by Mandy Bee
“Thank you,” He tries to kiss me again, but I know it will stop the game.
“Answer my second question.”
Riker grunt in disapproval. “Paul is a chef at Kick Back and Eat. The owner is one of our clients and when she told me that her chef had up and left her hanging I told her about Paul. Not only had he graduated head of his class from the Culinary Institute of America, he also did an internship at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in New York. She hired him without even meeting him.”
“Well, damn you pimped your brother into a job.” We both laugh but it’s kind of true.
“My turn, and since you got two questions I get two questions. Tell me about your family. You seem really close to them. Have you always been close? And is it hard working with your sister?” Guess we are trading family stories.
“Yeah, my family has always been close. My parents have been married for forty-six years. They had my sister later on in the marriage. In fact, my mom thought she wasn’t able to have kids. They tried for eleven years before she had Missy. About two years later mom went to get her tubes tied but couldn’t because, surprise, she was pregnant with me.” I couldn’t help but giggle. The last few minutes all I’ve done is giggle and laugh. “Sis and I lived at home until after we graduated from college. Missy found a cute little cottage house not far from mom and dad, but I wanted an apartment. I didn’t want a yard or anything because I didn’t want to have to do the upkeep on it. My place was an amazing find. When I moved in my mom stayed with me the first week to help me get settled. I knew it was more for her benefit than for mine, so I let her do it. After a week she saw that I would be ok and went home to dad. As for working with my sister, I love it. We are best friends. The others are just like my sisters so all five us are one big happy family. Not to say we don’t argue, because we do, but we never stay mad for too long. I just hope the new people fit in as well as we hope they will. Morgan is a nice guy and did a great job while I was gone. Porsha and Gigi should be fine once they start. But you never really know until everyone is working together.”
“Wait, who is Porsha and Gigi.” Riker asks in confusion. Damn, I thought I told him about them.
“That’s an extra question,” I tease him. “But they are Heather’s cousins. They helped us out when the company first started, and we were still working out of our dorm room. They just moved back to town and asked Heather about working for us. I told her to have them come in and fill out an application. I’m also going to set up a test bracelet for each of them to see where their skill levels are. I know they can make the jewelry just fine, I have no worries there, but we need new stock and we need it fast. Right now, we are only able to keep one of each item in stock. Porsha and Gigi’s jobs would be to make items we already have for sale and make multiples of each piece. We’ll be able to market the jewelry better with more in stock and it will help us see what styles sell better.” Yet again I went rambling about my jewelry.
“Remind me to do a background check on them.”
“Excuse me?” I ask shooting straight up, looking down at him completely shocked.
“What?”
“You don’t need to do a background check on anyone.”
Riker sighs and tries to pull me back down to him but I jerk away. Climbing out of the bed I realize I’m only wearing one of his shirts. I spot my jeans on the floor and quickly slip them on.
“We’ve ran background checks on everyone around you Darcy. We don’t think anyone is involved with Bradley, but we wanted to be sure. Everyone came back clean. Hell, Greg even did one on me so that it would be in his file. The police probably ran background check on everyone around you too. It’s not because we don’t trust them, it is mainly to cross them off the list. It’s a precaution not an accusation.”
“What else have you guys done? Who else did you run checks on? God, Riker I feel like I’m being left out of all of this.” I feel so defeated. I try to hold back my tears, I’m so sick of crying right now. I’m not even really mad at him right now I just feel so left in the dark that it scares me. “I don’t like it when people hide stuff from me.” I whisper to him.
Riker slowly raises from the bed, never taking his eyes off me as he walks over to me. “We’re not hiding things from you. Greg is investigating what is going on. So are the police. I’m only being kept update because I threatened to break Greg’s neck if he didn’t keep me in the loop. Think back over the last couple of days. Each time something big came up, you were told. We talked it out, and even made plans on how to handle it.”
He’s not totally right but he is mostly right. He didn’t tell me about all the stuff he add to my apartment and office, the cameras and stuff, until afterwards. He also didn’t tell me about talking to my parents after I went to sleep. I don’t know if he would have ever told me if my mom hadn’t spilled the beans first.
But he did keep me update on the mess with who owned or didn’t own the apartment next to mine. Also, we all sat down and talked about what needed to happen once Riker and I came home from the cabin. And he did go with me to the police station to help me there. He also got me out of there and brought me home with him when I fell apart after watching that video.
“I can see your mind working. You know I’m right.” Riker cups the back of my neck in his hand but doesn’t pull me to him.
“You’re partially right, you haven’t told me everything upfront, sometimes it was after the fact or if someone else told me first, but yeah you have kept me update to on most of it.” I roll my eyes at him when he gets the biggest eat shitting grin on his face. “Don’t gloat, it’s not a good look on you.”
“Come on silly girl, lets go cook dinner. It’s late and you need to eat.” Riker leads us to the kitchen and processed to teach me out to make a chicken and rice casserole.
We kept the question game up all through dinner, but we tried to only ask easy or fun questions. We had both had enough stress for today. After dinner we watched a movie before going to bed. Riker tried his best to convince me to stay with him in his room but I’m not ready for that, I don’t think we are ready for that. He finally gave in but insisted on tucking me in. Secretly I thought it was sweet, but I didn’t let him know that. Sleep came easier than I thought it would. Maybe it was because I knew Riker was just down the hall. Maybe it was because I was worn out from the hellish day I had just had. Either way I feel into a deep peaceful sleep, were I dreamed of Riker and only Riker.
Chapter Thirteen
Unlocking the door to my office I sigh happily as I walk in. Hearing Demon try to hide his laughter has me rolling my eyes. He tells me multiple times a day that I sigh too much. We playfully fight over it, but I know it doesn’t really bother him.
Demon has become like a brother to me, and to the girls as well. He’s now been my bodyguard for six weeks. None of us thought it would take the police this long to catch Bradley. It’s not like he has gone away or anything. I’ve received two more notes and a freaking fruit basket. The notes didn’t come with phone numbers this time, instead they came with website links.
Each note was taken straight to Erik’s office. He let me see what the first web link was but not the second. The first one was another video from Bradley. This time he was inside a cabin, a run down old nasty looking cabin. The video was only a couple minutes long, but all Bradley did was ramble on and on about how good our time together was. It made me sick to my stomach to hear him talk about all of that.
When Erik wouldn’t let me see what the second web link was I knew it had to be bad. I know Greg saw whatever it was because he told Riker he didn’t need to see it.
Things with Riker are good right now. Our relationship has gotten a lot stronger these last six weeks. We agreed to take things slow, take time to get to know each other better before jumping into anything too fast. I’m still staying with him, but we are still sleeping in different rooms. Other than living together we are trying to be a normal couple in the beginning stages of dating. We try to go o
ut to eat at least twice a week. It’s a little different for us since we usually have to bring one of the bodyguards with us. Demon is my main guard, but no one can work twenty-four/seven, so Greg asked my cousin Steve to help when Demon couldn’t be with us.
Now you tell me, does taking your cousin along on a romantic date with your boyfriend sound fun to you? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Riker has been cool about it but I can tell it’s a little weird for him too.
On the nights we stay in we don’t need a guard. Riker has a security system that the White House would be jealous of. So many codes, locks, and buttons. I’ve set it off too many times to count. I hate that thing.
No one was surprised when I gave up my apartment two weeks ago. Staying there again just wasn’t going to happen. Mr. Jinks was really nice about everything. He let me out of my lease early and even gave me back my security deposit when he didn’t have too.
Most of my things went into storage but I did move some of my stuff into my room at Riker’s place. It took us two days to pack up everything and only one day to move it all. On moving day, I was surprised to see Luke, Brice, and Dean show up to help. It was awkward at first, but I found out they, just like Riker, had really changed since high school.
“Darcy?” Luke called my name as I was heading back to the bedroom to get the last two boxes from in there.
Turning around I see him walking towards me. When he first showed up today I was worried about what would happen, but he has been really nice. I was wrong to judge him, and all the others. People can change.
“Whatcha need Luke?” I ask him.
“I wanted to talk to you for a minute.” He looks behind him, causing me to do the same. I see Brice, Dean, Heather, Missy, and my mother picking up more boxes from the living room. “Alone, please?” Luke whispers quietly to me.
I nod towards the bedroom. He follows me inside and shuts the door. I don’t feel scared of Luke but I’m not sure I’m really comfortable being alone with him for too long.
“I want to apologize.” He says as he walks over to the window.
“What for?” I ask him. He wants to apologize? Wow, that’s something I never dreamed of happening.
“For a lot of things.” He sighs as he turns to face me. “For school, for hurting you with my words, for thinking I was better than you, for saying shit about you……for everything.” I see the regret in his eyes and it really touches me. “Also, for what happened at Cali’s. Yeah, I was drunk, but I shouldn’t have said what I did. Riker should have beat my ass that night.” Luke laughs, and I can’t help but giggle.
“He wanted too.” I tell him. “But he said he didn’t want to leave me.”
Luke’s face turns serious. “You’re good for him Darcy. I’ve never seen my friend so happy. I am truly sorry for everything I’ve done to you.”
“Thank you.” I walk over and give him a big hug. It startled him at first, but he hugged me back after that.
Luke helped me with the last boxes in the bedroom and the rest of the day went by pretty nicely. I told Riker later that night what Luke had said, and you could see the relief on his face. I know he had been worried about me getting along with friends but there’s nothing to worry about. I think it will take some time, but I really do believe we will all be good friends.
James was the only friend who didn’t show up to help that day. Riker hasn’t spoken to him since Greg told us about James buying the apartment next to mine. Even though Bradley lied to James, and even threaten his family, Riker hasn’t been able to forgive James for not coming to him and telling him what was going on.
I shake off the thought of James as I walk into my back office. Seeing the empty second desk makes me a little sad. Morgan quit on us about a week after Riker and I returned from his cabin. He claimed his brother wanted him to go back to work for him, but I think the craziness of what was going on here had more to do with his leaving us. Luckily when Porsha and Gigi started Gigi split the computer work with me. She has a BA in business management so handing over the books to her was fine by me. I still helped with the payroll and do all the ordering, but she took a lot off my plate.
Seeing a box on my desk has me stopping dead in my tracks. That wasn’t there last night when I left.
“Demon!” Half a second later Demon is standing next to me.
“What’s wrong?”
I point to the box. “That wasn’t there last night.”
“Got a problem, a box is on Darcy’s desk, she says it wasn’t here last night.” Demon is already on his phone.
All I can do is stare at the box. It’s a plan brown box. About the size of a book. From where I am I can’t see any writing on it. In a normal world if someone walked into their office to see a package laying on their desk they would just think someone dropped it off while they were gone. In my crazy world it could mean a psycho killer has been here and has left me something.
“Darcy?” I hear my sister call from the front office.
Demon gently pushes towards the door while he’s still on his phone, probably talking to Greg.
“Don’t get to comfortable.” I say as I walk back into the main office seeing that all the girls are there, even Porsha and Gigi who usually only work in the afternoons three to four days a week. We were gonna have a staff meeting this morning, but I don’t see that happening now. “I don’t know if we are gonna be staying here today. There was box on my desk this morning that wasn’t there last night. Did one of y’all leave it there?”
Everyone denies leaving the box there or even knowing about the box.
“Did you ask the cleaning lady?” Porsha asks as she makes a cup of coffee.
“What cleaning lady?” Missy asks before I can.
“The one who came in early last night. She said she usually doesn’t start cleaning the building until well after midnight, but she wanted to get an early start because the yoga studio’s floors needed waxing.” Porsha explains.
“Porsha, honey we don’t have a cleaning lady.” Heather tells her cousin. Porsha looks confused until it hits her that the so-called cleaning lady probably wasn’t who she said she was.
“Oh my God!” She squeals. “I’m so sorry Darcy! Oh my God! She looked like a cleaning lady, she had a bucket and supplies and everything. She even knew the code to the door. She was surprised to see me here, she said she hadn’t been told about any new workers. She said that she only liked to come when the offices were empty. She said she knew that once your car was gone Darcy, that no one would be here. I’m so sorry Darcy.” Porsha starts sobbing. We all go to her, hug her, and reassure her that it wasn’t her fault.
“Do you think you can describe this lady?” Demon asks from behind us. He must have come out when he heard Porsha squeal.
“Yes,” Porsha nods. “She was average height, white, dark eyes and dark black hair that was twisted up in a bun. Um, she had on jeans, a white t-shirt, and she had a black backpack. Other than the cleaning supplies that’s all she had with her.” I can tell Porsha is trying her best to remember everything and anything about this woman.
Demon’s phone buzzes. He reads the text that just came in then looks over at me. “Greg wants all of us down at his office right now.”
“What about the box?” Tonya asks.
“Erik is on his way to deal with that.” Demon answers her as he moves us towards the door.
None of us fight him. It would be pointless to even try. We just grab our bags and head for the door. Demon makes sure everyone knows where Greg’s office is before he all but shoves me into his truck and pulls out of the parking lot.
Greg’s office is on the other side of town so it’s gonna take at least twenty minutes for all of us to get there. I call Riker to let him know what was going on. To no surprise to me he already knows and is on his way to meet us.
Riker, Greg, and Steve are all outside waiting for us when we pull in. Before I can even get my seatbelt undone Riker has my door open. The worried look on his face scares
me.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” I reach for him, letting him lift me out of Demon’s truck.
“Greg will explain when we get inside. I just needed to see with my own eyes that you were ok.” He kisses my forehead before lowering me to the ground.
I let him lead us into Greg’s office. Greg’s office building used to be a regular house. He converted it into an office about a year ago. Greg kept the full kitchen and one of the bedrooms the same so if he needed to stay here he could. Everything else was converted into offices, meeting rooms, or storage rooms.
The sun room on the back of the house is the best part of this place. Greg says it’s one of the meeting rooms but it’s really a man cave. It has three large sofas, four over stuffed chairs, a giant flat screen TV, and a small bar in the far-left corner. It’s the room that can hold the most people, so I knew that’s where we would all be going.
Riker pulled me down on his lap after taking a seat in one of the chairs. Greg waits for everyone to get settled before starting.
“I’m waiting to hear from Erik about the package left on Darcy’s desk. He texted me a minute ago and said that they are there now, and we should know something soon. Demon filled me in when he got here about the cleaning lady. Porsha,” Greg looks over at her. “I understand you are the only one who saw her, right?”
Porsha nods. “Yes, and I swear I didn’t know she wasn’t a real cleaning lady. I’m usually never alone at the office but I had gotten behind on two of my projects and wanted to finish them before I went home.” She glances over at me. “I’m really am sorry Darcy.”
“No one is blaming you Porsha.” I tell her calmly. “Just tell Greg everything he needs to know.”
“Erik is sending over a sketch artist, I’ll need you to work with them to see if we can find this woman.” Greg tell Porsha. “But for right now we need to deal with something else. I pulled the security footage from last night and there’s a problem. You know we setup new cameras in your office and the hallway, so we should have seen who this woman was. But when we looked at the feed we couldn’t get a clear picture of her face. It’s like she knew where not to look. We don’t know how she would know that but somehow she did.”
