SCREAMIN' in Pain

by Cynthia Pegram

  “What the fuck, Giovanni. Are you serious? Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Brody is in a complete rage. He is screaming his fists are shaking. “I told you, Giovanni. I did not trust that bitch. I hate her.”

  “Don’t you yell at, him. It is not his fault! Yelling is not going to change anything, you know. Damage happened and now you need to fix it! Okay?” I am pissed off and yelling at, Brody. Man, I cannot handle any more of this shit, anymore screaming and yelling.

  Brody stands up looking out the window. He turns to me to say something but closes his mouth, changing his mind. Smart move on his part I am thinking. Giovanni stands up, “Let’s go take care of business.”

  When we get up into our office, Mariah smiles when she sees, Giovanni. She stands up embracing him in a big hug, “hi, Giovanni. It’s so good to see you.” She keeps him in hers arms. I want to punch her in the face!

  “Mariah please, keep your hands off me.” He tells her as he pushes her away.

  Mariah looks to me then back to Giovanni. She has this shit eating grin on her face. I would not be smiling if I were she though.

  Brody, Giovanni, and I walk into G’s office. None of us feeling comfortable. We all take a seat. Brody ask Giovanni, “How would you like to handle this?”

  They decide on calling Mariah and Trenton into the office. Call Angelo for security and the police to make an arrest. I sit there wishing I were somewhere else.

  The three of us are sitting at Giovanni’s desk. He is in the middle. Brody on his left and I am on his right. Mariah walks in first next is Trenton. Trenton looks very, very nervous. While Mariah is busy looking at Giovanni smiling. Man, she gets on my nerves.

  “Would you please take a seat,” Giovanni had requested. He continues to talk once they sit down, “guys, I had Kristy look into some things for me. What she found was very disturbing.” He went to continue, but Mariah had cut him off.

  “She has no business looking into me.” She is bobbing her head from side to side, thinking she is a badass. She looks at me rolling her eyes.

  “Yes, she absolutely does! She works for us doing as I ask her,” Brody tells her that coming to a stand.

  Giovanni looks toward, Mariah continuing to talk, “Mariah, wouldn’t you like to know what we found out? Aren’t you curious?”

  Trenton is starting to move about in his chair feeling nervous feeling uncomfortable he is glaring at, Mariah. I cannot blame him. I would feel uncomfortable too.

  “What did that bitch find out? Anything good?” She spat at Giovanni.

  Brody turns to look at her. He looks like he wants to beat the shit out of her. Giovanni comes up with a different solution. He turns his attention to Trenton.

  “Trenton, do you have something you would like to tell us?”

  Trenton looks down at his hands turning away from Giovanni’s stare. He begins to cry. Mariah punches him in the arm yelling at him, “You better keep your fucking mouth shut.”

  Brody goes over to Mariah pulling her up by the arm from her seat. He places her on the couch behind Trenton. Then he turns to Trenton, “Trenton, please go ahead and tell us what you know.”

  He gets ready to open his mouth when Mariah starts to scream. She will not shut the fuck up! She just continues to scream and scream as if she is insane!

  Angelo comes rushing into the room with concern. Giovanni shakes his head and holes his hand up so Angelo know everything is okay. Giovanni looks back to Trenton, who in return is still looking into his lap. Trenton does not say anything, so Giovanni does.

  “Mariah, we found out that you were stealing from us to the tune of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars.”

  That catches Trenton’s attention. He looks up to the couch at Mariah. She flips him off and he looks back at his lap. Mariah jumps up from the couch. She gets right into my face, “you have no proof of this.”

  She is yelling with her mouth wide open. She is spitting on my face. I remove her saliva with my hand. Wanting so bad to backhand her. Please, just one punch.

  “How is this for proof?” Giovanni hands her the bank papers.

  She glances at them then turns to me and starts to yell at me again, “that doesn’t mean a thing, bitch.”

  “Well, as you can see you have made many big deposits. I am not sure how you got that amount of money. Would you like to explain?” Giovanni ask her. He is trying to be nice to her. I can tell he is about to lose his temper big time.

  Brody walks over to her taking her arm. He leads her to the couch. Sitting her down with a little force, he turns to Trenton, “Trenton, we believe you helped her.”

  He looks to Brody with tears coming down his face. He looks to Mariah, as he shakes his head no. He is going to tell us everything.

  “She told me she loved me.” He is going to go on except Mariah buts in, “shut the fuck up, Trent.”

  Brody has finally heard enough from her! He turns and takes Mariah by the arm. He opens the door handing her off to Angelo. Brody goes and takes the seat next to Trenton. He clears his throat and looks to Trenton.

  “Tell us the truth, Trenton. Maybe your time in jail won’t be as long as Mariah’s.”

  Trenton turns his chair to Brody ready to talk. He is looking Brody in the eye, “she told me we would never get caught. She told me if I helped her, she would break up with her boyfriend. That way we would be a couple. I was going to leave my wife. I really do love Mariah! She said we needed money before we left our partners.”

  “How did all this start?” Brody questions him.

  “A year ago she came to me saying she had the hots for me. She needed help getting back at Giovanni for fucking her over. I stressed to her that I did not want to have anything to do with it. A week later, we had a few drinks after work on night. We ended up in a hotel room. She fucked my brains out and I gave in.”

  Giovanni gets up and go over to where Trenton is. Brody gets up giving Giovanni the chair he was using.

  This time Giovanni is looking into Trenton’s eyes totally pissed off, “seriously you two have stolen from us for a year now. You really believed I would not catch this! What the hell? Are you that naive?”

  Trenton cannot contain himself anymore. He put his head down crying. When he can speak, again he looks at Giovanni wiping his eyes.

  “I am so sorry, Mr. Tuscany. I know I fucked up. If I could do it over, I would not do it. I honestly had no idea she has taken that much money.”

  Brody stands up to leave the room. You can hear a big commotion coming from outside the hallway. He enters the room with Mariah again. She sees Trenton’s face and knows he has told on her. She is completely pissed off.

  “You are such a loser, Trenton. You think I loved you. You are such an ass! I have way better taste than being with you. I used you dumb ass.”

  I look at Trenton feeling so sorry for him. The things you will do for someone to love you. I have been there many times myself. He is looking down crying into his hands.

  Giovanni again walks over to where Mariah is, “why would you do something like this to me? I paid you well, you didn’t have to steal.”

  She is starting to cry, “You should have been with me. That should have been my money. I should have been partners in this business, not Brody. You should have made me your wife!”

  She starts to cries and then she rest her head onto Giovanni’s shoulder. He let her stay there, however he does not bother to touch her. When she looks up at him. She continues to rant, “Giovanni, you know you can’t treat people like you do, and think you can get away with it.”

  “Mariah, we had been drinking. You knew it was never going to go anywhere . . . we were never going anywhere. That is what you agreed to before I slept with you.” Giovanni pushes her gently back away from him.

  “I thought you would have changed your mind after we had sex. I am a great lay. I belong with you, not that cunt you are with now.” Mariah is shaking mad, yelling at Giovanni.

  Brody walks over to the door. Angelo and a police officer walk in
.

  “Did you get all that?” Giovanni questions the officer.

  The police officer goes over to where Trenton is, standing him up putting handcuffs on him. He then heads to Mariah. She is going crazy. She is trying to wiggle away from the officer. Angelo goes over to help, holding her while they put handcuffs on her. She is trying to get to me except the officer holds her back.

  “This isn’t over you stupid cunt! Your life will be hell! I will come looking for you! Giovanni, if you would have been smarter you would have seen me taking your money.”

  Angelo and the police officer drag her out of the office. Everyone in the office is staring at her. Not sure, what is going on. Giovanni goes out to the employees.

  “We have an issue to deal with. You can all have the rest of the week off with pay.” The office then clears out.

  I have Angelo take me home. I am so done with all this drama! All I want is some peace and quiet.

  CHAPTER 23

  I spend the rest of the week doing nothing. I am so mentally exhausted! I sleep a lot for that very reason. Giovanni keeps calling, coming over, but I will not answer him. One night, he shows up. I think he is going to beat the door down. I ignore it and him. I am sure he knows I am pissed.

  I am absolutely fuming about him sleeping with, Mariah. I hate her, however, I still feel sorry for her, seeing how attached to him she is. Not only is he incredibly good looking, he is also amazing in the sack! He is like some kind of drug addiction, but it is a sex addiction. Once is not enough! Really!

  I am pissed off at myself because I cannot stop thinking about, Sebastian. He is a great man. Attractive, athletic and rich. I hear single. He is one dude I will have to be careful of, not because of him. It is because of me. I do not want to get involved with him!

  Monday comes around I am not happy I am going to work. I assume I will have to face Giovanni today.

  I arrive at the office and Angelo is waiting for me, “ma’am, I need you to go down to the basement with me.”

  I look at him thinking the basement. What is Giovanni down there waiting to kill me?

  I think Angelo can read the concern on my face. He softly touches me on the arm, “the basement has been turned into a large party room. It is sound proof for live bands. Giovanni is holding a meeting in there with all the employees. That is the biggest room here.”

  I feel relief knowing that and feel bad I thought that. When we walk in the room, Giovanni and Brody are on the stage. Their employees are sitting in arena seats. Angelo walks me to the front of the stage. I sit in an open seat. I am not sure what is going on though.

  Giovanni is explaining to their employees what has taken place.

  “I am not going to allow this to happen again. You can expect changes made around here. We think we treat you all well. If you ever have a problem, come to us. Please do not try to solve things on your own. Brody and I had a meeting over our break. We are going to hire a general manager. This person will be fully responsible for everything that goes on here. Nothing is allowed to happen without Brody’s, mine or her consent.”

  Giovanni turns to look at me. For some reason, I become truly uncomfortable. I give him a slight smile.

  “Kristy, would you please join us on stage?”

  I look at him mortified shaking my head no. He gives me a big smile urging me to go to him. I stand put my head down, walking up the stairs.

  “Everyone this is, Kristy Price. I know most of you, if not all of you have already meet her at some point. She is going to be the new general manager. Whatever you need go to her.”

  I look at him not really liking what I am hearing. Has he gone mad?

  Brody takes a step forward taking the mic. He walks to the front of the stage, “if anyone has a problem with this come see me.”

  I instantly start to freak out! I think are you serious. I cannot do this I tell myself. What do I really know about working in this business? I will let them know to get someone more qualified.

  No one even questioned anything or said anything. I am sure they probably did not know what to say. I know I did not. Giovanni lets them go back to work.

  When everyone leaves the room to return to work, I turn to Giovanni and Brody, “really? Hello, I cannot do this! I am not qualified. I am not going to try to do this I will mess up! I do not know anything about the business, not the way I should anyway. You just gave me a ton of responsibility. Actually without even asking me. Really? I don’t want all your employees thinking I had to screw my way to the top!” I am seriously ranting now.

  I look over to Brody, who is smiling like crazy. He turns to look at Giovanni, “I told you, Giovanni. She was going to freak out.”

  They both laugh. I did not find anything funny about the situation or his comment.

  Giovanni comes to me taking my hand, “Kristy, you didn’t screw your way to the top. You may not know a lot about the business right now, however you are a very smart businessperson. We trust you to run the company. We do not trust anyone else! Screwing the boss has nothing to do with our decision. Even though you do an amazing job of that. We gave the job to the person we that we thought was the best fit. That would be you.”

  Giovanni pulls me in close for a big kiss. He is nibbling on my ear, rubbing my ass, kissing me more, driving me insane. I want to jump his bones now! Brody clears his throat again. We both turn our attention to him.

  “Kristy, you are not going to have to do this alone. I am giving you an assistant.”

  Giovanni turns to stare at Brody in shock. “Brody, assistant? Who? I didn’t know we gave her one.”

  Giovanni is trying hard to get his hand up my skirt. I keep blocking him by pulling his hand back down.

  “Giovanni, we already have a lot of work to do. You are in Washington more now. I have too much to handle with my end of the business. This makes sense to me.”

  “Okay Brody, spit it out.”

  “Sebastian has recently left his band. He is ready to do something else with his life. They already replaced him. He does not want to travel anymore; he is ready to stay into one spot. Therefore, I hired him as Kristy’s assistant. He definitely knows what he is doing.”

  Giovanni’s hand squeezes mine. I pull my hand away from him. He smiles kissing my hand.

  “You are right, Brody. He really does know the ins and outs of the business.”

  “Guys, do I have a say in any of this?” I ask them both in a huff.

  At the same time, they both chimed in, “No you don’t!”

  We head up to my office to find Sebastian sitting on my couch waiting for me. When I walk in the door he stands up looking at me, “Hi, boss.” He greets me with a smile.

  Giovanni takes my hand leading me to his office. Once inside he shut the door. Grabbing me, he plants a big kiss on my lips. I kiss him back realizing I might be mad at him although I really did miss him. We kiss as he is rubbing my body all over. I have to push him back before this goes any further. He catches the drift and releases me.

  “I know you are mad at me but don’t ever ignore me. Please! I was so worried about you. I did not know if you were hurt or what. I did not sleep; I had a hard time eating. I did not have any access to you. Do you have any idea how that feels, Kristy?”

  I hug him into me, putting my head in his chest. I can hear his heart beating. It is pounding so fast. I look up to him kissing him.

  “I am sorry, Giovanni. I was trying to figure out all this drama with Mariah. All of that was very hard on me. I felt like I was being setup to find what was going on. You knew I would keep digging. In addition, I wanted some alone time. I had things I had to think about and yes, I was mad at you but giving me my space I got over it. I am not used to someone feeling this way about me.”

  “Kristy it wasn’t my intention to set you up. I told you I thought something was going on, but I did not know what. I knew you would find out what it was. That is why I am making you manager! You take care of the things that need to be. You leave nothing untur
ned.”

  He pulls me in for a huge kiss. He starts to rub his hands all over me again. We are about to undress each other when there is a knock on his office door.

  “What?” He answers. I have to laugh at how he says it. He is so irritated.

  “I am sorry, sir. You have an emergency call on line one,” the voice is coming through the door.

  Giovanni takes the call. When he gets off the phone, he is not very happy.

  “I am sorry, my love. I have an emergency and I have to get my ass back to Washington now.” He hugs me, kisses me, and then leaves.

  I stand there trying not to feel horny. I leave his office and go back into mine. When I reenter the room, Sebastian is still there.

  “Let’s go boss, we have work to do,” he smiles at me looking so excited.

  “Sebastian, I am really nobody’s boss.” I go over to sit at my desk.

  He gets up putting his chair next to mine, “first, we have to get you to own up to your new position. Tell me you are my boss and mean it.”

  “I am your boss and I mean it.” I smile big at him and give a laugh.

  He laughs, “come on, Kristy. Be serious.”

  I laugh at him, “Okay, I am your boss! I need you to help me with my position, please.”

  “Now, that’s more like it. I believe you are my boss. Kristy, what are you concerned with?”

  That question I take very seriously. I have a lot to be concerned with, I feel so overwhelmed.

  “I am not sure what I am doing here. I don’t want to fail nor disappoint Giovanni.”

  I look down at my desk feeling as if I could cry. He has so much confidence in me. I do not want to fuck up!

  “I heard you two are an item. Is it anything serious yet?”

  I thought about that. Were we serious? I knew Giovanni would say yes to that question.

  “He would like to have more, I am just so afraid. I do not know if I am ready to get serious with anyone. I am pretty fucked up in the head.”