“Evie,” he says, “I’m going to need you to go back to work. Pretend like everything’s okay.”
I stare at him in shock. As if I could do that after everything I’ve found out.
“Alex, I’m not going to—”
“It’s just for a few hours,” he says, moving towards me and putting his hands on my shoulders. “Then I’ll need you to meet me at the deli across the street for lunch. Text Gabe and ask him to come too.”
I look at Alex, unsure what he’s planning. But, if I know one thing, I know that I can trust him.
“All right,” I answer. “We’ll be there.”
“Okay,” he says. Then he gives me his hands and pulls me up to my feet. He wraps his arms around me and, after a moment, I lean into his embrace.
“It’ll be all right,” he says echoing, what he’d told me over and over again that night. “I’m right here.”
*****
“I don’t know why I agreed to do this,” Gabe says to me as we walk down the street towards the deli that Alex specified. “If Alex wants to let Simon fire me after everything I’ve done for his company, I should just let him. There are plenty of other places hiring.”
“Gabe, think about it,” I say stopping just in front of the diner. “Does this sound like something Alex would do?”
Gabe looks at me as though trying to find an answer to that, then looks away. I know I’ve made an argument he can’t refute.
“There’s more to this story,” I tell him. “We might as well hear what it is.”
Gabe looks at me then, finally, nods his head and relents.
When we get into the diner, I immediately see Alex sitting next to a short and balding man with glasses and a worn, brown suit.
“Evie, Gabe,” Alex says as soon as we all sit down. “This is my friend Ben Holmes. He works for the New York Times.”
We shake hands and order our meals. There is tension in the air, and no one speaks very much. Finally, after our meals are delivered and we’re sure we won’t be disturbed, Ben takes out his notepad and Alex begins his story.
“It started two years ago, just after the company did,” Alex says. “I went to Simon Mosoti to pitch him the business plan, hoping that he would invest. He said he liked it and wanted to become a full partner. I wasn’t comfortable with that and told him so.”
“What happened then?” Ben asked quickly scribbling notes from Alex’s previous statement on his pad.
“Simon invited me to his penthouse for dinner the next night. He said he was hoping to change my mind about the partnership,” Alex says, “when I got there...he wasn’t there but, his wife was. She told me that Simon had been called away for the evening. She said he’d tried to call and reschedule but, he couldn’t get hold of me.”
He pauses and takes a long sip of his water before continuing.
“To make a long story short,” Alex says. “Simon’s wife came on to me pretty strong after that. We had a few drinks and...I know I shouldn’t have. I knew it at the time but...I’d just gotten out of a relationship and I was lonely and...anyway, we went up to the bedroom and things...happened.”
“You had an affair with Mosoti’s wife?” Ben asks excitedly. It’s clear that this is a big scoop for him.
“It was just one night,” Alex insists. “It’s what happened after that that is more important.”
“Ok, so what did happen after that?” Ben asks eagerly, jotting the story down as fast as he can.
Alex takes another calming breath and continues.
“It turns out she and Simon had planned the whole thing,” Alex says. “Simon confronted me about it the next morning. He threatened to tell everyone about how I brutally raped his wife. He said that she would back him up. That is, unless I decided to make him a full partner. If I did that, no one else needed to know what happened.”
“And, do you have someone to corroborate your story?” Ben asks. Alex takes out a small piece of paper and slides it over to Ben.
“That’s Samantha Mosoti’s number,” Alex says. “She was Simon’s wife at the time. They divorced a year ago.”
“And you’re sure she’ll stick to your side of the story?” Ben asks, looking at the paper.
“I’ve talked to her,” Alex says, “and she’s willing to tell the truth now. In fact, I think she’s looking forward to it. She sees it as a way to get back at Simon.”
Ben nods and slowly puts the paper in his jacket pocket.
“Well, it’s a big story,” Ben says. “If I hurry, I could probably get it in in time for the morning edition.”
“Thank you,” Alex says softly.
“No, thank you,” Ben says with a chuckle. “You have no idea how many business reporters dream of the chance to take Simon Mosoti down. Everyone’s known he’s a slimy bastard for years. Now, we’ve finally got some proof.”
With another word of thanks, Ben gathers his things and leaves the deli.
Gabe, Alex and I sit in silence for several moments. Finally, Gabe speaks.
“I guess I owe you an apology,” Gabe says, “I should’ve known you wouldn’t agree to get rid of me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Alex says. “I expect to see you at work again tomorrow morning.”
Gabe smiles at him and gives him a mock salute.
“You’ve got it, Boss.”
Once lunch is finished, Gabe heads out, eager to tell his wife the good news.
“Emma will be thrilled that I’m headed back to work,” Gabe said.
Alex and I walk slowly back towards the office. We don’t speak for a few moments then, suddenly, Alex stops short and turns to me.
“Do you want to take the rest of the day off?” he asks me.
“To do what?” I ask. Alex shrugs.
“I don’t know,” he answers. “Whatever you like. After the help you gave me this morning, I think you’ve earned it.”
“I guess I could take you up on that,” I answer, “on one condition.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
“You have to walk me home,” I say.
“I think I can do that,” he says, smiling at me, as he takes my hand in his.
We head towards my apartment walking hand in hand in silence. When we finally reach the building, we stop at the double doors.
“This is it,” I say. He moves awkwardly away from me and looks down as though he’s a teenager on a first date. Unsure whether to kiss the girl or not.
“Do you want to come up?” I ask, making the decision for him.
“Just for a few minutes? Or…” he leaves the rest of the sentence hanging. A mischievous smile finds its way to my lips.
“Or,” I answer. His eyes widen and he smiles as well.
“I think I know what I want to do with my time off,” I say, pulling him inside.
“What’s that?” he asks with a chuckle as we reach the stairwell. I reach up and pull his mouth down to mine. We share a swift kiss before I open the door and lead him two flights up the stairs to my floor.
A soon as I open the door to my apartment, I gasp in surprise as Alex pulls me to him, pressing my body forcefully against his.
He kisses me. It’s not a soft tender kiss, like the one he gave me that night with Simon; nor is it the lustful kiss Simon forced on my mouth. This is something in between. It’s the kiss of a desperate man. A man who has held himself in check for far too long.
Before I know it, we’re tearing each other’s clothes off and I know we won’t make it to the bedroom. I maneuver us over to the couch and flop down onto it.
Alex unbuckles my bra and tosses it aside as I hurriedly push his unbuttoned shirt off of his shoulders. He moves his hand to his belt and slides both his pants and boxers off of his hips as he kisses my throat, my chest and moves his mouth to suckle at each of my breasts in turn.
He moves his mouth to kiss along my stomach before he reaches my pants. He gently unbuttons and unzips them, then slides them down my hips along with my underwear.
He
stares at my naked body for a moment and I feel goosebumps as I once again see a look of utter awe fill his face.
“You are so beautiful,” he mutters. He kisses my lips and I feel him gently enter into me. I wrap my arms and legs around him.
As I do, I know one thing to be true: I’m safe here.
While Alex is with me, it feels like no one will ever be able to hurt me again. Not even Simon. Even though neither of us knows what will happen tomorrow or how Simon will react to the story. I know that Alex and I, the two of us, together, will be able to weather whatever he has in store.
Epilogue
We don’t have to wait long to see Simon’s reaction. Just as Ben promised, he was able to get the story in the early edition of the paper the next day. And, just as he had predicted, the fallout was huge.
Everyone in the company was talking about it when I walked in the next morning. Even the news channels on the televisions in the lobby mentioned it, along with calls for Simon to step down as a full partner in the company.
It’s not a surprise, therefore, when Simon bursts into the office at ten o’clock this morning demanding to speak to Alex.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him calmly. “Alex is busy at the moment. He’s not taking any calls or walk-ins.”
“Don’t try to pull that shit with me,” Simon growls at me, his sophisticated façade gone completely. “I know he’s in there and I’m going to see him.”
“You know I can’t do that, Simon,” I answer him, sounding much calmer than I feel. “You have to have an appointment.”
“Then make me a goddamn appointment you stupid—”
Before I can find out what horrible name Simon plans on calling me, I hear the door to Alex’s office open.
“Evie, something wrong?” he asks, looking calmly from me to Simon.
“I’m going to have a word with you,” Simon says striding past him and straight into Alex’s office.
Alex sighs and follows him in. Before he closes the door, he gives me a secret smile. I think about going to door to listen but, it soon becomes clear that I don’t have to.
“WE HAD A DEAL!” Simon’s voice yells so loudly that I see employees beyond the glass doors stop in their tracks and look towards the office.
“You agreed to this! Now, I find out you’ve gone behind my back and—”
I hear Alex interrupt him, but, his voice is softer than Simon’s. I can’t exactly make out what he says.
“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT FRIEND OF YOURS!” Simon screams. This time, one of the employees tentatively makes his way to the door and looks in.
“Is...is everything okay?” he asks, “I mean, does Alex need someone to call security?”
“Actually,” I say giving him a calm smile that seems to confuse him, “that’s a great idea.”
I put a call into security before making my way to Alex’s office. I knock on the door before opening it.
I look at Simon. Hair askew, red-faced with sweat patches appearing on his brow. He doesn’t look even remotely handsome now.
“Alex, I wanted to let you know, security is on its way,” I tell him. “Some of the staff were getting nervous so I called them.”
Simon suddenly turns on me.
“This is you, isn’t it?” he says.
“Simon, leave her out of this,” Alex says, warningly. He moves from behind his desk and closer to Simon.
“This little slut convinced you to turn your back on me, didn’t she?” Though he’s talking to Alex, his eyes, no longer bright and gleaming are fixed on me.
“This stupid little—”
Before he’s had a chance to finish the sentence, Alex’s fist flies to Simon’s face and sends him reeling backward.
Two men from Security come in to find Simon staring slack-jawed at Alex as though he can’t believe what’s just happened.
They escort Simon out. As soon as they do, Alex closes the office door and pulls me into a hug.
“Thank you, Evie,” he says, “for everything. I promise you’ll never have to worry about Gabe losing his job again.”
“Are you just saying that so I’ll keep sleeping with you?” I ask looking up at him with a flirty smile.
“No,” he answers, “but, I hope you’ll keep sleeping with me anyway.”
“You’ll never have to worry about that either,” I answer before pulling him down for another kiss.
At last, at long last, I feel completely safe in Alex’s arms.
THE END
Bonus Story 31 of 50
The Wedding Plan
I can’t breathe. I’m standing here dumb as a brick in the doorway of my office watching all of my hopes and dreams slip slowly out of sight.
I know that sounds ridiculously dramatic, but it’s true all the same.
My stepbrother, my boss, my best friend since high school is walking down the hall towards me with a tall, dark haired, olive skinned model-like woman hanging off of his arm.
As she gets closer, I see the large diamond ring dangling from her left hand. I realize that there could only be three explanations for this, none of which serve to settle the falling sensation currently taking place in my stomach.
She could be a particularly friendly new business partner. Gus has been in Canada for the past few months trying to grow the business, after all.
But, the way she’s clinging to him and laughing at his jokes that I know are ridiculous even though I can’t hear them, makes me think that she is acting a little too friendly to be just a business partner.
That means they’re together. But, it doesn’t necessarily explain the diamond ring.
My stepbrother could be having an affair with a woman who is engaged to a rich old geezer who she’s only marrying for money.
But, that explanation doesn’t sit well either. First of all, I know Gus. I’ve known him since the first day of freshman year at Grant High School when he sat in front of me in English class. He’s not the type of guy to have affairs or cheat or do anything at all unscrupulous.
Second, Benning Tech is one of the largest corporations of its kind in the country. Gus is worth over 2 billion dollars. He makes Forbes list of Richest men in the world every single year.
The beautiful model wouldn’t have to marry an old geezer for money and have an affair with Gus. It’s more likely that she would marry Gus for money. Though, along with the money she’d also get a young, handsome, virile man. It’s the best of both worlds.
This leads me to the horrifying ultimate conclusion. The beautiful model is wearing Gus’s ring.
My step brother, my best friend, got engaged while he was in Canada and didn’t tell me.
Gus catches my eye, smiles, and waves at me as he and his little girlfriend (I refuse to say the word fiancée, even in my head) move towards me.
I try to smile back but, I don’t think I’ve quite managed it. Gus doesn’t seem to notice. His smile is brighter than I’ve ever seen it and there’s a new spring in his step as he comes closer.
“Emma!” he says. “It’s so good to see you! I hope you’ve been taking good care of my company.”
“Didn’t need much taking care of,” I answer. “It’s a well-oiled machine.”
“Most of that’s due to you and you know it,” he says playfully elbowing me in the ribs the way he’s always done. As though we’re fourteen again and I’m the little sister substitute.
None the less, I smile at him and take a step back both hoping and dreading being introduced to the beautiful woman behind him. Apparently she’s got the same feeling about this meeting because she’s looking at Gus with an impatient frown while tapping her foot.
Gus catches the look out of the corner of his eye and quickly, almost nervously, moves to appease her.
“Oh, Emma,” he says ushering the woman forward, “I’ve got a...well a sort of surprise for you...this is Ramona. My fiancée.”
And there’s the word. The dreaded title that made what I already knew in my head to b
e true an indisputable fact.
I swallow, and paste an entirely fake smile on my face.
“Nice to meet you,” I say holding my hand out to Ramona. “I’m Emma.”
She smiles back at me. Her expression looks every bit as fake as mine feels.
“It’s great to meet you too,” she says in that sexy low voice that actresses in movies always seem to have. She takes my hand with a feminine limp wrist.
“Gus has told me all about his little stepsister. I know you two are close.”
I try to keep the smile on my face even as the words she’s just spoken ring in my head: ‘little stepsister’. I don’t know if she means to be condescending or not but, it certainly feels that way.
With another fake smile at me, Ramona turns back to Gus.
“Honey, I really should get going,” she says. “If we really want this wedding to happen next month, I’ve got a lot of planning to do.”
“Next month?” I ask before I can stop myself. Getting engaged in a matter of months is one thing. But, a wedding so soon…
“It’s a stupid thing with Ramona’s Green Card,” Gus tells me. “We’ve got to get married within two months of her moving here or they can send her back to Canada.”
“Not that that’s the reason we’re getting married,” Ramona assures me, correctly interpreting the hopeful expression on my face. (A Green Card marriage after all, wouldn’t be quite the same as a real marriage).
She continues, her voice suddenly pouty and cutesy. “I just wanted to be with Gus and this was the only way we could make it happen.” She leans into Gus and gives him a peck on the lips and I think I’m going to be sick. She makes as if to depart.
“Okay, you can go if you have to,” Gus tells her. “I’ve got to talk to Emma about some business stuff anyway. See you tonight?”
“Of course,” she says sweetly. And, with another kiss (and another urge to gag from me), Ramona saunters out of the hall.
As soon as she leaves, the smile fades from my face and I fix Gus with a glare.
“So,” I say rather firmly to him, “when were you planning on telling me you were engaged?”
“Emma, can we not do this here?” he asks looking at the other employees rushing about. A few have glanced over their cubicles to watch us.
Pregnant to an Alien King Box Set Page 126
