Unobtainable (20 page)

“Let Clay and EJ handle the clients,” I told him. “You’re making too much out of this, discrimination won’t be tolerated by our company. And certainly not bullying from an outside source, the only one that gets away with bullying is EJ. Clients won’t leave us we’ll sue their asses off.”

“There’s more,” Harley threw himself onto the bed, propping his head up with pillows.

“Why did I know there was more?” I asked, climbing onto the bed, lying on my stomach, propping my chin on my folded arms.

Harley cleared his throat, sweeping his fingers through my hair, loosening the curls and sending a wave of shivers down my spine. He was making me nervous with his hesitation.

“Carraro had this idea that I was going to marry his daughter,” Harley looked at me and bit into his bottom lip.

“What gave him that idea?” I laughed.

Harley squirmed uncomfortably, imparting me with an idiotic grin. “I…proposed?”

“Let me get this straight.” I sat up, more intrigued by the minute, crossing my legs. “You’re gay, you were in a relationship up until your being
let go
,” I made quotations as Harley had. “And you asked…what was her name?”

“Mimi,” he cheeked his tongue.

“Why would you ask Mimi to marry you? Were you out of your mind?”

“This from the guy who actually made it all the way to the fucking alter.”

“We all know the fucked up reason why I did that. I’m asking what possessed you?”

“Carraro promised me a partnership if I married Mimi,” he looked truly ashamed and I felt for him, placing my hand on his thigh. “I worked hard for that promotion, but it came with a price tag. I was an idiot.”

“Wait,” I stopped him. “If Carraro knew you were gay, why did he want you marrying his daughter?”

“That’s the really fucked up part,” he let out a heavy sigh. “Grandchildren.”

“Grandchildren?”

“The man wanted pretty blond haired, blue eyed grandchildren. His daughter wasn’t getting any younger, she hadn’t produced heirs, she had the hots for me, I guess he figured with the right enticement I’d switch up teams so they could both have what they wanted and I’d get the partnership. I fell for it, hook, line and sinker.”

I wanted to lighten the moment, if at all possible. “She was a real mutt eh? Her old man had to tie a steak around her neck to get the dog to play with her, kind of ugly?”

Harley laughed, shoving me over and mounting me. “Actually, Mimi was very beautiful and sweet and I crushed her fucking heart with my deception. I used her like a selfish prick. She didn’t deserve that…the crazy thing was, she forgave me…her old man didn’t get over it so easily.”

“I hear you, I was convinced Mr. Turner was going to skin me alive and gut me like a fish,” I laughed, but Harley didn’t, raising his brow.

“The last time I saw Carraro, he told me he wouldn’t be happy until he saw me living in the gutter…or dead which ever came first.”

“I was kidding,” I regretted my trying to make light of a very bad situation.

“I’m not,” Harley said, laying down beside me, pulling me into his arms. “If he finds me, sees that I’m doing well, he’ll make sure to take me down and whoever is closest with me.”

“Hang on,” I rolled to the other side of the bed and lifted the phone waiting for the front desk to answer. “Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me if one of my colleagues has arrived? I’m actually not sure if he’s booked at this hotel or not.”

I winked at Harley watching me, playing with the toes on my one foot, good thing I wasn’t ticklish.

“Carraro, Vincent or Vince.” I waited, listening to the receptionist’s finger nails clicking on the plastic keys. I thanked her and hung up the phone, stretching my arms over my head.

“Well?” Harley asked.

“No one with the name Carraro has checked in or is on the reservation list. The hotel is booked solid for the next two weeks with conventions.”

“Pretty with brains to match,” Harley said.

“No blond hair here,” I joked, pointing to my head as Harley grabbed my ankle, yanking me to his side of the bed.

“Never fuck with a blond,” he growled, rolling me onto my stomach, sinking his teeth painfully into the cheek of my ass. I loved it.

Obviously feeling better after the phone call to clear his mind, Harley hauled me under the covers, and we cuddled while we watched TV in bed until we fell asleep.

The dream that tormented Harley tonight was like all the rest, except after waking up screaming in a cold sweat, he lay down with me and stayed that way until morning.

I wondered if he’d ever rid the demons.

~Harley~

Unadulterated fear crippled me, the physical pain was almost too real and strangely I was aware of being trapped in my own head. My heart was pumping so fast, I could feel the blood surging through my veins. My skin prickled painfully with fear. I knew that if I just woke up it would all go away, but I was paralyzed with dread, only my eyes were able to move.

It was like no darkness I had even known. A clouded blackness like dry ice used during a magic act floated across the floor, but instead of rolling white waves, they were harsh black and swallowed up all the space. The air was dense and stale, making it impossible to take a proper breath and my chest was heavy like there was a massive lead weight sitting upon it.

Panic hadn’t set in until I heard the sound of malicious, laughter. It came at me from all directions, impossible to pinpoint the source as my eyes zigzagged back and forth in the dark.

They say you can’t distinguish scents during a dream, but there was definitely a horrible stench like rotting meat. I retched and became aware that my mouth was covered over, I had been gagged. Slobber was running down my chin and tears streamed from my eyes. I tried to scream, an impossible action in my state.

Trying to move proved painfully unfeasible. The ropes I was bound by were cutting into my flesh with a burning sensation as a tinge of red soaked into the fibers and I could feel droplets landing on my toes.

There was a sudden sense of something or someone drawing close, my heart started racing faster and I flinched when a cold hand touched the dip between my shoulder blades. Flesh started to peel away in heavy thick layers as the hand trailed its way along my spine, the need to scream was overwhelming but the ability had been taken from me.

I was a soaking wet mass as blood trickled down the backs of my legs, leaving a puddle at my feet, life was draining from me as I shook with fear.

I wasn’t ready to die, I had to fight.

“Give it up,” a voice whispered. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the man it belonged to. “You will never be free of me.”

My eyes flew open. I looked around the dark room, a hint of light streaking through the open drapes onto the carpeted floor. Dyson was sitting beside me staring, bewildered. He slowly raised his hand and placed it on mine.

“You’re safe now, Angel,” he whispered. “I’m here.”

“Dyson?” I croaked out, my throat scratchy and raw from screaming. “Don’t leave me, okay?”

“I’m right here,” he said, lying back and holding out his arms.

I rested my cheek against his chest and listened to the steady rhythm of his heart, I relaxed as he wrapped his arms around me. Sleep wasn’t going to come but I was grateful for Dyson’s solace.

~Dyson~

Breakfast was served a la cart downstairs in Altitude restaurant, I loved a la cart. Harley wanted the day to begin with a nice breakfast just the two of us. I think after spending yesterday exploring each other on the most intimate level and delighting in multiple orgasms, which I never thought I was capable of, he wasn’t keen on it ending yet. He may also have been a little off after my witnessing his nightmare.

The fact that I woke with Harley at my side had me walking on cloud nine. I didn’t want to read too much into it, I know it had a lot to do with that nightmare, but I was the happiest I’d ever been and Harley seemed equally enamored.

Having him trust me enough to open up and tell me about Carraro and his daughter told me that maybe I actually meant a bit more than sex to the man. It was a beginning to something more, I hoped.

From the a la cart menu I chose Belgian waffles with warm fruit compote and Harley had the Eggs Benedict with a double serving of bacon. The coffee was endless and I listened intently as Harley ran over his lecture notes. The waitress came over and started clearing away our dishes as Harley took the corporate card from his wallet and attempted to hand it to her.

She gave him a smile as she shook her head, “All taken care of, sir.”

“But neither of us paid, you must be mistaken,” I said.

“Could we see the receipt?” Harley asked.

“Sure thing, I will be right back.”

The waitress returned with the receipt in hand. Harley looked it over, handing it to me and sure enough it had been paid by credit card, the numbers were blanked out and there was no name. He thanked her and I gave it back with a twenty dollar tip and a cordial smile.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked him, once she left. “Someone is most definitely fucking with us, drinks the other night, the framed photos, champagne and chocolates last night and a now free breakfast?”

I didn’t need to say anything more to convince Harley that I was right in my thinking. There was only one thing bothering me more than realizing we were most undeniably being screwed with. Why did all these
things
that were happening seem to be nice? I mean, if this person intended to scare us why not do scary shit to spook us?

“I was thinking the exact same thing, but if not Carraro, who and why?” Harley asked, looking at his watch.

“Nothing about this makes sense, Harley,” I said. “Why send us gifts? If I was out to intimidate someone, it sure as hell wouldn’t be with presents. I mean…you want to do scary shit, you’d put a horse’s head in someone’s bed. Send them a dozen roses with the heads cut off. Send them wine with trace amounts of arsenic injected into the cork, just enough poison in their food to make them sick for a few days.”

“You watch far too many movies.”

Harley stood, adjusting his tie, and shrugged on his suit jacket. He smoothed his hands over his chest and then reached forward to straighten my tie, giving me a halfhearted smile.

“We don’t have time to worry about this now, we have to get to the first lecture, it’s nearly nine.”

We sat through a boring lecture regarding virtual conferencing as the wave of the future, well duh! Everything in the future was going to be virtual, right down to having a shit and shaving in the morning no doubt. We had been teleconferencing for as long as I could remember, the guy wasn’t telling
me
anything new. He did mention our company as one of the first to adopt teleconferencing, which was a nice plug for us. I was rather intrigued by the idea of holographic images floating in the air as opposed to some hotshot executive flying in from across the country, demanding room service and a chauffeur.

Harley seemed distracted, I had an idea why. His watch seemed to interest him more than anything else as he fiddled with the dials, he was worried and rightfully so. I could tell he was counting the minutes until it was over.

“Maybe we should call the cops,” I leaned close and whispered.

“And tell them what?” he chuckled. “Some douchebag is sending us gifts and paying our tabs? Let’s just get through this day.”

With only twenty minutes before Harley took the stage we had no time to talk while he ran through his notes again. I sat a few rows back and listened as Harley talked about communication with clients, he had no problem holding the audience’s attention, he had them feeding out of his hand with his witty sense of humor. It was ironic that he was lecturing on communication, but trying to get the man to open up about his life was a bitch. He had basically been a closed book until last night, locked and stamped with one of those red wax seals. I chuckled at my odd notion, focusing my attention back to Harley’s talk.

Mr. Harley Cooper knew how to capture an audience. He had that smile that radiated sex-appeal, and drew in the females with a commanding tone that could equally seize the attention of any male within range. Not to mention the blue eyes that hijacked your senses, mine anyway.  A few times he looked over at me and smiled and I swear I swooned like a teenage girl at a rock concert. All I kept remembering was the other side of Harley, the slow sultry majestic side that made love to me again and again last night. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have hung on to that Harley for a little while longer? I bit into my lower lip and trembled in my seat as more memories occupied my thoughts. Our eyes met and I do believe he may have been thinking the same thing from the smile he gave me.

“I could listen to him talk all day,” the woman beside me whispered.

“I know what you mean, he is a wonderful speaker,” I agreed.

“But I would rather do other things with him that don’t involve speaking,” she winked and my eyes widened at her cheekiness. “You’re together, I noticed you boys earlier. He keeps looking this way.”

My sense of panic kicked in at the word
together
questioning what she meant, together as in friends or together as a couple?

“He seems interested, could you introduce us?” she asked. “He’s not married is he?”

“As a matter of fact, Mr. Cooper
is
married,” I told her, wishing I could tell her to back off because he was married to me, that he belonged to me, but I knew that was a topic of discussion that I wasn’t permitted to reveal, nor was it entirely true.

“Happily?” she asked, taking me aback at how easily she disregarded the marriage I had a moment ago confirmed.

Conferences were notorious for affairs and late night meetings, key card swapping and dark corner sex. There was no way I was allowing some woman to attempt to wrap her revolting thighs around my man. Oh no, it wasn’t going to happen. I wanted to tell her he was gay, that his dick was taken and she’d have to find some other man with whom she could lure into her vagina.

“I’m sure he’s very happily married,” I said. “Rumor has it baby number six is on the way. I felt I had to throw that in, it was like a fly in the ointment for good measure. Sometimes you had to spoil the broth to deter possible dinner guests.

“Oh gross, he has children?” she asked, with a repulsed look on her face. Then her eyes spanned over me. “What about you honey, are you single?”

I held up my hand. “Newlywed,” I said with a theatrical gleaming smile.

“Oh great, must be contagious,” she snorted, turning her shoulder away towards the poor sucker sitting to her right.

When I looked up to the podium, Harley was staring in my direction with a faint scowl on his face. I winked and wet my lips, watching a relaxed smile spread from ear to ear. He was so beautiful and all mine…for three more days.

The next lecture wasn’t until two. Newaive Development was giving a talk on system software and since we had recently upgraded all of ours including the latest version of accounting software, I was going to suggest we skip it and end our day early. Wasn’t I surprised when Harley beat me to it and announced we were going golfing!

~~~

“You have a message at the desk Mr. Cooper,” the concierge announced, as we were about to request a rental car.

“Thank you,” Harley said, turning to me. “I’ll be right back, don’t disappear.”

“I’ll get us a car.”

In the time it took to fill out the paperwork and sequester the keys to the deep cherry red Jeep Cherokee I couldn’t resist renting, Harley had been on the phone with god only knew who. I was about to take a seat when a hand clamped onto my shoulder and spun me around.

“Dyson, I thought that was you.”

“Collin,” I said, my mouth gaping. “What are you doing here?”

“No hello?” he asked. “It hasn’t been that long has it? Seven years is hardly a lifetime.”

Collin scooped me into a massive hug for a long moment, then he kissed me hard on the mouth. He still had that charming squint smile that once attracted me to him. His flashy diamond earring was missing, showing barely a sign it had been there at all and his once vibrant blue hair was now brown and starting to gray at the temples. It was strange the way it aged one when meeting old friends after so long and noticing how they had matured around you, then you realize you must have too.

We had parted friends and I was sure I’d never see Collin Lucas again. We shared two weeks of glorious sex on Paradise Island in the Bahamas after graduation. We started out strangers and ended up as brief lovers completely by accident. Sex hadn’t been part of the plan but it ended up that way, with me breaking his heart and avoiding his calls and texts once I returned home.

“It, it’s great to see you,” I stuttered, feeling somewhat weird.

“No it’s not,” he laughed. “I would have never said hello if I thought I was going to make you so uncomfortable. I got over you eventually you know,” he sighed, unconvincingly. “What are you doing here in Denver of all places?”

“I’m here for a four day business conference…and you?”

“A conference too, but I’m here as a companion,” he smiled. “My partner Dennis, Dennis Waters with IBM, was giving a talk. I’m supposed to meet him at Strata bar.”

I raised my brows and nodded my head. “We sat in on his talk this morning, it was informative.”

“Your kind way of saying it sucked balls.”

We laughed, as I peeked over at Harley who was staring us down while carrying on his telephone conversation.

“You should join us,” Collin said, clasping my wrist.

“Harley and I are going golfing, he’s just taking a call.” I waved to where Harley was standing talking. “He shouldn’t be long.”

“Harley?” he questioned, wiggling his brow eyeing Harley up and down suggestively.

“He’s our head of sales, we work together. He gave his lecture already so we’re taking advantage of the weather and getting some fresh air on the golf course.”

What I would have given to be able to brag that Harley was my husband, that we were newlyweds and show him off, to tell Colin we were getting out for some much needed rest after all the sex we’d been partaking in for the last twenty-four hours.

“I leave you for five minutes and here I find you flirting,” Dennis gave Collin a peck on the cheek from behind.

I recognized Dennis from earlier. He was much better looking from a distance and far older than Collin. He had to be at least fifteen years older. He seemed nice enough but not who I would have picked for Collin, too old and stuffy. Sugar daddy came to mind as I watched Collin straighten Dennis’ tie and make an open fuss over him. Collin introduced us, we shook hands and made nice, there was something about the man I didn’t like though. I observed Harley still standing on the phone, scribbling on a piece of paper and wished he’d come rescue me.

“We really should be going Collin,” Dennis said. “We’re meeting friends, you’ll excuse us Dixon?”

“Dyson,” I corrected him. “It was nice seeing you again Collin and nice meeting you, Donald.”

Dennis rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn’t help myself rubbing back. The man came off as an arrogant snot, definitely the dominant force in that relationship. Nevertheless, Colin seemed happy enough, I supposed I should be happy for him.

Collin tittered as he pulled me in for another hug and a peck on the cheek, he whispered, “You could always make me laugh, let’s not wait another seven years?”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pulling from his hold. “It really was nice seeing you again.”

“Bye Dyson.”

I watched as they walked away and decided to get the jeep and bring it to the front door. Harley was standing waiting when I returned. He had a look on his face I couldn’t describe.

“What’s with you?” I asked, as he climbed in and fastened his seatbelt without a word.

“Care to tell me who the fuck that was?” he barked.

“Where?” I asked, looking around.

“Don’t play games with me,” Harley snapped. “I saw you mauling all over that Twinkie.”

“Twinkie?” I full belly laughed, nearly sideswiping a parked car. “Collin is hardly a Twinkie, he’s my age.”

“Whatever, I didn’t ask his fucking age anyway,” Harley snapped again. “You let him kiss you…on the mouth.”

“He’s an old friend from college,” I told him without going into detail. “I haven’t seen him in years, we just bumped into each other, he was saying hi. And he kissed me, I didn’t kiss him back.”