Player

by T. N. King

  “We had better make it inside. We have a busy day ahead of us. Also, order a large selection of cakes for the board meeting today, ten thirty.”

  “Yes, sir.” She smiled as the doors closed between them. She leaned up against the wall, losing the smile and her posture as she felt the elevator take her up to her office. She spent the morning going through her normal morning routine and ordering lunch from the usual restaurant and ordering a variety of small cakes from the local bakery. She put in a reminder to pick lunch up at noon and to get the cakes at ten.

  She prepared the board room for the members and their ten thirty meeting by passing out the necessary paperwork on the table in front of each chair, making fresh coffee and laying out the cakes she picked up. She didn’t feel too bad as long as she kept moving. When the members started filtering into the conference room, she took her seat next to Tristan’s seat and prepared herself for a lot of note taking. She switched her recorder on and smiled at Tristan as he took his seat.

  He leaned toward her and smiled, “Everything looks wonderful. Good job.”

  “Thank you.”

  When the meeting started, she switched on her recorder and took notes as best as she could. She lost track a couple of times and didn’t catch everything everyone said, but by the end of the meeting, she was thankful for the recorder. When they all broke for lunch and filtered out the door, she gathered her things and started cleaning up the table. Tristan left the room without even a glance toward her.

  Her afternoon went very slowly as she struggled with phone calls and emails. Her body ached and all she wanted to do was sleep. A light knock on her door interrupted her as a delivery man held a fairly large package.

  “For Mr. Crawford,” he said abruptly.

  “Thank you. Set it on this stand,” she said, motioning him to the side of the door.

  “Sign here, please?” She smiled at the stout, balding driver and signed his electronic device, thanking him as he left. She picked up the package and took it to Tristan’s office.

  “Excuse me, Tristan?” She peeked her head in the door.

  He was on the phone but motioned her in. “Yes. The campaign is underway and will be complete by the end of the week…. We can have it to you by Monday morning.” He tapped his desk and pointed to the package in her hands. She moved to set it down and dropped it on his paperwork causing his coffee cup to overturn and spill coffee across his desk.

  “Shit,” she said out loud, lunging toward the box. She covered her mouth and looked at Tristan in horror. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed.

  “Yes,” he said to his client, keeping his eyes on her but not moving from his position. “The changes are in place and will be implemented by the end of the week. I will keep you updated on any change in the cost. Okay, good bye.” He hung up the phone and stood up as Megan scrambled to try and fix the mess she created.

  “I’m so sorry,” she blurted out. “I’m such a klutz sometimes.”

  “Accidents happen,” he said, amused at her reaction.

  She kept her head down and avoided him, as she tried to save his paperwork.

  “Megan, stop. These are already ruined.” He took her arms and stood her back up. “Go back to your office and just copy another set.”

  “What about the mess?”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll clean it up. Go.”

  She nodded, barely glancing at him before going back to her office. She sat at her computer and pulled up her document file, spending half an hour trying to locate the documents. “I don’t understand. They were right here,” she said out loud. She clicked on each file in her computer, did a search on the label she saved it under and even did a doc search by date. Nothing worked. “Damn,” she said. She went back to Tristan’s office. “When you have some time away from your computer, let me know. I need to check to see if we saved the documents on your computer. I can’t find them on mine.”

  “Come on,” he said getting up. “You can do it now. I need them by the end of the day.”

  She sat down and spent the next twenty minutes looking in his computer.

  “I don’t understand. Where did they go?” she asked.

  “No luck?”

  She shook her head.

  “You’ll have to stay late then. Help me put them together again.”

  “I’m so sorry. Of course I’ll stay for as long as I need to.”

  He gave her the files and the papers she soaked with coffee and watched her leave his office. She worked diligently through the rest of the afternoon, sipping on coffee to keep her motivated. As it was getting late, Tristan poked his head in and got her attention. “Hungry?”

  “What time is it?”

  “Almost six. I’ll call it in and have it delivered. What are you hungry for? Chinese, French, pizza….”

  “Chinese sounds good.”

  “You got it. I know an excellent place.”

  After he ordered that and a couple of bottles of beer, he moved closer to her desk. “How are you doing?”

  “I have most of it completed and ready to print. I just need to add the bar graphs and conclusion page.”

  He sat down, across from her desk and rested his leg over his knee. “So, how are you doing? I haven’t had a chance to talk to you much today.”

  “Yeah, it’s been a crazy day,” she said, still guilty from her mishap.

  “How was your weekend? Did you hear from Jensen at all?”

  The mention of Jensen’s name made her stomach do a flip flop. She wasn’t about to mention anything that happened to her involving Jensen or the drug.

  “Lorena and I went clubbing a little too hard on Saturday night, so my Sunday was pretty lazy.”

  “Just you and Lorena?”

  “Yes,” she said, looking at him quizzically.

  “Are you interested in anyone?”

  “Interested how?”

  “Dating, possibly more.”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I have this…friend. Really nice guy. Pretty damned cute too,” he said, smiling flirtatiously. “He may be interested.”

  She smiled, feeling a warmth in her face. “I appreciate the offer, but I think I would rather just stay single for a while. I have had a lot of crap going on in my life. I’d like to keep it simple for the time being.”

  “No harm there, but if you ever need a good time with a great guy, a hand to hold or just an awesome one nighter....” His eyes were glued to hers so that when she looked up at him, she knew just how serious he was.

  “Food delivery!” a Chinese voice shouted from down the hall.

  Megan jumped up to avoid any more awkwardness and went to the hallway to wave the man over. They set up on her desk so she could finish putting the documents together but she could barely eat. She felt upset over something, but wasn’t sure what it was. Tristan was well into his before he noticed how little she touched hers.

  “You aren’t eating.”

  “I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought.”

  “Best Chinese in the city,” he said matter-of-factly.

  She picked up a small piece of chicken and dunked it in her duck sauce. “Mmm, yes. You are right. Very good.”

  He filled her glass with some of the beer from his open bottle and touched his off. “Cheers,” he said, raising his glass. Megan picked hers up and did the same, before taking a small sip.

  “How well do you know Kristina?” she asked, after putting her glass down.

  “Who?”

  “Kristina? Jensen’s….” She didn’t know what to call her.

  “Not well. I only met her a couple of times.”

  She nodded, trying to overcome her failed attempt at her relationship with him. “Does he lie a lot?”

  “Jensen?” he asked, taking a big bite out of his egg roll. “All the time. He would lie even when the truth sounded better.” He took a swig of his beer. “Don’t you remember what I told you about what he did to our business? During college, we had the pe
rfect plan, until he fucked it all up with his bullshit. And then all of the shit he pulled with you.”

  Megan pursed her lips as she remembered what he had told her.

  “He betrayed me, and my trust. I can never forgive that.”

  “Yeah,” she said, picking at her food with her fork. Tristan picked up the bottle of beer and filled her glass to the top again, even though it wasn’t even half gone. She knew she shouldn’t have been drinking on the medicine she was on, especially after such a horrible weekend, but her life was already messed up. Plus, the mention of Jensen and Kristina got her mad enough. She picked up her beer and drank it down quickly.

  “Wow, I guess you were thirsty.”

  “Yep,” she said, wiping her bottom lip with her arm. He leaned in and poured half of his into her glass. “Thank you.” She tipped it back and drank it down.

  They finished their dinner and she stood up to put the pages she printed together and tidy up before closing up. She felt herself waver a little and hesitated before moving anymore. “Whoa, I guess I shouldn’t have drunk that beer so quickly.”

  “Feeling a little tipsy?”

  “Some, yes. I’m not like this usually. I do apologise, it’s very un-lady like of me.”

  Tristan laughed and walked around the desk toward her. “Here, let me help you.” He took her hand and steadied her as she walked around her chair to the printer. Before he let her hand go, he pulled her into him and put his arm around her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, surprised at his actions.

  “Go out with me, Megan.”

  She shrugged her shoulder up and turned away from him. “I just…I don’t know yet.”

  He nodded in defeat and smiled, “Let’s take this paperwork back to my office and we can close up and go home.”

  She followed him into his office after cleaning up from their dinner and grabbing the documents for his presentation. He watched her as she started cleaning up his desk and binding the documents together. He reached for her wrist, clasping his hand around it and pulling her toward him. He moved to kiss her and she slapped his face.

  “Oh! I’m so sorry,” she said immediately.

  He rubbed his cheek. “Wow. You’ve got a good arm.”

  “I’m sorry. Are you okay? It was just a reaction.”

  “I’m fine. It’s no big deal. I’m sorry for thinking I could come on to you that way. I should have respected your wishes. You have definitely put me in my place.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she groaned, plopping down in a chair.

  “Do you want me to take you home?”

  She smiled. “Could you? Thank you.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  The next morning, Megan went into the office feeling better, physically, but emotionally she was still a little on edge. Her heart was still feeling the effects of her time with Jensen, her head was still fighting her heart and now, she had Tristan interested in her, even after her huge screw up. She was thankful for his early meeting out of the office so she wouldn’t have to face him just yet. She wanted to get caught up and redeem herself for the time wasted in putting his presentation together for the second time.

  She walked into her office and smiled when she saw a large bouquet of roses sitting on her desk. She set her things on the chair and pulled the card as she bent down and smelled the lovely aroma.

  A little something to apologise for my behavior last night ~ Tristan

  Megan smiled and took in the aroma again. She picked up her phone and texted him.

  Thank you so much for the flowers. They are beautiful.

  She set her phone down and clicked on her computer, knowing he was in meetings all morning. She was surprised to hear her phone notify that she had a text.

  You are very welcome. It was the least I could do after the way I acted last night.

  She smiled after reading his text and returned a reply.

  They were a lovely surprise.

  I hope you like roses.

  I do, very much so.

  Are you feeling better today?

  Much. Thank you for dinner last night. You were right. Best Chinese ever.

  I hope we can do it again soon. I won’t be back in the office until after lunch so you are free from feeding me today.

  Megan laughed out loud. Okay. I’ll see you after lunch sometime.

  She set her phone aside and opened her emails. Reading down through them she opened one that looked important and began reading it when her phone went off again. She smiled and picked it up.

  Meet me for lunch.

  But I thought you just told me you weren’t going to be back until after lunch?

  Before she sent it, she glanced up at the name and her stomach flipped. It was Jensen. She erased her text and re-read his.

  Meet me for lunch.

  She studied the words. She wanted to see him. She started to respond when he sent another text.

  I just want to talk. Give me a chance to explain this whole fucked up situation. Will you meet me?

  Yes. Meet me at my place at eleven. I will have a couple of hours before I have to get back to the office.

  She didn’t get a response back so she set her phone to the side and kept her eye on it. She went through her emails and opened one with a download involving a ticket with her name on it to France. Her jaw dropped as she read the email it was attached to. The ticket was for a business trip Tristan and a few of his associates were going on over the weekend. When she first started working for him, she remembered mention of it in the first meeting she attended. She grabbed her phone and quickly called Tristan.

  “I’m sorry to bother you,” she said as soon as she heard him pick up. “One of the tickets to the conference in France was mistakenly sent to me with my name on it.”

  “Calm down. It’s not a mistake. I want you there with me in case I need you.”

  “Seriously?” she squealed. “I’m going to Paris?”

  Tristan laughed. “Yes. You are. Unless, of course you can’t make it.”

  “Oh my God! I can! I will be ready!”

  “Wonderful news. I will see you sometime after lunch.”

  Megan danced around her office and started mentally preparing for her weekend in Paris.

  She never received a text back from Jensen about lunch so she wasn’t sure if he was going to meet her or not. She didn’t want to stand him up so she grabbed her purse and her flowers and left the office a bit before eleven. She arrived at her apartment and just as the door closed behind her, her doorbell chimed. She walked back to the door as her heart rate increased and she opened it, seeing Jensen standing there with a bottle of wine. His smile faded quickly when he saw the roses in her arm.

  “Who got you the flowers?” he asked abruptly. She furrowed her eyebrows at him and turned to put them in the kitchen. He followed her through her living room after closing the door and asked her again. “Who are they from, Megan?” His voice dripped with jealousy.

  She didn’t respond until she got into the kitchen and behind the counter. She looked at him, as he stared back at her waiting for an answer.

  “None of your business,” she said matter-of-factly. She turned on the water and filled a vase she found in the cupboard. She felt very satisfied that she was able to stand up to him, instead of melting at the sound of his voice. “Sit down and I’ll make you some lunch.”

  He sat at the small kitchen table and watched her as she pulled out the ingredients for a simple salad. She pulled a head of lettuce out of its packaging and rinsed it under the cool water.

  “Cute place,” he said, looking around. “Small, but cute.”

  “Thanks. It’s no mansion but it’s home.”

  “I still think you should come back with me.”

  “Thank you for wanting to watch out for me. Really, but I think I’m okay here.”

  “I can take care of you.”

  “I don’t want to live with a couple,” she snapped. “Especially when I’ve been intimate
with one of them.” When he looked at her after that statement, she quickly looked down, grabbing two tomatoes and putting them under the water. She felt her anger grow and she continued to wash the tomatoes until she pacified her temper. “Do you like quiche?”

  “I do.” His voice sounded defeated. He watched as she pulled out a dish from the refrigerator and set it on the stove. She turned the oven on and went back to washing vegetables for the salad. “Can I talk to you about Kristina?” he asked.

  She stiffened at the mention of her name. “Of course,” she said.

  “Without you being judgmental or closed minded?”

  She looked at him, knowing what was next. She wondered if his story was going to be believable.

  “Kristina used to live with me at the mansion, and not by choice. I came home from work one day and she was just there, with all of her stuff. She rearranged my furniture to her liking and even had painters coming in to redecorate. Luckily I got there before they did. She moved into my life before I was even ready to commit to her. The ring she wears as an engagement ring, she bought. I never gave it to her. I never asked her to marry me.”

  “You are kidding right?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Jesus Megan. Will you listen to me?”

  “Are you trying to tell me she made your entire relationship up?”

  “The chick is psycho. We had only been dating a few short weeks when she started becoming what she perceived to be the perfect mate for me. I tried breaking it off with her several times.”

  “Apparently she didn’t get the memos.”

  “I have changed my locks, beefed up security and even kept Black on full alert. The only other thing I can do is move, but I’m sure she would find a way to find me and get back into my life again.”

  Megan was staring at him, hanging on his every word. “It really sounds like a good story, but I really don’t believe you.”

  “What else can I do to wake you up?”

  “I want proof.”

  “Proof. O…Okay. I can get you proof.”

  “Come on. Lunch is ready.” She pulled the quiche from the oven and cut it up, setting it on the table with the salad and bottle of wine. He waited for her to sit before dishing each of their plates up. Megan poured the wine and began to eat.