Twisted (2 page)

“Could I please get a glass of water?” I asked the waitress. 
Despite my strongest efforts to redirect Kerry’s attention away, he leaned in
toward me and overpowered me with his beer breath.  I forced out a smile and
quickly reached for a menu, lifting it in front of my face to block the stale
stench from my sensitive nose.  I glanced over the menu quickly, selected the
first item I saw and, when his nose was safely in his menu, I put mine down on
the table.

"Wow.  You already know what you want?  That was quick,"
he said, giving me another dose of his rank breath.

Holding my own breath, I grinned and nodded.

"I like a woman who knows what she wants."  He
raised his eyebrow suggestively, as I took a drink from my water.

Gag me.
  Literally.  I choked on my water and turned away to gasp for air as discreetly
as possible.  The last thing I needed was for him to pull a stunt like the
Heimlich on me.

When the waitress returned to the table to take our drink
orders, I insisted that she take our meals too.  Not surprising, he ordered a
beer along with his steak.

The first course came quickly and I tried to keep my mouth
full, so I didn't have to talk much.  I ate half of my meal and while it tasted
surprisingly delicious, there was no way I could enjoy it.  I pushed it into
the middle of the table mid-way through the meal and dropped my napkin on top
to show that I was done.

"Didn't you like it?" Kerry asked.

"It was fine.  I'm not that hungry.  I'm actually
feeling a little sick," I lied, hoping to speed up the night. 
BINGO!

Kerry took the bait and finished his meal promptly.  With a
wave of his hand, he called the waitress over and asked for our bill.  She
nodded studiously and went to her station to print it up.  Kerry briefly
glanced toward the waitress and it looked like he was anticipating payment.  As
the waitress approached our table with the bill, he quickly stood up.

"Can you please excuse me for a minute?  I need to use
the restroom," he said, then rushed off, without waiting for a response.

Oh no he didn't!
  As he walked away I noted that his wallet, being as fat as
a tennis ball, was most certainly big enough to pay for my dinner.  He must
have had a huge wad of cash in there for it to be that thick.  Then it finally
dawned on me:
Business cards. 
It was likely stacked full of them.  He
had been handing them to every person we passed, much to my embarrassment.  The
waitress handed me the bill and I peeked at it, before slipping it back into
the leather folder.

"How would you like to pay for that?" the woman
asked me kindly.

"I'm gonna wait for my date," I explained, a smug
smile in place.

"Okay, I'll be back in a minute then," she replied,
and I was satisfied she gathered exactly what was going on.

As Kerry returned to the table, the waitress followed up
behind him.  I was happy that she had decidedly rephrased her question for him. 
"Will you be paying the entire bill tonight sir?" she asked sweetly.

He looked at me restlessly and smiled.  I smiled back, that
appreciative smile, showing no indication that I planned to chip in.  He leaned
over and pulled out the big, unattractive wad from his pants.  He was damn lucky
too, because there would have been a fight if I had to pay a dime for this
disaster.

As the waitress went off with his credit card, I forced a
harsh frown and held my stomach as though I wasn't well.  I think he started to
figure out my deal.  I never was a very good actress when it came to those
sorts of things, but he didn’t ask and I didn’t tell him.

When we went out to his car, he didn't offer to get my door,
and when he pulled out of the parking lot, he squealed his tires like an ass.  If
he was trying to offend me, he succeeded.  It was incredibly immature and very unappealing,
and if I wasn't actually sick before, I was now from his reckless driving.

After the awkward silence back to my house, I hoped I could
make a quick exit, but it looked to me that he still expected a goodnight kiss. 
Not gonna happen beer breath!
  I stared out the tinted window at the
darkness, seeking inspirational words to express my disgust.

"I had a great time tonight.  I was hoping we could stay
out later, but maybe next time," he said, pulling the emergency break.

"Mmm hmm," I mumbled, as I desperately scratched
for the door handle in the dark.  There was no avoiding his brutal man breath when
he leaned toward me.  I turned my head, just missing his sloppy, repulsive kiss. 
His lips mashed against my cheek.

"Good night," I said firmly, as I finally found the
handle.  I dove out of the door and rushed up to my house, nauseous and
offended.  I quickly jammed my key in the lock to let myself in and slammed the
door shut behind me.  I rolled over the deadbolt and leaned against the door
for support, before banging my head back against it. 
Why me?

I thought of my sister and tried to find something positive
from the situation.  At least I managed to bolt from his car before he could
ask for my number. 
Yes.  I done good.
  As for Maddison Walker, the one
who set me up with this madman, there would be hell to pay.

I heard Edwin walking down the hall, so I collected myself
before he stopped at the top of the stairs.  It was dark and I hadn't turned on
the lights.  I was thankful that he hadn't either.

"You're home early.  I take it he's the man of your
dreams," he teased.

Suddenly I was mounting with anger.  I straightened myself
and headed up the stairs with a vicious stomp.  I wanted to appear angry, but
my words came off as pouting.  "Not good," I whined.

Amused, Edwin followed me to my room.  "Was it something
I did?"

Was he intentionally trying to rub it in?  He leaned against
my bedroom doorway, flaunting all his manly beauty.  Remind me again why I
broke up with this man.

"I wish it was,” I said, dropping my head in defeat.  “Let's
just chalk this one up to a natural disaster.”

"You really had nothing to work with.  That guy’s hardly
even a man.  Besides, I told you that dating's no good for you.  Why do you
need another man in your life when you've got me?"

I wasn't comfortable letting that conversation go where it was
heading, so I quickly changed the topic, forcing a smile onto my pouty face.  "Shouldn't
you be getting ready for bed?  Tomorrow's a big day for you."

"It's my first day at your office, not my first day of
kindergarten; and it's 9:30 pm, I think I'll be alright."

"Aren't you nervous though?"

"Not really," he admitted confidently.  Such a sexy
quality.

"Well, I'm getting in the shower," I said, as I pulled
off my delicate knit top and exposed my silky strapless bra.

Edwin smiled at me and seductively raised his arched eyebrows.

"Alone!" I added with a growl, answering Edwin's
unspoken question.

"Didn't you just take a bath this morning?" Edwin recalled,
as he freed himself from the doorway.

"I'm suddenly feeling very dirty."

THE BIRDS
WERE CHIRPING when I awoke in the morning, and I was happy that last night was
already in my past.  It was Edwin's first day on the job, and I was so excited
to be the first to welcome him to my law firm.  I went into the office extra
early to get a head start on the day, but as the clock approached 8:35 am, my
attention span was shot.  I promised Edwin I would be the first to greet him
when he got to the office and I’d make good on that promise.

I slipped out of my cubicle and crossed the hall to the spare
office where a wall of blue glass windows faced the main road.  Leaning against
the solid wood desk, I anxiously waited for Edwin to show.  When I finally saw his
loaded black truck pull up, I scurried to the front lobby to meet him.

When Edwin made his way through the double doors, I couldn't
wipe the smile from my face; partly out of nervousness for him, but mostly
because he looked so damn handsome in his new attire.  His gorgeous aqua blue
eyes gleamed in the early morning sun, in amazing contrast to his gun metal
grey suit.  I was stunned, elated, but I did my best to keep it together.

"Abigail Jenkins,” he said.  “Nice to finally meet you." 
He strolled up next to me and reached his hand out for a shake, keeping up his
charade.  I playfully swatted it away.

"Cut it out.  Come on, I'll show you to your new
home."  We turned right, stepped past the empty reception desk and skipped
by the first office.

"So this it," I said, pointing to the next room.

His office was conveniently and yet awkwardly placed directly
between the two Partners in the firm.  It was a large space, with a long strip of
blue-tinted windows spanning the entire exterior wall.  A subdivision of new
town houses was rapidly being built, just outside his window.  A tall bookcase,
half filled with chunky books and binders took up a good portion of one of the
interior walls.  It was an incredible space, but unfortunately the rear of the room
was covered in banker’s boxes, stacked five high, not having found a place in
our filing system yet.  Edwin didn’t seem to notice.

He walked to his desk, put down his things and turned on the
computer.  He spun around in his chair and peered at me from behind the huge
stack of files already waiting for him.  He flashed me a big distinguished
grin.  "Now what boss?"

I pointed back toward the front corner office that we had
passed.  "That's Jacob Miller's office.  He's your boss.  The cubicle
across from his is Maddison Walker's.  I’m sure she’ll act like she’s your
boss, but don’t be fooled.”  My teasing smile didn’t go unnoticed.

"Oh boy.  Maddison Walker."

"Be nice," I warned him.  “She’s good at what she
does.”

Edwin was good friends with Maddison’s younger brother, TJ.  Edwin
knew that, if you let her, Maddison would walk all over you.  In other words,
she's a bitch.

"Well here goes nothing," Edwin said.  He raised
his sharp, dark eyebrows and smiled, as he brushed past me and approached
Miller's office.

“Good luck,” I whispered, then admired his firm knock on the boss’
door.  I ducked away as he shook Miller's hand and followed him inside.

Before heading back to my desk, which was on the very
opposite side of the entire building, I passed by my friend Aliah's desk.  Aliah
Brooklin was by far my best girlfriend.  Her cubicle was only a few strides
away from Edwin's door, which was rather convenient, but while most of the
staff had already arrived for the morning, Aliah was not among them.

I strolled around the interior hall, passed the oversized
copier room and headed for my desk.  When I reached my destination, I pulled
out my chair and slumped into it.  My cubicle was spacious, planted in the
middle of a modern floor plan with extremely high ceilings.  A hallway circled
around all of the inner cubicles, whose walls reached only 8 feet in height. 
The ceiling, being much higher, left the interior space a network of
inter-office noise.  As for privacy, there was none.

With a sigh, I lifted open the file I was working on and got
right back down to business.  There were three enormous piles of files, neatly
stacked down the length of my desk, and they weren’t going anywhere unless I
did something with them.

The morning was going by quickly and, just as I started to
wonder how I managed to avoid Edwin so far, he appeared like magic, quietly
passing by my office and disappearing into the washroom.  After a minute or so,
I heard some commotion across the way and wondered what could possibly be going
on.  Before I could worry too much, Edwin appeared at my desk-side with a
growing look of concern on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He moved his hands away from his pants and I immediately saw
his trouble.  Shocked, my mouth dropped open and a hysterical gasp escaped my
smiling lips.  It wasn’t until I saw how agitated he was that I bit my tongue. 
When I finally collected myself enough to speak, I cleared my throat and
pressed my lips together to force away the smirk, as I stared at the dampness
on the crotch of his expensive pants.

"Sorry.  What happened?"

"The damn sink in there.  It’s like a glass bowl sitting
on the counter.  I turned on the water, apparently a little too hard, and it
splashed right up the rim of bowl and all over me."

"Yeah, I can see that.  It looks like you wet
yourself."  I giggled, at his expense, and I could see that he was not
pleased with me.

"They really need to post a warning or something.”

I couldn’t help but snicker again.  “Yeah, that’s real classy.”

“Enough already.  Now what am I supposed to do?  I didn't
bring a change of clothes and I can't go home.  This is my first day!" 
Edwin wasn’t typically one to be bothered with anything, but this was obviously
terrorizing him.

"Well, you could go tell Miller that you had an
accident...”  Tears formed in my eyes as I burst into laughter.  “I'm sorry, you
asked for that.  This is too much like kindergarten.”