by C L Green
“No family,” Anton responds quickly and I watch as his eyes darken before his face hardens and his jaw becomes tense.
“Workaholic?” Jake mutters lifting his eyebrow to give Anton a sideways glance.
“Vagrant,” Anton replies dangerously, his eyes challenging Jake not to ask any more questions.
“We get a lot of vagrants in Ridge Creek,” Jake responds softly a small grin forming on his lips.
He seems amused.
Men.
Deciding I’ve had enough snipping and snarling between people for one day, I butt in. “Is it not time we hit the road then Jake?”
Two sets of male eyes swing to mine and two grins appear. Seemingly they are both on to me.
“Sure,” Jake agrees before turning his attention back to Anton. “Need you to do whatever it is you do. In other words, make yourself scarce.”
Grinning, Anton nods and lifts from the bar. Sending another nod my way, he turns, grabs his so far untasted beer from the bar and takes a swig. Looking far more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him, he then leans across and grabs Ritchie’s untouched beer as well. “Since I’m officially off duty, don’t mind if I do,” he announces with a small chuckle. Swigging on his beer, he heads across the room and out the door to the shopfront. I watch him go wondering what he thinks about suddenly moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere. Interestingly, he didn’t seem unhappy about it.
I’m still staring at the closed door to the shopfront when Emma’s voice cuts across the room. “Your brother is a pain in my ass, but he has his useful moments.” Spinning on my heels I turn to see her appear magically in the doorway to the hallway. Emma, Zane, Luke and Pops all made themselves politely scarce during our meeting with Stephen Bradford. I have my suspicions they only did this because they knew they could eavesdrop from the camera room.
Jambo, ecstatic to see the love of his life, launches from the bar and flies straight to land on her shoulder. Snuggling up against her neck, he starts muttering softly and begins fiddling with a teardrop earring dangling from her ear.
Jake twists to watch her as she crosses the room. I grin as she makes a beeline straight for Gina’s beer, the last untouched bottle sitting at the bar. Picking it up, she spins and plonks her ass down on a stool. Her dark hair pulled back in a long ponytail swishes through the air and slaps down against her back.
“None of them touched their beer while he was in the room,” Emma announces taking a big swig from the bottle. “Conscientious sorts aren’t they?”
“I suspect he pays them enough that it’s worth staying sober,” Zane announces walking through the door, Luke two steps behind him.
“Or it might be possible they don’t understand the concept of breakfast beer,” Luke adds.
“It’s eleven in the morning, it’s officially lunchtime,” Emma knits her brows and gives Luke an annoyed look.
“So you watched that whole thing then?” I ask Emma as I wander across to take a seat next to her.
“Most of it,” she informs me. “Missed a few bits while we were looking through dusty old boxes of files that Zane kept shoving in front of us.”
“Files?” Jake asks, his interest piqued. “Why were you poking about in our files?”
“I had them doing dirty work for my dumbass brother,” Zane tells us he moves across the room towards Emma and I.
“What dirty work? There’s nothing but old crap from my younger days in there. Nothing of value,” Jake announces moving over to join us.
“She gave up too easy brother,” Luke starts talking. “That She Bitch has been giving you trouble refusing to sign those papers for nearly two years and suddenly she rolls. Aren’t you suspicious?”
Jake looks thoughtful for a few seconds and shrugs his shoulders. “It did cross my mind but I figured I’d think about it later. We’ve got shit to do my friends; those cameras aren’t gunna install themselves.”
“We’ll get there. I think you need to see something first,” Zane announces putting his hand to the back pocket of his jeans and pulling out a roll of papers. Flattening them out on the bar, he pushes them towards Jake.
Everyone falls silent as Jake’s eyes drop to the document in front of him. Emma looks like she’s about to bounce out of her chair she’s so excited. Luke rounds the bar, cocks a leg and leans on a fridge.
They have clearly found something of importance.
I focus on Jake and watch as his eyebrows knit in confusion. Grabbing the document, he lifts it closer to his face and starts reading in silence. He finishes the first page, licks his lips, smirks and turns the page. He then reads the second page much faster than he read the first before placing the document back down on the bar. Lifting his eyes to Zane, he grins before announcing, “Holy shit.”
“Holy shit alright. She’s screwed. You don’t owe that bitch a penny,” Zane announces. “She made her own bed, she can lie in it.”
“What made you think of it?” Jake asks his face returning to serious, his eyes dark and intense.
“It was the look on her face when she stood in the window of the shop the other night. She was more than mad, she looked devastated,” Zane says. “Then to come over here with a fucking kitchen knife, what the fuck was that? That was desperation. It was also violence. We both know she’s not a violent person so she’s acting way out of character. Which meant Luke and I got to talking. We started to wonder why she instantly took such a disliking to Ari and it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t about Ari specifically. It was more that you’d never, not once, taken a moments interest in another woman since you married her. Arianna was the first girl she’s ever seen you with and not only did it sting, it rang the death knell on her marriage because it triggered the prenup. She was the one who wanted the fuckin’ thing. I remember you were pissed about it at the time but you let it slide. She was so desperate to make sure you didn’t get any of her precious assets or cash that she failed to consider that one day she might not care. She thought you were marrying her for her money. She thought she was being smart by locking you in with a contract that ensured your fidelity and kept you away from her cash. In doing that she failed to consider that you might grow to be worth something in your own right. When she married you, you had no job and from what she could see, no life. My guess, she now knows you’ve got money squirreled somewhere. Her bad was making you sign that shit to protect her interests. It now gives you an out. It clearly states that if you cheat on her and either of you file for divorce; she keeps everything that’s hers, you keep everything that’s yours.”
Looking thoughtful through Zane’s explanation, Jake suddenly cuts Zane off. “Let her have the cash. I don’t care. As long as she signs, I don’t give a fuck. She finds out I’ve remembered the prenup, she’ll change course and come up with a new plan. Right now she thinks she’s doing well. Leave it that way.”
“It’s two hundred grand brother, you sure?” Luke asks looking worried.
“Can’t say all her crazy shit towards me wasn’t sometimes earned. I pushed her boundaries – a lot. And I did it just to watch her rise. It was a sport most of the time. Got a feeling she finds the right man, one she can be sweet with and one that earns her sweet, she won’t pull half the crap she did with me. Let it go.”
Luke and Zane nod. Emma raises her eyebrows and gives me a funny look. I can see she is urging me to weigh in the conversation. I narrow my eyes at her and shake my head.
There’s a reason I’ve been doing nothing and saying nothing since the conversation started. As far as I can see it’s none of my business. Although giving anyone two hundred grand for no reason at all does seem like a stupid idea to me. Cash is cash and in business, keeping your cash is important.
Zane reaches for the prenuptial agreement and slides it to Emma. “Put it back where we found it and we’ll play it Jake’s way. It’s now the backup plan.”
Emma nods but looks annoyed. Turning her attention to Jake I suddenly feel myself go on alert. I already k
now Emma is about to say something and I’m sure whatever it is, Jake won’t like it. Pissing the man off who provides a roof over her head is not a good move. For Emma’s own good, I decide to butt in.
“She looks like a bitch to me. She smells like a bitch to me. I’ve seen you do nothing but treat me with care so I for one cannot believe that you earned any of that bitch from her. She must have started it. I’ve only met her twice but both times the experience was unpleasant. The first time she smashes your mothers shop window and ruins my Crème Brulee and the second she tries to stab me with a knife. Admittedly it was just a teeny tiny vegetable knife but I felt the blade on that thing and it was sharp. Considering she really had no idea who I was and considering we’d never even spoken to each other, I think these are clear demonstrations of how she pays out her bitch without any provocation. Knowing what I now know about you, two hundred grand could go a long way to doing good. It’s good business to use your cash wisely. I say fuck her. If you don’t care about the money, donate it to a cancer wing. Get a plaque in your dad’s name. Honor him, not her.”
The words have barely left my mouth and I watch Luke’s eyes widen and his lips pull together. Emma grins and sends me an approving look. Zane shifts his eyes to me. He frowns and then he looks to Jake. Emma and Luke also lock their eyes on Jake to see how he will react to my impromptu, and by the looks of it unexpected, opinionated rant.
Waiting for the world to explode, I move my eyes to Jakes. He’s staring at me with cold, green eyes that look distant and I instantly wish I’d erred on the side of caution and kept my mouth firmly shut.
I am an idiot.
Staring back, I start to wonder what I should do next. Would now be the time to quietly get off my seat, back away and exit the room? I look to Emma again and see that her eyes are narrowing on Jake. They’re gray and they’re stormy.
Uh oh.
My guess, if something doesn’t give in the next three seconds, she’s gunna be on his case.
With my mind in panic, I start to babble. “Or you could just give her the cash and have done with it. What would I know? I’m just a newbie around these parts and she’s your wife. You know her better than most. Which means I should leave you to discuss this with your brothers. Emma, time to move. I wanna show you what I’ve done on Luke’s site and leave it with you for final comments and changes. We should of course do that in my room.” I gesture towards the door with a flick of my head and my eyes widen in the universal don’t say anything, just do it gesture.
Emma frowns at me, shrugs her shoulders but stands and moves towards the door. I plaster a fake smile on my face, flick my eyes over Zane, Luke and then finally onto Jake. Jake is still staring at me coldly. Not wanting to create any more drama, I spin on my heels and flee to my room.
The bedroom door barely closes behind me when Emma launches. “Ooh, I think someone is in trouble!”
“Thanks to you,” I groan as I walk to my desk and flip my laptop open.
“What?” She asks innocently grinning at me. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You intended to,” I mutter as I start clicking through files and open the final draft website for Luke that I want Emma to take one final look at it for me before we send it live.
Emma follows me across the room to look over my shoulder at the draft screens as I flick through them to check they are all there. “Looks good. He’s being stupid,”
“It’s none of our business,” I frown as I continue to click and wonder how much damage was just done and whether I will hear the sound of Jake’s pipes shortly as he leaves without me.
“That may be true but still, its two hundred grand,” Emma pushes. “That’s a lot of dough to just give away. She’s either got a golden pussy or gives damn fine gobby to earn that golden handshake from an ex-husband who doesn’t want her.”
“Emma,” I groan, “Enough.” Visions of Jake naked and a certain red head bobbing down in front of him burn into the back of my eyeballs. A lump suddenly forms in my stomach and I instantly feel light-headed.
“Just saying,” she grins at me oblivious to my internal pain. Leaning over to grab my mouse from me, she shuts down the screens and heads to the file manager. “I’ll throw a copy on our sky drive and look over it this afternoon. I’ll ring you tonight and let you know if there any changes. If it’s good to go, I’ll send it live yeah?”
“Sounds good,” I agree as she finishes what she’s doing and straightens from the laptop. Swinging her gaze back to me, her eyes shine brightly. “On a brighter note; me, you and maybe even Eva because I think she’d dig it, we’re gunna take up Ninjitsu or Fujitsu or whatever that shit was that Gina did. That shit was cool.”
A small smile lifts the edges of my mouth as I nod at her to agree. Although my amateur charge and ram method worked well enough, it had nowhere near the effect that Gina did with her quick as lightning maneuvers. “Agreed. Considering I attract psycho’s from all walks of life, I’m in. Some crazy quick moves, a new big-assed gun and a fully grown Pierre might mean I stand a chance against my next foe. Sign me up for whatever you find.”
“Shall do,” Emma announces as she starts heading towards the bedroom door again. “Anything else you need me to do while you’re away?” She asks as she grabs for the door handle and then looks back at me.
Looking back at my laptop, the laptop I had planned on packing up and taking with me so I could work on the ordering system for the shop during quiet moments on our trip, I frown. “After my little outburst before, I don’t think I’m going anywhere.”
“Fucking men,” Emma announces as she shrugs, opens the door and exits the room. Watching her go I let out a long, heavy sigh. What started out as a good day has now slowly shifted to a bad day. I briefly consider heading back out to the communal room to talk to Jake again but decide I’ve said enough for today. The cold look in his eyes earlier was enough to shrivel my soul and I don’t think I can take another look like that from him today. With a sick feeling in my stomach, I sit down at my desk, open my laptop and start working as I listen for the inevitable sound of Harley pipes that will herald Jake leaving.
Without me.
Chapter Thirteen
Demons
An hour later, Arianna…
Working on the ordering system for the Harley Shop is a great way to lose time. As I sit rebuilding my beloved ordering system to eclipse all ordering systems, I come to the realization that my mind is indeed a sponge and it has a remarkable ability to hold information. I realize this because I marvel at the speed at which my fingers fly across the keyboard retyping the code I once wrote for Tony. I also marvel at the speed at which the screens are rebuilding.
It is like my brain and fingers are running on muscle memory and the design of my old system sits deep within me, just waiting to pour out again. I briefly entertain the idea that this would have been so much easier if I’d just kept a back-up copy of my first system somewhere. I then discard that idea as stupid. I do this because I know that if I’d kept a copy of the Fish and Chip Ordering System, things might have gone a whole lot differently that night with Tony. So differently that I might not even be sitting here right now. Worse than being dead, I might still be trapped in my old life, submitting to Tony’s orders and barely existing.
God forbid.
Shaking thoughts of Tony and my old life from my mind I refocus on the job in front of me. I need to get this done. Mainly because I’m going to need to do something really big to get back into Jake’s good books. Clearly he’s pissed.
I know this because half an hour ago I heard the sounds of Harley pipes roaring to life out the front of the shop. A short while later I then heard the sound of Harley pipes fading into the distance as they roared away down the street and towards their destination.
Jake, who’s obviously seriously pissed at me, left without saying goodbye. Something that left me feeling so miserable I was reduced to tears. Crying at my keyboard for some time, I let my grief out silently not
wanting Emma or anyone else who was wandering the building to hear me.
At one stage during my silent crying jag I had even considered going out to the communal room to get myself a bottle of something to drown my sorrows in. This thought was swiftly erased when I remembered there were cameras on that room and that someone was bound to spot my red, teary eyes and report it to Emma. Or even worse, Jake.
That was when I decided to just get to it and keep coding. Mainly because coding is a mind numbing job that clears my mind of Jake, Victoria and my idiotic comments earlier. It’s also turned out to be a very good idea because it would appear that I’m on fire. I’ve managed to get more done in the last hour being miserable and hiding in my room than I’ve managed to get done in ages.
Which also means that my new plan is to code for the rest of the day. I can then ask Emma to take me to Holders tonight to reclaim Pierre and then I’ll continue coding as late into the night as I can. The way I figure it, at the rate I am going I could have this whole project rebuilt in just a few days. Once rebuilt, I could then have it live and populated with real shop data, ready for Jake’s customers codes for his other product when he gets back.
A good plan.
A plan that keeps me busy and will hopefully impress Jake enough on his return that he can forgive me for weighing in on a conversation I had no right to weigh in on.
A plan that could only improve with music. Music that I now have in abundance thanks to my new ITunes account on my laptop. Music that sounds even better through my headphones.
Headphones that I now realize I don’t have.
