by Lauren Wood
“You really don’t know what you’re talking about Ted.”
He didn’t let go and I was so close to tears that he had to let me go. I didn’t want to lose it in front of him, but I was about to.
“Please let me go.”
“What’s wrong Callie?”
He turned me towards him and I couldn’t hide the tears in my eyes or the look on my face. It had been a very trying day and I really couldn’t deal with him yelling at me as well. It was bad enough that the two of them thought that of me, but it was even worse when Ted saw me like this. I didn’t want him to.
“Nothing Ted. Just leave me alone, both of you! I wish you’d never came back into my life.”
I tried to leave and this time he let me go, but he wasn’t ready to let it go at all.
“Tell me what happened. I swear to God if he did anything to you, I will kill him. Did he touch you? Did he do something that you didn’t want him to do?”
It would have been funny if it wasn’t so sad. Ted was acting like I was just this breakable person that couldn’t stand on my own two feet. I’d been doing it just fine before them. Now I had to figure out how to get him off my back.
“No Ted, he did everything I wanted him to, just the way I like it. Is that what you want to hear?”
I had said it out of anger, but I could see now that he didn’t get that. He just heard what he’d wanted to hear and not how I was saying it. It was like he couldn’t see the tears and the anger in my face. All he heard was what he wanted to hear or thought he was going to hear.
“No Callie, that’s not all what I wanted to hear. But that’s all you have to say. I won’t mess with you anymore. I thought you were in danger. I just wanted to make sure you’re safe, but it’s your decision and I won’t interfere anymore.”
It’s what I told myself I’d wanted all the time, so why did I feel so lousy suddenly? It didn’t make sense, not really.
I told myself that I wasn’t going to look back and I didn’t until I got in the house. The tears that were threatening to roll down my cheeks finally started to fall, and I just leaned back against the door. I didn’t know what to say and I was just standing there when David came through. These two really didn’t get it, did they? They were all over me and I just had the worse night ever. By the looks of David, it was going to get worse before it got any better.
“I’ve been waiting up for you.”
I sighed and pushed off against the door. “Why?”
“I got some disturbing news earlier.”
“From Ted?”
“Yeah. You know?”
“Well he just read me the riot act a little bit ago on the front porch, so I would guess that you’re about to do the same thing. I’ll tell you now though, I’m not in the mood for it brother. I can’t, I really can’t today. It’s been a long day and I don’t want to argue with you. Say what you want to say and then I’m going up to bed.”
David’s face didn’t show much. “I hear you were with Gary from work.”
It wasn’t a question, but an observation, so I waited for more.
“Are you not going to deny it?”
“Are you going to ask a question?”
These two were really ticking me off and I felt like I was about to go off on David if he didn’t hurry up and get out of my face. This was the last time that I was going to talk about it, especially knowing that I’d done this all for him.
“Were you really out with Gary, over at his house?”
He was shocked to even say it and if it was for any other reason, I could see his point, but there was no time for any of that today. I knew that I was going to have to suck it up. I already had with Teddy and that had seemed far harder than it was going to be with David.
“Yes, I was.”
David was shocked, and I could see the cluelessness on his face. He wanted to tell me that I was crazy and maybe I was, just not in the way that he figured. He’d figured that I would deny it maybe or maybe he’d hoped that it wasn’t true. Hell, I felt the same way, but hopefully I wouldn’t have to see him again. I hoped that I’d gotten my point across to Gary and that the last payment was the final one.
“Is that why you promoted him and gave him a raise without me knowing about it?”
I wish that he didn’t know about it, because I didn’t want to have to explain myself. Gary wasn’t the best worker, even though he’d been with the company for years. He was a spiteful and mean-spirited which made the work load of others harder. He was the last person that deserved a promotion or a raise, but that’s what had happened. It wasn’t my choice of course.
“I also own the factory David, so I can give out raises to whom I see fit to.”
David just shook his head at me and looked at me like he didn’t even know how I was. I guess I didn’t either. All I’d ever wanted was for us to get along and for the business our parents started to do well. That’s it. I was surely paying for it now.
“I don’t know what to say Callie. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore. You’ve been gone all week and you come home at this time of night.”
“Look David. I know that you care and I’m glad, really, I am, but you don’t know what’s going on, so please leave it. I’m only doing what I must do. You told me to stay away from your friend, even though I care for him, which I have. What more do you want? You don’t get to dictate who I go out with, especially not coming from a guy that’s screwing a new girl almost every night of the week.”
“Ted was different. I would rather you be with Ted than with Gary. He’s horrible all the way around.”
I would have agreed if I wouldn’t have wanted him to win. He acted like he knew what was going on. I almost told him, but I was trying to keep it hush. David and Ted didn’t have a very good track record for handling things. I still think it was better if I handled it myself. I just wish I didn’t have so many questions coming my way with what I was doing. What I was doing was for the good of the business and for the family. It was just that simple.
Chapter 26
Theodore
Work was becoming a place that I didn’t want to go to. It was awkward when I was around David because I knew that there was something going on with his sister, but I was supposed to stay out of it.
Gary pranced around a little more than usual and all I wanted to do was hit him in his mouth. He had this grin on his face that I’d convinced myself was because of what he was doing with Callie. It was his way of rubbing it in that he had her and I didn’t. I couldn’t stand the look on his face when he caught me looking at him. He would have the biggest smile and then sort of turn away like it was no big deal. I was livid and even though I tried not to show it, it really was impossible to hide my true feelings.
Callie was never seen anymore and sometimes she didn’t even come to the morning meetings on Monday. She was letting David take over more and more and I hated to admit it, but I hated missing her. I did, badly, but I had to move on. She’d made her decision, no matter how hard it was to comprehend. I wasn’t the only one that didn’t understand it, but at the end of the day, it was her choice. I couldn’t make her be with me.
After coming to that conclusion, I moved on in the way that every man did. I decided that I had to find a woman to get my mind off the one I couldn’t have. I’d picked up a few women at bars late at night when I couldn’t take it anymore, but I was ready to move on to something else. I had to, or I was just going to drive myself crazy.
It was about the time of the decision that a few new girls started at the factory. One caught my eye. Maybe it was because she resembled Callie in a superficial way, but when I caught her looking my way, I took it upon myself to ask her out. It had been a while since I’d done that and when she said yes, I wasn’t as happy as I should have been. In reality no one compared to Callie my eyes, Candy was no exception, but I couldn’t wait around forever either, now could I?
We planned to meet after work and I was about to clock out for the da
y when I heard Callie calling my name. Since this was a rare occurrence, something in me, hope maybe, started to grow before I could stop it. What is it that she wanted?
“What’s up boss?”
She frowned at me, never liking that title.
“Come in here and shut the door please Ted.”
She sounded serious and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what she had to say. I wish that this was a nice visit. I remember a time when we fucked on several surfaces in here, but it was becoming painfully clear that this wasn’t that.
“What’s the problem Callie?”
“Well, I wanted to remind you of the fact that you are the line supervisor.”
Okay, I already knew that, so why was she reminding me?
“And?”
“Well there is rules in place for how you can treat the people underneath you. There is no fraternizing with someone that is in a position lower than you Ted.”
It took a minute for me to realize what she was talking about. Was she talking about Candy? How the hell did she know about that? I had literally just asked her out not but thirty minutes before that. We were supposed to go out for the first time tonight.
“That’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know what you mean Ted.”
“What I mean is that you’re fucking Gary and he’s below you.”
She sighed and looked away. “I haven’t and never will have sex with that man.”
I was confused now. From what I thought, she and Gary were together. I didn’t see them together, but I figured it was because of me finding out about them and confronting her.
“What?”
“Just what I said. I’m not a hypocrite because I didn’t have sex with him. You, yes, but never Gary. I still can’t believe you and David even thought that about me.”
“What else was we supposed to think when you’re going to his house in the middle of the night?”
I should have let it go, but I wanted to know if she was being for real or not. I don’t know what it would change, but if it could get the idea of the two of them together out of my mind, I was all for that.
“You’re not supposed to think anything because it’s none of your damn business.”
“So, you’re telling me that you haven’t slept with Gary?”
“God no, would you stop saying it.”
“Then what were you doing there then?”
I couldn’t let it go. It didn’t make sense why she was at his house in the middle of the night. I wanted answers, whether it was not my damn business or not. Callie was always going to be my business, whether that was a good thing or not.
“I had to take care of something.”
“You’re being ambiguous.”
“And you’re being nosy.”
“You’re the one that called me in here. If you don’t want me to go out with Candy, then I want to know what you were doing there with him.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you to go out with Candy, Ted. I have nothing to do with your personal life. And is that her name, seriously? Candy? God, her parents must not have had high hopes for her.”
“Yes, her name is really Candy and you are jealous.”
“I’m not.”
“What about Brenda?”
She frowned and told me that it was different.
“She’s my friend and the last thing I want to do was share the same guy with her. That’s just gross.”
“So?”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope.”
Callie sighed loudly to let me know that she wasn’t happy.
“I was paying him off.”
That was not at all what I was expecting.
“Paying him off?”
“Yeah, he found out some stuff about David from last year. He got into some trouble and Gary has proof that could get David locked up and in big trouble. He was drunk, started a fire. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
I did and it all started to make sense to me. I’m a fucking idiot and Gary needed a visit from me and David to nip this all in the butt right now.
Chapter 27
Callie
“What are you looking at me like that for?”
“I’ve been so wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter Ted. Don’t mess with Candy. There are thousands of other women in the city, so try not to limit yourself to the ones that are here. Okay?”
I hated to admit it, but when I saw him cozying up to her, it was clear that I was not as over Teddy as I liked to say I was. I wanted him even now and the way he was looking at me had me a little hot under the collar. It’s how it had been when I’d seen him with Brenda. I was quite sure that I didn’t want to see him with anyone else. I couldn’t have him, and I didn’t want anyone else to have him either. It wasn’t fair, but it’s exactly how I felt. If he had to be with someone, I just didn’t want to see it and I was falling back on company policy to make it seem like I wasn’t the one with the green monster on my back.
“The one I want is here though.”
“Well then Ted, fire her so you can take her to bed.”
“I can’t.”
He was frustrating me to no end. Did he not get that I didn’t want to talk about this? I’d said my piece, confessed the truth and now I was ready to be done with it.
“Why can’t you? Is she that good of a worker, this Candy?”
“Not at all. She just started and is going to be like everyone else. The one I want, I can’t have. She’s the boss, so I certainly can’t fire her. What do you think that I should do?”
I was getting the gist of it now and I tried not to let his innuendos make me even hotter than I already was. I pulled the shirt away from my chest and took some deep breaths. Why was it so hard to breathe suddenly?
“I think you shouldn’t have such fanciful ideas about your boss. She can fire you.”
“Not if I make her come over and over again.”
Damn it. Now I was wet. It had been so freaking long since I’d been with a man. I couldn’t bring myself to be with anyone else since Teddy and it was really starting to mess with my head.
“What are you doing Ted? You know this isn’t the way this is supposed to go. We’ve both promised.”
“Well your brother thought that you were with Gary and told me the other day that he’d rather have you with me, then him. That is all I need to hear. Sounds like approval to me.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about because I wasn’t really listening to him. I was horny, and I was watching his lips form words, trying not to think about what he could do with that mouth. It was talented, much like the rest of him was and I was ready to have him again. If Teddy didn’t leave soon, I was going to lose all resolve that I had mustered.
“That doesn’t change anything. He doesn’t have anything to do with who I’m with.”
“Really?”
I agreed with the nod of my head and I could tell that Teddy wasn’t buying it.
“So, you don’t want me then?”
“No Teddy. As much as you like to think that no woman can live without you, I assure you that it’s not the case.”
“Then what is the case?”
“You’re cute and funny with talented appendages.”
“Ouch.”
“You’re right, that was a bit harsh. We never got to know each other all that well. We had sex, waited another five years to meet again. Had some more sex and then it all came to an end. I didn’t get to know much more about you than that.”
“You know a lot more about me than that, just like I know a lot about you. Not only do I know how you take your coffee and what you have for breakfast every single morning, but I also know what you taste like. Which is pretty sweet and a flavor that was almost like pineapple.”
That made me giggle for a second. I’d never heard that one before, but I was on a citrus kick back then. Who would have thought that I c
ould change that?
“Just because you woke up with me a couple of times…”
“There’s more. You wear a size 10 shoe which you tried to hide several times, as well as your feet. They are adorable by the way. You sing in the shower and I hate to say it, but your off key. I think you do know that though, because that’s why you turn the water on before you start. You hate being wrong and when you’re really horny you start bouncing your leg, about like you’re doing right now Callie.”
I was stunned about some of the things he’d picked up on and I hated to admit that he was right about all of them, though couldn’t he have thought of something a little better than that? He’d zeroed in to all my bad habits.
“Do you really want me to go Callie?”
I hadn’t heard what he said before that, but my knee-jerk answer was no. It was literally the last thing that I wanted him to do.
He was now headed towards the door with a frustrated look on his face. I had to stop him before he left again, and we went back to the way things were.
“Wait.”
Teddy turned around and his dark eyes were filled with so many emotions. The one I was most interested in was the way he was looking at me now. Did he know what I was going to say next?
I didn’t have to say another word, because before I could, Teddy was closing the door and smiling back at me. “I’m glad you’ve come around boss. I want to break some of the company rules with you.”
“It would be me breaking them Teddy. Not you.”
“Right. Well then I’m about to get you into loads of trouble.”
Teddy was moving closer and I was still seated at my desk. He was upon me before I had time to stand up. Bending down, Ted pulled me up to my feet and kissed me. It was a kiss that stirred every part of me up and I couldn’t hold myself up. Ted needed me as much as I needed him, and I knew that for sure by the way his hands held me, and his lips moved on mine.
He was not the man that I’d made love to before. Teddy had no precision with his movement and there was no lingering tease that he’d always left before. This time he was demanding and almost rough as he pushed all the things off my desk.
