by Sloan Storm
“Um, okay, ma’am. Should I tell her why?”
“No, I don’t want to spook her. Um, tell her I want to talk to her about giving her a raise but I need her to come to the office to fill out some paperwork. That ought to do it.”
“Yes, Miss Olsen. Right away.”
After hanging up, I gathered up the wadded up balls of paper and with an outstretched arm swiped them all into a wastebasket next to my desk.
If I could only sweep this mess away as easily.
MADDIE
As I’d hoped, Farrah went for my plan and within a couple of hours, she showed up and jingled her way into a seat across from me. Grey was lucky he wasn’t anywhere nearby. I wanted to kill him for bringing this idiot into my life.
This is not what I signed up for.
Farrah interrupted my train of thought. Distracting me, she bounced up to the edge of her chair.
“So, like, Carmen says I’m getting a raise. That is so dope!” Her green eyes sparkled with greed as she rubbed her hands together.
I’d never fired anyone before and dense though she was, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little bad about it. My mind hatched a plan to let her down gently. After all, someone like her wouldn’t have an ulterior motive, it wasn’t in her DNA. Farrah was just a dumb girl who did a stupid thing and nothing more. So, I spent the next several minutes recounting her misdeeds and explaining to her why she was not only not going to get a raise but also how her services would no longer be needed.
Folding my hands on top of the desk, I concluded my little speech.
“So, I’m sorry Farrah, but we’ve got to let you go.”
As I finished speaking, Farrah’s head tilted to one side as she stared back at me in silence for several seconds.
“’Kay, so like, am I getting a raise or what?”
My jaw tightened as I glared at her. I placed my palms flat on my desk and shook my head.
“No, Farrah honey, you’re fired. Do you understand what that means?”
Her expression changed in that instant and I suspected that the message had finally gotten through.
“So like, wait. Um, so this is about that crusty old man from last night?”
“Yes, like I explained to you. What you did… we can’t tolerate it here. I warned you about keeping your mouth shut.”
Farrah flipped her hair back. “Oh, I’m not worried about that. Like, Brodie totally told me we’re gonna get rich.”
Bewildered, I shook my head. “What? Who is Brodie?”
“Um, so Brodie is like the guy I told you about yesterday. We’re hooking up. But um, I totally think he’s into me and…”
“Okay, Farrah I get it. Why did Brodie say you were going to get rich?”
“Oh, right. So, like I don’t really know law stuff but Brodie said now that everyone saw pics of me with the old dude, we’re gonna like get lots of money.”
“Farrah,” I began. “Ugh, you aren’t making any sense. What about any of this makes you think you’re getting money out of it?”
Farrah smiled, leaned back in the chair and crossed her right leg over her left. Bouncing her right knee with enthusiasm she replied, “So like, Brodie’s best friend’s Dad is like a super famous lawyer or whatever. That dirty old man is worth millions of dollars. Brodie says we’re gonna like get sued or something and get lots of money.”
As she finished speaking, I leaned back in my chair. Her confusion about how the legal system worked aside, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from this chick. But as dangerous as greed could be, dumb could be downright deadly. Thinking fast, I nodded and rocked in my chair. With a casual tone in my voice, I improvised.
“Interesting.” I said, as I nodded. “So, let me ask you Farrah. Do you do everything Brodie tells you to do?”
While I spoke, she’d slipped a couple of pieces of gum in her mouth.
Smacking it while she crumpled the wrappers, she replied, “What? No. Wait, like, what do you mean?”
I smiled and pushed myself into a standing position. Turning my back on her, I gazed out the window across the parking lot. In the distance, an army of men on mowers caught my attention and for an instant, distracted me from the nonsense unfolding in my office.
My mind recounted a favorite childhood memory, the smell of fresh cut grass. Back in the Midwest, a newly mowed lawn carried the most delightful sweet scent. It hung heavy in the air for hours afterward, a gentle reminder of how easy summer could be. I’d moved here chasing the eternal summer, but I still hadn't smelled grass that sweet in all the years I’d been here. As I watched the mechanized beasts sweep back and forth across the grass, I wondered if I ever would again.
“Hello?” Farrah said, as curiosity, and impatience, got the better of her. “What did you say about Brodie?”
“Hmm?” I deadpanned without turning to face her. I shrugged as I continued, “Oh it’s… it’s nothing really. All I’m saying is sounds like Brodie calls the shots in your relationship.”
I heard Farrah rattle around behind me. I sensed her anger build.
“First off, we aren’t even together, ‘kay? Pssht, no one tells me what to do. Not him, not that dirty old man, not you… no one!”
I drew my hands together behind my back just above my waist and turned back to face her. Her eyes locked on me in the first sustained bit of focus I’d ever seen from her.
I smiled as I began to speak. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do, Farrah. I’m the only one in this whole situation who wants to help you.”
“Help me? Um, so like what are you talking about? You’re not making any sense, yo.”
As she spoke, I eased back into my chair and rolled it under my desk.
“Here’s the deal, Farrah. Let’s say you go public with this, okay? So you and Brodie meet with the lawyer and everything.”
‘Kay,” Farrah smacked.
“All right, so you go ahead and do what Brodie says. Once you get lawyers involved, the police will get involved. You know what that means, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Do you party, Farrah?”
“Yeah. Totally. Who doesn’t?”
I nodded. “So you drink? Take drugs? Molly and ex?”
Looking at her fingernails, Farrah replied, “No I don’t do drugs. Just weed.”
Christ.
“Farrah,” I said as I cradled my forehead in my palms. “Weed is a drug, honey. Do you have a prescription for it?”
She shook her head ‘no’ but didn’t speak.
I continued. “So I’ll tell you right now, you’ve got a problem. Mr. Pickering's attorney is going to dig into your background and sooner rather than later, they will get around to drug testing you. Then guess what?”
“What?”
“They are going to say you were under the influence of drugs and you’ll lose the case.”
Farrah wrinkled her brow. Raising the index finger and thumb of her right to her mouth, she slipped the tips of her fingernails between her lips. It looked as if I’d finally gotten her to understand.
Sensing her apprehension, I continued, “So here’s the deal. I’ll give you ten thousand in cash. Today. Right now. All you have to do is leave here and agree to never talk about this to anyone.”
Uh, I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I didn’t have that kind of cash lying around. I’d have to get it from Grey, but since this was his mess in the first place, I didn’t see how he could turn me down. Either way, none of that would matter if I couldn’t talk her out of this stupid idea in the first place.
“Um, ‘kay but like, what about the lawsuit?” she asked.
Exasperated, I glared at her and raised my voice.
“Farrah, you aren’t understanding me. There is no lawsuit. You won’t win and even you did, the lawyers would get almost all of it. Is that what you want?”
“No.”
“Good,” I said. I stood from my desk, rolling my chair aside. I walked around the desk and said, “This
is good for you Farrah. You don't want a man controlling your life, do you?”
“Totally. Like, no.”
“Okay then, so do we have a deal?”
Looking up at me, Farrah smiled. “Yeah, for sure.”
Oh my God, thank God.
It was all I could do not to hug her and kiss her on the spot. If I wasn’t half-afraid I’d get tangled up in all her knick-knacks, I might have. Instead, as she stood, I placed my hand on her back and turned to escort her out of my office and hopefully, my life. Of course, I still had to come up with the ten thousand, which, ugh, I had no clue how that would happen in the next ten minutes.
Shaking my head, I cursed Grey’s existence. I couldn’t wait to see him again, scratch his eyes out, yell at him and then do it all over for ever getting me involved with her. As luck would have it, I wouldn't have to wait long. For no sooner had we closed to within a few feet of the door, than it flew open with Grey now blocking our exit.
“Grey?” I said, as we froze.
Wordless, Grey glared at Farrah and walked right up to us. He snatched her by the arm and yanked her towards his body, stopping only inches short of impact.
“You have a lot of nerve, Farrah. Do you have any idea who you’re fucking with?”
A wave of terror broke across Farrah’s face. I stood in disbelief as if I were witnessing an accident in slow motion, helpless to stop it.
“Mr. Sinclair,” Farrah stammered. “I’m totally sorry. Oh my God, like I totally won’t do anything. I promise. Like, I swear I won’t.”
Grey thinned his lips and grimaced as he let go of her with a shove.
“Get out, Farrah,” he snarled, as he pointed a finger down the hallway. “If I hear so much as another whisper about this from you, I will make your life a living hell. You got me?”
Farrah staggered away from him, bumping against the door Grey had flung open moments earlier.
“I… I…” she uttered.
“Shut up, Farrah,” Grey warned. “Now the next thing you are going to do is take down every single one of those pictures you posted of Mr. Pickering. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Then without turning to face me, Grey pointed in my direction.
“Then Miss Olsen will put you in touch with my PR firm. They will help you draft a retraction of every accusation you’ve made against Mr. Pickering. You will apologize for wrongly accusing him of making sexual advances to you. Is that clear?”
Farrah nodded as tears pooled along the edges of her eyes.
“Yes. But, but… what about the money?” she asked.
Incredulous, Grey shook his head. “What money? What are you talking about Farrah?”
My eyes widened as Farrah raised her right arm and extended her index finger in my direction.
“She um, just told me she was gonna give me like ten thousand if I like, kept quiet.”
Grey sniffed at Farrah in disbelief and then moved close to her once again until less than a foot separated them.
In a low whisper, he leaned in towards my terrified now-former escort and said, “There is no money, Farrah. Got it? Maddie is in no position to strike that kind of bargain with you. Now get out before I throw you out.”
Pointing down the hall once more, Grey stepped aside. Farrah covered her mouth and choking back tears, ran out of the office. Grey watched her for a moment, then slammed the door shut and turned back towards me.
With a curt nod, he gestured towards the corner of the office where my purse and tablet tote bag hung.
“Get your things, we’re going out of town.”
MADDIE
“Uh!” I fired back. “I am not going anywhere with you, you bastard! I had that entire situation handled. You didn’t need to interfere!”
Grey shook his head in disgust as he passed by me. Grabbing my things, he locked his arm straight in my direction, insisting I take them from him.
“Don’t be naive, Maddie,” he replied. “Do you honestly think that even someone as dumb as Farrah would stop at ten thousand dollars?”
“What?” I said, as I refused to take my belongings from him. “What are you talking about?”
Grey shook his head.
“Look, as soon as she ran out of money, she’d be back, threatening the same lawsuit all over again. Sooner or later you’d get tired of it and she’d follow through on her original plan.”
“Bullshit,” I protested. “She promised.”
“Right,” Grey deadpanned. Again he gestured for me to take my things as he continued. “Just like she promised to be discreet.”
I bit my lip. He had a point. The sonofabitch.
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “Now here, take your things. We’re going away for a couple of days.”
“Ugh, what? I can’t, Grey,” I said, as I grabbed my purse and tote from him. “We’re bringing on two new clients and adding another driver this weekend. I need to be here in case something goes wrong.”
And just like that, his facial expression softened and turned bright.
“Maddie, look, I respect the effort you put out here, dealing with Farrah. You handled it better than I expected. But part of becoming successful as a business owner is learning how to delegate to your employees. The sooner you start, the easier it is to do as you grow. If you wait too long, it can become a near impossibility. Besides, what’s the worst that can possibly happen?”
“Well, take Farrah, for example.” I scoffed. “Anything can happen at any time.”
Grey waved off my concern.
“It’s nothing that can’t be handled over the phone and if something does come up that you absolutely must come back for, we can be back in a few hours.”
“A few hours? Where do you want to take me?”
“To my villa, in Cabo.”
I exhaled and slumped down into one of the chairs across from desk, exhausted.
As much as I hated to admit it, maybe Grey was right. The likelihood of something going wrong was remote. As he hovered nearby with an expectant look on his face, I glanced down at the wastebasket half-filled with wadded up balls of paper, evidence of the mounting stress the business placed on me.
“Okay, Grey. You win,” I said, looking up at him.
He smiled, nodded and extended his arm. “Good, that’s more like it. Come on, Gorgeous.”
And before I even realized it, it was the next morning and it was as if I’d been transported to someone else’s life.
Or so it seemed.
I sat at the far end of an oversized beach chair, more couch than chair actually, and dug my toes in the slivery sand of the private beach attached to Grey’s villa. I squeezed the pillowy material of the cushion and looked out to the ocean where brown pelicans cruised low over the water's surface. Like feathered kamikaze pilots, they swept back and forth, occasionally diving and breaking the surface with another successful catch in their bills.
Even though it had only been less than eight hours since we arrived, already I felt the stress I’d left behind, leaving me. After all, that’s what a three hour flight and three more hours of sex will do to a girl. Smiling, I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, and then I felt a familiar touch come to my cheek. Hooding my eyes with my hand, I rolled my head in the same direction and looked up to see Grey standing there.
“Good morning,” he began. “I’d wondered where you’d gotten off to.”
Clad in a white, microfiber robe he walked around the front of the chair as I nodded and said, “Yeah, it just looked so beautiful out. I had to come down. I tried not to wake you. I’m sorry if I did.”
Grey scooted up in the chair next to me, and the weight of his body sunk the mattress down just enough so I rolled towards him a bit.
“Not a problem,” he replied as he draped an arm over me.
I moved closer to him, sliding my leg and arm over his body and getting a temporary reprieve from my cuddle withdrawal syndrome.
“Hungry?” he asked.
&nbs
p; “Omigod, so,” I replied. “I’m starving.”
“Good,” he began. “Breakfast should be here any minute.”
Lifting my head, I craned my neck around. “We’re having breakfast on the beach?”
“Well, of course. You’re on vacation remember?”
I smiled and dropped my head back down into the hardness of his chest.
“If there’s one thing I wouldn’t forget, it’s that. Work feels like a million miles away.”
“Good to hear,” he began. As he spoke, I felt him move his arm as if he were reaching into the pocket of his robe. After a moment or two of motion, he continued, “Because your phone rang twice in about five minutes before I came down.”
Even though I already had a strong suspicion I knew who it was, I pinned a small measure of hope on being wrong.
“Can you look and tell me who it is?” I said, as I swallowed hard against his torso.
After a delay of a second or so, he replied, “Carmen.”
“Ugh.” I groaned, as I rolled away from Grey, taking the phone in my hand as I did.
Just then, a man clad in an all-white tuxedo approached carrying a tray over his right shoulder.
“I’ll be right back,” I muttered.
Pushing myself off the chair, I headed down towards the water’s edge to call Carmen back. As I did, the man passed by me, nodded and smiled.
“Buenos dias, señora.”
Lifting my phone to my ear, I returned his greeting and forced a smile to my lips.
“Buenos dias.”
I only hoped it would turn out to be one. As the phone started to ring, I had a sinking feeling that wouldn’t be the case.
After the third ring, Carmen answered. “Oh, Miss Olsen. Thank God. I’m so sorry I had to call you like this.”
I twirled my hair in my finger as she spoke. “It’s not a problem, Carmen. What’s wrong?”
“Well, it’s the new driver we hired.”
“Who? Armando’s cousin? Julio?”
“Yes.”
“What about him?”
“Well…” Carmen hesitated.
“It’s okay, Carmen. Just tell me.”
“Okay, um, there was an accident. During a job. He got a DUI with a client in the car.”
