Just Business

by Julie Cannon

  Dillon barely felt Callie behind her. Her father’s reaction, or rather his lack of reaction, to Gateway didn’t surprise her, but it did hurt. Jesus, what did he want from her? What did she have to do to get his approval? And why was it so important that she did? “At least somebody is.”

  “Dillon, your father is an ass. Pure and simple. He wouldn’t know a good thing if it bit him on the balls. He’s a cynical bastard, and even though he is your father I don’t think he’s worth the time of your day. I always wanted a father, but if mine were as awful as yours, I wouldn’t want him.”

  Dillon began to relax, but just slightly.

  “Tell you what. I’ve got to run to the ladies’ room and then you can walk your beautiful wife to her car. Maybe we can even slip away for a few hours.” One hand went north on Dillon’s body, the other south to emphasize Callie’s suggestion.

  “Sure, why not. Let me check my e-mail and I’ll be ready when you get back.” Callie was making an effort to cheer her up, and Dillon wanted to see her happy.

  “Everybody leave?” Greg asked, stepping into her office. “Sorry I wasn’t at my desk when you got back from lunch.”

  “Callie’s in the ladies’ room and my father just left. He was a ball of laughs, as usual.” Dillon looked up when Greg didn’t reply. “What is it, Greg? You’ve got that look on your face that says you want to say something but aren’t sure if you should. Come on, out with it.” Dillon waved her hand at him.

  “I didn’t think you would actually go through with it.”

  Greg knew what Dillon had done to clench Franklin’s land. She had confided in him one day when he questioned her about an e-mail he had read from her to Bill, which talked about signing the deed on the day of the wedding. Dillon had printed it and in the margin written payment for marriage, and Greg asked what was going on. Dillon told him the entire story. Although he seemed surprised, Dillon knew that he understood her well enough to realize he couldn’t stop her.

  “Why not? You know how much I needed that property. Bill didn’t want to sell to me, and I found the button that needed to be pushed and got it. Couldn’t ask for a better wedding present.”

  “But to marry somebody. Even I think that’s going too far in the name of business.”

  “That’s the difference between you and me, Greg. I’d do anything for this project, including marrying Callie. It’s just business.”

  A gasp from the doorway drew Dillon’s attention from her keyboard. Callie stood there with her hand over her mouth, and by the look on her face, she had heard more than enough. The cat was out of the bag.

  “Callie.” Dillon rose and Greg slipped out the side door of Dillon’s office.

  “I’m a business deal?”

  Callie had heard Dillon and Greg talking when she came back from the ladies’ room, and for an instant she thought about waiting in the outer office to give them some privacy, but her legs froze when she heard the conversation. Now she wasn’t sure if she should have made the other choice.

  “Callie, it’s not like that.” Dillon scrambled out from behind her desk. She didn’t get far before Callie stalked toward her.

  “Then what exactly is it? What am I? A merger? An acquisition? A joint venture? What would you call it, Dillon? And by the way, are Bill and Phyllis in on this?” Callie was surprisingly calm. She should be falling apart, but her mind was functioning and her hands were steady.

  “No, they don’t know anything about it.”

  Dillon winced, and now Callie was appalled. Dillon had just confirmed that their relationship was anything but love.

  “Who did, besides you and Greg?” When Dillon didn’t answer, Callie became livid. “Answer me,” she said loudly.

  “No one.”

  “So you orchestrated this entire charade? Well, let me tell you something, Dillon. You are absolutely pitiful. I was wrong at our wedding when I told your father you were nothing like him. I was wrong, very wrong. You’re exactly like him. But then again, how would I know? You came in like a knight in shining armor saving me from myself, dangling the promise of happily ever after in front of me. Only it wasn’t a promise, was it, Dillon?” Callie spoke forcefully in spite of her anger and hurt. “And when I didn’t immediately say yes to your proposal, you tossed in the one thing that you knew would get me.”

  Callie strode to within inches of Dillon. She looked in her eyes for any redeeming value and, seeing none, slapped her. “You bitch.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Callie was reeling from her conversation with Dillon. It wasn’t a conversation at all, as she had barely given Dillon a chance to speak. But she wouldn’t have believed Dillon, whatever she said. The heels of her loafers clicked on the cement as she stormed down the sidewalk with no specific destination in mind. Her mind was spinning and tears blurred her vision, threatening to spill out and slide down her cheeks.

  Dillon had used her, plain and simple. She used her to get what she wanted. Well, she got what she wanted, but it certainly wasn’t what Callie signed up for. She stopped and put her hand over her mouth, almost oblivious to the people jostling her as they rushed past. Dillon had made love to her, touched her in ways she had never imagined. She felt cheap and dirty. Suddenly she needed to vomit.

  Spitting out the last of the bile, Callie leaned back on her heels. Her knees were wet from the grass and her hands shook as she wiped her mouth. She had barely managed to reach the park before the contents of her stomach emptied. Her head was pounding and several people slowed down as they walked by, but nobody offered to help.

  What would she say? No, I’m fine. Just a little miscommunication between me and the woman I married. No big deal, really. Seems as though we had a difference of opinion of what marriage was all about. I thought it meant that you love, honor, and cherish, but she thought it was just a simple business contract. Silly me.

  She staggered to her feet, fighting off another wave of nausea. As she retraced her steps to the parking garage, she stopped when she realized she had run out of Dillon’s office without her purse. She had no way to get home. The keypad on the outside of the garage would get her inside once she was there, but home was the last place she wanted to be.

  She had rented out her house when she and Dillon got married. She didn’t have many possessions, and she’d packed what she wanted to take with her in boxes and stacked them neatly in a corner of Dillon’s garage. The phone on her hip vibrated and Callie froze. What if it was Dillon? What if it wasn’t? She flipped it open and pushed the talk button.

  “Audrey,” Callie said into the receiver, leaning against a newspaper stand to regain her balance.

  “Hey, babe, how’s my happily married best friend?”

  “Can you come and get me? I’m at…” Callie looked around to get her bearings. She had no idea how long she had been walking or how far, but she was at least a mile from Dillon’s office. “Berkshire and Seventy-fifth Street.”

  “Callie, what’s wrong?”

  “Please, Audrey, can you just come pick me up?” Her own voice sounded flat and emotionless, even to her.

  “Of course, I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Are you all right, Callie? Are you hurt?”

  Callie heard the concern in her voice. “I’m fine.” Unless you called being bought and used a normal everyday occurrence.

  Audrey was true to her word, and Callie was buckled into her front seat twenty minutes later. Mercifully Audrey drove with lightning speed to her apartment without asking any questions. Callie didn’t know if she would be able to answer them if she did. Her mind was absolutely blank, and Audrey had to pull over to the side of the road twice for her to throw up again. She was a mess.

  Callie didn’t remember climbing the stairs to Audrey’s apartment, but when she woke several hours later she was lying in the guest bedroom with the covers tucked around her. Her clothes were laid neatly on the chair, and she wore a pair of shorts and one of Audrey’s Harvard T-shirts. As she swung her legs over the side of the
bed, her head pounded. She gave herself a few minutes for the world to stop spinning before she walked into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Feeling halfway human she ventured down the hall.

  The television was on and Audrey had her feet propped up on the coffee table. She was flipping through the channels when Callie sat on the couch. “Hey, how are you doing?”

  Callie tried to say something but her throat was raw, so she nodded instead. She supposed she was okay, but she was too numb to tell if anything other than her head and throat hurt. When Audrey picked her up she was only able to tell her that she was physically okay.

  Audrey went into the kitchen and returned with a mug of hot tea, then sat beside her on the couch. “Wanna tell me about it?” Audrey handed her the mug.

  Callie didn’t know if she did or not. She was humiliated to have been played like that. The old saying that love is blind was definitely true in her case. She had either missed all the signs or Dillon was good, very good. She was mortified when she thought about the dozens of times they had made love. Was she faking that too?

  Audrey must have read the look on her face because she took her hand. “Is it Michael?”

  Audrey had been in the courtroom with her every day as well as when the final verdict came in. She knew how close she and Michael were and how devastated Callie was when he was sentenced.

  “No,” she croaked, and shook her head to reinforce her answer.

  “Then what is it, Callie?”

  Callie could never resist Audrey’s kind voice and calm demeanor. She had always been able to open up to her, even when she didn’t want to admit things to herself. This was one of those times. Callie knew she owed Audrey an explanation, and she steeled herself for what she had to say. She drank her tea, each swallow fortifying her courage. When she spoke, she did so calmly and without tears.

  “Holy crap, Callie. I don’t know what to say except that Dillon is a shit. A first-class, number-one S-H-I-T.” When Audrey was really upset, she spelled.

  Telling Audrey was the therapy Callie needed to get back in control. “I can think of several other words that would aptly describe her, but that should be enough, at least for now.”

  “What are you going to do?” Audrey asked, falling back on the couch now that Callie’s confession was over.

  “Besides trying to keep myself from killing her? I don’t know,” Callie said seriously. “I can barely think clearly. I have no idea what I want to do next, let alone what I have to do.” She looked at her hands, fingers interlocked. The diamonds in her wedding ring winked at her as if to say, “I knew it.” Callie slid the ring off her finger. The cool air hit the skin that had already become accustomed to the band, causing her to shiver. “I can’t stay there anymore.”

  “You can stay here as long as you want to.”

  Callie could always count on Audrey, but her invitation sounded good just the same. “I don’t have any clothes.” With everything that had happened today, the state of her wardrobe sounded trivial. Again Audrey came to her rescue.

  “You can wear mine until you get your stuff. You are going to get your things, aren’t you?” Audrey asked the question in a tone that made it sound like she thought Callie might go back to Dillon.

  That would never happen. Dillon didn’t love her. She had married her out of convenience and necessity. Callie refused to be someone’s arranged bride, no matter who the woman was. She still had her pride and dignity, even if they were bruised.

  “I can’t stay married to her. Our relationship is a sham and I won’t be any part of it.” The impact of her words sank into her brain. Dillon must have wanted Bill’s land pretty badly to actually go through with their marriage. Granted, it was more symbolic than legal, but it was a big deal nonetheless. Thank God they didn’t need to get a divorce, at least not legally. The last thing she wanted was to have to sit in the same room with someone who had made a fool of her and hash out a property settlement. That would be too humiliating.

  Callie had almost forgotten Audrey’s original question. “I’ll go tomorrow when she’s at work, if you can take me. I know she has a couple of meetings across town, so that lowers the possibility of running into her at the house. You can drop me off to get my car when we’re done.”

  She absolutely didn’t want to have to face Dillon again. One side of her brain told her someday she would have to, while the other couldn’t find a reason why.

  *

  “Callie?” Audrey tentatively asked over coffee and donuts. “Is the deal with Bill Franklin completely wrapped up?”

  “What?” Callie had been half listening to Audrey drone on about some crisis at work the day before and only caught Bill’s name. She hadn’t spoken to Dillon since she walked out of her office three weeks ago, but her cell phone had eight messages that she knew were from Dillon. She was screening her calls, and if she didn’t immediately recognize the number, she let the machine roll into voice mail. Audrey’s phone number was programmed into Dillon’s home phone, and it too rang continuously for the first few days. Callie supposed Dillon had pleaded her case to the answering machine, but she deleted the message as soon as she heard her voice.

  Flowers were delivered to Audrey’s house every day, and Callie promptly forwarded them to the senior center a few blocks away. She half expected Dillon to turn up on Audrey’s doorstep at any time, and she wasn’t sure what she would do if she did.

  She still wasn’t sleeping through the night. It took hours to fall asleep, and once she did her dreams were filled with images of Dillon—where they had gone together, what they had done, her smile, her laugh, her touch. She woke in a sweat either from dreaming of their lovemaking or the final scene in her office.

  She had never been so hurt. In the past Callie had several relationships that lasted four or five years, but they always fizzled out along with the sex. Deep down she had known she was running that same risk with Dillon, but she didn’t care.

  In a very short period of time she had fallen in love with Dillon—head over heels. She couldn’t have stopped herself even if she wanted to. Dillon was sweet and kind, and treated her like royalty. She pampered her, doted on her, and made Callie feel like she was the only woman on earth.

  Recently, Callie had finally admitted that she had been caught up in the moment and let her heart override her mind. In the last few years, she had given so much of herself to everyone that when she met Dillon she believed it was now her turn, that she deserved Dillon’s adoration. Dillon had taken advantage of Callie’s exhaustion, financial struggles, loneliness, and concern over Michael. God, how could she have been so stupid?

  “I was just wondering if the deal with Bill’s land could still fall through,” Audrey repeated.

  The question made no sense to Callie. “So what if it does?”

  Nothing would make Callie happier than to see Dillon’s actions blow up in her face. She deserved to lose everything she planned for this deal. Dillon had spent hours poring over blueprints, schematics, and sketches for Gateway. Not only was there a mock-up of the project in her office, but an exact duplicate was in the den in her home. She was constantly tinkering with the elevation of a building or the angle of a rooftop. Gateway was her dream, her baby, and she had to have it.

  Obviously, she had done whatever she had to get it, including using her. She probably didn’t even think twice about the arrangement. She didn’t care who got hurt. Callie was a means to an end, and anyone else affected, namely Michael, was collateral damage.

  Michael! Oh, my God, what will happen to Michael now? Dillon was funding his entire defense, which had barely begun. The final decision on whether or not he would receive a retrial was expected any day. If the payments to his attorney stopped, so would he.

  “Why do you ask?” Audrey had a peculiar look on her face and Callie immediately saw where she was headed. She stood up and began to pace back and forth around the table. “Oh, no. Don’t even think about it.” She shook her head for added emphasi
s.

  “Callie.”

  “No, Audrey, absolutely not. Have you lost your mind?”

  “No. Come on, Cal, think about it. You can—”

  “I will not prostitute myself to Dillon for Michael.” Audrey had accompanied her to Lompak the day before and seen the conditions Michael was under. Audrey had driven while Callie cried during the entire return trip.

  “Callie.” Audrey tried again.

  “No, Audrey.” For the first time since she had come to stay with Audrey, Callie felt strong and her conviction was firm. She stood a little taller. “What do you think I am? If I were to go back to Dillon for her wallet, I’d be no better than she is. I will not do it.”

  “Then what will you do? You don’t have the money to pay for Michael’s lawyer. This guy is his only hope, and if you’re going to put your pride before his chance to—”

  Callie exploded and flew across the room, then stopped inches from Audrey’s face. “Don’t you dare talk to me about what I do or don’t do for Michael. He’s my brother and he is in prison because of me. Every day I get up when I want, eat what I want, go wherever I want, and fuck whomever I want, while he prays every day he doesn’t get raped and has to do everything, absolutely everything, to the sound of a whistle. A whistle, for Christ sake! Like an animal obeying commands. So don’t tell me what I should do or not do. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She was practically screaming by the time she finished. Her heart was beating against her ribs and she was light-headed. Michael was her hot button and Audrey had just pushed it.

  “Callie, that was uncalled for and you know it. I’ve always been in your corner when it comes to Michael. Sure, I have no idea what it’s like to be you, to live with the guilt you have about what happened. But I’m your friend, and as your friend, it’s my job to tell you these things whether you want to hear them or not.” Audrey’s voice was calm and she spoke so quietly Callie had to strain to hear what she said.