by Emelia Blair
Usually, a CEO getting involved with insignificant issues revolving around employees wouldn’t happen, but Elise is a close friend of both Kendall and Lana, and Caleb also likes her. He’s been an eyewitness to what she’s had to go through and it’s only natural that he would be concerned.
Oliver crosses his arms over his chest and watches me.
I’m reluctant to expose Elise’s private affairs, especially the document that I uncovered. But I recount the things I overheard in the lobby and I bring up the matter of Darren Hall.
Oliver frowns. “The name’s familiar but I can’t put a face to it.”
“That’s because he doesn’t mingle with the senior ups. He’s a low level data analyst,” I tell him, my tone harsh. “I saw him a few days ago. He was getting pretty handsy with one of the employees outside.” A face that I actually recall quite well now that I think about it. The woman who’d made the comments to Elise. “Melissa.”
“How is his work—?”
Before Caleb can finish the question, I tell him, coldly, “He’s a steady employee but not irreplaceable.”
I’ve known Caleb for nearly half my life. I was the one who represented him when he sued the FBI for wrongful imprisonment when I was just a fledgling lawyer. I was the one who secured him a fortune in reparations for the term that he served in prison. So, when Caleb looks at me a query in his eyes, I shake my head. “No, I’ll be dealing with him, personally.”
Both Oliver and Caleb look at me but neither of them says a word.
It’s only when Sophie starts fussing that we mingle with the rest of the group again. Jace also arrives and the rest of the evening is quite pleasant. I’m also quite amused that Elise keeps trying to avoid me. She’s tried to take Sophie from me a couple of times but the child refuses to leave me, clinging onto my neck for dear life.
It’s as it starts getting dark I suggest that we should leave.
When Elise automatically gets up at my suggestion, everyone turns to look at her.
I can see the sudden realization in her eyes that she’d assumed that we were leaving together.
Her assumption had been correct but I just grin and hand over Sophie to her.
In the car, the ride back is silent, as Sophie is tucked into the baby seat that Tracy had offered. She’s fast asleep.
Since Kendall’s place is quite far from Elise’s apartment, I let Elise hold onto her silence for a few minutes before I say, “So, how come you wanted to get drunk yesterday?”
Elise groans. “I knew you weren’t going to let it go.”
I smile. “Of course not. So, do you want to tell me, or should I start making guesses?”
She furrows her brow at me, demanding, “Why are you so persistent?”
I shrug in response.
She glowers at me.
Elise is usually very even tempered and seeing her like this makes me thrilled. Getting a rise out of her is something new to me and although I know I shouldn’t, I can’t help wanting to provoke her every chance I get. I consider going in for the kill but change my mind at the last minute. She can hold on to her secrets. For now.
“You were pretty mean to me last night,” I tell her. “You said all sorts of nasty things. Broke my heart, you did.”
Elise splutters, “I-I didn’t say anything of the sort!”
I grin, triumphantly. “Aha, so you do remember.”
She looks out the window, muttering, “I remember you putting me to bed like a child.”
“Then, maybe you shouldn’t get drunk on that horrifying stuff.”
“And maybe you shouldn’t show up to somebody’s apartment at twelve at night.”
I throw her a sideways glance filled with mockery. “It was nine at night.”
She purses her lips at this and crossing her arms in a huff, she turns her head to stare out the window, sulking.
I want to kiss the pout right off her face.
“Tomorrow’s Sunday,” I say after a while.
She casts me a wary glance. “Yeah, so?”
“Want to go out for breakfast?”
It’s such a casual invitation she doesn’t even hesitate in saying yes and then her face turns red. Groaning, she buries her face in her hands. “What are you doing to me?”
The smirk on my lips grows. “Last I heard, my presence made it hard for you to think.”
Elise looks like she wants to find a hole to crawl into and she makes a torn sound. “You’re a terrible person.”
I turn my head to look at her with a slow grin. “I know. It keeps me up at night. So, breakfast tomorrow then?”
“No!” Elise gives me a stern look. “You’ll make fun of me the whole time. I know it.”
“I won’t!” I cajole. “I promise not to bring up the fact that you admitted to being very attracted to me when you were drunk.”
“Lucas!” Elise lets out a small wail of embarrassment.
I laugh loudly.
“Fine, fine! I’ll be a perfect gentleman. You have my word.”
She gives me a disbelieving look and finally shakes her head. “Fine.”
After I drop her home, I make my way to my house and I’m surprised to see Debra sitting on the front porch.
My twin looks miserable and as I step out of the car, I ask, “Deb, is something wrong?”
When she sniffles, I realize something is seriously wrong.
I usher her into the house and as I take her coat, I press, “Tell me what happened.”
“Dad got a hold of Riley’s work address and he cornered him at work. And I never told Riley the whole thing with Dad so he wrangled an invitation to the family dinner tonight at Riley’s parents’ place. I found out at the last minute and I couldn’t do anything.” She looks tearful and miserable and then my strong willed sister who very rarely cries, crumples to the ground.
I’m alarmed as I reach for her.
“He said so many things, Lucas. So many hateful things! About you and Mom and how Mom took us away from him and how he’s been trying to patch things up but Mom won’t do it and you won’t let him. I could have refuted it but the way he said those things, I couldn’t find any way to call him a liar.”
I try to calm her down. “You know he has a silver tongue. He has always had a way with words. I’m sure Riley’s parents are sensible people; they wouldn’t have bought into his stories.”
She shakes her head and her shoulders tremble with devastation. “By the time I left, his mother couldn’t even look at me and Riley wouldn’t say two words to me. I asked about some of the wedding plans and he refused to discuss it. And then...And then Dad asked me for a ride back and I wanted to refuse but they were all looking at me in a way that I couldn’t even say no.” She’s full out crying now and I’ve never seen her like this, so broken, “Dad was all smug throughout the ride, trying to convince me of his own bullshit stories and I just didn’t know what to say! I dropped him off at the first bus station. He wanted some money and I just gave it to him.” She looks at me, her eyes wet with tears. “Lucas, what if Riley decides to call off the engagement? What should I do?”
Raw anger shoots through me at what our father has done to her. Debra is usually quick tempered with a sharp tongue and doesn’t take shit from anyone. But ever since Leon walked back into our lives, he had torn at her defenses over and over again until she had none left. Out of the both of us, Debra had always wanted a father and when Leon had shown up, she had hoped for a proper relationship. That was only until he had shown his true colors and now even though she knows what he is and what he’s after, she can’t seem to shake him off.
As I hold her to me, trying to swallow down my rage, I also feel helpless. I can’t tell her the same thing over and over again. I curse Riley for being so gullible as to letting Leon talk him into an invitation to the family dinner. And I curse myself for not going. I should have skipped the engagement party and attended this with Debra.
“Come on. Let’s get you some ice cream.” I tell her.<
br />
She lets me, looking dazed and lost with grief.
As I leave her in the sitting room, I go to the kitchen and take out my phone ready to give Riley a piece of my mind. However, his name flashes on my screen before I can do anything and I pick up. My voice is frigid, “Riley.”
He sounds frantic, “Lucas, is Debra with you?!”
“Yes.”
He doesn’t seem to pay attention to the coldness in my voice and he sighs in relief. “Oh, thank God! I’ve been looking for her everywhere. I’ll come to pick her up.”
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” I tell him, shortly. “I think you’ve done enough for tonight. I’ll take care of my sister.”
“Look, man. I messed up.” At this point, he realizes that he’s messed up and that I’m pissed. His tone is heavy and full of regrets, “I don’t know what’s going on with your dad—?”
“He’s not our ‘dad, Riley. If you paid any attention to what Debra says, you would know what that bastard has put our family through and how much control he has over your fiancée.” I’m snarling now. “Instead of protecting her from that manipulative asshole, you went and threw her into his arms. And then you bought all the bullshit he tossed your way. If you don’t even know how to treat your fiancée properly, then call off the goddamn wedding. Debra doesn’t need someone who’ll believe lies about her from a stranger, rather than trusting her!”
Riley is silent for a few minutes and then he says in a subdued tone, “I’m coming over. I’ll fix this. I promise.”
The call cuts and I toss the new phone that I had Roger send me this morning, onto the counter, furiously.
The fucking nerve.
I glared at the island counter in the middle of the kitchen and a sound from behind me has me looking over my shoulder.
Debra is standing there, her face pale. “You called Riley?”
I snort, angrily. “He called me. He wants to come and see you.”
My sister doesn’t look very good as she sidles over to me, seeking comfort and I feel like we’re children again, where she used to burrow herself in me every time she felt scared.
“You don’t have to see him, Deb,” I tell her, putting my hands on her shoulders and lightly pushing her back so that I can see her face.
She looks miserable. “I can’t avoid him forever.”
Sighing, I bring her in for a hug and offer, “Do you want me to beat him up? I have a wooden bat upstairs. I’m sure one or two broken bones should appease you.”
She snickers at this.
I grin in relief. “It’s probably going to take him a while to get here.” I sit her onto one of the kitchen stools, and turn away from the ice cream I had intended to give her and start preparing hot chocolate. “You need something stronger.”
“Alcohol?” she asks, dryly.
I’m glad to see some of her dry wit return. “Nope. Food of the Gods.”
Her lips twitch. “You’re making me hot chocolate before I square off against my fiancé?”
I take out the chocolate powder that I usually keep for her. “This is because you’ve probably been sitting on my porch for a while now and it’s cold and I don’t want you to get sick.”
She smiles gratefully and although the smile is little wan, the fact that we’re together makes it easier for her to bounce back.
A few minutes later, I place a huge mug of hot cocoa in front of her and she grins. It’s so reminiscent of our childhood, me looking after her. We sit in silence as I make a mug for myself.
After a while, I sigh. “You’ll have to tell Riley everything. If you want, I can stay with you while you do so.”
Debra shakes her head. “No. I can do this on my own.” She gives me a wobbly smile, “It’s so strange that I cuss at you half the time, and the minute there’s the first sign of trouble or I’m upset, I come running to you to make me feel better. And it always works.”
I bump her with my hip, teasing softly, “Well, you are my baby sister. It’s my job to make you feel better.”
“By three minutes.” She scoffs. But she looks pleased.
When Riley arrives an hour later, Debra is much better but her eyes are still puffy from crying and her complexion is wan.
Riley takes one look at her and the devastation on his face is obvious. Riley O’Conner is a university professor in the field of Econometrics. He’s smart, good looking and has a scholarly bearing.
I never knew this was Debra’s type until she dragged him to a family lunch to introduce him. I had approved of him, but today I’m all sorts of irritated with this man and would like nothing more than to punch him in the face, glasses and all.
Riley rushes past me and throws his arms around Debra, murmuring something over and over again like a broken CD player. Debra’s eyes tear up.
Gritting my teeth, I leave the room, giving them some privacy.
Sulking, I still wish she’d let me knock his front teeth out.
Going to my bedroom, I change out of my shirt and as I’m putting away the shirt, I see the dry drool on it and I can’t help but smile. My smile falters as I recall the contract I’d seen in Elise’s drawer. I have pictures of it on my phone but the terms and conditions on it are something that are troubling me.
If she’s not allowed to advertise that Darren Hall is Sophie’s father, then why has Darren spread the news?
It feels like something deeper is going on here. Putting the shirt on the bed, I sit down on it, heavily, wearing a frown, my chin resting on my clasped hands.
8
Elise
Lucas’s mood has been dark ever since he picked me and Sophie up this morning.
Despite my insistence that we could take the bus, he simply closed the phone and showed up a half hour later.
I hadn’t wanted to say yes to him but he’s getting under my skin and it’s getting harder and harder to resist this man. He makes me laugh at one minute with his over the top antics, then melts my heart the next minute when he does these small gestures for me. Next, he shows me a side of him that makes me weak in the knees when he’s forceful and dominant.
If I’d considered him a friend before, now that image has been scrubbed clean and I don’t know where he stands.
He’s made his position very clear, as to what he wants from me, but I’m still fearful, my heart not quite trusting yet. So, I’m trying to contain these feelings growing inside of me. But today, there seems to be something troubling him and I’ve never seen him wear such an expression on his face.
It tears at me, makes me want to soothe him to push his troubles away. “Lucas?”
He glances up at me from where he had been staring at Sophie in an absentminded way. “Huh?”
“What’s wrong?” He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds and I push, “You’re so nosy about my life; I think it’s only fair that our friendship goes both ways.”
He flinches and I didn’t know it was possible for his expression to turn even gloomier. “Friends, huh?”
Starting to feel annoyed, I say, “Yes. So, tell me what’s eating at you. You look like somebody ran over your dog.”
He studies me and then sighs heavily. “It’s complicated.”
Seeing Sophie get her leg stuck in the small blanket in her carrier, I lean over to fuss over her, glancing in his direction. “You could always try uncomplicating it. Maybe I can keep up.”
The last part is said with some derision and he flinches. “Everybody says you’re sweet as a cupcake but man, do you show your teeth when you get mad.”
I sniff, indignantly. “I am as sweet as a cupcake.”
He laughs at that and then winks at me. “Well, I don’t know about that but I’m a little sweet on you.”
The line is so utterly corny but yet, I blush. I also don’t let him change the subject. “You going to tell me what’s the matter?”
“Family drama.” He gestures with his hand in the air. “My sister had a fight with her fiancé last night and she ca
me crying to me but then he came to fix everything, she wouldn’t let me beat him up. This morning, she called me and asked me to RSVP by the end of the day.”
“Oh, the wedding,” I recall. “So, you’re upset about not getting to hit him or about being told to RSVP?”
“Both,” he grumbles. “Maybe if I had hit him, I wouldn’t feel so pent up.”
“Have you decided on a date?” The minute the words leave my lips, I regret them, because he immediately looks up, that gleam in his eyes again accompanied with that half smile that has me catching my breath.
“Maybe.”
Forcing myself to not look too much into his words, I say nonchalantly, “Well, you need to hurry up and meet that deadline.”
He leans forward, his previous bad mood having suddenly evaporated at the mention of a date. “So, how about—?”
“Lucas?”
A surprised female voice from behind me has Lucas looking up and his eyes widen slightly.
I turn around as well, to see a woman with long brown hair, blue eyes, and features that resemble Lucas’s. She’s very attractive and she’s standing next to a tall man with owlish looking frames that keep sliding off, hazel eyes and rumpled brown hair. He’s wearing a tweed coat and has a very schoolteacher vibe about him.
Are they-?
“Debra!” Lucas sounds startled. “Why are you here?”
Debra? Lucas’s sister, Debra?
The brunette studies me with a curious gaze before responding, “I saw the name of this café written on your kitchen table last night and I looked it up and it had good ratings. Who’s your guest?”
I note how Lucas doesn’t greet the man next to his sister and he too, stands there silently. Her fiancé, maybe?
Lucas looks a little agitated. “This is Elise, she’s a colleague of mine.”
Her lips twitch and she has a sly look in her eyes. “So, if you’re Elise, this must be Sophie.” Debra leans down to study my baby girl who’s in the process of trying to put her foot in her mouth.
Sophie makes a loud ‘Gah’ noise when she notices the stranger and maybe she sees the similarities between Lucas and Debra or maybe she’s just really excited at being the center of attention again, because she waves her hands and feet and starts laughing like a little lunatic.
