“Up, let’s go.” Black had reverted to his drill sergeant mode. It startled me, but I didn’t jump up like I normally did. I stood up like a lady and tried my best to float out of the War Room after him. I’ve heard that sometimes the best view of a woman is when she’s leaving. I don’t know for sure how that’s supposed to be taken, but at this moment, I was going to assume that it meant they liked the view, not the idea of me leaving.
When we got into the elevator Mr. Black said, “I’ve got something to show you.”
We went up to the 12th floor and walked into a fully furnished apartment with the same floor layout as the other two apartments I had seen.
“This is your apartment. You can move here or not. We would prefer it if you spent the majority of your time here though, because it’s much easier when you’re called to work if you’re closer to the office.”
“What’s the rent?” I asked.
“No rent and all utilities are paid by the company. So, what do you think?”
“It’s just like yours and White’s, except for the colors. But I do like it,” I replied.
“All the apartments have the same layout. It gives us all a strange feeling of equality and it was easier for the designer,” he said in a matter of fact tone. Yep, these guys were men. “The extra room to the side of the bedroom is yours to do what you want though. We had it designed that way so we could all do something individually in our place. White turned his into C.I.C., I currently have plants in mine, everyone has something unique to themselves in their room.”
“I don’t know about this. I hate to admit it, but I’ve never really lived away from Mom and Dad,” I said with a small panic feeling growing in my stomach.
“Yes, you have. Think of it, you’ve hardly been home since you partnered up with us.”
“I guess you’re right.” I started to feel a bit better.
Mr. Black took a seat in the living room and told me to look around. I did as I was told and decided it might be nice to live a small distance from my parents. They had always respected my privacy but they always knew what was going on in the guesthouse. Granted, nothing ever happened there. However, that could be because I knew Mom and Dad would know about it.
After bouncing on my new bed I went and sat next to Black on the couch.
“There is one catch. You can’t tell any of your friends that you live here, at least not Alex’s friends. Ms. Grey’s friends are a different story. I’m assuming the only people who know that Alexis Stanton and Ms. Grey are one in the same are the associates, your parents and Colin DeLange?”
“As far as I know. Oh wait, Mr. Jones from the Lion Job knows too,” I remembered.
“That’s fine. We don’t use our real names because of the nature of the job. Being a mercenary of sorts and part of a PMC has its advantages and disadvantages.”
“I never thought of myself as a mercenary I guess. That’s kind of cool, but what is a PMC?”
“Private Military Corporation. It’s time you learned more. You haven’t been told a lot about the nature of this company because we wanted to be sure you would commit yourself to us. Tonight proved that you would when it matters. Speaking of which, the two masters of intrigue downstairs weren’t all that happy with you coming right out and telling Admiral Stanton about the job.” He gave me a somewhat disapproving look.
“Well, I’m not a good liar and I’m even worse when it comes to my dad. He just knows if I try to lie to him. I felt like I didn’t have a choice, really,” I said, trying to defend myself.
“We do what we have to.” He stood and handed me a key.
“I’ll walk you out. I’m going out for a while after I go home to get some different clothes,” I said.
“About that. I could tell you got your point across. Red was telling Brown about the phone call when I got to the war room. What they did was juvenile and deplorable, so it was fun to watch the jaws drop when you walked out of your bedroom with that dress on. I hope you don’t plan on flaunting it too often though; it could backfire on you. After all, we are men.”
“No, I’ve had my fill for a while.” I could feel my face getting hotter. Mr. Black had given me a reproving look with his last sentence. Despite my ability to flaunt it, as Mr. Black put it, I was actually quite innocent and modest. I had no problem showing a bit of leg here and there, but revealing anything more was meant for more private settings, like the shower.
When I got to the car garage I thought about calling a cab, but I wanted to get some clothes over here before I went out for the evening. It was getting late so I sped home and grabbed some essentials. I would shop for new toiletries and the like when I got a chance. I couldn’t give up the guesthouse just yet anyway.
I had decided to stay the night in my new place to get the feel for it, and I might return back to the guesthouse when the cameras were removed.
Mom and Dad were gone when I got back to the guesthouse. I thought about going to the main house to thank Mom for cleaning up, but decided to call her instead. The conversation was quick and to the point. I thanked her and she thanked me for the meal, told me where she put the leftovers and I let her know I was going out. After I hung up I got a small bag packed as if I were going to be gone for a week, maybe two, then headed back to my new place.
I was looking forward to going out, but I didn’t really want to go out alone. I decided to call my best friend, Colin.
We agreed to meet at the Skylight as soon as we could get there. The owners had converted the building from an old warehouse to a bar and they installed a huge skylight above the dance floor. They played music that was too loud, the patrons all drank too much and there were frequent fights but it was an energetic and fun place to be. One of my past career choices had been a waitress at the Skylight, but it didn’t agree with me, or the customers. I wasn’t a bad waitress, I just didn’t like being around rowdy drunk people unless I was one of them.
I had decided to take advantage of the dress one last time tonight and didn’t change. I was happy to notice a few heads turn when I walked into the Skylight. I didn’t see any sign of Colin yet, but I did see my one and only ex boyfriend, Anthony. He was bartending as usual.
Even though I had once broken his arm, he had never gotten over me. I had sat at the bar so I could see Colin come in and Anthony ran to wait on me.
“Hey, babe. Where have you been lately?” he asked placing a bar napkin in front of me.
“Driving classes. I’d take a cola please,” I said by way of dismissal. The only problem with Anthony is that it took him a while to understand anything. I will say that he understood the cola part, but the implied dismissal passed right over him.
“You’re looking fine.”
“Thanks, has Colin been in yet?” I asked, hoping that if I spoke of another man Anthony would get it. He’d cheated on me and hit me but I didn’t hate him. What can you expect from someone with not much upstairs? Not much is my guess.
“Nope,” he said looking around. Then he turned back to me. He continued to make small talk. Eventually he got to the sex part, which he always did. He nodded to the booths along the wall and said, “There aren’t many in the booths tonight, you and I could slip over there for a quickie.”
“Why don’t you get it Anthony? The ONE time you and I shared a bed was the LAST time. I don’t mind making small talk with you, but I really don’t like you. If you can’t talk to me as a human being instead of a walking… ah, never mind. Just leave me alone and the next time you ask me for sex, try to remember the last physical contact we had.” He had a dumbfounded look on his face. I swear, when I dated him, I didn’t realize he was that stupid. I think I was just so excited to finally have a boyfriend.
“I do remember the physical contact you and I had…” He practically knocked a glass off the bar by wagging his eyebrows up and down.
“I’m talking about when I broke your arm. Do you remember that?” I asked back, extremely peeved by this time.
“Oh. B
e a bitch then,” he said and finally walked away.
One thing about Anthony was that he was consistent. He consistently forgot that I didn’t really like him and he consistently forgot about me breaking his arm after he hit me. One more thing he consistently did was called me names when I turned him down. For some reason he didn’t understand that calling a person a nasty name has a tendency to make them lose respect for you and dislike you. I pictured Anthony skipping around singing, ‘I wish I had a brain.’ This last thought got me out of the funk he had put me in and I started scanning the bar. Normally I would have had this done already, but I had been distracted.
The last time I had been here had been for the notorious Lion Job and in fact had been when I was shot in the leg. Not much had changed except some of the faces. The band sounded the same, although the same band rarely played here more than a few times.
My eyes wandered to two men sitting at a table not far from the bar. Both of them had short military type haircuts. The Skylight attracted the military men and women that lived and worked in the area and these two didn’t look terribly out of place. However, they both seemed too rigid sitting in their chairs. One of them caught me looking and gave me a smile. I smiled back then adverted my gaze.
Colin came through the swinging doors just before the band took a break. I waved him over and he sat at the bar next to me and said, “So, what’ve you been up to?”
“Just a little more training for my job. How about you? The last time I talked to you, you were hot and heavy with some girl.” I really didn’t want Colin for myself, but I still had a jealous streak that kicked in when he had a girlfriend.
“Ah, that’s right, that’s the last time you and I talked. We broke up that night. I’ve wanted to ask you about that night. We all heard gunshots from inside here, which means they must have been close. Do you know who was shooting?”
“Yeah.” I lifted my leg through the open buttons on my dress to show off my scar.
“Is that from a bullet?” he asked of my scar.
“Yep,” I said with pride.
“Did you shoot yourself?”
“NO!” What was wrong with him? Colin got a big grin on his face and I knew he was just trying to annoy me.
“I missed you,” I added.
“I missed you too. What’s with the damn bartender tonight? Did you piss him off again?”
“Actually, yes I did, but he had it coming.”
“I’m sure he did. Let’s get a table so we’ll get waited on.”
Shortly after we moved to a table, a waitress I hadn’t seen before came up to us. Colin ordered a beer and a shot then asked if I wanted anything, so I ordered a refill on my soda.
“Not drinking tonight?” Colin asked.
“Nah, I don’t think so. It’s been a while since I’ve had a drink and I’m not in the mood to get drunk.”
“How about dancing, you doing any of that tonight?”
“I could. Again, it’s been quite a while. I hope I haven’t forgotten how.”
“Yeah, right,” Colin said. I had taken dance classes and was pretty good at it and I knew it too.
“What’s with the modesty? That’s never been one of your strong suits,” he smiled.
“I don’t know… Maybe I’m getting older and more boring,” I replied. The waitress set our drinks down in front of us and I took a sip of my soda.
“You look very nice tonight. Are you on the prowl for a man?” He arched his eyebrows.
“No.” I told him the story about the evening’s events.
“Ah, I see. I bet Malone was visibly drooling,” he said with a bit of contempt. I don’t think I was the only one who got a bit possessive.
We sat at our table, people watching until the waitress came back. Colin ordered himself another set of drinks and ordered me a shot of whiskey.
“I told you, I don’t feel like drinking tonight,” I told him.
“Ah, it won’t hurt you. I won’t buy you another all night long. I just want to do a welcome home shot with you.”
“The last time I sat here and drank with you, you were the one who told me that I shouldn’t be drinking.” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but you didn’t get into any fights that night and I’m betting you won’t tonight either.”
“I did get into a fight that night though. Do you remember Army Boy?”
“What? You never told me about that,” he said skeptically.
“He cornered me in the parking lot.”
“Whatever, he was three times bigger than you. You’d still be recovering.”
“He was about twice my size is all and I ended up breaking his wrist. He was mad because you and I were reading his and White’s lips,” I said with a smile.
Colin had taught me sign language and we could both read lips, but he was much better at it than I was. We used to get together at public places and Colin and I would eaves drop on private conversations. Not the most honorable thing to do, but tons of fun, especially at the Skylight. Also, when the band was playing and we couldn’t hear ourselves think, let alone each other talking, it came in quite handy.
Before long I saw our waitress returning. The man who had smiled at me earlier ran into her and almost made her spill her tray of drinks, but he caught it in time. Just my luck, I thought. I really didn’t want to drink that shot. He continued to hold onto her tray for a moment. They spoke for a few seconds before she managed to break free.
When she arrived with our drinks we toasted and threw back the shots. Yuck, that stuff was nasty, even nastier than I remembered. I finished off my soda and asked her for another refill. I tried to pay in advance because Colin and I were going out on the dance floor. The waitress let me know the gentleman that had almost spilled our drinks had asked what we were drinking because he wanted to buy a round to apologize.
Sure enough, I looked to the bar and he was already coming with the new set of drinks.
“I’m really sorry about spilling your drinks.” He was setting them down in front of us but there was an extra shot of something still on the tray he had borrowed. “I thought I’d do a shot with you, if you don’t mind.”
A little over the top, he hadn’t spilled enough of our drinks to make any difference. I guess he’s just trying to be nice, I thought to myself.
“You didn’t have to do this.” I wasn’t in the mood for more alcohol after the last shot.
“Oh, it’s no problem. I’m the one who doesn’t watch where I’m going.” With that he lifted his shot glass and moved it to ours and said, “Cheers.”
We drank our shots down, said thank you and the guy returned to his own table. Colin made some comment about how I should wear dresses more often because the guys even bought him drinks just to talk to me. The extra shot of confidence was all I needed and I led Colin to the dance floor.
The band was playing some brisk music and soon Colin and I needed a break. We returned to our table and he started using sign language. I was never all that good at signing, but I could understand him perfectly. It helped that every time I saw him, he’d make me sign for at least a little while.
I signed to Colin that I was done dancing for a while. I wasn’t feeling well. The shots had gone to my head and I was feeling a bit disconnected and woozy. I knew I hadn’t had alcohol for several months, but I was beginning to feel like I had downed four or five shots.
“What’s wrong?” Colin asked.
“Those shots really went to my head. I’m not feeling all that well right now.” I had to work at not slurring my words. “In fact I think I better make my way to the bathroom.”
“Lightweight,” he hollered at me as I was staggering away.
Wow, this was so strange, I thought. I’ve had ten shots before and never had this much trouble walking or felt this ill. I wonder if Anthony put something in my drink, or that other guy. I proceeded down the long hall at the front of the building all the while wondering why the two men at the table seemed so out of place to me.
Finally it hit me, men that came here did so in the hopes of finding a girl. Neither of them had even eyeballed any of the flirty girls that surrounded them.
At last I reached my destination. The bathrooms were across from the front door. They had never seemed this far away before. One thing about the Skylight I’ve always liked is the size of the bathrooms. I found the closest stall just in time.
I came out of the stall not feeling much better so I went to the sink to wash my face. Maybe that would help a bit. I splashed cold water on myself and was wondering why those drinks would affect me so drastically. I came to the conclusion that someone had slipped me something. My best guess was Anthony. It was just a matter of time before he did something despicable like that anyway. He effectively ruined my evening. I was going to have to go home. I couldn’t go back in there feeling like this. The way I felt, I would pass out at any moment.
If I weren’t scared I would probably already be down for the count. Thank goodness for adrenaline. I was having trouble focusing on a single thought but I finally made up my mind to tell Colin that I was headed back home and I might even ask him to make sure I made it there.
I stepped out of the restroom and the man that had run into the waitress was standing in front of me.
“Excuse me,” I said with a bit of a slur.
“Here, let me help you out.” He took my arm and led me toward the door.
Something told me that I didn’t want to go outside, but he was very gentle and polite. He walked me out the door and into the parking lot. A car pulled up and he opened the door and was helping me in when my thoughts finally made it full circle.
“Oh, wait. I have to tell Colin I’m leaving.” I pulled my arm away from the man and started to walk back inside.
“No, you don’t. I did that for you,” he said taking hold of my arm once again. This time though, he held fast and it hurt just enough to bring me out of my stupor.
I shook my head, trying to break up the fog inside. I didn’t know this man or this vehicle. What was I doing? I pulled my arm away from him once again and said, “Leave me alone.”
Shades of Grey: Book Two of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles Page 5
