by S Gonzalez
“Yes, he and I are very close.”
“Do Glen and Mark get along?” I don’t want to talk about Glen, but I am sure this is all very confusing to him.
“Yes, I guess so. Glen and Holly left Mark alone. It was me who they hated.”
“Why do they hate you?” That is a loaded question.
“I guess because they hate my mother and I was her daughter….I don’t know. I know they blamed my mother for their mother taking her own life.”
“Wait…I thought it was an accident? Glen told me it was an accident. She put the car it drive instead of reverse and went over the cliff. ”
“It was ruled an accident, but the car that she was driving was Paul’s car. Glens father, Paul. I overheard Paul and my mother the day of the funeral saying that she was talking crazy a few weeks before she died. Saying she was going to kill herself if Paul didn’t come back home. I think Glen overheard the conversation, too because he wasn’t far from where I was standing.” “Wow. That’s fucked up. I meant what I said Emma. If he gives you a hard time, you call me. I know Max looks after you but that was before.” I don’t take my eyes off the road but I can feel him staring at the side of my face. I chance a glimpse over at him. He seems to be searching for the right word.
“Before what?”
“Before you and me,” He says after a long pause as he grabs my hand and kisses my palm. I smile like a teenage girl who just got told her crush like, liked her.
As we approach the hotel the city traffic gets denser. There is a small crowd being held by a security guard in a black satin jacket. In front of the hotel there is a big black tour bus with ‘Lost’ written in red letters across each side. Dominic whistles through his teeth as we approach the curb for the valet to take the car away. A small group of girls yell out his name as we exit the car. Dominic gives them all a small wave as he grabs my hand and pulls me inside to take a look.
The interior has hardwood floors running the entire length of the bus. It has a small kitchen complete with eating area, a flat screen TV hanging on the wall behind where the driver sits and two black couches on either side of the walkway that leads to the back of the bus.
Under the TV, I see a video game console, DVD player, and from what I can tell, there are enough movies on the bookshelf to keep them occupied on their journey.
We walk toward the back of the bus and see 2 sets of bunk beds built into the left wall. We know there is no one on the bus yet but the privacy curtains are closed so we peek inside to see where he will be sleeping. The beds are barely roomy enough for one person.
On the other side of the hall is a bathroom, a built in closet and another TV hidden behind a door. In the back of the bus there is a bedroom with a full size bed, built in dressers, a small closet, and another TV with DVD player.
“I better claim this room before anyone else does,” He says to me as we look around.
“Yeah.”
“Ya’ know what…” Dominic grabs me from behind and pulls me onto the bed after he closes the door and locks it. “What better way to claim the room then to christen the bed. We don’t have much time though. They will be looking for me soon.”
I pull off my shorts, blue cotton shirt, and kick out of my shoes. Dominic yanks down his pants and pulls off his shirt before joining me on the bed. Sliding his hands up my thighs and testing me for readiness he sinks two fingers deep inside my melting core.
“You are soaking.” Was the last thing I heard before he replaced his fingers for his rock hard cock. With one fluid motion he is inside me, hard and fast. It is not the most romantic send off, but it serves its purpose. The sound of the city busting around us mixed with the excitement of getting caught we both get exactly what we needed from each other in only a few minutes.
Unwilling to let me out from underneath him, Dominic lays his hard body on top of mine, pressing me into the mattress while I lightly drag my nails up and down his back. Hearing the door open up front, he springs up from the bed. I quickly grab my clothes from the floor and get dressed lighting fast.
“Now every time I walk into this room, I’ll see you. Oh, that reminds me…you’ll need a new bottle of perfume.” He pulls my perfume bottle from the front pocket of his jeans and places it on the dresser. When he pulls his jeans up his legs I see red material hanging out from his back pocket. I pull on the material before he can spin around to stop me. When he sees what I have found in his pocket, he looks shy.
“You stole my underwear too? Anything else in your pockets, baby?” I am pleased that he took these things to remind him of me, but the underwear thing is weird. I really should be creeped out, but oddly enough I’m not. I actually think its kind of endearing.
“Not today, but don’t look for your white panties from the other night. I have them too.” My jaw drops open, in shock. “Don’t look at me like that. If I managed to get the ones you are wearing off the floor before you put them back on, you would be missing those too.”
“Lets go pervert,” I mock scold him as I grab his hand, pulling him out of the bedroom toward the front of the bus. He stops before we exit and turns me back around to place a soft kiss on my lips. He then takes a deep breath into my hair while holding me tight one last time.
“Lets go man, we gotta’ get on the road.” Dominic’s drummer Rocco says when we exit the hotel nearly two hours later. Dominic and I stand on the curb outside the bus trying to make each moment last; taking a mental photograph of this moment to remember in our dreams. I’m holding on to him for dear life as tears began to stream out of my eyes and drip onto his shoulder. I see Gabe out of the corner of my eye walking out of the hotel with a brown box in his hand, but I pay him no mind. I know I have to let him go, I just didn’t think it would be this hard.
“I gotta’ go, Sweetness. “ He pulls away to see my tear streaked face and immediately frowns. “Hey baby, please don’t cry. I can’t get on that bus if you’re crying. Please Emma, I will see you soon. I promise. I will find a way to see you soon.”
“OK. I’m ok. I’ll be fine. You go,” I choke back the tears and wipe my face with the back of my hands. I can’t hold him here, and I don’t want him to worry about me, but it hurts knowing I won’t see him for a long time.
“You sure?” he asks searching my face for an answer. I give him a silent nod.
“I’m sure. Go.” I knew I wouldn’t like watching him leave but I didn’t anticipate it being this hard.
Why is it so hard? I barely know him. This is crazy. I don’t act like this. Rational people don’t cry in the street when I guy they barely know leaves. But Dominic Ross isn’t just some guy. I know this doesn’t make sense but I feel as though I have known him forever. Like time never parted us.
“Call me later ok. If there is anything you need or if you just need to talk, you call me.”
I give him another nod still unable to speak.
“I hate seeing you like this but I have to go, Emma. If I don’t get on that bus now, I will never leave.” He kisses my lips and hugs me tight one last time before releasing me.
As he steps onto the bus he looks back one last time before the door close. I think I even see a tear in his eye before he slips his shades onto his face. I watch his shadow, through smoky glass, walk through the bus and disappear into the back. The bus pulls into city traffic and I don’t take my eyes off of it until it’s out of site. Once I can’t see it anymore I allow the tears to flow down my cheeks. My heart feels like someone ripped it out of my body and threw it in traffic to be trampled over.
I feel an arm around my shoulder and look up to see Gabe standing next to me; very much out of his element from the look on his face. Doubt he deals will emotional woman on daily basis, especially employees. I try in to compose myself by wiping away the tears, but I can’t stop them from leaking out of my eyes.
“It’s ok, Emma.” Gabe pulls me into his chest in an attempt to comfort me. I melt against him and breath in his scent of clean laundry and woodsy cologne.
Something about his embrace settles me. Once I gain my composure and realize I am crying on my boss’s shoulder, I pull away.
How embarrassing.
“I am sorry, Mr. Hernandez. I didn’t mean to.” I wipe my tears away, trying in vein to not look like a total mess. After his speech last night about being
professional, I show my ass and cry on his shoulder.
Embarrassing indeed.
“I am sorry. It is very unprofessional of me to act like this.”
He bends over to pick up the brown box that he must have placed on the ground. “No worries. We’ve all been there before. This is for you. Dominic asked me to give it to you once he was gone.” I take the box from his hand and hold it tight to my chest. Knowing he thought enough about me to leave something behind makes the lump in my throat grow bigger by the second.
“Thanks.” I sniff in an unladylike manner.
Gabe nods in response. “Did you drive your car here?”
I nod viciously, unable to speak without all of my emotions spilling out onto the city street. .
“I thought so. I don’t think you should drive while you are this upset. Can I drive you back? We could get some lunch first or something. I would like to talk to you and perhaps get off on a better foot before Monday.” He rambles. He is no longer the asshole he was last night. He is more friendly and a whole lot less intimidating.
I don’t feel like eating but I don’t want to drive either so I silently agree by handing Gabe the valet ticket. He flags down a young man in a red vest to fetch the car. When the car pulls up Gabe opens the passenger side door and I climb in, holding my box for dear life. I’m not at all interested in anything at that moment, except seeing what is inside. I fiddle with the flaps that keep it closed and a note slips out onto my lap.
Sweetness-
Since I stole some things that remind me of you, I think its only fair that you have some things that remind
you of me. I will think about you every minute of every day.
xoxo-Dom
Inside the box I find a yellow rose, a bottle of cologne, his nipple rings, a new Lost, t-shirt, and the shirt Dominic wore at his show last night. A huge smile splits my face in two. I am not typically a sentimental person, never was. I didn’t keep movie ticket stubs or prom corsages as mementos. No, I am not that girl. But I will treasure everything in this box. Each item in this box is a memory of him, of us.
When Gabe honks the horn at a yellow cab I am reminded I‘m not alone. This is a private box, full of personal memories I don’t want to share with the outside world. I close it up tight and drop it on the seat behind me. When I turn to view the road, I take a deep cleansing breath to rid myself of my melancholy mood.
“Anywhere in particular you would like to go for lunch,” Gabe inquires, breaking the silence that has engulfed us.
“I don’t care. Any place outside is fine. I don’t want to be inside right now.” I pull down the visor and try to make myself look somewhat presentable. Fat chance with these red rimmed eyes and flushed cheeks. Sunglasses are the best I can do at this point.
“Ok. I know a little bistro with al fresco seating. Its between lunch and dinner so I am sure it will be quiet.” He glances at me again with that same look on his face. He is a very mysterious man. I don’t think he deals with emotional people well. Its almost like he thinks I will shatter if he says the wrong thing, but doesn’t care either way.
Gabe parks the car and we walk a block to where the bistro is. It is a quaint little place in the middle of Manhattan with rooftop seating, on top of a two story restaurant. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s quiet. As we are seated Gabe pulls out my chair and its then that I compare his Jekyll and Hyde attitude in my head. By day a gentleman, by night the intimidating ass.
Kind of like a superhero.
“Thank you. Again, I am sorry for being such a wreck. I didn’t expect him leaving would be this hard. In fact I don’t know why it is this hard. We knew each other briefly a few years ago but we just reconnected 4 days ago. Anyway I am rambling, I’m sorry.” I blurt out like I am trying to make sense of it in my own head.
“No need to apologize, Emma. Like I said before, we have all been there.” His stare trails off for a second but he quickly shakes his head, as if to clear the thought from his mind.
I move the menu closer and open it on the table. My Chanel sunglasses close me off from the world. At least enough for now. I’m not hungry but I didn’t want to be rude and refuse his invitation. He is my boss after all and maybe if I focus on work, it will make the time go faster.
The waiter arrives and Gabe orders for the both of us without even consulting me. That’s weird and certainly not what I am used to, but whatever he ordered seems fine so I go with it.
“Emma, I think we both got off on the wrong foot. I am willing to keep you on my team but we need to come to some kind of an agreement if we are going to work together amicably.” He looks at me directly in the eye, sitting up straight with his hands folded in front of him. This must be Mr. CEO speaking.
Welcome back arrogant ass.
I sit quietly with my head down and shoulders slumped. His stare is intimidating and I immediately feel very small. How the hell does he do that to me? I barely know this man but he has the ability to make me feel like an errant child. I get he is older and wiser when it comes to business but he could at least not be arrogant with me, if for nothing else then because I am his bosses daughter.
“You asked me the other day if I thought Mr. Ross came up to your apartment because of what your name was. I know he didn’t I discovered his band. I saw his band play a few venues and really enjoyed not only the music they played, but the level of professionalism that they held themselves too. They didn’t hang about the clubs after to drink or hit on girls, they all got along, and they all have good heads on their shoulders. Well, Rocco is a handful but Dominic seems to have a good handle on him,” Gabe jokes. “I introduced them to a label that we often do business with, in exchange for full control over their image, PR, and promotion.”
I sit up straight and take a sip of my water.. If this is the work I am going to be doing I need to know this stuff. I need to focus and show Gabe and my father that I can handle this.
“Now here you are. Just before they go on tour. We now run the risk of the leader of the band being sidetracked from the goal we all agreed upon. I have spoken to Dominic and I agreed to let you join my team in the promotion of this project. You will work directly with me and you will assist my assistant in anything she needs. No questions asked. My assistant Stephanie has a family and travel has always an issue. But now that you’re here, I expect you to join me when I travel and be my assistant in her place. In exchange, you will be able to spend more time with Dominic while he is on the road.” He is giving me what I want? Am I hearing this correctly? The tone of voice he is speaking to me in is rude and belittling. He is starting to really piss me off.
He acts like I am someone he has to babysit in order to keep his assets in line. I want to do this because he thinks I can, not because him and Dominic came to some sort of agreement. I straighten, and mirror his image minus the intimidation. I seriously doubt I would ever be able to frighten him.
“Mr. Hernandez. I am grateful for what you are offering and I will work very hard for you and HMA. I want to be on this project because I know I can handle it. I will admit, it would be nice to see Dominic more, but if you are giving me this opportunity because he told you to; or if you think my father will make you and you are trying to pacify me, than you are not giving me enough credit. I am smart and driven. I have been taught by the best of them to grab ahold of what I want and fight for it. I will accept your offer but I want to be very clear that I expect no special treatment from you or anyone else at HMA.
I plan on taking over the company one day and I suspect you have the same goal. I will not get in your way and I don’t expect you to get in mine. I think we can work side by side with no further
issues as long as we are clear that although, maybe not right now but one day, I will be your equal. You would be wise to remember that.”
Good for you Hill. Don’t let him push you around, the little voice in side my head says. This subconscious of mine is really starting to become a cheerleader of sorts.
“Emma, I am fully aware of what your long terms plans are. I am glad to hear you are such a fighter. I wouldn’t have pegged you as such. You have a lot to learn along the way. After much thought I realized that if we will be one day working side by side, equally, it would probably be best if I got you out of bad habits now and taught you how to be a proper employee. I was also not aware, before I approached Mr. Ross, you had any intentions on asking to be on this project. It is in everyone’s best interest if Mr. Ross and the band are in tip top condition at all times. So if that means him seeing you more often makes him happy, than so be it.
Furthermore, I know you will work hard because if you care for him at all you will want him to succeed and in turn, the company succeeds. It’s a win, win, all around. However, I will warn you that if at any time your presence or your relationship seems to be a distraction, or if I feel you are acting inappropriately, I will remove you off this project and off my team permanently. Is that clear?”
“I think that’s fair. I will work hard, I promise. Thank you for the opportunity. I won’t be a distraction and I won’t get in the way. I realized last night that my dress was not acceptable for an employee to wear to an event and it will never happen again.”
Even though I am stoic on the outside I am jumping for joy on the inside. I can’t believe I have my dream job and I’ll even get to visit with Dominic.
The waiter brings out our food, I am suddenly starving. Gabe and I don’t speak much for a while.
“Mr. Hernandez, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.“ He puts his fork down and gives me his full attention.
“How long have you worked for HMA?”
“I started working for HMA when I was twentytwo. I worked my ass off to be the youngest executive ever in HMA. When I was twenty-eight your father gave me a project that could make the company a lot of money. Needless to say, I knocked it out of the park. He told me he needed someone like me to handle most of the day to day stuff so he could have more time off.”
