She sat in the back seat, her hands shaking so much she tucked them between her knees. It had to have been Zach, but she would not, could not throw him to the wolves to save herself. They had just a few months to go until she turned twenty-five and could access his trust. Their aunt and uncle would no longer be a threat to them then. She would have to find some other job in the meantime and try to keep this under wraps. No way did she want her aunt and uncle finding out.
All the mistrust she thought she had put behind her surged back tenfold. How could Seth have gone along with his father without even speaking to her? She knew he did what he felt was his duty to Barrett Newspapers, but didn’t what they’d shared give her some claim on a portion of that loyalty? Was this what his words of love were worth? Tessa pushed Seth from her mind. She had to, for her own sanity. She couldn’t afford to think about him. He was like everyone else. When it was all said and done, the only person she could trust was herself. Hadn’t she learned that lesson the hard way?
Tessa called her old employer as soon as she got back to her apartment, but hung up the phone with a dispirited shrug. They had filled her position and things were tight right now. They couldn’t even take her on a temporary basis. She had to find a job, fast. If Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin got any inkling her and Zach’s circumstances had changed... Tessa didn’t even want to go there.
The real problem was going to be replacing the income she’d lost. Zach would start school in two weeks, and she still had uniforms to buy, plus other items on the long list of supplies he needed, not to mention the remaining tuition payments. Tessa poured herself a glass of wine and curled up on the window seat. When the phone rang late that evening, she checked the caller ID and recognized Seth’s cell number. She turned away and let the answering machine pick it up.
Thursday morning she took a hard look at what skills she had. Her degree in social work wasn’t getting her anywhere. She had computer and organizational skills, but she now also had no reference from Barrett. She had waited tables in college to help with some extra spending money and had done pretty well, but again, what reputable restaurant was going to hire her, much less pay her what she’d made at Barrett? Tessa tossed the newspaper onto the coffee table and grabbed her gym bag. She would go to the Y and swim. Maybe she could think of something while doing laps.
Another young woman joined her, asking if they could share lanes since the pool was crowded.
“No problem.”
The woman towered above Tessa and looked like a Nordic goddess in her suit. They kept an even pace, and when they finished working out, they headed back to the locker room together.
“I wish I could just swim every day,” the woman confided. “But I have to throw some running in there too in order to keep my figure or I’ll lose my job.”
“Are you a model?” Tessa asked.
“Lord, no.” The lissome blond laughed. “I’m a dancer.”
“Ballet?” Tessa asked at the same time she was thinking the woman was a little tall for that.
This time the blonde almost doubled over with laughter. “No, I dance at Flamingo Road.”
Tessa had heard of it. It was a ‘gentlemen’s’ club, although it did have a reputation for being high class.
“My name’s Lucy, but at work I’m known as Jasmine Le Fleur. Fancy, huh?” She laughed as if it was all a huge joke. “What’s your name?”
“Tessa Edwards. And my name’s the same no matter where I am.”
The two women shook hands and grinned at each other. Lucy invited Tessa out for coffee. It was while they were sipping away on lattes that Lucy asked, “So what do you do?”
“Nothing at the moment. I just got fired from my last job, so I’m looking.”
“Any luck?”
“Not so far. My job before the one I got fired from was filled and they’re not hiring anyone else right now.”
“My boss is.”
Tessa stared at Lucy and almost spit her coffee out as she started to laugh. “No offense, Lucy, but I can’t picture me doing exotic dancing. I mean, let’s be realistic. You’re almost six feet, I’m barely five-foot-two. You are built and I’m…”
“Built,” Lucy finished for her. “Look, Roberto’s not looking for dancers right now. He’s looking for a waitress. The pay is good and the tips can be even better.” Lucy named a figure that at last caught Tessa’s attention.
“What do I have to wear?” she asked the taller woman, unable to keep the skepticism from her voice.
“It has a top.” Lucy laughed. “And a bottom. Not much of either, that’s for sure, but the important parts are covered. You’d be a knockout with that red hair of yours. Most of the wait staff works six to three. You should come with me and talk to Roberto. I can vouch for the fact that he’s an excellent boss–and a great guy. The shoes are tricky–high, high heels–but you get used to them.”
And somehow, Tessa Edwards, from one of the bluest-blooded first families of Virginia, found herself talking to Roberto at one of the finest strip clubs in the area. Even more amusing, she left with a job she would start the following evening.
Tessa explained what had happened at Barrett to her neighbor. The older woman shook her head. “I’m so sorry to hear that, honey. That Seth seemed like such a nice man, taking you and your brother sailing and all. I guess you just don’t know.”
“Well, it’s in the past. I’m starting a new job and I’ll need your help because of the hours.” Although she was reluctant, Tessa explained where and what her new job was, and the older woman nodded.
“I had to work where I could when I was bringing up my two, so I understand. There’s no shame in honest work. Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll keep an eye on Zach for you.”
Tessa checked her messages when she walked back in and saw Seth had called two more times. She listened to the messages, steeling herself against him.
“Tessa, pick up the phone!” he demanded in the last message. “Talk to me, damn it, and tell me what’s going on!” She heard him swear. “I’ll come by when I get back tomorrow. We need to talk.”
Tessa’s finger shook as she pressed the button to erase the message. There was nothing to talk about, and she wouldn’t be here when he came by. She lifted her chin and pressed her lips together. She would be working at her new job, taking orders from a new boss. It was just as well. It would be a clean break.
* * * *
He’d moved heaven and earth to get everything on the West Coast settled so he could fly back home. As the limo ferried him from the airport to Barrett headquarters, Seth tapped his fingers against the doorframe.
He needed to know what the hell was going on before he talked to Tessa. He didn’t want to believe what appeared to be damning evidence. He’d seen the transfer of the money himself. Ten grand that had left the travel account and then been replaced–out of Tessa’s personal checking account. It was a classic scheme that a lot of people got away with, for a while–”borrowing” money to cover a temporary shortfall and then paying it back. Sooner or later, it caught up with them. Seth knew she had her brother’s tuition and other school expenses and was still waiting on access to the trust fund, but he didn’t want to believe it. His father already had the business office checking to see if there’d been any other suspicious transfers from that account or any of the others Tessa would have had access to.
His head pounded and his stomach knotted with tension.
As soon as the limo pulled up in front of the glass doors, Seth was out of the car and stalking up to the building. The security guard started to greet him, but then apparently thought better of it and went back to work.
Great.
Seth had only one person he wanted to see right now. Alexander Barlow-Barrett.
Even Tallmadge got out of Seth’s way as he swept past her and entered his father’s office with barely a knock. His father looked over the rim of his reading glasses and eased back in his big leather chair, steepling his fingers in front of his
face.
“It’s customary to knock.”
Seth ignored him. “I want to know what the fuck happened around here.”
His father’s eyes narrowed. “No matter what you might think, Seth, I am still the head of this company, and you will not barge into my office and use that type of language. If you’re referring to your former assistant–she admitted to my face that she authorized the bank to put the money back, but that was only after I caught her in a lie.”
“Tessa wouldn’t…”
His father leaned forward. “She did, Seth, and she admitted it. I know you were infatuated with the girl, so I’m not pressing charges…”
He felt as though someone had reached inside his chest and crushed his heart. All at once, weariness crashed in on him. For a while, a short while, he’d dared to think things could be different. He still didn’t want to believe. Not until he talked to Tessa, not until she looked him in the face and told him.
He drew himself up, his mouth tight. “It was more than infatuation. I wanted to marry her.”
His father stood up. “Well, I hope you hadn’t done anything so foolish as propose. I hardly need to tell you that any such relationship would be out of the question.”
Seth slapped his palm down on his father’s desk. “That is not your decision to make!”
“You have a position to uphold in this community, this industry. How could you even contemplate such a ridiculous thing? Stop thinking with your penis, Seth.”
He shook his head. “I have to talk to her…”
Alexander sighed as though he were giving up on trying to make any rational arguments.
“Do it. I know what happened in this office, what she admitted. But if you have to hear it from her, then do so, and let’s move on.”
Seth inclined his head.
* * * *
Tessa arrived a half-hour ahead of her shift so she had time to change. Roberto had explained all the girls changed into their uniforms in the dressing area at Flamingo Road. Lucy grinned at her and called her name. Tessa gaped as she saw the postage stamp-sized sequins that passed for a costume for Jasmine Le Fleur and the exotic makeup Lucy applied.
“Wow.” Tessa laughed. “I would never have known you if you hadn’t called my name.”
Lucy smiled at her in the mirror. Gone was the freshly scrubbed look she sported at the gym. In its place were thick, false eyelashes topping off darkly rimmed and shadowed eyes. She pointed a mascara wand at the black woman next to her. “This is Tiffany, your shift supervisor. She can get you squared away. I’ve got to go limber up some more before I go on.”
Tessa watched Lucy disappear through a door into a room where she spotted mirrored walls and a ballet barre before the door closed behind her. She turned her gaze to the black woman regarding her with the faintest smirk on her full lips. “First time in a strip club, honey?”
Tiffany turned out to be one of the most down-to-earth, practical women Tessa had ever met. She was supporting three kids on her own after her husband left her, so she could relate to Tessa’s situation. Tiffany helped her adjust her uniform. She pushed Tessa’s breasts a little higher and pulled her top a little lower.
At Tessa’s blush, Tiffany stared at her hard. “Honey, you want all the tips you can get, and that means showing these things off. I’m not saying you let anyone touch you, but the more you smile and flaunt what God gave you, the more money you’ll find in your pocketbook at the end of the evening. You got it?”
Tessa nodded, shocked by how frank the woman was. “It’s just kind of a switch from silk and suits to spandex and spikes.”
Tiffany laughed. “You’ll get used to it. It’s a job, baby girl, like any other.”
By three-thirty in the morning, Tessa had no doubts it was a job, but she was not sure she could agree it was like any other. Her feet ached from running back and forth in high heels with drink orders and munchies. She did her best to follow Tiffany’s advice, and had found either Roberto or Tiffany close at hand whenever one of the customers tried to get a little too friendly. Tessa changed back into her street clothes and washed off the makeup, but she still needed a shower to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol, and she would feel better about showering at her own home.
She was bone weary when she pulled up in front of her house. As she walked up the sidewalk, Seth stepped out of the shadows. His size alone was enough to take her breath away and make her heart beat in fear for a fraction of a second before she realized who it was. Then anger and hurt replaced the fear.
“Where the hell have you been?” he barked.
“None of your business!” she snapped back, too tired to want to talk about anything. He wasn’t her boss any longer, and he sure as hell wasn’t a man who loved her.
“Like hell it’s not!” Seth snarled and spun her around and into his arms. He recoiled as the smell of the smoke and booze that clung to her assailed him. “Jesus. You smell like a bar. Is that where you’ve been? I’ve waited hours for you to get home and you’ve been at a bar?”
His face was a mask of fury that almost, but not quite, concealed the hurt and confusion he felt. Tessa was too mad and hurt to let herself see much of anything other than his anger.
“So what if I have? Do you think my life has stopped because I don’t work for you? Do you think you’re the only man wanting to touch me?” She said it to hurt him. She wanted him to hurt like she did. Tessa jerked her arm away from him. “Go away, Seth,” she whispered, hoping the ache in her heart wasn’t noticeable in her voice. “Go back to your family duty and your fortress of glass and steel. Find someone else to mouth your meaningless words of love to, and leave me the hell alone.”
She ran then, but he didn’t come after her. As she shut the door, she saw him stalk off down the block. Tessa leaned against the hall door and let the hot tears spill down her cheeks.
* * * *
Seth sat in his SUV, staring at the front of the house and watching as the light went on in Tessa’s apartment. He sucked in a harsh breath, a sob really, and blinked his eyes to clear them. He hadn’t wanted to believe his father, hadn’t wanted to believe that Tessa was nothing more than an opportunist, but even her own words seemed to back that up. The jewelry box in his pocket felt like a hot poker burning a brand into his thigh. Seth’s jaw hardened, and he started the Escalade and drove away. He would not make the mistake of being so gullible again. She had stomped on his love, but he would be the one to kill it.
Bitterness welled, flooding through him. As long as he stayed the heir apparent, this was what his life would be. He’d thought she was different, thought she’d been able to see him, but it was the Barlow-Barrett empire she’d had her eye on, not him. She’d just been careless and gotten caught.
Chapter 11
A week later, Tessa waited at Zach’s new school for her brother’s bus to return from camp. She had her hair stuffed under a baseball cap and dark glasses on to shield her eyes from the glare. She’d come from a run in the park, so she was wearing a sports bra with a sleeveless crop top and running shorts. Trip Thompson was there again and, without Seth’s protective presence, he made no bones about ogling her from her breasts on down to her slender thighs. Tessa raised a haughty brow at him and turned away. She wanted nothing more to do with spoiled, rich, fickle men.
She waved as the bus rolled in, and watched for Zach’s bright red head. As soon as he saw her, he grinned and ran over to give her a big hug. “Tessa! I had such a great time, but I am sooo glad to be home. Can I play my PlayStation when we get there? I have so much to tell you. I learned how to sail. I can’t wait to show Seth.”
Tessa let him go on while she helped him collect his trunk and load it in the car. She stiffened at the mention of his name, but said nothing. Zach, however, was not going to let it go.
“Did Seth give you the day off?” he asked as they climbed in the car, as if it had just occurred to him that Tessa was not in the business suits she always wore to Barrett.
She busied herself with pulling out into traffic before she responded. “I don’t work there anymore, Zach.”
Her brother blinked a couple of times. “Will Seth be over tonight then?”
Tessa’s mouth thinned. “No, honey. Seth won’t be over.”
“Tessa!” Zach wailed. “What happened? Did you have a fight or something? Can’t you tell him you’re sorry?”
“No.” Tessa bit her bottom lip and exhaled as she waited for a traffic light to change. “I’m sorry, Zach. I know this is a shock. Things happen. You have to accept that. I’ve found another job and moved on. It’s as simple as that.”
“Are you working with those kids again?” he asked in a sulky voice.
“No. I’m working at a restaurant.” It wasn’t strictly true, but they did serve some food, if nachos and peanuts counted. “I work Tuesday through Saturday from six at night to three in the morning.”
Zach stared at her with his mouth hanging open. “But what about me?” he wailed. “I’m going to be alone every night?”
“No, honey. Mrs. Flores will keep an eye on you.” Tessa tried to sound reassuring. “I know it’s not ideal, but I make good money, so I’ll still be able to keep you in Chesterfield, and I’ll have all day Sunday with you and Monday nights too. It’ll be okay, Zach. You’ll see.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t say anything else about it. He was subdued Sunday when they went out to finish buying his uniforms and school supplies. A laptop was one of the things on his list. Tessa had saved enough cash to buy him a nice computer. She would do anything to help him be more positive about school and find his niche.
* * * *
Classes started Monday. Tessa was able to take him in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. She kept up that routine in spite of her schedule, trying to catch up on some of her sleep during the day while he was in class. She was relieved to see his attitude about school change as day followed day. Smaller classes gave him more one-on-one attention to help him with his reading. His grades picked up and he seemed to settle into their new routine. Fall had cooled the weather before he mentioned Seth again. Zach was working on a science project that involved constructing his own working model of a sailboat.
Balancing Act Page 14
