Enlightened (Red Flags) (20 page)

William came walking out of his office and asked to speak to me alone for a second.  My heart sank as I was sure that I would be receiving my walking papers. 

He shut the door behind him as I turned to face him. My face flushed beet red, afraid of whatever was about to come out of his mouth.

"How is work going for you, Cara?" William asked.  His stoic face gave nothing away, and that worried me a bit.

"It's going okay, I guess." 

"How is your working relationship with Damian?"

I stopped for a minute and wondered if I should go ahead and tell him what had been going on or if I should just let it go. 

"It's going,"

William eyed me suspiciously for a second.

"Well, I don't think I have to remind you that this is a very important client of ours and that you need to be the most phenomenal employee in order to keep Mr. Rossi happy.  He's a bit concerned about your personal life getting in the way of work.  Let me remind you that you need to put work first and foremost."

Before I could say anything, Damian knocked on the door and opened it, looking in and locking his wolfish greenish-grey eyes with mine.  I composed the anger boiling inside of me and fixed my clothing while walking out of the office.  I looked over to Amanda who was shaking her head but not saying anything.  William and Damian stepped out, patting one another on the back and framing me as we walked over to the elevators.  My breath was beginning to hitch as we stepped inside.  It was just me, alone with the two of them, and I had an uneasy feeling settling into my stomach.

Chapter 15

My stomach contracted the entire way up to the boardroom that had been transformed into a lunch space.  William and Damian continued on with their friendly chatter, almost as if I wasn't even in their presence.  I was sickened by the fact that Damian could be so callous and conniving, yet smile in my face and pretend to be the awesome guy that he portrayed himself to be in front of everyone else. Thoughts of turning and giving him a high five to the face crossed my mind on more than one occasion, but I quickly remembered that actions have consequences, so I tucked my sinister thoughts away and tried my best to rein in my frustrations.

When we finally walked into the boardroom, the players, a few media heads, and some of the SDSM employees, stood and greeted us with a round of applause.  It surprisingly calmed my frazzled nerves, and I took a seat near the head of the table.  Unfortunately, Damian sat down right next to me.     

I watched him fiddle with his phone, smirking, as text messages came in.  My own phone was sorely missed, as I felt like my life was tied to it.  I kept thinking about Jason and Chase, my parents, and anyone else who I had the unfortunate inability to speak to since it went missing.  When a plate of food was placed in front of me, I dove in.  Dinner had been scarce the night before after such a nauseating work day spent with Damian.  He didn't say much to me over the course of lunch, surprising me
and
making me happy all at the same time.

William stood and spoke to the room, thanking everyone for their tireless effort to get The Tide off the ground.  He thanked Damian for being such an open and charismatic owner, making his own work life that much easier.  I wanted to gag at the words, but I smiled and lightly clapped, hoping no one saw my despondent demeanor, as I sat listening to utter bullshit.  William thanked me for my hard work, but it was limited to a sentence, then he went back to praising Damian and all of his thoughtfulness.  I wanted nothing more than for this luncheon to be over with.

A few of the players stood and spoke.  I got more recognition from them than I did from my own boss.  I actually smiled as they spoke, because their speeches weren't full of Damian Rossi, ass kissing rhetoric.  They spoke about their love for the game, the opportunity they had been given, and the countless hours spent by those of us behind the scenes making their dreams a reality.  Their speeches were what I needed to hear, and, if for only a half hour, it was the best part of this torturous event. 

As soon as we were excused, I high tailed it back up to my office and grabbed my belongings.  William made the luncheon the end of our work day for that Friday.  Luckily for me, that meant I could spend more time with Mila after work.

When I stepped off the elevator and onto the lobby floor, Sunny was standing by her desk with her arms folded over her chest.  I tried to breeze right by, but she called my name, and startled me, so I turned to face her.

"Cara, most females in your position don't last long with William.  And sleeping with The Tide owner, trying to wriggle your way into him, is no way to keep your job."

My eyebrows scrunched at the brazenness of her words. 

"Excuse me?"  I asked with great offense.

"I'm just saying that, word travels, Cara.  You'll want to watch yourself."

She swiftly moved behind her desk and answered the ringing phone.  I wanted to unleash a multitude of epithets at her, but she was now effectively ignoring me, so I turned and fumed as I stalked out of the office.  When I made my way to my car, I watched Damian stroll over, further eroding what little good mood I had left.  I tossed my bag onto the passenger seat and took off my heels, throwing them onto the backseat.  My only goal was to leave without having another nonsensical conversation that would only make me want to cause Damian bodily harm.  Unfortunately, as I sat down, he held on to the car door, leaning down as his once enticing eyes locked with mine.

"You're sure in a hurry.  Are you okay?" he asked, sounding overly condescending.

"Are you really asking me that?  My boss is wondering if I can handle my job thanks to you and your assertions that my personal life is hindering my efforts."

He laughed a sinister laugh and threw his head back.  When he stopped, he stood straight up and his eyes locked with mine once again.

"Maybe he's seeing it in your work ethic.  You did show up late for a work function.  How do you know he didn't come asking me for my opinion to back up his own?"

The smile that sliced his lips infuriated me and I stood to come within inches of his face. 

"You are incredible," I hissed.

"Oh, I know I am," he retorted, reaching out and grabbing my hand.

A few seconds later, I heard the familiar roar of the Raptor, and I turned to find Jason pulling up.  His eyes locked on the two of us, standing so close to one another. I watched fire flame through him as he jumped out of the truck and rushed over to Damian and me.  Damian removed his hand from mine and an annoyingly large smile filled his face as Jason stepped up next to me.

"What the fuck is goin' on here?" Jason asked, staring holes into Damian.  I watched as his face filled with wrath.  It was the very same wrath that I saw whenever he encountered his brother.

"What the fuck do you think, Bradley?  This is another Stacey all over again.  You just can't seem to find a chick that's willing to have you without also tasting me."

Jason pushed him back and I watched as his hands bunched into white knuckled fists.  His breathing picked up, his normally tanned skin was now shading red, and I watched as his breathing picked up. 

"Don't ever fuckin' compare her to Stacey.  I'll rip your fuckin' face off."

Damian ran his hand over his head and laughed.

"Must be so hard to know that you're never going to be good enough for any girl," I watched him pull what looked to be my cell phone out of his jacket pocket.  "When you called last night and I answered, she was in my shower, dude, hanging onto my dick.  Check those messages too.   You'll learn just how important you really are to her."

Jason's jaw clenched and in an instant, both of his hands gripped Damian's shirt.  Their faces were nearly touching as Jason breathed hard; trying to keep himself from doing any further damage. 

"She did say you were an ex-boyfriend, so I'm not really sure why you're so mad about it all," Damian was trying desperately to egg Jason on.

"You achin' to get ya pretty little ass whooped, Rossi.  Keep running that fuckin' mouth."

I heard William's voice just as Jason finished threatening Damian.

"What is going on over here?" William asked, eyeing Jason and the hold he had on Damian. 

"Just a friendly misunderstanding, Will.  Cara's ex-boyfriend was just apologizing for his mindless outburst."

William turned to me with a look of consternation on his face.  I felt my heart rate spike as my hands began to sweat.

"You have a damn snake here," Jason growled.

"Let me tell you something.  You don't come here and accost any employee.  Best thing for you to do is to get in your car and drive away from here before you have assault charges tacked on to your ass."  William looked like he was ready to fight.  "Cara, I'll need to see you in my office Monday morning."

Damian straightened his collar and grinned at Jason and me.

"Thanks, Will.  I'm okay, though.  Nothing too serious."

William dusted Damian off and then Damian casually walked away and got into his car.

"Don't bring this bullshit to our place of business, Cara."  He stopped and then looked over to Jason, who was still fuming.  "Monday."

I watched him get into his car and drive off.

Jason ran his hands through his shaggy brown hair and yelled out, "Fuck!"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned to Jason, upset that he had come to my place of work and completely showed his ass. 

"What got into you?  Why are you here?"

"Why am I here?  I call you all day yesterday and get no answer.  When I finally do, Damian, Pencil Dick Rossi, answers your phone."

"You don't seriously believe his ridiculous ass story, do you?"

Jason ran his hand over his face but didn't say anything.  Now it was my turn to fume.

"You are a douchebag, Jason.  We aren't together because of your shit.  And yet, you stand here in front of me and tell me that you believe I would just sleep with the fucking creep that I have to work with.  Where is your trust in me?"

"I never said I believe him…"

"You never said you didn't, either." 

We stood staring into one another's eyes, flames of rage and passion searing us both.  Our connection was alive and well, but I didn't want to feel the familiar tug to want to be in Jason's arms. Rather than give in to the feeling, I stepped away from him, breaking our invasive stares.

"I thought you said you were in anger management. I thought you were changing. What the hell was that just now?" I asked, regaining my focus on the fact that he did actually piss me off.

He pursed his lips as he stepped closer to me, drawing my attention to them.  He took my hand in his as he stared down on me with his beautiful brown eyes.

"I've changed, Cara. I really have and I continue to work on it every day.  But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to break the fingers of any guy who touched you, and I'm no liar."

Vulnerability passed through Jason as I watched an inkling of his rough exterior peel away.  His eyes had a slight hurt to them, and while I wanted to remain angry with him, I found myself thawing just a bit.  Before our catastrophic misfortune in Texas, Jason would have gone ballistic on me in this situation.  I couldn't ignore the fact that he was now guiding his anger where it truly belonged, and although he chose the worst place and time to do it, he was learning.  I acknowledged the baby steps that he seemed to be making.

"You can't storm up to my place of employment and act a damn fool, Jason.  As it is, I'm almost positive that, come Monday morning, I won't have a job anymore."  The realization of my words hit me like a sledgehammer, and I felt weak in the knees for a second.  Jason was there to hold me up.

He pulled me into his chest and ran his hands over my hair while kissing my forehead.  It felt good to be wrapped in his muscular arms once again, but the sickening twinge in my stomach from the prospect of being unemployed was not easily dispelled.  I let out a couple of tears, and Jason pulled away, looking into my eyes, smiling at me as he wiped my tears away.

"You have nothing to worry about, Cara.  You will keep your fuckin' job."  I wanted so badly to believe him, but I wasn't sure I could.  "I'm gonna fuckin' destroy Damian Rossi." 

Jason's eyes were once again lifeless at the thought of Damian and the games that he was currently playing.  For me, Damian was messing up what I felt was a new and exciting bright spot in my life, but for Jason, this was a continuation of the same old back and forth that had plagued their earlier years.  I could see where his deep-seated hatred was coming from. 

"I really have to get going.  I'm late.  I'm supposed to meet up with Mila." 

I pulled away but Jason pulled back on my hand.

"I know I'm still a complete and utter clusterfuck.  I'm working on it.  Not only because I need to for my own sake, but for you as well.  I really can't see my life without you in it, Cara, and I'm going to work my fuckin' ass off provin' to you that I belong in yours." 

He leaned down and planted a kiss on my lips that sent fire coursing through my body.  I stood like a statue for a second, but after the kiss effectively melted away my rigidity, I gave back the same lust that he poured into me.  My arms wrapped around Jason's neck as his locked around my waist.  Our tongues met one another and swirled in a rhythmic motion, further sending shock waves to every inch of my body.  I felt my nipples go hard as I yearned for Jason to take me right then and there, but composure came back over me and I slowly ended the kiss that was sending me back to the feeling of Jason and I consuming one another in the most erotic of ways.  I couldn't deny that I still wanted him, but I didn't want to jump back into that when we still had so much to sort through. 

Jason slowly and enticingly licked his lips as we pulled back.  I playfully smacked his chest as he stepped away from me.

"I'll change the damn moon and stars if I can have that back in my life, Gorgeous.  Have fun with Mila."

He leaned down and picked up my cell phone that I wasn't even aware had fallen, and handed it to me before turning and getting into his truck.  When I sat down in my car, I rubbed my hands through my hair and let out a long sigh.  Just as I started up the car, my eyes locked with Sunny's.  She glared daggers in my direction.  I smiled at her and drove off, not willing to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she often times flustered me.