Wounded Love (G Street Chronicles Presents From Love to Loathe Series) (20 page)

Dax laughed at us and Lokey buzzed him in, and I walked straight to him. We stood there staring into each other’s eyes for a long moment. There was a pregnant silence, then Lokey cleared her throat twice and we were released ourselves from our trance.

I introduced Lokey to D’Artagnan, and they shook hands. Dax came in, and he and D’Artagnan acted as though they had been buddies for years, I was pleased. D’Artagnan set up in the conference with his laptop and a projector. We were having a staff meeting, and after that, we would start out morning interviews. We had eight applicants to interview.

The staff meeting went by fast since Dax and I knew D’Artagnan almost inside and out. He only had to really get acquainted with Lokey. Our first applicant was an Asian woman named Theory Lu. She was barely 5’4”, and she was a fierce creature. I liked her instantly, and so did Dax. She interviewed extremely well, and she had mystery shopping experience. She used to work for Neiman Marcus and Barneys. It was obvious she could hold her own, and she didn’t let her small frame hold her back. She had long, jet-black hair with the reddest lips I had ever seen in my life.

The next applicant was a black-haired gladiator. Lokey and I had to pick our jaws off of the floor when he came in. His name was Dmitri Zale, and he was at least a good 6’3’ and nothing but muscle. He had a strong personality, and his presence obviously took over a room. There was nothing but silence and even the men seemed a little on edge with asking him any questions. When Dmitri spoke, everyone listened and was completely intrigued by his presence.

After Dmitri’s interview, we broke for lunch and went to the famous Mary Mac’s Tea Room. Lokey had been telling me about this restaurant all week. We ordered Fried Green Tomatoes and Spicy Deep Fried Mud-Bugs for our appetizers. I had the Pork Barbecue with Brunswick stew, and my side dishes were Mac and cheese and a cup of Pot Likker with cracklin’ bread. We all had the Georgia Peach Cobbler. We were stuffed when we made it back to the office. I knew living in Georgia, with all of this good southern cuisine, would not be a good thing for me. We had two more interviews to go, and I was so tired already. The next applicant was trying too hard to get the job. Samantha Conner’s smile reminded me of the Joker from the
Batman
movies. She had long, strawberry blonde hair and tits that reached the sky. I watched D’Artagnan, and he didn’t even seem fazed by her; but Dax was a completely different story. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her and other parts of her perfectly plastic body. She had obviously had some serious work done. She may have even been a pretty woman before she let the doctors turn her into a life-sized
Barbie
.

Our last applicant for the day was a pudgy, curly-haired cutie pie. Oliver Renton looked like he belonged on one of those Best Buy commercials for the geek squad. He had gone to school for computer programming, but had dropped out. He told us he didn’t learn anything in school that he didn’t already know, but now he had bills he needed to pay. I think we all liked him, and I had a strong feeling that if we were to hire him he would not be working out in the field.

We worked late trying to decide the best applicants of the day. Dax was the only one who wanted Samantha; and I was the only one who wanted Dmitri since Lokey had gone home for the day. Therefore, the top two picks were Theory and Oliver. Dax went home and left D’Artagnan and me in the office. We talked and talked, and the next thing I knew it was 8:30.

“Oh, God; I have to get home. I’m already in the doghouse with my roommates.”

“Cricket, I would really like to meet her.”

“Alright.”

I knew instantly he meant Babe and not my sister Chyna. I didn’t have an issue with this. Maybe he wanted to see if she looked like me. Or maybe he wanted to see what Jyme and I had made together. Either way, I would give this to him. I knew he would fall in love with her instantly; just like everyone else did when they met her.

“When?”

“What are you doing this weekend?”

He stood still and then turned to me and said, “Spending it with you…I hope.”

I laughed and told him I would have to see. We left the building and D’Artagnan walked me to my truck. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the side of my mouth.

“You’re just inching closer and closer aren’t you, Mr. Crain?”

“I’m trying to wear your down, Ms. Hooper.”

I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“My name is Cristina Makael Winters.”

“Okay,” he smiled and wrapped a hand behind my neck and pulled me closer to him.

“Thank you,” he breathed into me with a slow kiss, and I kissed him back for the first time ever. I turned around and climbed into the truck.

“I like that,” he said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“What?”

“You climbing up in that truck like that; you’re so sexy.”

“Well, what can I say, I like em big,” I told him with a wide smile.

His smile left his face, and then he seemed far away all of sudden. I watched his face and then an unpleasant memory came to mind. Over a year ago after a fun night on the town, Jyme and I were on our way up to my condo. I had a little too much to drink that evening; Jyme was trying to make sure I didn’t do anything I would regret. Well, that was until D’Artagnan stepped onto the elevator. I had my back turned toward the elevator door, I was a little too preoccupied clawing and pawing at Jyme. That moment in time was before my Juicy had received his Anaconda. Jyme was still too afraid to give me himself fully. He thought I was going to runaway screaming and never come back. But, I thought I was ready for the challenge. And with the liquid courage running through my veins then, I wanted him at full length. I remembered hearing the elevator ding, but my mind and thoughts were elsewhere, I didn’t even notice that we weren’t alone in the elevator anymore. Jyme played it up a little, knowing our almost intimate moment would scratch at our new occupant’s surface. I ended up admitting far too loudly, that Jyme’s dick was way too big for me but that we could try. Jyme ate that up and when the elevator dinged again and our occupant stepped out. I turned and saw the occupant was D’Artagnan and I was crushed. His face still haunts me, I never wanted him to hear or see me like that. I have a lot of respect for that man, and I would never want to hurt him. He wore the same face now that he did then, so long ago in that elevator. He turned from me now and walked in the opposite direction. I wanted to stop him, but I knew there was nothing I could say or do to mend his wounds now.

When I got home, the kids were both knocked out. Cinnamon told me she wanted to talk to me down in the basement. We went downstairs, and she laid into me. She paced around the basement screaming and crying at me. She called me self-centered and told me I was acting stupid over some dick. She accused me of being afraid of getting to know my own daughter. She told me I was acting like a visitor in my own house. This went on for about an hour or so. Finally, Chyna came down and told Cinnamon that was enough. I hadn’t said anything; I wanted her to get out everything she had been building up. Cinnamon went storming back upstairs, and I heard the front door slam.

I started to walk back up the stairs, and Chyna caught me by my arm.

“Did I fuck everything up for you, back in Seattle that night?” she asked.

I looked at her straight in her eyes and didn’t say a word. I couldn’t answer her question. If Troy had never seen me, none of this would have ever happened. Jyme and I would have never been apart, and we could have possibly been married by now. We would all be together in the safe house, and we could’ve been living happily ever after. But, I wouldn’t have known that Chyna was still alive, nor would I have met Cinnamon or Michael. There are a lot of pros and cons in this scenario, and I just didn’t feel up to going through the list.

She let my arm go, and I went back upstairs and got straight into the shower. I cried silently, letting the scalding hot water wash away all of my pain. I shut the water off and was about to step out of the shower when a hand held up my robe. I slid it on and stepped out to see Chyna sitting on the counter. I went to the sink to brush my teeth then picked up my hairbrush. Chyna stopped me.

“Let me do that.”

I sat down on the toilet lid, and Chyna brushed out my wet ends.

“I remember you used to always take a lot of baths and showers. I think you tried to wash all the ugly you had gone through away. I never wanted this life for you, but things got really tight, and we didn’t have a choice anymore.”

“I know that, Chyna.”

“Tell me how you met him.”

“Chyna, I’ve already told you this a dozen times.”

“I know, but I love it when you tell it.”

Chyna gave me one long French braid, and then we stayed up for another two hours talking about Jyme. I told her about our first date, kiss, and first time.

When she finally decided to go to bed, I heard a shifting at the door and Cinnamon was getting up off the floor. She didn’t say a word to either one of us. She just walked down to her room and shut the door. She had been listening to my story-telling hour as well.

The next morning Chyna made me an omelet. I hadn’t had one since that first morning of work. When I got to the office, Lokey had coffee and a silver tray full of our famous pastries. She had the conference room table dressed up nice with a bucket of ice and several of our bottled drinks and Ethos water. She wore a gray pleated skirt suit with killer heels.

“Wow, Lokey, you went all out.”

“Thank You.”

The front door rang, and Lokey sprinted toward the front. The new air around Lokey was so nice, she loved wearing her own clothes, and she looked damn good in them. D’Artagnan and Dax walked in and settled in their seats. We caught each other up on our choices again and prepped for our final four interviewers.

Our first interviewer came in, an older man who seemed very into the now. Chance Hurst had salt and pepper hair and was retired from the military; a drill sergeant for fifteen years. I thought he was perfect, but I could tell he made Dax feel uncomfortable.

The next interviewer was a middle-aged soccer mom. Harriet Franks wore her hair in a tight bun and reminded me of a school marm. She was very neat and sat with perfect posture. I noticed we all started sitting a little straighter during her interview. She answered all of our questions proficiently. But there was just something about her that didn’t sit well with us. When she left, we all just sat there for a couple of minutes in silence.

“She has three kids and a husband,” Dax told us aloud as he looked over her resume. I just shook my head, and D’Artagnan laughed and said he felt sorry for her husband.

The next applicant arrived, and he got everyone’s attention at once. This man was at least 6’9”, and he was skinny as a rail. Thurgood Waylon was freakishly tall and extremely illuminating. There was just something about him; he made you want to be in his presence. He gave off such a warm glow, and he wore a genuine smile the whole time during the interview.

Our last and final applicant was a cocky grad student from Atlanta. Roman Singer was a cute playboy, and he knew it. He licked his pink lips at least a hundred times during the interview. D’Artagnan called him L.L. twice during the interview. Everyone knew L.L. Cool Jay licked his lips a lot, but L.L. had put in his work and that was his trademark, Roman…not so much.

After L.L.’s interview, Lokey bid us farewell, and she was gone for the rest of the day. I could tell she enjoyed working her half-of-days on Friday. We ordered in for lunch from the gourmet sub shop across the street. We all agreed on Theory, Oliver, and Chance, but the forth was a tossup between Dmitri and Thurgood. We all loved Thurgood, but he stood out too much. One look at him, and you’d never forget him. I was rooting for Dmitri too. We all sat there in silence, pacing and tapping our pens on the table.

Then, a light bulb went off in my head. “I got it!” I yelled out. Dax and D’Artagnan looked at me as if I had lost my mind, but I knew once they heard my idea they wouldn’t be thinking that. After I filled them in, they absolutely loved it. We ended our very productive workday early. Dax left, and D’Artagnan and I wished him a good weekend. Once again, D’Artagnan and I were left alone in the office and this was not good.

We both were in need of some adult attention and this was not the place or the time. D’Artagnan was like the big brother I had never had, and he needed to stay that way. I started packing up my things.

“Dinner tonight?” he asked.

“I’m sorry. Can I get rain check? I’m taking my daughter and my nephew to a beach in Tybee. Its twenty minutes from Savannah.”

“You’re going by yourself with a toddler and a baby?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

I thought about it, then remembered how Michael is, and got an image. Michael was running around me in circles with a slimy frog and Babe was screaming in my ears tugging at my hair. That image frightened me. I was almost regretting my plans for the weekend.

“I’ll come with you.”

“D’Artagnan, you were not invited,” I told him with a wide smile.

“I know; that’s why I just invited myself.”

I looked over at him and knew I was not going to win this battle. I went to pick up the kids; Cinnamon and Chyna had them both ready with their bags. Michael had every hand-held game system known to mankind and extra batteries. Babe had so many toys and gadgets hanging from car seat. She had plenty of things to keep her busy in her bag as well. The girls said they were going to South Carolina with the guys that delivered the car the other day. There was a crawfish festival they wanted to attend. I gave them a fat stack of bills and an emergency credit card. I told them D’Artagnan was in town and that he would be accompanying me with the kids this weekend in Tybee. They gave me a look of shock which quickly turned into a smile. I could tell Chyna’s smile was a little forced.