“So do I.” Brooks put down his weights and grabbed the towel. “You’re falling in love.”
**
Relaxing out on the balcony of his riverfront condo, Nicola sipped on a now nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels and stared blankly out at the sun setting over Mud Island as it reflected off the Mississippi. When life was supposed to be most peaceful, it was always chaotic for him. He could have been just taking in the beauty of the scenery and enjoying his life as a bachelor. Instead, he was pondering madly over Brooks’ advice and dissecting his actions over the last six months with Ivy.
Sprung as Brooks had put it, was a bad choice of words, but right on the money. As absurd as it sounded, Nicola had fallen in love with a square. He laughed a little at the thought of it all and shifted uncomfortably in his hammock.
So what was he going to do about it? There were two obvious choices. He could pursue Ivy full force and possibly end up making a fool of himself, or he could stick to the business of being Nicola. The second choice was much less complex and required little or no new effort. But if he was actually able to pull off the first choice, the reward could be bliss and maybe he could find some comfort in his hectic life.
“Ugh!” he finally screamed allowed. This wasn’t him! He struggled with himself. Here he was sitting on his balcony trying to figure out where a six-month pregnant, engaged twenty-two year old college girl fit into his life. Getting up and leaving his beer on the ground, he shrugged off the entire notion. All of this had gotten too far out of control, and it was time that he stopped it.
**
Looking over the financial reports for his department, Grey squinted past the blurry vision and dozing nods to finish making his projections for the next quarter. No matter what, he would get his work done before he left the office. He sat back warily in his seat and closed his eyes for a moment. Already working well into the fourteenth hour of his sixth day, he had nearly forgotten what his home looked like.
“My job is never done,” he said absently as he regained his composure and focused back on the work before him.
“Mr. Henderson, I’m back with the food,” Carol said knocking on the door with Thai takeout.
“Okay,” he yawned. “Come on in. I need a break.” Setting down his paperwork, he moved over to the round meeting table and turned on the television. “Did you get a receipt?” he asked helping her set out the food on disposable plate.
“Of course,” Carol said passing him the receipt and his company credit card. “I was wondering if you had time to look over my proposal for the Bedley account?”
“Umm, yeah I did.” Grey stuttered. “Could you go out and look on top of the common frig and get that unopened bottle of Shiraz?” He stopped in mid-sentence refusing to elaborate on the account.
“Sure,” Carol said walking out of the office.
Grey sat back in the black office chair and closed his eyes for a moment while Larry King interviewed some newly acclaimed mystery author. Carol came back into the office with the bottle opened and set it beside him with a glass.
“There you go.” She laid down the corkscrew and turned around to head back to her desk.
“Wait.” Grey sat up in his seat. “Eat in here with me and bring another glass. We have some celebrating to do.”
“Celebrating?” Carol had a twinkle of hope in her eyes.
“Elaine and I liked your ideas, and we were thoroughly impressed with your background knowledge. We want you to take this project on and if you’re successful, we want you to consider an entry level management position.” Grey poured the Shiraz in his glass. “So, like I said, we have some celebrating to do.”
“Oh my goodness,” Carol was elated by the news. With her hands over her mouth, she turned around and went to get another glass.
About fifteen minutes into dinner, Carol found her way off the subject of Bedley account onto the subject of Grey’s private life. She had watched him around the office, intense in all of his affairs. He was extremely focused and well-received by all of his peers and subordinates. His social life boiled over in the break room with stories of wild parties, rich and famous friends and his ever-present family ties . He was a local celebrity in every since of the word, and yet he was right here with her discussing the business of the day. She had long admired his style and his poise, but she longed to know him better.
“So, how is your fiancée?” Carol finally asked.
“Fine,” Grey said a little taken back. Where had that come from? He set down his glass of wine and looked down at this unfinished meal.
“I notice that you don’t talk about her much.”
“I don’t like to mix work and personal business. It’s not a good combination.” Before the lie could leave his lips, he thought of his mentor, boss and ex-lover, Elaine.
“I understand.” Carol smiled cleverly. “It’s just that you don’t seem like the marrying type or the fatherly type. All the stories I hear around here baffle me.”
Grey was now very curious. He had always wondered who was responsible for his gossip. Maybe now, he could find out. “Tell me something. Who is most known for telling stories about me around here?”
“Well, there are a few, but I think that your most notable PR agent is little Melissa Daniels.” Carol shook her head confirming Grey’s surprise.
“The little short girl that never has anything to say that works for Bob?” Grey couldn’t believe it.
“She never has anything to say to upper management, but she’s a real chatter box during the lunch hour.” They both laughed.
Suddenly Grey’s direct line rang. Grey looked back at it and down at his watch. “You’ll realize how dangerous those kind of stories can be when you’re in my position,” he said excusing himself from the table. Just in time, he hit the speakerphone button. “Henderson.”
“Grey!” Ivy gasped holding on to her stomach.
“Yeah,” Grey said picking up the phone. “What’s wrong?
“Honey, I just fell in the shower. At first I didn’t think that it was too bad, but now I’m having these shooting pains in my stomach. Plus, my vision is sort of blurry. I can’t seem to get in touch with Trina, Mom or Emerald. Can you please come and get me?” She whimpered in pain.
“Sure. I’m on my way,” Grey grabbed his coat. “Just hold on. I’ll be right there.” Hanging up the phone, Grey patted his pants for his keys and ran out of his office.
**
Nicola had made it across town before he realized that he had forgotten to call Ivy to let her know that he was coming over. In a whirlwind of confusion, he had suddenly decided to confront his problem face-to-face. He had to get more clarification from her. What did she mean that day over a month ago about “I love you, but…”
Speeding down I-240, he dialed Ivy’s number, hoping that she would pick up. It was too late at night for her to be gone anywhere, and it was a weeknight, which meant Grey was nowhere to be found. Grey was always working or so he said. And that was another issue! Why should he give a damn about what Grey was doing? It wasn’t going to affect him one way or another. It seemed that every day he became more and more displaced. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t had sex in over a month. Maybe it was because he felt empty inside. Maybe it was because he was in love.
Nicola turned down the radio when he heard her voicemail. “Hey, it’s me, Nicola.” His words rushed from his diaphragm causing him to almost loose his breath. “Look, I’m coming over to talk to you. It’s urgent, and I know it’s late, but I can’t wait.” Going against his better judgment, he tried to explain his situation to her telephone.
“I know we aren’t dating or even serious with one another, but I need some serious clarification. All this baby business is about to drive me mad. No. No.” Nicola rethought his words. “All of this teasing and playing with each other’s emotions is driving me crazy. It has absolutely nothing to do with the twins. It’s us.” He paused for a brief moment and wished that he could have retracted his l
ast statement. “I know that you’re there. Please pick up. I need to explain myself.” Giving her a moment to respond, he held his breath. “Alright. Well, I’m on my way over anyway. So, like it or not, we have to talk.”
**
Ivy lay across the room on the floor listening to Nicola talk in total dismay. She was in the middle of what might very well be a miscarriage, and he was finally reaching out, only it was to her answering machine. What a night!
Feeling a sudden pain her lower abdomen, Ivy forgot about him for just a moment and focused. Sweat beads formed on her forehead and trickled down the sides of her face. Praying to God to protect her children, she promised never to take a shower again as long as she lived if she could just make it through this unharmed.
What was taking Grey so long? She glanced at the clock for a moment and tried to think back to the exact time that she talked to him. If he didn’t hurry, she would just call the paramedics. She had tried her mom five times, but no one would pick up the phone, and Trina would be at work and unreachable for another two hours.
Hearing the doorbell, she stood up quickly and became extremely dizzy. As she grabbed for the end of the couch, she toppled the lamp over on the floor and broke a vase on the end table.
Nicola heard the loud bang while he rang the doorbell. He looked over and saw her car and instantly knew that something was urgently wrong. After several more rings and no reply he tried twisting the doorknob. Starting to panic, he looked through the living room window where he could see her body lying limp on the floor.
“Oh, shit!” Nicola said feeling his heart in this throat.
Kicking in the door, Nicola pulled out his gun and checked the apartment just in case she wasn’t alone. Finally realizing that she was in no immediate danger by an outsider, he quickly went to her aid. He checked her vitals and was relieved to find her still breathing, but he still didn’t know the cause for blackout, concussion, or whatever was wrong with her.
At first Nicola started to call the paramedics, but opted to take her himself. Picking her up off the ground carefully, he carried her to his truck. It was a good thing that she had given him an emergency insurance card only weeks before.
**
“Baby are you okay,” Grey said storming into the house only minutes after Ivy had been taken away by Nicola. Seeing the smashed door, Grey quickly realized someone had beaten him to her.
Walking through the house carefully, he tried to figure out who could have come so quickly. Somewhat perplexed and fighting anger, he sat on the couch for a moment to clear his head.
Who else would have come for Ivy? Who? Calming down, it became painfully obvious. Nicola. Who else would have kick in the damned door? Pissed off, Grey picked up the crystal lead vase over her fireplace and threw it across the room smashing it against the wall. His fury overtook him and he found himself on the verge of a panic attack. When he found out if Ivy was all right, he would deal with Nicola once and for all. It couldn’t wait one more day, and he had finally gotten all the ammunition to get rid of him for good.
**
After Nicola called Brooks to see if he could get in touch with Trina, he grabbed a magazine off the rack and sat alone in the waiting room of the hospital awaiting a doctor to come out and give some comforting words about Ivy and the babies. He breathed in deeply, opened the magazine and stared blankly at the pictures trying to calm down.
Nicola was much too engulfed in his worries to notice Grey walk through the doors of the waiting room and set his jacket on the chair.
“Has the doctor come out yet with any word?” Grey asked looking at his watch.
“No,” Nicola said without looking up from his magazine.
“Then we have a moment to talk. Do you mind stepping outside?”
Popping his knuckles, Grey motioned towards the door. He had prepared himself the entire ride over to the hospital for whatever might come from the conversation he was about to engage in with Nicola. “Something tells me that you’re just going to piss me off if I go outside. And I don’t feel like being pissed off today, okay. So why don’t you just leave me the hell alone.” Nicola sighed heavily tiring of the constant drama.
“We can talk outside, or we talk in here. Either way, I’ve got some something on my mind, and you’re going to hear it.” Without flinching, Grey stood shoulders squared and unbothered by Nicola’s cocky exterior.
“Are you sure that you want to do this?”
“Are you sure that you don’t?”
“Fine,” Nicola said throwing down the magazine. “We’ll talk.”
Leading the way, Grey walked outside in the midnight air and stopped in the alleyway of the building. Turning around, he stared at Nicola for a moment. What could he say to drive the point home with this guy? How could he make him see that he had no place in their lives?
“Are we going to talk or what?” Nicola asked looking around.
“Yeah. Let’s start with tonight. How in the hell did you end up at Ivy’s house?” Grey asked taking off his Tiffany cufflinks and placing them in his pockets.
“If we’re going to talk, then it’s going to be about you and me, because I don’t owe you an explanation about who, what, when or where with Ivy.” Nicola yawned.
“Do you really think that I’m here for an explanation?” Grey asked close to shedding his civility. “I’ve tried exceptionally hard not to get down on your level. But trying to reason with you is like trying to talk to that brick wall.”
“My level?” Nicola smirked. “You act like you’re the Prince of Wales or some shit.”
“I may not be the Prince of Wales, but I’m the closest thing to it in this city. And you fucking know it. That’s why you went after her. She’s certainly a step up from what you’re used to.”
“Do you honestly believe that bullshit?” Nicola rolled his eyes. “I had no idea who you were nor did I care when I slept with Ivy. Evidently, she didn’t care either. Did it ever occur to you that maybe Ivy wanted revenge?”
“You keep her out of this,” Grey snapped angrily.
“Make up your mind. Do you want to talk about it or don’t you?”
“I’ll tell you what I want…I want you out of our lives!”
“Like that is going to fucking happen…” Nicola shook his head.
“You and I both know that the only way you got your hands on her is because she was vulnerable. I don’t even understand why you’re still here. She doesn’t love you. Do you think if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, she would have ever wanted to see you again? You were a one-night stand. At most, you were revenge against me. Get over it and move on.”
Nicola looked Grey square in the eyes. “I know your type…uptight, cynical and hypocritical. You’re not mad that Ivy fucked off on you. You’re mad because she fucked off on you with me.”
“You’re damned right,” Grey said at wit’s end. “You’re not good enough to be in the same ranks with me.”
“I would hardly call Kit high-class.” Nicola laughed as he turned away. “Look, whatever I am in your eyes, Ivy liked me enough have my kids. Don’t you think its odd that she never got pregnant before she met me? Give this quizzical shit a rest. You and I both know who she really belongs to.”
“Don’t turn your back on me,” Grey said screaming. “Face me like a man, you piece of shit!”
“Or what, you’re going to banish me. Get the fuck out of here…”
Nicola turned around and walked back up to Grey. Now eye-to-eye with virtually no breathing room between the two, both men stood with shoulders squared and tempers flaring. It was apparent that if one of them did not back down, they would eventually go to blows, but neither felt the sense of reason that may have allowed them to walk away.
“I’ll only tell you this once,” Grey said balling up his fist. “Stay away from Ivy.”
“Save your breath,” Nicola said feeling his chest swell with an unbearable rage.
“She never wanted you,” Grey said cutting him off.
“You don’t mean shit to her. You were a cheap, drunk-ass, second-choice screw. And every day she regrets that she ever let you touch her, whether she says it or not.”
“I’m sure that figment of your imagination is the only thing that keeps you sane, so I’ll let you go with it. But I assure you the first time that she gets angry with you, she’ll come to me.” Nicola smiled deviously. “She always will.”
“While Ivy is not run of the mill, you are. There is nothing that she sees in you that she can’t get from a hundred men out here. By the time I’m finished painting the sordid picture of your abortion paying, drunken, whore screwing ass, she’ll just be glad that she didn’t catch VD.” Grey returned the smile. “Don’t play with me. You’ll be up way past your bed time.”
“Save the veiled threats. I know a few things about you, too. Ivy and Kit aren’t the only women that we have in common. So unless you want me to play the same game that you’re attempting to play, I suggest you keep my past to yourself.” Nicola wondered would Grey call his bluff.
“She would never believe you.”
“I slept with her the first night we went out. I’m in her head, Grey. Of course, she’ll believe me.” Nicola was tired of talking. Turning around, he started towards the opening of the alleyway.
“Well,” Grey said breathing heavily as he built momentum for the ultimate blow, one he had been waiting to swing all night. He calmed his breathing and spoke slowly, clearly to ensure not only clarity but also utter defeat. “Will she believe me when I tell her about Trina? About the abortion? How do you think Ivy and Brooks will feel when they find out just what type of man you really are? I know all about you and that cheap cunt Ivy calls a best friend. Don’t you think that this would be the perfect time to destroy you both?” Grey smirked confidently knowing that he had Nicola right where he wanted him. “Just give me one more reason and I’ll tear your life apart.”
Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux Page 25
