by Shaw, Vicki
“Hello. Miss Wilson has an appointment with Mr. Miller.” He smiles at the woman behind the desk.
“Yes, Mr. Bolt and Mr. Miller are expecting you. If you can, just follow me.” She makes her way from behind the desk. My first impression of her was not far off. Not only is her face gorgeous but her whole body is as well. Long slim legs, slim waist, long brown hair and a firm arse that is hugged by her very short black skirt. Her attractive appearance has not been lost on Steve. I elbow him in the ribs as we walk down the hall.
“What” he whispers while rubbing where I elbowed him. I glare at him shaking my head. He is not helping his case if he does want to get back together. Not that that is ever going to happen. There is too much betrayal for me to forgive him and move past it.
We reach the door for meeting room 6. The woman leading knocks on the door and opens it announcing we are here. From where we are, I hear a deep male voice telling her to send me in.
Steve places his hand at the small of my back softly pushing me forward when I hesitated. I do not want to go in there. However, I know it is the only way I am going to find out what is going on. I take a deep calming breath, glance up at Steve and walk in.
I have never seen the two gentlemen that are sitting at the long table before. They both rise as we walk in. The older man has grey hair, and I guess it must be Mr. Miller.
“You must be Ms. Wilson,” He says as he extends his hand for me to shake. After shaking my hand, he looks at Steve.
“And you are?” he asks as he extends his hand towards Steve. Steve takes his hand in a firm hold.
“Steven Cross. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Miller, is it?”
“Yes and this is Martin Bolt,” He replies nodding towards Mr. Bolt.
For the first time since entering the room, I really look at Mr. Bolt. He is one very attractive male. I do not get a chance to study him as closely as I would like because to shake his hand Steve steps in front of me.
“Hi, Steven Cross. Roxie’s boyfriend.” I give Steve a hard look to let him know I am not happy, but it does not seem to bother him. The nerve of him. How dare he walk in here and make out that we are in a relationship. I do not understand how he can’t see why we are not together and why we will never be together again. He had his chance to be my boyfriend. He also had the chance to show that he cared enough to take control in situations that are stressful for me.
Mr. Bolt turns his attention to me giving me a look as if he saw the death look I gave Steve.
“Ms. Wilson pleased to meet you,” He said as he shook my hand. The minute our hands touched, I felt something. My eyes meet his and I knew he felt it as well. I quickly pulled my hand away.
“I don’t know you were going to be here Mr. Bolt. I was under the impression that it was only going to be Mr. Miller.” I am sure I sounded very rude, but I did not care. He had no right to be here. Mr. Miller cleared his throat.
“How about we all sit down so I can explain what is going on Ms. Wilson.” He pulls out a chair for me and indicates for me to have a seat. Steve pulls out the chair next to me and sits while Mr. Bolt walks around the other side of the table and sits opposite to me. As Mr. Miller walks around to sit next to Mr. Bolt, he asks. “Would anyone like anything to drink? Tea, coffee, water?”
“Mr. Miller I really just want to get this over with and find out why I’m here and why Mr. Bolt is here,” I say with a hard tone to my voice.
“Yes, I’m sorry I’m sure this is very upsetting for you. Mr. Bolt is here because when my office contacted Bolt Enterprises to find out if they would fight a claim Bolt Enterprises insisted that he be in on this first meeting. Mr. Bolt was not who I was expecting either. Apparently the gentleman who was meant to be here was unable to make it.”
“I’m still not sure what you mean when you say I have a claim. It took years to get the first one finished because Bolt Enterprises blocked us at every turn.” I could not keep the hurt out of my voice. It was a long fight and by the time it was over Dad did not have much time left.
“I didn’t work on your father's claim. However, one of my partners did. He has retired now and asked me to take this on. I know how hard the first case was after I read all the case notes. That’s why I wanted to find out where Bolt Enterprises stand with this claim before we even start so you are prepared if it’s going to be the same as the last claim.”
I gave Mr. Bolt a pointed look. “Well, what is YOUR stand on it? Is it something that I should even bother with or are you going to fight me every step of the way?”
“I’m sorry for what you have been through, but I’m not going to lie. At this stage, we would only be prepared to offer you a very small payout. You have to understand that if we paid for every claim that was made we would be out of business.”
“I understand alright Mr. Bolt. I understand that you don’t give a fuck about your employees, or their family’s all you care about is the bottom line and your profits.” Steve reaches for my hand under the table to offer some support, but I snatched my hand away. He did not support me the first time, so I do not want his support this time.
“Now hold on a minute, Ms. Wilson. Do you know how many people work for this company? Alternatively, how many charities we support? We offer the best health plans to our employees and their families so don’t you dare say we don’t care.” Mr. Bolt is getting just as mad as I am at this point, but I am now past mad. I am sure I have steam coming out of my ears.
I stand up knocking the chair flying backwards with my knees. “Mr. Bolt I think we are finished here. Mr. Miller, please do whatever you need to, to start my claim. If you need anything, please give me a call. Goodbye, Mr. Bolt. I’m sure I will see you in court.”
Mr. Miller is shaking his head trying to puzzle out what just happened. Scratching his head, he says. “Ok, Ms. Wilson I will be in touch.” I make my way to the door and turn around to Steve. “Are you coming?” I hiss at him.
“Yes, I’m coming,” He says as he stands. I do not think he knows what happen. In truth, I do not think I do either. I do not know what made me so mad. There is something about Mr. Bolt that just rubs me the wrong way.
I do not wait for Steve to catch up. When I reach the double glass doors, I feel a hand on my arm pulling me back. I spin around about to yell at Steve for stopping me but as I look into the eyes of the person who is holding me I realise that they aren’t Steve’s eyes but Mr. Bolts golden ones.
I try to yank my arm free, but his grip is too tight. “Let go of my arm, Mr. Bolt. I have nothing left to say to you”. The way he is looking at me makes my blood boil. I do not know what this feeling is but it is making me very uncomfortable. We stand there just looking into each other’s eyes. It could have been minutes or just seconds that passes before I hear Steve come up beside me.
“Come on Roxie. I will take you home. Good day, Mr. Bolt, Mr. Miller.” Bolt holds on for a few seconds longer before letting go. As soon as he releases my arm, I feel like I have lost something, all the warmth left my body as soon as his hand did. I look down at my arm as if it is a foreign object. I break out of my gaze when Steve puts his hand on the small of my back and opens the glass doors for me to pass, though. As soon as we are in the lift he asks, “What was all that about?” Blinking at him as if did not understand the question, I answer.
“What was what all about?” I do not know if he was talking about what happened in the meeting room or the reception area. I am hoping he did not feel a thing, for lack of a better word, that passed between Bolt and me.
“You, in the meeting room. I have never seen you be so rude before. I understand this is hard for you; did you have to act like that? You didn’t even give Bolt a chance to talk before you ripped his head off and stormed off.”
I pull away to face him so he can see the anger and hurt on my face. “You have no idea what the hell you are talking about. You were not there the last time. They dug up every little thing on Dad so that they did not have to pay him anything. They should have
paid him at least a million dollars, but they got away with only paying a quarter of that. They do not care that Dad worked for them since the day he left school and that his life was over. It is just lucky Dad was good with money and had savings that helped us out. By the time Dad had died and I paid all his medical bills there was not much left. It is not even about the money it is about the fact that I have lost my father. He will never walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. Never see his grandkids. It is not fair, and they should have to pay. I know that will never bring Dad back, but maybe it might make them think twice before treating people like that again.” I did not realise there were tears running down my face until Steve wiped them away with his thumbs.
“I’m sorry, I know I screwed up not supporting you before, but I want to now. I know I have a lot of work to do to build your trust again but please let me in. Move back home so I can help you. You do not have to go back to work if you do not want to. I will support both of us.” He is looking at me with his soft blue eyes.
The lift pings, and the doors open. We walk in an awkward silence to the car. I keep going over what Steve said in the lift. We were good together and right now, I do need all the support I can get. I just do not know if it is too late. I do not feel the same way towards him anymore. My head is divided. In some ways, it makes sense to move back with him. I get the feeling he would try to make things right. I do care for him but I am nowhere near in love with him. What happens the next time all my attention isn’t wholly on him? What happens if we have kids and they take some of my attention from him?
We are a few streets away from Carly’s house when he breaks the silence. “Please talk to me Rox. Please let me in.” I just continue to look out my window at the houses passing by. I let out a defeated breath. “I can’t just yet Steve. I need time. I need to work out what is going on in my head. That is why I left in the first place. I do not know what I want or where I want to be. I don’t want to give you false hope thinking we are going to get back together.”
“Damn, it Rox, why do you have to be so stubborn. You always push people away when they want to help you. I love you so much Rox. Please let me in. Let me help you.” He is getting angry but I am getting just as pissed off. “Do you ever wonder why I push people away? The only person who has been there for me through everything was Carly. SHE was the one who came to doctors appointments for Dad. SHE was the one I cried to when I was exhausted working and looking after Dad and just wanted to give up. SHE was the one who rang me every day just to check to see if Dad or I needed anything. Carly, not you. All you cared about was that I wasn’t around to do things with you and that your life was disrupted. Dad was the only blood family I had left. YOU are the one that made me choose between you and Dad so don’t you dare try and say I’m the one pushing you away.” Just then, we pulled up out the front of Carly’s. As soon as the car stopped, I jumped out and ran for the door.
“Roxie wait. Don’t run from me please.” Steve was out the car running after me. I throw open the door and slammed it shut. I did not stop I just kept running to my room. I could hear Carly yelling after me.
“Roxie, what happened are you alright?” I heard the door open and slam shut again.
“What the hell are you doing here and what have you done to her this time?” Carly’s voice echoed through the house. Carly may be small but she is one person you do not piss off and unfortunately for Steve he has upset me, so he has pissed her off. I feel a little sorry for him because he did not do anything wrong. I am just not ready to deal with everything just yet.
I lie on my tummy with my face in my pillow sobbing. I can hear raised voices downstairs, but I cannot make out what is being said. I should go down there to save Steve from Carly but I am too upset, and there is too much going on in my head. Moreover, I do not want to face Steve right now. I do not know what to say to him.
I hear the front door close and footsteps coming up the stairs. Carly softly knocks on my door as she opens it. “Are you asleep?” She asks softly as she makes her way over to me.
“No, I’m still awake.” I sob out. Carly rubs my back to try and soothe me. I feel the side of the bed dip as she sits down next to me.
“Are you ok? Steve told me what happened at the meeting. Didn’t go so well huh?”
“I don’t know what came over me, Carly. As soon as I walked in there and saw Mr. Martin Bolt, I just lost it. There is just something about him and when he touched me, something happened. I do not know what is wrong with me I felt something. I do not know if it was just because I was so upset but when he let my arm go, I felt cold. Then Steve wanting me to move back with him and telling me he still loves me. I just cracked.” I start sobbing again, and Carly moves me to sit up. She wraps her arms around me and holds me until the sobs slow down.
“It’s ok for you to feel confused. You have been through so much, You came here to get your head straight before you take off on you big adventure. I told Steve to back the fuck off and give you some room. He agreed, but I do not know how long he will stay away for. He left here with his tail between his legs.” I have to laugh at that. I bet he was feeling like crap by the time Carly was through with him.
“It wasn’t so much him that got me upset. I think everything just got to me. I just need to work out what’s in my head.”
“I have the perfect way to help you forget your troubles. Max is downstairs and wants to take us both out for dinner then to the club.” She is practically jumping up and down next to me with excitement. We have not been out together in like forever. I do not want to go out, but maybe it is what I need to take my mind off everything.
“Ok, but I don’t want it to be a late night.” Knowing Carly, we will not be home until the sun is coming up.
She jumped up and ran to the stairs yelling. “Max she’s coming so make yourself at home we will be down in about an hour.” I can hear Max chuckling to himself downstairs and saying, “Yeah I’ll believe that when it happens.” Obviously, he knows Carly better than just as her boss. Carly grabs my hand and pulls be into her room. She walks over to the dressing room and opens the door pulling me with her. I stop dead in my tracks. “WOW Carls I thought you had some clothes before but this is just ridiculous. How many clothes can one person wear?” I am looking around at all her clothes shoes and accessories, and I cannot believe just how much is here.
“One of the perks of the job,” She said with a shrug and a wink.
“Is it a perk of the job or a perk of you fucking your boss?” I ask while I am still looking at all the stuff she has in this room. In reply, she just winks and laughs.
“Don’t think this conversation is over because I can ensure you right now we will be having it, and sooner rather than later.” With that, she pulls a dress out and hands it to me. “You sssooo have to wear this. You will look awesome.” I reluctantly take it from her. I do not know how she could call it a dress. The whole thing just about fits in my hand.
“Go have a shower and put that on. When you are finished, I will do your hair and make -up. Chop chop.” She said as she is pushing me out the door.
I quickly jump in the shower. I am slowly starting to look forward to going out. Maybe it is just what I need right now, a few drinks to relax and forget for just one night. I am towel drying my hair when Carly walks in. “Are you ready for your makeover?” Carly asks excitedly. I cannot help but get swept up in Carly’s excitement.
Thirty minutes later, she walks me to the full-length mirror. The person looking back cannot be me. The person looking back is hot, sexy even. The red and black dress might be a little short compared to what I would normally wear and be missing most of the back, but it hugs all the right places. She has piled my hair up on top of my head and let a few bits fall down around my face and down my back. I do not wear much makeup most days but the way Carly has made my eyes pop with the smoky look, pink blush to bring my cheeks and red lippy that plump up my lips completes the look.
“I have a problem,” I say as
I look down at my feet.
“What problem could you possibly have? You look sexy as fuck. Every male in the club is going to be fighting over you.”
“I don’t have any shoes to go with this dress.” Next thing I know she is running back to the dressing room and comes back with a pair of five-inch black high heels that lace up the front to my ankle.
“Thank God we are both the same size in clothes and shoes,” she says as she hands me the shoes. I take the shoes while I look at them.
“I will break my ankle if I wear these,” I complain. However, she gives me her look that says not to mess with her so I walk over to the chair next to the window to put them on. It takes me a few laps around her room for me to get used to the height and be able to walk, so it does not look like I have a stick shoved up my ass.
“Let’s get this party started” She is yet again pulling me by my hand towards the stairs. As we reach the bottom, Max stands up and whistles. “I’m the luckiest man on the planet to be able to take two stunning women out to dinner.” He comes over and gives Carly a long slow kiss on the lips then comes and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. I look at Carly with a raised eyebrow. She just smirks back at me and turns on her heel. “Come on let’s get out of here. The sooner we leave the sooner I can get a drink.” Max and I just look at each other and smile.
We walk into the restaurant and are seated at a table along the sidewall. I look around to take in the décor around me. The room is dimly lit with candles that are hanging on the walls and on all the tables. The whole place has a red and black theme. Off to the right, there is a set of stairs. The waiter comes over for our drink order and Max orders the most expensive champagne on the menu. “This place is very nice. Where do the stairs go? It seems a lot of people want to be up there.” I say as I point to them.
“Don’t worry we will go up after we have dinner. It’s the nightclub I was telling you about.” Just as Carly finishes, the waiter is at Max’s side pouring our drinks.
