Hush (12 page)

“Hold on, slow down.  What happened?” I plugged my left ear so I could hear Olivia better.

“He was here.  He came to the office,” she said, enunciating each syllable.

“Who?”

“Michael Drake!  He just showed up out of the blue and wanted to go out to lunch,” she snapped back.  I could hear the panic in her voice.

“Is he still there?”

“No, I told him to leave.  I told him I didn’t want anything to do with him, but I don’t know if I’ve gotten through to him.  He told me where he was staying in case I were to change my mind later and wanted to find him.  Good God, he was at my office, Callem.”

“Okay, okay, calm down,” I said, rubbing my forehead.  “Was he threatening?  Was he aggressive?”

“No, not at all.  He was still a little twitchy, like last night, but he was very non-confrontational.”

I nodded.  “Good.  Alright.  Where did he say he was staying?” I asked while she was still a little worked up.  I knew she wouldn’t question it; she wouldn’t wonder why I was asking.

“The Pacific View.  Room 113.  I told him I wasn’t going to come out there.  I told him not to expect me.”

“That’s a good thing,” I added.

“I think I’m going to take you up on your offer from last night, if it still stands?  Do you mind if I stay with you tonight?  He’s really starting to freak me out.”

I nodded.  “Of course.  Yeah, I’d feel much better if you did.  You know what, I’m going to send one of my guys over to your house and add a few more locks on your doors and windows, that way, if he shows up and tries anything stupid when he realizes you’re not there, he won’t get very far.”

“Callem, you don’t have to do that,” she said lightly.

“I would feel much better if I did, and trust me, once my guys are done, you’ll feel much better, too; more secure.  Just do me a favor, call me if he shows up again.  I’ll meet you outside your office after your shift, in case he’s waiting for you, okay?  So don’t walk out until you see me there.”

“Do you think he’d do that?  You think he’d be that desperate to see me that he’d follow me or tries to break into my house?”

“I can’t say.  I don’t know the guy, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”  I heard her sigh into the phone.  “Did you tell your receptionist to kick him out if he comes back?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.  Good.  Just don’t think about it.  I’m on top of it, okay?  I’ll do some grilling for us.  We can open some wine and get the fire going.  Everything will work out just fine.  Alright?  Don’t let it bother you while you’re at work.  I’ll take care of it.”

Olivia sighed.  “You’re too sweet.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.”

“What time do you think you’ll be done tonight?”

“Meet you here at six?”

“Alright, I’ll see you then.  Bye.”  I hung up my cell phone.  I picked up my desk phone.  “Hey Rick, Callem Tate.  How’s that request going for Drake?”  I paused and listened to him talk.  “Great.  Send it all over.  If you get anything else, just let me know.  Thanks, man.”

I hung up the phone and walked out of my office.  I passed through the lobby and over to Red’s office.  I hung in the open doorway.  “Hey, Michael Drake stopped at Olivia’s office.”

“What?” Red asked, looking away from his computer monitor.

“Yeah, she kicked him out, but it really freaked her out.  She’s staying with me tonight.  I told her I’d beef up security at her house just in case this guy is a fan of BE.  Who do we have that can run over to Huntington and install a few more locks?”

“Well you got Tony sitting on his ass up there,” Red said, jabbing his thumb towards the lobby of the office.  “Other than that, everyone else is on assignment.”

“Has he done locks before?”

Red shrugged.  “Beats me.”

“What have you got going on?”

“Just paperwork, expense reports, travel arrangements, quarterly reviews, you know, nothing much,” he joked vaguely.

“I’m going to need you to babysit Tony if he’s new to installing locks.  Then you and I have a date with Mr. Drake.  He’s posted up at the Pacific View hotel and I think he needs some company.”

“Tonight?”

I shook my head.  “Nah, tomorrow morning, real early.”

Red nodded.  “Meet you there, say one?”

“Let’s do two.  We want to make sure the majority of the other guests are asleep, including Mr. Drake.”

My stomach tightened as I walked into the house.  I felt like an inmate moving into her cell; I didn’t want to be here, but I didn’t have any other choice.  I could run, but the warden would surely catch me and throw me into solitary confinement.  It was useless.

I stood in the entryway as the front door slammed shut, snapping down on my soul.  I felt Callem standing just behind me, but made no acknowledgement of it.

“Are you going to come in?” he finally asked, leaning towards my ear as he spoke.

“After you,” I replied sourly.

He sidestepped past me until he was standing in front of me, three steps into the living room.  “Are you going to stand there all night?”

“Am I on some sort of timer?  Are we in a hurry to hate each other silently through the walls of this house?”

“I don’t hate you, Liv,” he whispered.

“Well, that makes one of us.”

“You can’t honestly say you hate me.”

“Can’t I?” I said sharply.  He stood, waiting for me to come into the house, but I stayed glued to my spot.  His eyes were heavy and his lips turned down.  Was he doing this on purpose?  Was he intentionally trying to make me feel bad for him?  Of course he was.  He knew exactly who I was and he knew the best road to the weakest parts of my heart.  He was no stranger to playing all my faults to the tee.

“Just keep reminding yourself that I’m doing this because I love you.”

“And you may as well keep telling yourself that I’m a salty bitch because you made me this way,” I spat before storming off.  I swept past him and up the stairs to the spare room where I closed the door and locked it.

What good was it to lock it?  He had keys to all the doors and even if he didn’t, he knew exactly how to get in.  I was just hoping it’d tell him to give me some space.  I dropped down on the bed in the dark, quiet room and inhaled deeply.

My eyes started to fill up.  My chin quivered.  I held my breath as the silent sobs battled their way out of me.  I heard each of his steps as he climbed the stairs and approach the spare room door.  I saw the shadow of his feet at the bottom of the door.  I watched the knob twitch as he tried to turn it unsuccessfully.  I waited for him to say something.  I waited for him to pound and demand I allow him entry.  I waited for something to come from him.

I waited for a reaction that never came.  After a few short seconds, Callem’s shadow moved away and didn’t return.  I lay on my side, crying lightly into the pillow until I drifted off to sleep.

“He showed up at your office?” Erin gasped a week later.  I hadn’t seen her since dinner at my house.  She brought over some take-out for us so I could tell her about the other day’s events.

“Yeah and I was really short with him.  I told him, ‘I don’t want you around.  I don’t want to get to know you’.  I’m not sure if he got the hint though because he followed it up with inviting me to his hotel to visit with him.”

“You didn’t’ go there, did you?”

“No, not at all!” I said.  “He just told me where he was staying in hopes I’d seek him out, but I didn’t and I have no intention to.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t call and tell me,” Erin said, shaking her head, stuffing a bite of her salad in her mouth.

“Well, I called Callem,” I said carefully.

Erin nodded dramatically.  “Okay, I see how it is.  Bros before hoes, is that it?”

I smiled.  “You can’t blame me.  Personal security is what he does for a living.  He had his guys come over to my house that day and add some more locks on my doors and I stayed with him the next couple of nights.”

Erin’s eyes got wide.  “A couple of nights, huh?  Wow, you saucy little minx.  How was that?”

I couldn’t contain the smile that stretched from ear to ear.  “It was great,” I managed.  “He’s, he’s so wonderful.  He’s such a gentleman and he’s so,” I paused to smile bigger, searching for the right word, “I don’t even know how to say it.  You know, most people look at me and see a girl.  When he looks at me, he makes me feel so young, but in a good way.  He’s intimidating in an intimate way, which is such a sexy quality.  It gives me goose bumps.  He just makes me feel so protected and so comfortable and so wanted.  I can tell when we’re together there really isn’t anywhere else he’d rather be.”

“Olivia, you’re in love,” Erin gushed quietly.

“No,” I replied, shaking my head, letting the monosyllabic word hang on the air.

Erin’s eyes widened.  She smiled, cocking her head to the side as if urging me to think about it for a second; let the idea sink in before I denied the claim any further.

I stared at her for a second, wanting impulsively to deny her claim again, but something stopped me.  “Should I be scared?” I asked after a moment’s hesitation.

Erin inhaled deeply.  “It’s always scary to give someone your whole heart.  Are they going to treat it like the precious thing it is or will they take it for granted?  I can’t answer that for you.  I just want you to be careful.”

“Why?”

“Something about him,” she mumbled.  “I’m not saying I don’t like him, because I do.  I like him a lot.  He seems to genuinely care for you.  It’s the power that scares me.  It’s the money that scares me.  It’s the possibilities that scare me.”

“What do you mean?”

“You and I both know you’re well off.  You can take care of yourself financially and you’re not pursuing Callem because of his money and the security it brings.  Imagine that things go well for you two.  The next step would be to move in with each other.  Let’s face it, you’d move into his house.  You might trade in your car for something more the speed of your new lifestyle, which won’t be as modest as it is now.  Then you’d get married, maybe even combine finances.  Maybe then things turn south, when the romance is over.  I’m not saying your relationship is doomed, just imagine the possibility.  Now, he has everything and you have nothing.  He has the house and the cars and the finances.  He has the connections and the power and that, for some reason, really scares me about him.”

I nodded slowly.  “I see what you’re saying, but even if something were to happen, I’m still a working woman.  Even if I sold my house to go live with him and then we separate, I could still get another one.  I’m not completely giving up everything in my life to be with him.  I would never do that.”

“I know,” Erin mumbled, nodding.  “I know, but it’s still scary.  I suppose I’m just being the paranoid mother-hen for you.  I’d kill him if he hurt you.  I don’t care what kind of Special Forces, ex-army guy he is.  I’ve got a car and it’s hard to out run, if you know what I mean.”

I chuckled.  “Thanks for loving me so much.”

“Now, speaking of mother-hens, Mom wants you to confirm Christmas with them.  She missed you at Thanksgiving and wants to be sure you’re home for the holidays.”

“Yes.  I will for sure be there.  I’ll have to call her tomorrow,” I said.

“Are you going to invite Callem?”

I sighed.  “Do you think I should?  I mean, we haven’t made anything official yet, well, he did tell Mr. Drake he was my boyfriend, but he could have just said that to prove a point.  And I don’t want to come off as presumptuous.  I don’t want him to think I’d assume we’re dating and that it’s the right time in our relationship to meet the family.  Guys get freaked out by stuff like that.  I don’t want to scare him away.”

Erin was grinning from ear to ear as I rambled.  “You’re so cute.  He’s not going to take off running just because you invite him to Christmas.  Just ask him.  Make it sound casual.  It’ll be fine.  If he’s really into you the way you describe, I’m sure he won’t have any problem accepting your offer.”

My cell rang.  I picked it up to look at the screen and found a number I didn’t recognize.  “Hello?”  I answered, half expecting to hear a recorded message trying to solicit me something.

“Is this Olivia?” a gruff voice said on the other end.

“Yes it is.”

“Olivia, don’t hang up.  This is Michael Drake.”

I wanted to throw the phone across the room.  “How did you get this number?” I asked as my heart traveled out of my chest and into my throat.

“Listen, I just had to tell you this.  I don’t know how well you know that boyfriend of yours, but he came by my hotel and threatened me.  He threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave you alone.”

I paused.  Callem sought out Mr. Drake?  Why hadn’t he told me?  Did he really threaten to kill him?  That doesn’t sound like Callem.  I can’t trust Mr. Drake.  He could just be telling me a story.  “How did you get this number?” I asked again, this time more sharply.

“He’s dangerous, Olivia.  He and his thug tried to intimidate me at about two in the morning; tried to push me around.  Do you know what kind of man he is?  Look, I may not be a smart guy, but I know a bad guy when I see one.  He is very dangerous.”

“You listen to me.  I don’t know how you got this number, but you need to lose it.  This is my personal, private cell phone.  It’s unlisted.  You cannot call me.  I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I, I, I understand.  You’ve made that point very clear.  I get that.  I just had to call you and tell you about your boyfriend.  Did he tell you he came to see me?”

That wasn’t any of his business.  I didn’t answer.

“He didn’t tell you because he doesn’t want you to know that side of him.  You need to stay away from him more than you need to stay away from me.  If I can’t be a part of your life, at least I feel better walking away from you again knowing I warned you.  I don’t want anything from you.  I don’t want to mess anything up for you.  I just wanted to see you and to have you see me.  If you ever want to find me again, you know my name.  I will leave you now.  I will lose this number.  I will never reach out to you again, but I just had to warn you.  I couldn’t, in good conscious, leave this feeling to myself.  Please understand.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Drake,” I mumbled quickly before hanging up the phone.

“That was him?” Erin squealed when I exhaled deeply.  “What did he say?  Did he tell you how he got your number?”

I shook my head.  “No.  He said Callem threatened him.  He said he was leaving me alone now, but he just had to tell me that he thinks I should keep away from Callem.”

“What?  Why would he say that?”

I shrugged.  “I don’t know.  If he’s telling the truth, why didn’t Callem tell me he talked to Mr. Drake?  Why would he keep that from me?”

“You can’t believe the antics of a desperate man.  He’s probably just trying to make you feel bad for him.  He’s obviously a little crazy.  Why would Callem threaten him?  I can’t see him doing that.”

“Do you think I should ask him about it?  Ask Callem?”

Erin’s brows rose.  “That’s a slippery slope.  On one hand, he could become defensive and get angry that you’d even ask.  On the other hand, he could be completely honest and tell you he did the exact crime he’s being accused of.  Does it really matter if he did?  Let’s just say, theoretically, he did go to this guy’s hotel room, pushed him around, told him to get the hell out of town, Callem would have only done that for you.  He would have done it to keep you safe.”  Erin paused to sigh.  “I don’t know.  Maybe you should just leave it at that.  Look at it as a sign of chivalry.”

“If that’s the case, then the next question is how serious was he?  Would he really
kill
for me?”