Color Her Red (13 page)

“I don’t want to go back until they have her.”  I plead with him; my voice is shaky.  Everything in me is telling me not to go back.

“Then we won’t go back.”  He releases me and moves to his desk picking up his phone. I nestle myself into the soft cushion and bring my knees to my chest, resting my head.

“
I’d like you to cancel my meetings for the next four days… Yes all of them… Tell them personal reasons…No that’s all.”

“Sandra?” I ask wearily.

“No, I don’t know what this one’s name is.  Sandra was fired immediately after the incident.”  He takes a sigh and tilts his head
. 
“I think we should take a vacation.”  Finally, he gives me a bit of his handsome smile.  And I smile back.  He moves me into his lap in the large chair and kisses my hair.

“Yes, Thomas, I think we need a vacation.”  My body instantly relaxes at the thought and I nuzzle my head under his chin.

My smile disappears as I remember what was written on the mirror:
Mine
.  I bite my lip.  His hand reaches up and his thumb graces over my bottom lip. 

“Don’t think about it.”  His blue eyes calm me.  “How about somewhere tropical?”  He smiles
, and that makes me soften.  I’m safe in his embrace and we won’t come back until she is gone, far away from us.

His phone rings, interrupting our conversation.  I nod at him as he takes his phone out. 

“Yes?”  His voice is stern.  He kisses me softly on the forehead and shifts me to sit on the seat as he moves to his desk and sits slowly in his chair.  “I understand, are you sure? ...  Good have them stay there.  … Yes, thank you.  Michael, one more thing, I’d like you to get the jet ready and our bags packed for a little get away.”  He smiles at me as he hangs up the phone. 

“What happened?”  I know that conversation was about her.

“Don’t worry about it, Baby.”  He gets up and walks toward me, moving to take my hand.  I pull away.

“I need to know.”  I say it to the
carpet; it hasn’t yelled at me or given me those maddening eyes.  He sighs heavily and gives in quicker than I thought he would.

“They’ve cleared the house.  They didn’t find her but there wasn’t much damage.”  My brows furrow and
my eyes widen. 
Damage?  What the hell did she do? 
“Nothing that you need to worry about.”  He answers my unconscious question and I accept his response; I don’t want to know.  “Everything will be perfect when we get back.  Security will stay in the house and make sure that everything is fine while we are away.”

I nod; I don’t need to know anymore.  He grabs my chin
firmly as he bends down.

“Now will you give me my kiss or am I going to have to take drastic measures?”  He says it in such a low and promising tone.  It makes me
grin and bite my lip.

“I don’t know,” I look at him straight in his beautiful blue eyes, “maybe you should try to find out.”  His eyes widen and he pauses and then leans in for a kiss.  I bite his bottom lip lightly as he pulls away.

“That’s my Emma.”  His voice is so sexy and his eyes are wanting.  “Michael will be here shortly with our bags.  How does Bora Bora sound?”  His handsome smile makes me nod. 

“It sounds like a place I’d like go.”  I
smile at him even though my eyes are heavy and I’m still a mix of wretched emotions. 

He kisses me gently on my lips and I close my eyes relaxing in his embrace.

“I just have a few things to finish up.  Do you mind waiting here for me?”  His eyes are begging me not to fight him.

“I can wait here.”  I smile up at him.  I don’t want to fight with him anymore
, and I really do want to be with him right now.

He gives me a small kiss and returns to his desk. 

I pull out my phone; I have to tell Kate.  “Babe, I’m going to call Kate.”  I say as I head to the door.  He looks up and nods, giving his approval of my request.

Outside of his office there are a pair of sitting chairs, leather upholstered with nail head trim.  Down the hall is
a reception desk where two well-dressed ladies are diligently typing away.  The room is spacious though, so as long as I keep my voice down they won’t be able to hear me. 

“Mrs. Grant,” a blonde startles me a bit as she greets me, “is there anything I can get
you, water or tea maybe?”  She’s beautiful.  Beautiful blondes aren’t exactly what I want to see right now. 

“Oh, no thank you, Ms.-”

“Darla Clarens.  Please, just let me know if you need anything at all.” She smiles without showing her teeth and keeps her head down.  She looks intimidated.  Looking at her perfectly applied eyeliner and gorgeous chiffon dress reminds me that I am in sweats and I have no makeup on. 
Oh geeze.

“Darla,” I call
hesitantly to her as she turns to leave, and she immediately turns around, waiting for her orders. 

“I feel like an absolute mess.”  I look down at myself but her eyes stay with mine.  She isn’t judging me.  “Is there anyway that you could have someone bring me a more appropriate outfit and
a bit of makeup?” 

She lights up as if I have just given her a reason to live
.  “Of course Mrs. Grant.  Whatever you’d like.  Would you like me to set up an appointment at the salon next door?”

“No, no, just some mascara and a light shade of foundation would be nice.  I’ll just put my hair up into a pony tail.”  I don’t need a pampering session I just want to look slightly presentable. 

“And would you like a dress or something more casual?”

“Yes, something like what you are wearing would be perfect, I’m a 6.”  A smile lights up across her face.  She has perfect beautiful teeth.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”  She smiles as she walks away with a little skip in her step.  She must have had a very boring day to be so excited.  She turns around quickly, “Did you need anything else?”  She seems alarmed that she left me so quickly. 

“No
, thank you.”  I smile politely.  Her smile returns and she nods as she walks away.

As she walks away I retreat to my phone.  I have a missed call from my agent,
Jerry, and a voicemail.

“Emma, I hope you are doing well.  I wanted to make sure you were still on track for your book release.  I understand if you will need more time.  Please just let me know if you are okay or if you need anything.  I’ll speak to you soon.  Bye now.” 

Jerry has been my agent for almost three years now.  I debate on calling him back.  I really don’t want to talk about any of this chaos right now.  The book isn’t due to the editors for another month; I’m almost done anyway.  He can wait a few days for me to call him back.  I still haven’t text anyone back from yesterday.  I look at some of the texts.  Scrolling through them they are almost all the same: 
Are you okay?
(The most popular text) and
Did Thomas really cheat on you?
  I don’t want to respond to any of these.  I delete all of them and the unheard voicemails from my mom.  I debate on deleting the messages from Thomas, they were so comforting and sobering, evidence that he truly does love me, but they were the result of this bullshit and I don’t want to be reminded of it.  I hit delete.

I calm myself, closing my eyes.  I haven’t watched the news yet today.  I wonder if they have
corrected themselves since we’ve given a statement.  I don’t even remember what I said this morning.  Maybe I’ll search online later.

I look at my phone in my hand and wonder if I should text or call Kate.  I should call.  I dial her number and she answers on the second ring,
“Emma, are you alright?”  She’s concerned and alarmed.  I’m taken aback.  When I left her this morning she was fine.

“Yeah
, I’m fine, what’s wrong?”  I ask quickly as my heartbeat speeds up.

“The guys here told me what happened.  Well
, actually I overheard a conversation and then beat it out of them.  Are you sure you’re okay?” 
Thank God.
  My heart slows and I sit in the leather chair, relaxing myself.

“Yes, I’m fine.  Just really shaken up.  It’s all just
so fucking crazy.” I’m happy that they are still with her. 

“Thomas has asked them to make sure I stay at the hotel until they find that psycho bitch.  They searched my house before I could go in to get a pair of shoes.”  She sounds a bit irritated.  I’m glad she doesn’t ask anymore about what happened.  I don’t want to talk about it or
even think about it.

“It’s probably for the best.  I don’t know what I would do to myself i
f something happened to you.”  My voice starts to break and I shake myself of the thought.  I rub my forehead with my hand.  My head is throbbing. 

“I’m not going to lie,
it’s putting a cramp in my style.”  I laugh at her. 

“Oh really?  You seeing someone?” 

She hesitates before answering.  “Kind of … Mike called me this morning.” 
No, not Mike.

“The I’m-never-talking-to-that-fucking-douche-bag-ever-again Mike?”  My tone has completely changed, I hear myself loading a shotgun.  Not him, not that asshole.  She keeps going back to him.  He manipulates her, twisting her around his finger.  He’ll say whatever she
wants to hear to get her in bed and then he treats her like shit.  Over and over again. There’s a long pause before she answers.  

“Yeah
… that Mike.” 

“Katelyn, no.”  I refrain from using obscenities and try pleading with her. 

“He’s changed Emma,” her voice sounds hopeful.  She wants my approval, but all I can do is shake my head and silently scream
fuck no
. 

“I know I’ve said it before but it’s true.  He text
ed me out of the blue to see how I was doing.  He said he missed me.”  I roll my eyes at the thought.  I’m sure he did say it.  There’s a difference in what he says and what he does.  I want to remind her what happened last time.  He was such a dick.  After spending the weekend together, in bed mostly, he doesn’t talk to her for a week, no calls, no texts, nothing.  She finally texts him and he responds,
Sorry forgot about ya. 
He’s such a fucking asshole.  I grit my teeth, refraining myself from unloading all of my pent up anger.

“Seriously Emma, I want to see him.  I’m still not over him… You know that.”  That I do know.  She’s going to see him.  Regardless of what I say, I know she is going to go back to him. 

“Are you seeing him tonight?”  My voice is low as I concede. 

“Yeah, he wants to take me out.”  There’s a little pep in her tone. 

“Don’t sleep with him Kate.  If he really wants you back, he can wait.”  I put my metaphorical shotgun down but I’m keeping it loaded and close.

“I won’t.  Like I said, the security detail is cramping my style.”  She laughs and I can’t help but to let a small smile retreat to my lips. 

“Do you guys want to double date?” she asks.  I want to smack the hope out of her voice with a strong “fuck no.”  I settle on the less hurtful truth.

“We aren’t going to be home tonight.  Thomas wants us to take a vacation.”

“Ooh!  Well you two could use one for sure.  … Is it because they still haven’t found her?”  Her voice drops as she comes to the realization.

“Yes.”
  I stare down at the hem of my t-shirt.  “I told him I didn’t want to go back to the house until she’s in jail.”  I stand by my statement.  She’s already been in our house twice now. 
Third time’s a charm.

“I don’t blame you.”  She
sighs.  “I don’t know how you’re doing it.”  I open my mouth to talk but I see Darla walking towards me.  

“Hold on just a sec
.”  I put the phone down and square my shoulders to Darla.  She seems startled; I think she is worried that she’s interrupted me.  I feel guilty, that wasn’t my intention.  I try to put her at ease, “Oh thank you so much, Darla.”  I give her a huge smile and take the Neiman Marcus shopping bags from her hands.  “I really appreciate it.”

“Whatever you need Mrs. Grant.  Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.”  She gives a small awkward courtesy and no
ds as she turns to leave.  She’s trying so hard, way too hard.  The blonde at the desk is gaping at her and I see her grab her arm and talk to her animatedly when she is back at the desk.  I have to remember to put in a good word for Darla.  Poor girl, she must be new.

“Hey Kate, I have to
go change and pull myself together.  I just wanted to call and make sure you’re doing okay.”

“I’m fine Emma.  Call me if you need me okay?” Mother Hen is back on the phone.
  I love Kate, all of her personas.

“I will.” 

“Good.  Enjoy your vacation!”  She seems satisfied with my response.  “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Sweetheart
.”  I hang up the phone and smile, but then my smile dims.  I really hope she sees through Mike.  She’s a beautiful mess.  I look down at myself, I look awful; I’m just a mess.