by Nella Tyler
“I know you’re just trying to look out for me.”
“Let’s call Rebecca and see what she thinks,” Mike said as we finished our workout.
Panic set in instantly and I didn’t want Rebecca anywhere near me, or my hands. She was getting a little too much to handle in the bedroom and I needed to cool things down as soon as possible.
“Um, I think we got things figured out. The two of us can go through this human resources file I have.”
“I’d feel better if Rebecca sat in with us, I’ll text her and have her meet in your office.”
Before I could stop him, Mike had already sent something to Rebecca.
My stomach churned as I thought about how Rebecca had chomped down on my hand. Something about her had started to scare me that was for sure. At least Mike would be with me, so I should be safe for our conversation.
We made our way to my office and cleared the conference table off. When Rebecca arrived we all pulled out the research we had and put it onto the table so we could go over everything and get our facts straight.
The files I had ordered were all there, plus Rebecca’s files, and I added the human resource file I took from the warehouse. We should have had enough information to figure out what was going on, but when you are stabbing in the dark there is a lot of room to make mistakes.
We didn’t really know what we were looking for and there were so many different people who could be hurting Alicia’s company. Even if we narrowed in on Bill Yobi, we couldn’t find everything we needed to find on him to prove he was involved in something sinister.
I was overwhelmed before we even got started. I wanted to just leave the room and let Mike and Rebecca figure out what was going on. My mind just couldn’t get wrapped around all the nooks and crannies of information. If it had been stock information, I would have had no problem, but the financial information of a company that I didn’t know very well, that was overwhelming to me.
I was lucky to have both Mike and Rebecca willing to give up their day and help me get to the bottom of my research. They were both much more detail oriented than I was and could see things from a different angle than I saw things. My focus was always on the hard numbers and Mike did great at the big picture.
We all started going to through files and taking notes. Rebecca was vigorously writing and pillaging through page after page of material. I half wanted to just sit back and let her finish going through everything. She without doubt was an efficient researcher.
“Bill Yobi isn’t on any of these payroll sheets. I mean they are from a year ago and not the most current ones; but still he should be on them,” Rebecca said to break the silence.
“Well didn’t we already decide that there were probably hundreds of people not on the payroll sheets? Maybe there are other sheets?” I suggested.
“No, there can’t be other sheets. That’s illegal. They need to all be together.”
I sat still and pondered what exactly she said. If they didn’t have everyone on these payroll sheets they could make it look like there were making a lot more money than they actually were. But the thing that confused me was that they actually did have tons of money. I had seen it in the warehouse.
“I still don’t get what’s going on,” Mike said as he looked at both of us.
“It’s money laundering, Mike. That’s what’s going on here,” Rebecca said.
I didn’t know the specifics yet, but I definitely could tell they were hiding their money from people. Their books were not how they were supposed to be. Their payroll wasn’t either. Nothing about ALL Warren Clothing seemed legitimate at all. I needed to talk to Alicia. But I had no idea what I was going to say to her.
She could either be in on everything, or she could know nothing. I didn’t know which was true, but I was getting closer.
“So, guys, I need to try and get some information out of Alicia. How can I do that?” I asked them.
“You need to see how she reacts when you bring some of this up. Her reaction will be key to knowing how much she knows about it all.”
“You’re right, Rebecca. If she gets defensive then she probably knows everything. If she gets pissed off she might not know anything at all,” Mike added.
“The problem is, I don’t see how I can bring it up without totally letting the cat out of the bag. If she knows I have been investigating her and her company she’s going to be so pissed.”
All I could think about was that I actually cared about Alicia. Of course, I didn’t want to lose thousands of dollars if her company went bust. But more than that, I had something special with her that I hadn’t had with another woman in a very long time. I didn’t want to fuck that up.
Honestly, I didn’t want to fuck it up until I had fucked her at least. After weeks of dates, flirting and kissing I really needed to be with her. I had to see if our connection was just some weird flirting thing or if we actually had a real connections.
“Darla text me and invited me to a dinner party, maybe I should take Alicia. Try and throw out there some stuff I heard about Bill Yobi and see what she has to say?” I wasn’t confident at all that it was a good plan.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t go too far into things though. Maybe start with some facts you heard about the previous company they worked together at. Talk about some of the news stories you saw. See how she is reacting. It’s the past and public she shouldn’t get all that upset about it. Especially if she didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Mike was always great at thinking things through, it was one of the reasons we got along so well. He had an innate ability to bring me into focus and I loved that. We always joked that someday we would start our own investment firm, but that he would have to get 60% and me 40% because he worked more efficiently than I did.
“Sounds good, Mike, thanks,” I said as we wrapped up our review session.
I started to put the files away and noticed that Mike was getting up to leave but Rebecca was still sitting. There was no way I wanted to be left alone with her again.
“Thanks for coming to help, Rebecca, I really appreciate it,” I said in hopes of getting her going.
She just sat there.
I looked at Mike briefly as he left the room and hoped he would offer some sort of help to me, but he didn’t. He just smiled at me and then kept walking. Mike obviously didn’t understand how badly I didn’t want to be left alone with Rebecca.
Although she had behaved perfectly fine when in the room with Mike and I, I feared she wasn’t going to be so sweet if it was just the two of us. I looked to the door and then back at Rebecca. There was no way I was staying alone with her in that room. I had to figure out a way to get out of there. A way to leave without her following me and without her knowing I was purposely trying to avoid her.
“I’ll help you clean up,” Rebecca said as she moved toward me.
“Aww, that’s alright; I’ve got it. Thank you, though. I need to run and ask Mike one last thing. I’ll talk to you later.”
I ran off after Mike like a teenager avoiding a girl who liked him. It got even more obvious when I hid in Mike’s office and watched for Rebecca to leave down the hallway. I looked out his cracked door and then would close it again. I closed the blinds to the tiny window by the door and stood there and breathed heavily while I waited for Rebecca to leave my office and go back to her own desk.
“What are you doing?” Mike asked.
“I can’t be alone with her; she’s dangerous,” I said as I peered out the door.
“Oh, yeah. The sweetest woman in the office is dangerous?”
I just held up my hand and showed it to him. He hadn’t asked me what had happened to it yet; probably just assumed it was some stupid accident or something. I had been injured by women before. Sometimes while we were trying to do some fun sex move, but not typically by them purposely hurting me.
“She bit me.”
“What? Did you say she bit you?” Mike laughed.
“Yes, and it hurt.�
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“So was she mad when she bit you? What exactly was going on when this biting happened? Were you two fucking?”
I turned around and looked down at the ground like a child about to be scolded by his father. Mike knew from the look on my face that the answer was yes. I had indeed been fucking Rebecca.
“Yes.”
“Way to go Evan. Now you have flipped the nicest girl in the office into some sort of fatal attraction.”
“I don’t think it’s like that. Well, I don’t know. She said it was an accident. She bit me when my hand was over her mouth when she orgasmed.”
Mike just laughed and went back to his work. I could tell he didn’t want to hear any more of my stories. Mike had been privy to pretty much every sex story I had ever had. Not because I wanted to share them with him, but typically he asked me about things.
He had heard about the woman who tied me up and then passed out, so I was left tied up until the next morning. Mike had laughed hysterically at the woman who had convinced me to have sex in a movie theater and then we got kicked out and banned from there forever. Still to this day I am allowed back into the theater on Thirtieth Street. Mike had heard it all before and he just shook his head.
“Well now the office is going to be super uncomfortable, Evan. What happened to not sleeping with the women in the office?”
“I know, I slipped.”
He just laughed and shooed me out of his office. Nothing really surprised Mike anymore and me fucking a woman from our office certainly wasn’t going to be the thing that shocked him. He had work to do and was done being distracted by me and my troubles.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I was excited to meet Darla’s wife at the dinner party and I couldn’t stop talking about it with Alicia on our drive over.
“I just can’t wait to meet her. I’ve never met an honest and true lesbian couple that was hot before. This is exciting,” I said as we pulled up to their building.
My plan for the night was to have fun and enjoy ourselves. I hoped after a couple drinks I could slip in some conversation about Bill Yobi and see how Alicia would react. Hopefully, with some alcohol in her she would be more relaxed and willing to let go of some of her secrets.
“You do look really excited for this,” Alicia said.
She seemed in a good mood and it was nice to see her after the lunch we had the other day.
I felt like I knew so much more about her company than I did before, although I really didn’t. There were still so many missing pieces to the puzzle that I hadn’t figured out yet. The biggest of all those pieces was figuring out where Alicia fit into the puzzle. Her place in everything was going to be key.
We buzzed Darla’s apartment and were waiting for her to answer. She didn’t speak, but there was a buzz on the front door so we went inside. It was a fifth floor walk-up and I instantly didn’t want to come visit Darla ever again. How anyone would purposely live on the fifth floor of a building without an elevator was unknown to me.
“You guys coming or should I send a rescue party?” Darla said from the top of the stairs.
“Oh, he said he’s at the gym all the time. He can make it up the stairs.’
I heard Natasha’s voice and was a bit relieved. I liked that I would know at least the two of them at the party and I was excited to meet their partners.
At the top of the stairs I had to take a moment to catch my breath. Alicia, on the other hand, didn’t even seem out of breath after five flights of stairs. She was obviously in great shape.
We walked into Darla’s apartment and my mind was blown. She stood there next to a woman that looked so plain I couldn’t even figure out how the two of them were together. Her wife was beautiful, very beautiful. But she was not in the least bit outrageous like Darla was.
“Evan, this is my wife, Rosalynn,” Darla said.
I reached over to shake her hand and was mesmerized by her eyes. Rosalynn had jet black hair and pale skin, but her eyes were crystal blue. At first I thought they might be contacts, but they were just too brilliant to be anything but real.
“Hello, Rosalynn, I’m Evan and this is my girlfriend, Alicia,” I said.
The words came out of my mouth without even a thought. It was only after they had floated away from me and into the air of the room that I realized exactly what I had said. I looked over at Alicia and shrugged my shoulders in apology. Luckily she didn’t seem to care.
We all continued to exchange pleasantries and as we finished Natasha spoke up.
“This is my lover, Roberto,” she said as she turned and kissed the man who stood behind her.
I reached over and shook his hand when they were done and so did Alicia. He didn’t say anything but smiled as he shook our hands.
“Let’s get started with some wine,” Rosalynn said as she grabbed some glasses and started pouring.
“I’m all for a little alcohol,” I added.
“Me too,” Alicia said.
I moved toward Roberto as the women all took off for the table and started to get things ready. We stood their silently for a few moments and watched the women.
“Natasha is a great lady; she’s really kept me going at work for the last few years,” I said.
He just shook his head and smiled at me.
Roberto was definitely a man of very few words. I liked that.
“Can we help you ladies with anything?” I asked as we continued to watch them.
Several of the women hollered no to me, so I moved to the couch to have a seat. Roberto followed shortly behind me.
Again we stayed silent and waited for the ladies to call us into the other room.
“I called Alicia my girlfriend, but really we have just been on a few dates. Do you think she’s going to flip out about it?”
Roberto just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me. Again, he didn’t speak.
“He doesn’t speak English, Evan,” Natasha said as she came into the room.
“What? Nothing?” I asked.
“Nope, he’s from Italy. He’s a model. I met him while he was doing a shoot here. I love it. We communicate with body language alone.”
It seemed like it would be really hard to have a relationship with someone if you couldn’t talk to them. But I watched as Natasha straddled Roberto and kissed his neck. She got up and pulled him up with her and then hollered back at me.
“Come eat.”
I followed them into the dining area and found my seat near Alicia. She had just poured herself a second glass of wine and I couldn’t help but be a little happy about it. Hopefully she would get just tipsy enough that she would spill the beans about what was going on with her company.
As dinner continued on, I tried not to just sit and talk with Alicia, although that was what I really wanted to be doing. Instead, I made an effort to talk with both Rosalynn and even Roberto. Although Roberto didn’t speak English, I was able to communicate a little bit with him through facial expressions and head shakes. He seemed like a pretty cool guy to have agreed to come to a dinner party when he didn’t speak the same language as anyone in the room.
Darla and Rosalynn cleared the table and Natasha instantly started to make-out with Roberto. It got a little uncomfortable when Alicia and I weren’t making out.
“I heard Bill Yobi was partially responsible for you first business failing. Some guys at work were talking about it.”
I don’t know why I blurted it out like that and it wasn’t something I had intended to do. I saw the look of agitation on Alicia’s face the second I brought up Bill’s name.
“Yes, we talked about this before. People think he had something to do with it but it wasn’t him. There were two other people arrested.”
She was beyond annoyed with me and I watched as she poured herself a third glass of wine.
“I’m sorry. I just keep hearing how he’s a scam artist. I don’t see why you would have risked bringing him on with your new company.”
“Oh, so you know h
ow to run a multi-million dollar clothing line, do you?”
Alicia’s face had turned flush and she looked like she was about to cry. But I couldn’t turn back. I needed to get some good information out there and see just how she would react.
“No, I don’t. But one of the women in my office said that they saw a story about Bill and he is living in a multi-million dollar condo here in New York. You must be paying him more than yourself if he has that nice of place.”
Her patience was growing thin and I felt like she was about to explode like an attraction at a state park. I held my breath as I waited for the explosion.
“Let’s be honest, Alicia, he was involved in money laundering before. You can be pretty sure he’s doing it again. It wasn’t a smart move to bring him into your new company.
Alicia stood up and I saw her hand pull back just before she slapped me.
“You don’t know anything ,Evan. You’re basing your information off of media stories instead of the truth. He’s a good man. He’s the one who made sure I didn’t get charged. You don’t know anything.”
I saw the tears well up in her eyes and knew I had taken things too far. But Mike and Rebecca and I had not discussed this reaction. She was angry, but she also seemed really hurt and sad by me asking more questions about Bill.
“I’m sorry Alicia, I just don’t understand why you kept him.”
“You aren’t running my company, so you don’t have to understand. I’m leaving.”
She stood up and left the apartment without saying goodbye to anyone. I had to run after her. I needed to make an effort to straighten things out. I really had no actual answers yet, only that Alicia had some sort of emotional connection to Bill. Something deep that made her react the way she did when I said he might be trying to defraud her.
“I’m sorry, Alicia. I just look at the down side of everything,” I said as I walked ten steps behind her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
