Redeemed: Book Two of the Love Seekers Series

by Maria Vickers

  “Is that any way to talk to someone who is helping your company?” I asked innocently.

  She knew better. I was far from innocent. “Why are you doing it?”

  “Justin asked and I had the time to help. Plus, he already knew what he wanted, so it was an easy job.”

  “Cut the crap. Why did you do it, and why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

  “Well, if you had accepted my offer for lunch, we could have discussed everything then, but you said no.” My smile grew. Baiting her was too much fun.

  “Asshole!”

  I had to clear my throat so that I wouldn’t laugh out loud. “Tisk. Tisk. I think your brother has corrupted you and given you a potty mouth.”

  “What’s your game?”

  “Nothing. From our meeting today, I can only assume you didn’t know that Preston and Santo pulled out. No one told you. Ask yourself why they didn’t have the balls to tell you. Then ask yourself, why your boss didn’t pass that information on to the one person who should have known.”

  There was a long pause and then she breathlessly asked, “What do you know?” She sounded small and frail, on the verge of crying. Either this was a ruse, or my questions made her think. I put my money on the former. I had seen her play her brother like an expert violinist too many times with those tears.

  “Dinner. Tonight.”

  “I…I can’t.”

  “Afraid? Too chicken?”

  “I am NOT chicken,” she seethed. Her rage returned full force.

  “Then dinner? Let’s say 7:00 P.M. at The Glass Onion.”

  “I told you, I can’t.” She stood her ground. Either she didn’t want to admit she had no plans, or she really did. I wasn’t sure which any longer.

  “Fine, you can’t. Can you do dinner tomorrow?”

  I heard her huff, and I smirked even more. “Fuck! Okay, you win. Lunch tomorrow at Fig.”

  Cocky and self-assured, I faked innocence when I said, “But I thought you couldn’t possibly get away from the office for lunch this week?”

  “Shut up!”

  “Well too bad Sweetheart because I can’t meet for lunch any longer. Something’s come up.”

  “What could possibly come up in less than a day?”

  “I can think of several things that could ‘come up’ in less than a minute, but as for your question—not that it’s any of your business—I have lunch with a client tomorrow. They called shortly after I left Justin’s office. Dinner or nothing.” I didn’t actually have lunch plans for tomorrow, but she had to realize that everything would happen according to my schedule, not hers.

  “You’re a pig.”

  “If you don’t want to play nice, I won’t either. Do you want to know or not?”

  Papers shuffled around on the other end of the line, almost as if she wanted me to believe she was busier than she actually was, and then she responded in an annoyed tone, “Fine. Dinner tomorrow at Fig.”

  “Fig it is, at seven sharp.”

  “Whatever.”

  I knew she had hung up on me when all noise ceased on her end. Dead silence. I won again. This was only the beginning. I had found my bearings and I cast my line. No more uncertainty or floundering. I would make her trust me, depend on me, and then I would pull the rug out from under her. Rayne would learn she was the only one that needed to be locked away and hidden from society. She was flawed and I would break her.

  Chapter 14

  Rayne

  A ggravation churned in my stomach, making it feel like I had swallowed rocket fuel. It hurt and I felt ill. Chad did this to me. He made me feel sick and ready to vomit. Ever since I disconnected our call an hour ago, I stood on the precipice of an anxiety attack. The room around me spun, my gut felt like it was doing summersaults, and my breathing was erratic. It was only dinner with a vendor, nothing more.

  If that was the case, then why did I feel like I was about to jump off a cliff into an unknown abyss?

  This didn’t make sense. I knew his plan was to take me down all because Emma had wrapped him so snuggly around her little finger—the bitch. I prepared myself for anything he could potentially throw at me, and I’d been waiting for him to make his next move, but right now, I felt off my game. I didn’t know how he was going to come at me, and I hated feeling like I was waiting on my executioner.

  Why Chad? Why had my boss picked him for the project? Fuck my life! I wanted to murder both of them. And on top of that, now I had to deal with a new employee. Someone in the universe wanted to turn me into a laughing stock and found great enjoyment in messing with me.

  But it wasn’t only Chad. No matter my issues with him, he was right about something. Why hadn’t Justin told me Preston and Santo had pulled out? Why hadn’t he told me he had hired Chad? If all of this happened a couple of weeks ago, I should have known about the change, and I hadn’t. Not only that, but I had called Preston and Santo yesterday and never heard back from them. Now I knew why. What did Chad know? Why wasn’t I told? What was going on under my nose that I had missed?

  My mind whirled, trying to connect the dots, and yet, every time it followed a path hoping it would turn into something, an emptiness and dead-end awaited me. Maybe, Chad was yanking my chain and he didn’t know anything. Maybe there was nothing wrong and Justin had simply forgot to mention it to me. It could happen. It had happened before—although, I couldn’t seem to recall when or about what at the moment.

  “Stop it! Stop it, Rayne,” I told myself as I stood up and began to pace, not caring if anyone heard me. My office door was closed. If they heard my odd behavior, then that meant they weren’t doing their job, and if they weren’t doing their job, they could find somewhere else to work. I didn’t have time for slackers on my team or in this office—not that I held that much power.

  Taking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, I continued my pep talk, “Chad wants to get under your skin and he will use anything he can to accomplish it. It’s probably some sort of joke on his part to hire the fucking…calm down, Rayne.”

  Another deep breath. “It was probably him that recommended or convinced Justin to hire the cripple. Don’t let him bring you down. He wants you to second guess yourself so that you fall for his conniving ways. Don’t believe anything he says. Don’t let him win. He cannot win. You are better and stronger than that. One man is not capable of destroying everything unless you let him. Chad is nothing to you, can do nothing to you. He is nothing more than a weak-minded fool who has believed everything Emma has spouted thus far. If he is like that, then he doesn’t know shit. Rise above this, Rayne. Just talk to Justin in the morning and ask him why the information wasn’t given to you. I’m sure there is a logical explanation.”

  Sinking into my office chair, I leaned back and spun it around to peer out my office window. The sky was overcast now. Earlier, I had been able to see the sun and the blueness of the sky, but not anymore. Now the weather chose to match my mood, sending me even further into the pit of anxiety.

  My pep talk wasn’t working.

  My work remained on my desk, my computer had long since gone to sleep, and I continued to stare out the window. Internally, I started to shut down, and no matter what my eyes looked at, I saw nothing. My mind remained focused on why I hadn’t been told of such a monumental change. This wasn’t simply changing the font, this was a whole new company who never existed on our approved list of vendors. I made certain of that because I never wanted to have to deal with Chad except for when absolutely necessary—which unfortunately happened more often than I liked since he was a friend of Bryan and that damnable Emma.

  Why him? What was in it for Chad in accepting Justin’s request?

  The only flaw in my plan to not send Chad any business was that Justin had been training at the gym with the asshole. “His cocky ass needs to be taken down a notch or fifty.”

  “Who?”

  Whipping my office chair around, I narrowed my eyes and glared daggers at the intruder. “Is there a reason you
forgot how to knock, Regina?” I spat her name as if it tasted foul. This woman had thrown herself at my brother, and then tried to accuse me of getting in her way. If there was any ray of sunshine about the fact my brother got married, it was that he hadn’t married this bitch.

  She gave me a fake smile and tilted her head to the side slightly before righting it again. Sometimes she reminded me of that blonde joke which asked, “What are shoulder pads used for?” The blonde bobbed her head from side to side and answered, “I don’t know.”

  Regina tended to do that damn annoying head bob, and it didn’t help her case that she was blonde. With her long legs, she stood at least half a foot taller than me and loved to look down her nose at me. Another habit that I wanted to slap her for.

  “Did you need something?” I didn’t bother to hide my irritation nor the fact I wanted her gone.

  Clucking her tongue like I had seen teenagers do to their parents, she narrowed her brown eyes and smirked. “How’s your brother?” I was almost surprised she didn’t roll her eyes at me.

  The only reason this bitch would have been better for Bryan as a life partner, was because she wasn’t broken. “Still doesn’t want you, so I would say he’s still sane.”

  Her eyes narrowed further, and with her slightly elongated nose, she reminded me more of a rat. And considering her cheeks were puffy, and she had a slightly rounded figure, I would say the description probably fit her to a T. “How droll of you.”

  “Isn’t it just?” Crossing my arms over my chest, I demanded, “What the hell do you want, Regina? If you’re here simply to annoy me, turn your ass around and get the hell out of my office.” This was probably not the best way to talk to a fellow employee, but if she reported me, I could report her—and she knew it. In fact, I had more stuff on her than she would ever have on me. It stayed in my pocket for a rainy day. Like her taking company supplies, or calling in sick when she was really interviewing with a competitor. I kept all of it locked away for when it benefitted me the most.

  Her stance mimicked mine. She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her small tits up. “I came in here because I was informed by a little birdy that we were going to have a new employee. I was told to get security access set up with IT, and that you would have the information.”

  “Nope.”

  “What the hell do you mean ‘nope?’”

  “I mean I don’t have anything. Justin didn’t leave anything with me. The only thing he said is that we would have a new employee and that we needed to make sure we were ADA compliant, which we already are.”

  “What does ADA compliant mean? I thought she was in a wheelchair.”

  Unable to hold it in, I laughed loudly. If I hurt her feelings, oh well. Wiping away invisible tears from my eyes, I told her, “ADA…Americans with Disabilities Act.”

  Her face turned beet red and she dropped her arms to her sides, her hands clenched in tight fists. And then her countenance changed. Almost as quickly as the rage appeared, it disappeared, and she once again acted smug.

  It almost worried me…almost. “What?”

  “This is going to be great.”

  I lifted my brow in confusion. Maybe she had gone crazy. “What?” I hated repeating myself, especially when it came to the likes of Regina. Even thinking her name gave me a chill.

  Titling her head yet again, she snickered. If she didn’t tell me what was on her mind soon, I was going to slap her into next week. Before I could say something about that thought, she spoke up, practically singing, “Disabled? This is great! I think the universe is finally getting you back for you being…well, you.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “I saw you a couple weeks ago. How you treated your brother’s fiancée when you were having lunch with them a couple of days before the wedding. I think your parents were there too. I could tell how much you hated her. And then when you left, there was someone coming in with a prosthetic leg and you practically shoved him. I used to think you were just hateful, but I’ve seen you around other people who needed…let’s call it assistance, and you loath them. It’s written all over your face. So I can’t wait for all of this to unfold. I’m just going to sit back and watch it all with a big smile on my face.”

  I laughed. “A lot you know. For your information, I don’t like Emma because I think my brother could do better; and as far as the person I pushed is concerned, I think you have your facts wrong. I was in a bad mood and he got in my way. Nothing more, nothing less.” Had she really seen us at lunch together? I didn’t matter because it was her word against mine. And really, there was no issue with me having my own beliefs and likes or dislikes.

  “Sure. I guess we’ll see.”

  I forced a smile and used my most businesslike voice. “I guess we will. Now since I don’t have what you need and have a lot of work to finish, get the hell out of my office and leave me alone.”

  She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll leave, but just know, I’m watching you.”

  “Watch all you want, but on the way out, please close my door. I need to disinfect my office now.”

  With a huff, she spun around and left, leaving my door wide open. Bitch.

  I got up and slammed it shut. The picture frame on my filing cabinet fell over from the force. I left it face down, uncaring for the moment if I could see my brother or not.

  Between Regina and Chad, I felt like I was standing in a pool of quicksand—something I disliked immensely. If I wanted everything my way, I had to have the upper hand. I just wasn’t sure how to gain it right now.

  Chad wasn’t exactly wrong about my body wanting his. When I used my vibrator, I felt like something was missing. My dildo didn’t quite fill me the way I wanted. And when I called one of my “friends with benefits,” he never completely satisfied me. I wasn’t sure why. I had one drunken sex filled night with Chad, which I couldn’t even remember, and now nothing satisfied me. It couldn’t be him. Maybe I was in a rut or needed some new toys and new “friends.” I refused to acknowledge that he had anything to do with my current level of sexual frustration.

  I was on edge and needed some sort of release. Between Bryan’s wedding, work, and everything else going on in my life, I felt overwhelmed. That had to be the reason I couldn’t be satiated lately. It had nothing to do with Chad.

  But if that was the case, why did the mere thought of him make my pussy clench with desire?

  What if there was a way to find satisfaction and gain control of the situation?

  Chapter 15

  Chad

  I knew what I had to do as soon as Rayne agreed to meet me for dinner. I was going to play every angle and keep her guessing. As soon as I hung up, I grabbed a coffee from Starbucks and called my sister to invite her to join us tomorrow night. Simply another way to throw Rayne off balance. And if Rayne said anything to Megan, she’d regret it. But I needed to make sure she never got too comfortable. In a weird way, it was kind of like sensory overload.

  I knew Megan would accept. Of course when I told her that Rayne would be dining with us, she almost backed out. Rayne Sampson’s reputation preceded her. Megan met her once and hadn’t been impressed.

  “I can’t believe you’re making me go out with…Why are you making me go out with both of you? Are you dating her? I thought you hated her? What’s going on that you haven’t told me? Did she suddenly grow a heart or have a personality transplant?” From the haughtiness of Megan’s tone, I could picture the scowl on her face, her blue eyes—the same as mine—burning with curiosity and irritation, and I almost laughed.

  “I’m not dating her.”

  “Then why the fuck do you have dinner plans with her?”

  I sucked in a breath. When my sister cussed, she was serious. Should I confess everything to her, or make up some lie? What did I have to lose? “I have a plan.”

  “A plan?” she asked dryly.

  Suddenly, I felt nervous telling her. Only she could do this to me. My mother always
tried, but never quite put the fear of God in me like my sister managed to do. Of course that could have been because Megan was five years older than me, and when we were kids, she dressed me up in little girls’ clothes, parading me around the neighborhood as her baby. When we were older and I had been told not to hit girls, she would wrestle me down to the ground—I never fought back because I wasn’t supposed to hurt a girl—and give me wet willies. There were also the times when she tested Nair products out on me: my legs, eyebrows, arms, and stomach.

  All in all, my sister scared me when I wasn’t afraid of many people…and what was truly sad; she was the best-behaved out of my parents’ children. My little brother, Theodore, or as we called him, Theo, was a hell raiser. At the age of fifteen, he decided to dye his blond hair black, and it was only after he turned 25 that he started to go back to his blond locks. And I was…me. My mother only scared me when I managed to push her to the edge of reason, which often took a lot of misbehaving from me or my brother.

  Not Megan. She was the saint that could do no wrong. And she had a short fuse. Sometimes, I felt sorry for her husband.

  “What plan?” she demanded when I didn’t say anything else.

  If it hadn’t been for the fact I was family, and therefore privy to that information, I wouldn’t believe Megan had multiple sclerosis, aka MS. She had her days when she wobbled and had trouble, but she was a fighter and never let her disease dictate her life. Luckily, the doctors had caught it early, got her on the right meds, and she was still able to teach grade school. There would probably come a day when she wouldn’t be able to teach any longer, but until that day came, she would keep fighting and living the life she chose. And we would all continue to pray for a cure.

  Annoyed with my silence, she shouted, “Chad!” I had to pull the phone away from my ear or risk losing my hearing.

  I swallowed hard, quickly reconsidering telling her anything. “Look—”

  “If you blow me off, I swear I’ll show up tomorrow night and bring the album with me.”