Chapter 21
It was three-thirty on a Tuesday when Carol Broderick showed up standing in the middle of the foyer at RAW. Security let her through the front gates because she was on the approved list. Bevy forgot to take her off when she stripped Carol of her membership at RAW.
Security notified Jeremy as soon as she entered the mansion. Jeremy informed Bevy, and they both met Carol in the foyer.
“Carol, what a surprise.” Bevy walked towards Carol with outstretched arms. She grabbed Carol’s hands and leaned in to kiss her on one cheek then the other. “Good to see you again.” She lied.
Jeremy hung behind feeling suspicious of Carol’s visit. The last time they saw Carol, she was inebriated and causing trouble for Madison.
“Is it?” Carol shot back.
“You seem angry. Come into my office.” Bevy waved Carol through the door to her office while Jeremy followed behind the two women.
“Have a seat, Carol. Tell me what can I do for you today.”
Jeremy stood back as he waited to hear Carol’s excuse for showing up at RAW uninvited.
“Is he your bodyguard?” Carol nodded her head in Jeremy’s direction.
“No, actually, I recently recognized that utilizing Jeremy for only his body was a waste of his talents, so I offered him a VP position.”
“That must make Madison very happy,” Carol smirked.
Jeremy jerked his neck to one side as his muscle tightened.
“Why are you here, Carol?” Bevy decided to waste no more time. She got right to the point.
“Bevy, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting up with one of your disgruntled employees.”
Bevy cleared her throat, “A disgruntled employee? I can’t imagine who that might be.”
“Luke.” Carol straightened in her chair as she announced his name.
Jeremy’s jaw ticked as Luke’s name reverberated through his body.
“The sexual predator.” Bevy steadied herself as she spoke.
“What?” The word slapped Carol in the face. Luke never mentioned to Carol why Bevy dismissed him and at this point, she didn’t care. She extracted from him the information she needed, and now she finished with him.
“Yes, he tried to rape Madison.” Bevy scanned Carol’s face, “Oh, did he not mention that?”
“No, but that’s not what we talked about.” Carol’s tone remained flat. She was here on a mission. Her mission to ruin the woman that destroyed her.
“What did you talk about?” Bevy asked.
“Your silent partner.”
“What about my silent partner?” Bevy remained controlled.
“It’s Madison.” Carol calmly stated.
“Says who?” Bevy didn’t flinch.
Jeremy stayed back as he absorbed the situation. He shifted his eyes towards Bevy, but she remained indifferent. Bevy knew how not to take the bait.
“Luke overheard you and her talking.”
Damn it! Bevy and Madison had always been so careful about keeping their conversations private. It felt as if someone drew a mind map and shoved it in Bevy’s face. Bevy knew when Luke overheard them. It was the same moment he heard Bevy ask Madison to look for the member’s diamond earrings. That’s how Luke positioned himself alone with Madison. He must have stood outside Bevy’s open office door listening to their entire conversation, and then he preyed on it.
“Do you think Luke has inside information on who my silent partner is? And do you honestly think Madison, a successful attorney, has anything to do with my business?” Bevy was done. No more politeness, the cold hard bitch in her came out.
“It doesn’t matter if you admit that she is because if I let this story lose to the media, she’s ruined either way. It’s amazing how suspicion alone can ruin one’s reputation.”
“Carol, what the fuck do you want? And before you answer that you better be sure you know who you’re going up against.”
Carol absorbed Bevy’s vicious anger and then she subtly answered her, “I want him.” Carol pointed behind her. “I want Jeremy for a night at my house.”
“Why?”
“Because what woman wouldn’t want him and because it would destroy Madison. I know for a fact that the thought of me with Jeremy would ruin their relationship.”
“Why would you think Madison cares about any man that much?"
Carol’s evil grin spread across her face as she looked back at Jeremy. “Because Madison showed her true feelings the night she pounded on the two-way mirror when I was with Jeremy.”
Jeremy didn’t flinch. The exact night flooded his thoughts as he looked over at Bevy. How did Carol know it was Madison who pounded on the glass? The answer didn’t matter since the damage was done.
“Get the fuck out of my home, now!” Bevy stood from her desk.
Carol stood, “You let me know. I’ll sit on this information for a couple of days. I’ll wait to hear from you.”
As Carol walked out of the office, she eyed Jeremy up and down. “Let me know.” She said to Jeremy.
A night with Carol to save Madison from the stress of having to answer questions, possibly ruining her career, and throw her entire life into upheaval was a small price to pay in his mind. Observing Bevy’s seething expression, Jeremy knew she felt differently.
“You can’t consider doing that. It would destroy Madison and your relationship.” Bevy paced back and forth behind her desk.
“Bevy, what other option do we have?” Jeremy squeezed his temples with his thumb and middle finger.
“We need to tell Madison. She’ll know what to do.”
Jeremy and Bevy approached Madison when she got home from work. She hyperventilated at first, but then she calmed down. “Sleeping with her is not an option.” Madison insisted. “I’ll deal with the repercussions, but I could never live with you sleeping with her, not now. It would destroy me and our relationship.”
“So we just wait?” The thought of waking up one morning seeing Madison’s name smeared all over the news sickened Jeremy.
“Yes, we wait, but I would suggest we inform the staff and the members before they hear about in the news.” Madison looked to Bevy as she spoke. “You’ll tell them for me?”
“Yes, but you need to be there when I do.”
“Though the thought terrifies me I better get used to all the attention now.” Madison shuddered at the thought of her life changing so drastically in a split second.
“We’ll call them into a meeting first thing in the morning then I’ll send out a letter to members informing them of the news. So this time tomorrow the staff and the members will know your true identity.” Bevy said.
“Quiet down everyone. I called you all here bright and early this morning because sometime over the next few days news is going to leak out that may shock some of you.” Bevy had looked at Madison before she continued. “I don’t know if you all know this but I have a business partner and she is sitting to my left.”
There was a collective gasp in the room that Bevy ignored, “It will be all over the papers by the end of this week because it makes for a sensational story. Famous divorce attorney owns ladies sex club… Blah, blah, blah. Please ignore it, do not speak to any press, all inquiries direct to Jeremy or me, and hopefully, if we don’t make a big deal out of it, it will go away quickly.”
“Any questions?” Bevy looked around the room.
No one responded, they all looked down at their laps and glanced over at Madison but quickly looked away.
“Okay then, that was easy, dismissed!” Bevy clapped her hands together and turned and walked out of the restaurant with Jeremy and Madison following behind.
The three lingered around in the foyer. “I’m going to the office.” Madison kissed Jeremy. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Bevy walked into her office, and Jeremy stood alone staring up at the wide staircase leading up to the rooms. Michael walked out as Jeremy stood in a trance.
“You okay,” Michael asked.
J
eremy startled when Michael came up behind him, “Yeah, I just wish this would all go away. I hate seeing Madison stressed.”
“It’s not easy, but what can you do. You can’t reason with some people. I mean you could charm a snake, and you couldn’t even reason with Carol.”
Jeremy gazed out Michael like he held the golden ticket. “That’s it! Listen, Michael, I need to run some errands. I may be gone most of the day, cover for me.”
“No problem, man. Call me if you need me.”
A few hours later Bevy walked into Michael’s office. “Have you seen Jeremy?”
“He had some errands to run. He’ll be back later.”
“Did he say what kind of errands?”
“No. We were talking about Carol, and then he said he had to leave.”
“To see Carol?”
“No, he didn’t say that.”
“Michael, I’ll be gone for awhile, take care of things for me while I’m gone.”
Bevy hurried back to her office and pulled out Carol’s file. She wrote down Carol’s address on a sticky note then grabbed her keys and left. She punched Carol’s address into her GPS and drove towards the Mansion’s gates. “He better not be where I think he is.” Bevy said to herself as she pulled out and onto the road.
Carol lived in a very wealthy part of town where the houses were spread out. Bevy slowly drove down Anderson Street until she saw Carol’s house in front of her. Bevy stayed back and parked her car in front of a house two houses away from Carol’s. Bevy hated what she saw. Jeremy parked his Jeep in Carol’s driveway. “He fucking did it, Bastard.” Bevy felt sick. She threw her car in drive, made a U-turn and peeled out of the street.
Bevy marched into the bar, “Mason hand me a bottle of Jack and a shot glass, please.”
Mason didn’t ask questions. He placed the bottle on the bar with the shot glass. “I may or may not bring this back.”
“It’s all yours.” Mason nodded his head at the bottle.
“Thank you.” Bevy took the bottle and walked back to her office.
An hour later, Jeremy pulled up in front of the mansion. Bevy saw his car from her office window. He entered the foyer and Bevy called out to him.
Jeremy walked into her office and glanced at the bottle of Jack on Bevy’s desk, “Hard day?” He asked.
“It wasn’t until I went out for a little drive.”
Jeremy raised his eyebrows, “Bevy, are you okay?”
Bevy poured herself another shot and downed it. She placed the glass on her desk harder than she thought and the noise echoed through her office. “How was Carol?” She clenched down on her teeth.
“What?”
“I saw your car in Carol’s driveway. You slept with her after Madison told you it would destroy her.”
Jeremy didn’t respond. He looked around searching for a response. He inhaled through his nose then swiped his hands down his face, “It’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?” Madison asked as she entered Bevy’s office.
Jeremy dropped his arms to his side and hung his head low, “Madison, I didn’t sleep with her.”
“Then why were you at her house?”
“To talk. We just talked.”
Rage, fear, tears rose up inside Madison. “I don’t believe you. She’s not the kind of woman who talks. She wanted to ruin me, and she succeeded.”
“Madison, I swear I didn’t sleep with her.”
Bevy’s phone binged an alert. She picked it up, tapped on the screen, and looked at Madison. “Carol’s dropping the story.” She held up her cell and waved it in the air.
Madison sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t believe you!” Madison screamed. “I don’t believe you, Jeremy.” Tears started falling, and they fell fast. She looked at Bevy who slumped in her chair behind her desk then she looked at Jeremy. “I need you to leave.”
“Bevy’s office or the Mansion?” Jeremy calmly asked.
“The mansion. I need you to leave the mansion, leave RAW.”
Jeremy took his car keys from his pocket and swung them around his finger. “You’re making a mistake, Madison.”
Madison looked down at the floor as she stepped aside for Jeremy to pass. Jeremy stopped next to Madison, leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I didn’t sleep with her. I thought you trusted me.”
Madison drew her shoulder up to her ear as his breath passed over her skin. “Go, Jeremy, leave. Please.”
For the second time leaving RAW after being kicked out, Jeremy sat in his car at the gates and looked back in his rear view mirror. The first time he was here he looked back hoping to see Madison standing there. She had just professed her love for him, and he knew they’d be together. Tonight was the second time he looked back, but this time it was to say goodbye forever. Madison didn’t trust him, and she didn’t believe him, their relationship was over.
Chapter 22
“Have you called him?” Bevy asked Madison as she shuffled through the stack of invoices on her desk.
“Bevy, I’m not ready.”
“Can I call him? I miss him. I’m miserable now that I have to take care of all this shit.” Bevy grabbed a pile of invoices, lifted them in the air, and then dropped them back on her desk.
“Bevy, I’m not ready to call him.”
“I noticed he hasn’t come for his things; he must be waiting for you to call. Do you forgive him?”
“I know he didn’t sleep with her, but now I need to get my head together about what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.”
“I know he didn’t sleep with her. Even though I saw his car there, I believed him when he said they just talked. It’s so like Jeremy to bring out the best in a woman.”
“Every man should bring out the best in a woman. I’m very lucky.” Madison admitted.
“Then call him and tell him.”
“I will but not yet.”
“What are you waiting for?” Bevy organized the papers on her desk into a neat pile.
“Bevy, I’m pregnant.”
Bevy slumped back in her chair. “I thought you took birth control.”
“I did, but I got lazy. This relationship preoccupied my mind, and I’d forget to take it here and there, sometimes days at a time.”
“Is this good or bad news?” Bevy had to ask.
“I feel happy but terrified, and then I think of Jeremy, and I know how happy he’ll be, and then I feel happy, again, and all my fear subsides.”
“I’m happy for you. Let’s go out to dinner tonight. We’ll work this out.” Bevy jumped up from her chair.
“I may not be such great company.”
“Don't worry, neither will I. I think I miss him more than you.” Bevy sagged back in her seat as she snarled at the pile of papers in front of her.
“Not possible.”
Jeremy noticed her the moment she walked through the doors to the restaurant. She looked stunning, and he wanted to run up to her, take her back to their apartment and make love to her. His heart ached as he watched her stroll through the restaurant following the hostess avoiding eye contact with everyone while Bevy smiled and waved at the people she knew. She stopped to air kiss a few of the diners as she partook in small talk. Madison sat at the table alone for a few minutes while she waited for Bevy to join her.
The hostess chose a table in the farthest corner from the bar for Bevy and Madison as per Madison’s request.
“Don’t look over but he’s here,” Bevy whispered as she took her seat.
“Who here?” Madison’s heart started pounding against her chest.
“Jeremy is here, and he is sitting with a girl.”
Madison looked over at a table near the back. Jeremy stared directly at her. She quickly looked away and stared down at the table. “Oh God, Bevy, I can’t breathe. I need to get out of here, now.”
Bevy rubbed her arm attempting to console her, “Honey, it’s Jeremy, the man you love.”
“But he’s with a girl.” Madison f
elt herself slipping into a full on panic attack. She reached for her bag ready to bolt from the restaurant.
“Hello,” Jeremy stood next to their table gazing down at Madison. “Bevy, could you go over and keep my friend, Claire, company while she waits for her girlfriend to arrive.”
Madison looked up at Jeremy as Bevy stood. “Good luck you two.” Bevy squeezed Jeremy’s arm. She stood on her toes and placed a small kiss on his cheek then whispered in his ear, “It’s good to see you.”
Jeremy patted her arm then Bevy walked away.
Madison’s gaze followed Jeremy as he sat down. “She’s not your girlfriend, and she’s a lesbian.”
“The girl I’m with?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes,” Madison confirmed.
“She’s a dear friend, and yes, she is a lesbian.”
Madison felt her body relax. She folded her hands in her lap and focused on them as she spoke. “I know you didn’t sleep with Carol.”
“She told you.”
“No. I haven’t talked to Carol. I just know you didn’t sleep with her.”
“I didn’t. I went over to her house and talked to her. She’s a woman, who is in a lot of pain, and she needed someone to blame, and she needed a punching bag. You, as her ex-husband's lawyer and a woman, were an easy target and you filled both those roles.”
“Jeremy, I feel guilty doubting you for a second.”
“Madison, it’s okay. It looked bad but when I tell you to trust me and when I tell you I love you those aren’t just words. I love you, Madison, and when you hurt I hurt.”
Tears pooled in Madison’s eyes. “What do we do now?”
“We go over to where Bevy and Claire…” Jeremy turned around and glanced over at the table, “and Claire’s girlfriend are sitting and we all have dinner together, and then I’ll take you home to our apartment.”
Madison nodded as she bit down on her lip, “I missed you.”
Jeremy leaned over, slid his hand behind Madison’s neck and tilted her face closer to him. He gently placed his lips on hers. Jeremy felt Madison’s tears, “Sweetheart, I’m never letting you or Bevy kick me out of that damn mansion again.”
Raw: Book 1 Page 22
