia lower her guard to protect me when I was partly responsible for everything that was happening. All she’d ever done was care for me and it took such a dangerous occurrence for me to see it, to believe it.

  “What?” Eric said.

  “Liv, what are you doing?” Amelia asked in a panic.

  “Oh, she’
s good. I see why you like her,” he said.

  “I said shoot me.” I moved closer to him.

  “Olivia, stop it!” Amelia said.

  He aimed the gun at my chest and I was certain he was going to pull the trigger because an evil cynical look came across his face and he tightened the hold on the gun.

  “I love you, Amelia,” I said and closed my eyes right at the same time a shot was fired.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  I heard two gunshots and saw both Olivia and Eric fall down on the floor. Jerry, Olivia’s bodyguard was standing some distance away with smoke coming out of his gun, which explained where the second shot had come from.

  I rushed over to Olivia in horror as Jerry carefully approached Eric’s limp body and kicked the gun from his hand while he called for an ambulance.

  “Livvy?”

  Her hand was on her stomach, covering the place where Eric had shot her. My heart clenched in my chest when I saw her covered in blood. How could she stand in front of a madman and tell him to shoot her? What had she been thinking?

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Shh, it’s okay. Don’t talk. An ambulance is on its way. You’re going to be fine.” Grave fear embraced me at the thought of history repeating itself. “I can’t lose you too,” I said, placing my robe over the wound as I applied pressure to stop the bleeding.

  It destroyed me to see her tearing up as she tried to speak. “I couldn’t—I couldn’t let him hurt you,” she said.

  I leaned close and pecked her forehead as I fought back tears. “You shouldn’t have done that, Livvy,” My voice shook and I took a deep breath. I was in another helpless situation at the verge of losing someone else I deeply cared about.

  “Its okay, no one—,” She struggled to speak. “No one will ever use me to hurt you again.”

  Was that why she’d told Eric to shoot her? Because she’d thought she was keeping people like him from using her as a weapon against me?

  “I finally understand you now,” she said, wincing in pain. “I—I understand everything.”

  “Where is that ambulance?” I yelled at Jerry as tears started streaming down my face.