by Lauren Wood
“Callie?!”
I stopped to the sound of his voice and groaned inwardly. Of course, he would be the one coming to pick me up. Of course.
I turned around and saw Teddy parked not too far behind me on the side of the street. He was waving me over and I didn’t have a choice but to go to him. He was my ride home and I didn’t want to walk.
“Come on, what are you doing walking in the rain?”
Not noticing that it was even raining, I shrugged and told him that I was just going home. I wanted him to get back in his vehicle and leave me alone, but I knew that it wasn’t meant to be.
“Your brother said you needed a ride, so here I am.”
I nodded that I did. He wasn’t going to let me go on walking, so I better just get in and hope that he drives fast. I don’t want to make it take any longer than it had to. I didn’t want him to know that I was so upset. I shouldn’t have run off like I did, but I was more shocked and upset than I thought he could make me.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t think I should be driving.”
He laughed at me and told me that he didn’t think I should be walking either.
I stopped short of him and told him to carry me then. I was just joking because he was making it out like I hadn’t just been walking just fine. But instead of laughing, he came back and pulled me up and into his arms before I could protest. They were strong around me and I was inundated with the smell of him. He had this musky man smell that was hard to ignore and before I knew what I was doing, my arms were locking around his neck. This felt familiar even though it had been so long.
Teddy leaned down when we got to his car parked on the side and before he put me down, he kissed me on my lips passionately. It was the sort of kiss that I remembered from before and it made me instantly wet. It also made it hard to stand up when he set me down. My knees felt like rubber and I was left speechless.
That was until I remembered what I’d walked into earlier and I wiped the feel of him off my lips. I knew exactly where they’d been. Was he really that clueless? Did he really think that I was going to fall back into his arms? I wasn’t that drunk, and I hadn’t forgotten why I started drinking tonight in the first place. It was because of him.
Chapter 11
Theodore
She didn’t say much after the kiss, but I was waiting for it. Callie was the sort of woman that wouldn’t keep it in long, so I was waiting for the blowup that I was sure to see. I knew that she was going to yell at me. I’d seen the look in her eyes and the way she’d reacted and told her brother to keep me out of her bathroom. I didn’t know that it was her bathroom.
Maybe I should just get it out in the open and get it over with. She was drunk, so at least I wouldn’t have to explain it all later. She might not even remember it, or the kiss that I so mistakenly thought she wanted. Callie had looked at me with those big old brown eyes of hers and I had forgotten myself for a moment there. She was my boss. An ex. So many reasons not to want her, but none of them really held true.
“So, look Callie, about earlier…”
“Please, I don’t want to talk about that. I’m going to have to have the maids do an extra cleaning in there I take it.”
“It’s not like I spewed all over the bathroom.”
“No, it was in the woman’s mouth. Girlfriend?”
I shook my head and told her that I was single.
“You didn’t look very single earlier.”
“It was an old flame. We met at the party and she wanted me to take her upstairs. I shouldn’t have, but you know what they say.”
“No, I guess I don’t.”
“Standing cock has no conscious.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you were such a jerk. Good to know.”
I wanted to kick myself for the last part. That was something that I’d heard before and it was said in jest. It was certainly not taken that way this time. This time I could see that she didn’t appreciate my humor at all. It was sort of depressing really because I’d seen this all going so differently. I’d had my hopes up when David asked me to go get her, but once again, nothing worked out the way it was supposed to.
“I didn’t mean it like that. It was a joke.”
“Oh, I get it. It’s hilarious. But I don’t care what you do. I just didn’t want the party spilling into the house.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
It sounded like she did care what I was doing, but I wasn’t stupid enough to bring that up. I may be a jerk and even an idiot at times, but that was something I knew better about. I wasn’t going to push it. I’d said enough apparently because we rode in complete silence the rest of the way. Not only was I totally screwing up with a chick I wanted back in my bed, but this was also my boss. I really needed to rethink my situation.
“It’s nothing. Just not in my bathroom. You guys weren’t in my bedroom, were you?”
I told her that we weren’t, and she was far so happy with that answer. It wasn’t like we hadn’t been together very intimately before. I still remembered her screaming my name out loud like it was yesterday. How did it come to this?
“No. I told her I had to go after you ran off. I wanted to talk to you. Been wanting to talk to you and you’re always busy or surrounded by a lot of people. You’re a hard woman to get alone.”
“Maybe so. You don’t have to say anything. What happened between us was a long time ago. It doesn’t have to be awkward. We just need to pretend like it never happened.”
She still had a bit of a slur to her words, but she was reasonably sobered up by the time we got back to her house. Callie was unfortunately going to remember this. She was shutting herself off and I wished that she wouldn’t. I didn’t want to argue with her, but I knew that Callie was holding it in. If she wasn’t, I was even more vexed that I felt so much for her and she felt so little. It wasn’t a good feeling at all.
When we got back, she popped out of the car like it was on fire and practically ran out the door. This was not how I’d seen this going at all. Not at all.
I blew out a stream of air and went back in. I was just there to find David and see how he was doing. I knew that I was going to get out of there as soon as I could. The main reason I came was to see Callie and she made it clear that she wasn’t interested in me like that. Of course, I was, but a moment of weakness with Linda had done me in. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she wouldn’t have seen it for herself. Now I was stuck knowing that I’d screwed it all up for a blowjob. And while Linda had always been one of my favorites, there were still memories of the past that would blow her out of the water.
“Hey man, I’m about to go. Your sister is upstairs. We just got back.”
He grinned at me and pulled me to the side.
“Look, this chick wants to stay but your friend wants to go. Why don’t you go with Linda and I will be able to talk to Desiree a little while longer?”
I wanted to say no instantly because Linda had caused me so much damn trouble. But I was there for David as well and he really needed to get laid. It had been a while for him, so I agreed. “I’ll take her out of here and that will leave you with Desiree for the night.”
He agreed, and David was smiling from ear to ear. Yeah, this guy really needed it. I went to find Linda and see if she was ready to go. I was going to have to make some apologies on how I took off after another chick earlier, but that shouldn’t be too hard. You give a girl enough orgasms and in time she will pretty much do what I wanted of her. Linda had been that way for a while and now I was glad for it.
I knew that I wasn’t going to take her back to my place. I would make her think so, but in truth I was going to take her home after a little drive. That would give David time to have fun with Desiree before she called her mad and huffy. I knew that I was burning a bridge, but it didn’t matter to me. She was a hot piece of ass, but nothing more.
Linda was more than happy to go with me, which pretty much proved my point. I didn’t like to always get my way. I should. I
t was ideal for most, but to me, I didn’t want it. I wanted a woman that would tell me no and stand up to me when I was talking out my ass. Of course, that thought made me think of Callie who had very recently kissed me and in the same breath told me to piss off. It was entertaining and an adventure with her. Linda just agreed with anything.
Sighing to myself, I drove away from the party and looked up to the window that I knew was Callie’s. I hoped she wasn’t looking out the window and seeing me leave with Linda. I didn’t want her thinking that I was doing anything with Linda. I still held out hope, even if she tried to convince us both that there was none. I still thought there was.
Chapter 12
Callie
Waking up the next morning was about as bad as it got. The house was trashed, and the yard was a mess. When I looked outside my balcony, there were literally still people on the lawn. A few years back, I may have been one of those people, but I’d wizened up and now I just shook my head and went to find David. We had people coming by later, clients for the company and he needed to get them out of here. I was going to have to call in extra cleaners today to get it all done in time.
David was in his room and the door was open partially. I went in because we had that sort of relationship now and I wanted to get him up and get those people out of here. The clients would be here at noon and there was only a couple of hours to erase the party that he threw. It only seemed fair that he help with the organizing of it.
I didn’t expect to see a redhead in his bed and very little on either one of them. The sheet was precariously covering the essentials, but I turned around anyways before I called his name. That was the last thing that I wanted.
“David?”
He mumbled something, and I heard movement. I said his name a couple more times before he asked me what I wanted. I also heard the girl making noises and moving around behind me.
“I’m really tired sis. I was up late.”
I sighed to myself and it amazed me how quickly he had taken on the role of laziness that was associated with the rich. “Get dressed and get these people out of here. Johnson from the Fountain Group are going to be her at noon to sign for that deal. We need that new business and we don’t need to look like we are a frat house. Okay?”
I tried not to let my anger get to me. It wasn’t even David or the mess that I was mad at. I was mad at other things that I didn’t have a right to be and there was nothing that I could do about it. That’s what drove me crazy and made me so agitated. It didn’t help that David was his best friend. I couldn’t rail to him about it, even though I really wanted to. He didn’t know what happened between us and I didn’t plan to say anything about it.
“That’s today?”
I shook my head and told him that it was. “So, let’s go. I’ve got some extra cleaners coming over, but they aren’t going to be able to do their job if there are people passed out on the lawn.”
I heard him chuckle. “Yeah that was a damn good party.”
Practically growling at him, I rushed him one more time before I left the room and tried to calm myself down. I don’t know why I was so mad, I just knew that I was. It was frustrating when David acted like he didn’t care that much. There was a lot riding on the new client and we needed this win. With the board breathing down our necks, unsure if they should find a real CEO to run it, I knew that we needed to make sure nothing happened. I was going to have to put aside all my feelings about Teddy and the disappointment, so he would be fine to deal with a bit of a headache from drinking too much. This had to go down perfectly, or we would be in hot water.
Waiting for him to get dressed and leave his room, the woman was still in there, but I didn’t even ask. It was strange living with someone new, especially a new brother that was so different than me. I didn’t want to be the nagging sister, but I was so close. I didn’t have the clearest of heads either. I’d spent far too much time drinking and commiserating last night about what happened with Teddy. I was worn out and knew that it was going to take a while to cover the bags under my eyes that I knew were present. I had to get myself together and that meant leaving the clean-up organization to him. People would be here soon to clean this mess up and I wanted to make sure that he was able to take care of it. I needed to impress upon him how important this was.
“Okay, I’m up, so what do you want me to do?”
“Just make sure everyone is out of here and when the cleaners get her, send them off to do the work.”
“I don’t know what needs to be done.”
“Look around, it won’t be hard to figure out.”
“Okay, so what happened to you last night? You didn’t have a good time?”
“I just had to take off for a bit and I got a little too tipsy is all.”
“Oh. Well go get ready and I will take care of this.”
I thanked him and left it with him. I was the type to make sure and check on everything, but I was trying to really let it go and trust him. I had to at some point. We were going to be working together for a while, so I had to let him take some of it on.
Taking a shower, I tried to clear my head of the night before and all the emotions from the past that just kept getting regurgitated repeatedly. I didn’t want to think about Teddy today, but even that thought broke my intentions. It was going to be harder than I thought.
Pushing all the thoughts from my head, I focused on the presentation that meant so much to the company. We made boxes at the factory and with another huge client, we could secure our future for a very long time to come. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. It was a deal my dad had started when he was sick, and it was one that I revived now that I was running things. I was worried about what was going to happen, but I knew that it was a good move or dad wouldn’t have considered it. They would get a discount, but the sheer volume would help keep us going for years to come.
When I got back downstairs an hour later, the place didn’t look like it did before. It looked like respectable people lived here and I didn’t see a solitary beer can in the house. This was good news to me and I peeked out the window to see what the state of the yard was.
David was outside picking up trash and all the people were gone. I underestimated him, and I was glad that he was proving to be responsible. I wanted to thank him later, even though I’d thought he would let me down. David was constantly surprising me and this was no different.
I went upstairs and got my things together to meet with the clients. My outlook was already looking better, and I knew that it was going to be a good day. I was going to make sure of that.
The doorbell rang, and the maid let the clients in to be seen. I had lunch waiting for them and with a new outlook on the day, I knew I was going to own this meeting. I already had the new client in my head.
“Confidence is key,” my father always said.
Chapter 13
Theodore
I didn’t anticipate the weekend I had, but I was even worse off come Monday morning when I had to go in. After the debacle with Linda and Callie, I didn’t want to go into the weekly morning meeting. It was the second one and necessary, but I was worried that it was going to be awkward. Callie was going to be pissed or she was before, and I didn’t think she was the type to get over things so quickly.
When I got to work, my office still had my name plate on the door and I had to take it like it was a good sign. I’d half expected to be fired this morning and I was waiting for David to give me the bad news. It had seemed too good to be true anyways. That would have made more sense than what was going on at the minute.
“Good morning Teddy. Have a seat, you’re the last one to the party.”
Callie was smiling at me in a pleasant manner. It didn’t have the heat of before, but it was at least nice. She wasn’t yelling, and she didn’t have that accusation look in her face anymore. I hated when she looked at me like that and I was glad that she seemed to be over the little tiff we had. I didn’t want to argue with her. I wante
d to fuck her, and it looked like we were back on that road.
I sat down, and the meeting started. I was last, even though I was five minutes early. Apparently, I was going to have to come even earlier. Even David was here before me and he was notorious for being late. I tried to settle in to the chair, not sure what to do with my hands. I never felt this way. I wasn’t made for an office and I certainly wasn’t made for a suit.
“So, the first week back went very well, even though we had a few hiccups. I want to thank Ted for his help with the ailing machines. I also want to announce that we did get the approval of our bid offer and our production is about to go up at least twenty five percent. This will give the company extra revenue to put back into the machines. They are old, as we all know, and the new ones will be more efficient and cost less to maintain and operate.”
David piped up, asking how they were going to be less to operate. “Are they going to use less electricity?”
“Yes, they will, but also there will be less operators running them. Most machines will take one person only, slashing our labor cost by another thirty percent. The board is very happy about that figure.”
I could see that David wasn’t happy about it because he was thinking along the same lines as I was. If there was such a reduction in labor costs, that meant that we were going to be getting rid of a lot of people. Who was that going to be and who was going to fire them? That would change not just the company, but the surrounding area because many people worked here or knew someone that did. The whole community would be affected.
“You can’t be serious. Do you know what that would do to people?”
I looked to Callie and she looked like she hadn’t even considered it.
“Well, I mean, we would be adding new lines in eventually if we make the factory bigger, but that will take some time.”
