Something hit me just then; Chyna never let the dishes pile up. She was forever cleaning and straightening up something. The fact that she put the plate in the sink without washing it meant something was wrong. I told myself I had to remember to call Aunt Nan today for a local doctor.
I made it to the office downtown forty-eight minutes later. The office was nowhere near the size of the Seattle office, but it still had the coffee company feel. I told the receptionist who I was, and she told me to have a seat and that Monique would be with me shortly. A few minutes later, a tall, slender woman with a long ponytail approached me.
“Cricket?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Monique. I will show you your office and department.”
I followed her and wondered what D’Artagnan had done. Why in the world was Monique about to show me MY department? Oh, D’Artagnan what have you done, you too-sweet-for-your-own-good man.
Monique took me to the elevators, and we went up three floors. Out of the elevator, we took a right. The glass doors read, Special Operations, and there was a security guard at the desk that had to buzz us in. The department seemed well-secured, and I was very pleased. Monique gave me the grand tour of the department. There were five standard offices and one main corner office, a conference room, a break room with kitchen supplies, and restrooms. The entire department was fully furnished and freshly painted.
“If you need anything or would like for something to be changed, just let me know. We did the best we could in the time frame we had.”
I nodded and thought, as soon as I had a good second, I was going to call D’Artagnan.
Monique handed me iPhones and five American Express cards and told me they were all activated and ready to go. She gave me her number and left me with the security guard. I turned to the small-framed, female guard.
“I’m Cricket,” I said, sliding my hand out to shake hers.
“I’m Lokey.” I tilted my head to the side and she smiled. “Well, it’s Low Anna Key, but everyone calls me Lokey.”
“I like it. Now do you work for the company or are you with a private security team?”
“The company; I’ve been securing this building for six years now.”
“What don’t you like about your job?”
“The uniform and I would like more responsibility.”
“What would you like to do here?”
“Oh, I don’t know; something besides carrying this flashlight and wearing this uniform.”
“Do you have business clothes?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, wear them tomorrow and every day after that. You’ll be the Special Operation’s new personal assistant.”
I gave her a nod and a smile as I walked away from her desk.
“Um, excuse me, Cricket…but I don’t know how to do that job.”
“Can you answer the phone, transfer calls, screen and buzz people in, order food, and lockup in the evenings?”
“Yes.”
“Well, alright then, there you go.”
I turned around went into the corner office and called D’Artagnan at once. The phone rang three times and then he answered.
“This is D’Artagnan.”
“Mr. Crain, you have completely out done yourself,” I told him, smiling wide into the phone.
“Oh, Ms. Hooper…you like?”
“Yes, very much; and you didn’t have to do all of this. Thank you, D’Artagnan.”
“Dinner this weekend?”
“But of course,” I told him playfully.
“You will need to hire your own staff. And I do have another present for you.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll see in about twenty minutes. I’ll see you in a few days, and I do not expect to hear from you again unless it’s an emergency. You know what to do inside and out, and this is your crew, not mine.”
D’Artagnan hung up on me. I felt a ping in my chest and then I sat back in the chair and tried to take it all in. About ten minutes later, Lokey buzzed me and said someone was at the front door. I walked up toward the reception area and saw the figure at the door; I immediately froze. He grinned, and I smiled right back and sighed.
“Let him in,” I said with a smile at Lokey. She buzzed the visitor in, and he came straight to me and pulled me in a warm embrace. Dax looked amazing. I had never seen him outside of his white dress shirt and black slacks he wore at the restaurant; but he cleaned up very well. He wore a black suit with a powder-blue shirt and matching tie. I knew instantly who his mentor was. He looked like a thinner and much paler version of D’Artagnan. When I called D’Artagnan to ask him to help Dax, I knew he’d come through. From the looks of it, he’d come through in a big way.
“I missed me some, Cricket,” Dax said, holding me in his arms.
“I tried to fix what I could.”
“You changed Kara and my life from nothing to the best. She’s from North Carolina, so Georgia is perfect for us. Thank you so much, Cricket.”
“Thank you for being a true friend.”
I introduced Dax to Lokey, and then I told him to choose an office. Dax wanted to be right next to me. I suggested he should be all the way on the other side of the office. We needed to keep the newcomers straight. Dax and I finished getting settled, and we gave Lokey a list of everything else we needed.
I told Lokey to contact O and ask her to give her a crash course of how to order supplies and that O should be her new best friend. Two hours later, we ordered Thai and sat in our brand-spanking new break room. Lokey said O really helped her in ordering the supplies and gave her a website to help with almost any and everything she may need. Dax said he had gone through several applicants, and he had five possible potentials. I asked Lokey to call the five applicants and schedule interviews for this week. We finished our lunch and got back to work.
I had so much to do and knew I would be late getting home. I called Cinnamon and let her know. She asked me how late, and I told her I would probably not make it home for dinner. The phone got quiet, and then she just hung up. I called her phone back, but she didn’t answer.
I had to research all of the state of Georgia’s territories and separate them into four sections. The state of Georgia had approximately 221 stores. I told Lokey to order a couple of dozen company logo tees and polos. I decided if we weren’t out in the field on Fridays, we could wear jeans with a logo shirt on that day. I also told her she would be working half-a-days on Friday, but would be paid for a full day. One thing I had learned over the years, is keep the main person holding the ship together happy. I knew we would all probably be out in the field a lot and that wasn’t fair to her.
At 4:00 I made Dax and Lokey go home; it was their first day and we had a lot to do that week. The office was too quiet, so I cranked up the Muzak system through the Bose office speakers and went back to work. It was 6:45 when I packed up my laptop. I locked up the office and went straight to the garage. I called Cinnamon’s phone again, but she still didn’t answer. I called Chyna’s phone, and Michael answered.
“Hello, Aunt Cricket,” he chimed through the phone.
“Hello, Michael.” I could hear Babe in the background jabbering. “Where’s your mother?”
“She told me to answer the phone.”
“Ohhh.”
They were both mad at me for not being home for dinner. Michael told me his whole entire day and night. I stopped at Publix and picked up a devil’s food double fudge cake and some Bluebell vanilla ice cream. When I pulled into the garage, Michael opened the door still holding the phone and telling me everything that had happened to him that night. Once I got out of the truck, he ran over to me, finally hanging up the phone, and he continued telling me all about his night.
As soon as I walked through the door, Cinnamon and Chyna walked straight out into the garage. They were fully dressed and neither one of them spoke to me. They got in their truck and pulled out of the garage without a glance my way. Michael stuck to
me like glue, still telling me about everything from his day. I put the cake on the counter and the ice cream in the freezer. Babe was happy to see me; when I walked over toward her, she started jumping and laughing very loudly. About an hour later, I got Michael into the tub, and then it was Babe’s bath time. I got both of the kids in bed by 9:30. I locked up and then got in the shower myself.
When I was dressed for bed, I noticed the cell phone was lit up, but I still had it on vibrate. I touched the screen; I had six missed calls from the day. The first one was Chyna telling me she was making lasagna for dinner. I knew then I had royally screwed up with her. She was making lasagna, and I didn’t even make it to dinner.
The other five calls were from him. The first one was extremely aggressive. He demanded to hear his daughter’s voice and told me he was going to kill me if one hair on her head was missing. The second and third call were the exact same. But the forth one had a different edge to it. He sounded desperate, not himself at all. Jyme cried into the phone for about a minute or so. He had just called a few minutes prior begging me to call him back asap. I called him right back expecting to get cursed out and threatened as usual.
“Cricket, I need to see her face. Please, I need to see my daughter’s face.”
I walked over to Babe’s bed and snapped five pictures right then and forwarded them to his phone. He got them instantly and immediately started crying in my ear.
“I miss her so much, Cricket. I miss my baby so much. Cricket, please…you can’t do this to me. I’ve only known her for a little while; you’ve kept her away from me for so long. She’s my daughter too; you’re not being fair.”
I just sat there on the phone not saying a word to him.
“Cricket, I love her so much. We made a beautiful daughter together.”
“I gotta go.”
“Can I just listen to her breathe? You could just sit the phone next to her, and I could listen to her sleep.”
I thought about that for a minute. I knew the phone couldn’t be traced and I didn’t mind doing this for him. He really missed her, and this was the only way he could spend time with her.
“Alright.”
I set the phone right next to her and went to lie down on my bed. This was breaking my heart in two. I didn’t want to keep Babe from her father; but Jyme was all fucked up now. He wanted to protect her, but he didn’t know how. This was my subject of expertise; I’d been running all of my life. I ended up falling asleep.
A few hours later, I heard Chyna and Cinnamon come through the door. I got up and shut my bedroom door. I went back over to Babe’s bed, and the phone was still in use. The battery was on its last bar.
“Jyme, the phone is about to go dead.”
“Thank you, Cricket.”
I let the phone linger for a minute before I hung it up. My thoughts of him right now were not safe. I wanted all three of us to be together, but that dream was long gone now.
It was Thursday morning, and the girls still weren’t speaking to me. I left a note on the refrigerator for Chyna and Cinnamon. I explained to them that I wanted to take the kids to the beach this weekend and that they could make plans to do whatever they liked.
I was excited about work today. D’Artagnan would be there, and the first round of the interviews started today. Lokey greeted us that morning wearing a very sharp black and pink pinstriped suit with hot pink heels to match. She looked so much better outside of that uniform. I could tell she felt better about herself, and she had a different air about her now. She looked good.
I was helping Lokey with the phone system when the front door rang. We both looked up, and there he stood, my tall, dark, and handsome hero.
“Well, hello,” Lokey said in a sultry voice.
“That’s our boss,” I told her in a whisper.
“Oh, GOD!”
“No, that’s not his name, it’s D’Artagnan Crain.”
Dax laughed at us and Lokey buzzed him in, and I walked straight to him. We stood there staring into each other’s eyes for a long moment. There was a pregnant silence, then Lokey cleared her throat twice and we were released ourselves from our trance.
I introduced Lokey to D’Artagnan, and they shook hands. Dax came in, and he and D’Artagnan acted as though they had been buddies for years, I was pleased. D’Artagnan set up in the conference with his laptop and a projector. We were having a staff meeting, and after that, we would start out morning interviews. We had eight applicants to interview.
The staff meeting went by fast since Dax and I knew D’Artagnan almost inside and out. He only had to really get acquainted with Lokey. Our first applicant was an Asian woman named Theory Lu. She was barely 5’4”, and she was a fierce creature. I liked her instantly, and so did Dax. She interviewed extremely well, and she had mystery shopping experience. She used to work for Neiman Marcus and Barneys. It was obvious she could hold her own, and she didn’t let her small frame hold her back. She had long, jet-black hair with the reddest lips I had ever seen in my life.
The next applicant was a black-haired gladiator. Lokey and I had to pick our jaws off of the floor when he came in. His name was Dmitri Zale, and he was at least a good 6’3’ and nothing but muscle. He had a strong personality, and his presence obviously took over a room. There was nothing but silence and even the men seemed a little on edge with asking him any questions. When Dmitri spoke, everyone listened and was completely intrigued by his presence.
After Dmitri’s interview, we broke for lunch and went to the famous Mary Mac’s Tea Room. Lokey had been telling me about this restaurant all week. We ordered Fried Green Tomatoes and Spicy Deep Fried Mud-Bugs for our appetizers. I had the Pork Barbecue with Brunswick stew, and my side dishes were Mac and cheese and a cup of Pot Likker with cracklin’ bread. We all had the Georgia Peach Cobbler. We were stuffed when we made it back to the office. I knew living in Georgia, with all of this good southern cuisine, would not be a good thing for me. We had two more interviews to go, and I was so tired already. The next applicant was trying too hard to get the job. Samantha Conner’s smile reminded me of the Joker from the Batman movies. She had long, strawberry blonde hair and tits that reached the sky. I watched D’Artagnan, and he didn’t even seem fazed by her; but Dax was a completely different story. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her and other parts of her perfectly plastic body. She had obviously had some serious work done. She may have even been a pretty woman before she let the doctors turn her into a life-sized Barbie.
Our last applicant for the day was a pudgy, curly-haired cutie pie. Oliver Renton looked like he belonged on one of those Best Buy commercials for the geek squad. He had gone to school for computer programming, but had dropped out. He told us he didn’t learn anything in school that he didn’t already know, but now he had bills he needed to pay. I think we all liked him, and I had a strong feeling that if we were to hire him he would not be working out in the field.
We worked late trying to decide the best applicants of the day. Dax was the only one who wanted Samantha; and I was the only one who wanted Dmitri since Lokey had gone home for the day. Therefore, the top two picks were Theory and Oliver. Dax went home and left D’Artagnan and me in the office. We talked and talked, and the next thing I knew it was 8:30.
“Oh, God; I have to get home. I’m already in the doghouse with my roommates.”
“Cricket, I would really like to meet her.”
“Alright.”
I knew instantly he meant Babe and not my sister Chyna. I didn’t have an issue with this. Maybe he wanted to see if she looked like me. Or maybe he wanted to see what Jyme and I had made together. Either way, I would give this to him. I knew he would fall in love with her instantly; just like everyone else did when they met her.
“When?”
“What are you doing this weekend?”
He stood still and then turned to me and said, “Spending it with you…I hope.”
I laughed and told him I would have to see. We left the building and D’A
rtagnan walked me to my truck. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the side of my mouth.
“You’re just inching closer and closer aren’t you, Mr. Crain?”
“I’m trying to wear your down, Ms. Hooper.”
I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“My name is Cristina Makael Winters.”
“Okay,” he smiled and wrapped a hand behind my neck and pulled me closer to him.
“Thank you,” he breathed into me with a slow kiss, and I kissed him back for the first time ever. I turned around and climbed into the truck.
“I like that,” he said with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“What?”
“You climbing up in that truck like that; you’re so sexy.”
“Well, what can I say, I like em big,” I told him with a wide smile.
His smile left his face, and then he seemed far away all of sudden. I watched his face and then an unpleasant memory came to mind. Over a year ago after a fun night on the town, Jyme and I were on our way up to my condo. I had a little too much to drink that evening; Jyme was trying to make sure I didn’t do anything I would regret. Well, that was until D’Artagnan stepped onto the elevator. I had my back turned toward the elevator door, I was a little too preoccupied clawing and pawing at Jyme. That moment in time was before my Juicy had received his Anaconda. Jyme was still too afraid to give me himself fully. He thought I was going to runaway screaming and never come back. But, I thought I was ready for the challenge. And with the liquid courage running through my veins then, I wanted him at full length. I remembered hearing the elevator ding, but my mind and thoughts were elsewhere, I didn’t even notice that we weren’t alone in the elevator anymore. Jyme played it up a little, knowing our almost intimate moment would scratch at our new occupant’s surface. I ended up admitting far too loudly, that Jyme’s dick was way too big for me but that we could try. Jyme ate that up and when the elevator dinged again and our occupant stepped out. I turned and saw the occupant was D’Artagnan and I was crushed. His face still haunts me, I never wanted him to hear or see me like that. I have a lot of respect for that man, and I would never want to hurt him. He wore the same face now that he did then, so long ago in that elevator. He turned from me now and walked in the opposite direction. I wanted to stop him, but I knew there was nothing I could say or do to mend his wounds now.
Wounded Love (G Street Chronicles Presents From Love to Loathe Series) Page 14
