by Alexis Gold
Now every single person in this company is paying the price for what you’ve done! Every one of them is tied to an organization that you’ve brought nothing but shame and humiliation to!” He leaned down over her desk and brought his face close to hers. “If you had a shred of decency, you would turn in your resignation and leave this company immediately!”
“Wait!” She stood and faced him, burning with horror and anger at the lies that were printed before her. “You believe this crap? None of this is true!” she insisted, shaking her head. “How can you believe any of that?”
Norman leveled his gaze at her and spoke with an even tone. “Where did you meet Tony Barretti and Alexander Kingston?” He asked as if it was the simplest question in the world.
Callie swallowed hard and lifted her chin. There was no way out of it but with the truth. “I met them at a strip club where I was working.”
“As a stripper?” Norman asked, adding on what she hadn’t said.
She gave him a nod and held his gaze with hers. “Yes. As a stripper.”
“Well that’s what it says right here in this newspaper, so I guess it isn’t all lies, is it? I’m far more likely to believe a well respected businessman than a tawdry night club stripper! I insist that you resign!” He turned on his heel then and strode back out of the room, slamming the office door behind him.
Callie’s hand flew to her mouth and she sank back down into her chair, staring at the newspaper. Tears flooded her eyes and she choked on a sob. She couldn’t believe that Tony had gone to the newspaper and told them everything that he had, and more than that, she wished that all of it was lies, but it wasn’t.
The door opened again and she wiped at her eyes and looked up to see Rosa walking in with a serious look on her face. Rosa stopped before her desk and Callie felt her heart begin to pound in her chest.
“Is this article true?” she asked, planting her forefinger down on it while she kept her eyes on Callie.
Callie grimaced. “It’s all lies except for the part about me stripping. It’s true that Tony and Alexander met me in a strip club, but that’s it. The rest of this is all lies!”
She swallowed hard to hold back all the emotion that she could as Rosa gazed at her. “All right then.” Rosa gave her a nod. “That’s all I wanted to know. Now I’m going to tell you this. It doesn’t matter where you came from. What matters is what you do with the time you have.”
Rosa turned and walked toward the door and she paused for a moment and looked back over her shoulder at Callie. “Norman is wrong. Not everyone in the company thinks this is true. Tony’s reputation isn’t that good. Don’t you fret over it. Just keep working hard and stay on task with your new program. I am supporting you, and in this company, that means a lot.”
“Thank you.” Callie managed to mumble as Rosa walked out of the door and closed it behind her.
On the other side of the city, Alexander was sitting in a coffee shop reading the article in a newspaper that someone had left behind for others to pick up and read. Oliver sat down across from him and set his cup of coffee on the table while he reached for a few packets of sugar.
“I can’t believe this.” Alexander stared at the article with wide, horrified eyes. “I can’t believe Tony would do something like this.”
“Tony would do anything for money, and that’s all this is about. I read that this morning and I knew that you were going to be torn up about it.” Oliver told him as he poured white granules of sweetness into the black brew before him.
“Never mind any of it.” Oliver continued. “You know the truth. Lots of people know the truth. Tony is a bloviating liar. He’s doing this for revenge and publicity, but you still win.”
Alexander looked at him doubtfully. “I still win? How do I still win?”
“You still have Callie. She’s the smartest ticket in the industry right now and she is not only in your company, she is also, as this article so blatantly states, in your bed, and that’s a very good thing. You have all the aces and you left Tony with none. That’s why he’s biting back at you, because you have it all and he doesn’t and he’s pissed at you for it.
This is going to blow over. This is going to be yesterday’s news in half an hour. The world moves much too fast for anyone to care about something like this. There’s a lot more going on in the news today than something as trivial as whom you are sleeping with and the fact that she had an undesirable job before you hired her on. No one will even remember this in a week, so don’t let it get at you. Tony’s taking a swing. Let it fall.” Oliver told him sincerely.
Alexander thought carefully about what his best friend was telling him. He didn’t like it, not one bit.
A short while later, Alexander walked into Callie’s office and came around her desk to stop beside her. She stopped tying and with a sigh, she stood up from her chair. Raising her eyes to meet his, she spoke in a quiet voice.
“You saw the article?” She asked sullenly.
He nodded. “Yes, I saw it.”
“It’s being reprinted everywhere.” She told him sorrowfully.
He shrugged. “I don’t care. They’re all fishwrappers and birdcage liners anyway.”
“I feel awful about it!” She tried to stem the tears and the ball of emotion building in her throat.
“Don’t do that.” He reached his hands up to her shoulders and then set his finger beneath her chin and lifted it a little as he looked at her. “Listen, I want to get this off of your mind, and I want to meet your family. What do you say to me taking you, your mother, and Jenny out for a special night. What do you think? Would you let me do that please?” He gave her a hopeful smile.
“My brother is in town as well.” .
“He comes too then.” Alexander smiled wider at her and she began to feel a little bit better.
“If you want to, I know we would all love that. Thank you, that’s very kind.”
“We’ll go tomorrow night. I’ll make arrangements. Cheer up, Callie.” He kissed her softly.
Chapter7
Alexander went to Noel’s house the next night and was very happy to meet Callie’s family. He brought flowers for Noel, Callie, and Jenny, and a bottle of fine wine for Jack. Everyone in the family was glad to meet him, and they were all looking forward to their night out.
He drove them downtown and took them out to eat at a restaurant inside of Pike’s Place Market called The Athenian. They feasted on seafood and delicious breads, enjoying the view of Puget Sound just outside of the windows as the sun set.
When the meal was over, they walked along down the road to the big wheel sitting at the edge of the pier, and they shared a glassed-in bubble compartment, riding around on the big wheel and listening to music as they talked and got to know each other.
From there they visited an indoor carnival where they played games and rode on a carousel. Jack won Jenny three prizes, and all of them had a very good time. Throughout the evening the conversation turned from family to experiences, and lots of other things, but never once did it touch on business, and Callie was grateful for that.
When the night was over, Alexander took them all back home again. They thanked him for the night out, asked him to come back and spend more time with them, and then left him to say goodnight to Callie.
She stood outside of the front door and smiled up at him with gratitude and joy. “We had so much fun tonight, and we really needed it. It was such a good time. Thank you!” She kissed him softly and he grinned and kissed her back.
“I know you needed it. Things have been a little tough the last couple of days, but I want you to stay positive and focus on all the good ahead of us, because there’s a lot of it. Don’t worry about the press. It will fade. I promise.” He kissed her once more and then told her goodnight and headed for his car.
Callie went to bed that night feeling much better than she had earlier, and when she woke up, she was still feeling positive. She cooked breakfast for all of them, and as she was making the
coffee, she talked to her mother who was cutting up fresh fruit.
“You know, Mama, I think that Alexander is right. It really is going to be a lot better for us. I think this whole mess with the media is going to blow over. He’s right. That won’t last for too long.” Callie said as she poured water into the carafe.
A knock sounded at the door, and Callie set the carafe into the coffee pot and pressed the brew button. “I wonder who that is?” She asked absentmindedly as she went to the door and opened it. She stopped short when she saw the man standing there before her.
He was bald and his skin was covered almost everywhere with tattoos. He was dressed in jeans and a ripped t-shirt, and he wore a black leather jacket. The man pulled off his reflective sunglasses and stared coldly at her.
Callie gasped. “Vick!” Her hand closed tight around the doorknob and her heart began to beat wildly. She heard a noise behind her and she turned to glance over her shoulder. Noel was rushing Jenny out of the kitchen, down the hall, and into her bedroom. Jack stood up from the table and put his finger to his lips, reminding his twin that she wasn’t to let Vick know that he was in town. She saw Jack go for the back door and slip out of it silently.
Turning back to the man standing on her front step, Callie spoke, forcing herself to sound braver than she felt. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see my kid.” He announced flatly. “She here?”
Callie shook her head. “No, Vick. She’s not here right now, and when she is, we don’t want you to come back. You should know that you aren’t welcome here. You have no business here.” She meant it, and she was glad that she sounded like she did. Saying the words aloud seemed to fill her with some kind of courage.
He glared at her and held up his hand, pointing his sunglasses at her. “Hey, I know my kid is here, and I want to see her! I’m out of prison now, and I’m on probation. That’s all that’s left of the whole thing, all right? Obviously Amanda’s gone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still see our kid! I have a right to her, and I’m going to come and see her! When is she gonna be here?”
Callie shook her head and closed the door more, blocking the interior of the home with her body so that he couldn’t see in. She didn’t want him seeing anything about their home. “You are not going to see her, and you are not coming back to this house again, or I’ll call the police to come arrest you!” She shot at him, feeling angrier by the minute.
Vick shook his head and swore as he pushed his sunglasses back up on his face. “You wait, you bitch. I’m going to get an attorney. I got rights to that kid. She’s mine, and I’m taking her back. You and that old broad in there better watch out, because I’m back and I’m coming for my kid!”
He turned sharply and headed down the street. Callie closed the door tight and locked it, and then she ran to the window to see where he had gone.
She saw Vick heading down the street, and not too far behind him, she saw Jack, hot on his tail and keeping him in sight while keeping a good distance. Callie felt like cheering Jack on and telling him to keep going. She wanted him to stop Vick from interfering in their lives.
Vick hadn’t been gone half an hour when Callie’s cell phone rang and she looked at it with surprise when she saw who it was.
“Max! What are you up to?” She asked with a smile, glad to hear from her friend. She hadn’t expected to hear from him at all, let alone hear from him so soon after she had left her job.
“Hey Callie. Good to hear your voice. Listen, I think you should come down to the club right away. We need to talk.” Max sounded very concerned.
“Okay. I can do that. I’ll come down now.” She told him and said her goodbye. A myriad of things ran through her mind as she drove to the strip club and parked her car, wondering what it could possibly be that Max needed to talk with her about.
When she went in, she saw him setting up a round table with four cups of coffee on it and she frowned in surprise. Max hollered to the back of the house and a moment later, Trixie and Felicity came out and hurried to Callie.
They hugged each other warmly and kissed one another’s cheeks, asking after each other, and they’d have gone on, but Max cleared his throat. “Ladies, we have something to discuss.” He sat down at the table and they all joined him.
He reached for his coffee and gave Callie a big smile. “You’re looking good my friend. I’m sorry that I had to call you down here. I know you didn’t really want to ever see this place again.”
“What’s going on? Why am I here?” Callie asked in confusion.
Max sighed and looked over at the other two ladies seated with them. “There’s been a reporter from the Seattle Times poking around here. He’s desperate for information on you. He’s been talking to everyone who will give him the time of day.”
Felicity nodded and held on to her coffee cup, gazing sorrowfully at Callie. “He keeps coming right on back like a bad penny. Not doing anything to get kicked out for good, but coming back around like a bad penny anyway.”
“What does he want to know?” Callie asked curiously, looking back at all of them. “What kind of questions is he asking?”
Trixie leaned forward and shook her head, her eyes wide. “Anything. Any kind of scrap of news you on at all. He asked about where you lived and who you dated. He asked if you sleep around with the men here, and he ask how long you been working here.”
“When I asked him why he wanted to know so much about you, he wouldn’t say, so I did a little homework on him.” Max told her sadly. “I saw what he’s already printed about you, and when I saw that, I kicked him out, but he kept talking to customers in the parking lot, trying to talk to Felicity and Trixie here, and he even ambushed me two more times before I told him I was going to break both of legs if he didn’t stop coming around here. He said he’d quote me directly on that and then sue me for it. I left it alone after that, but we wanted you to know.”
“I’m so sorry!” Callie told them all, feeling the responsibility of the situation. “If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t be down here bothering you. I guess all I can suggest is just ignoring him. I think he’ll go away eventually. I mean, he’s already printed the story and tried to ruin me, so there’s not really anything else that he can add to it or do to make it worse, right? Just keep on ignoring him, and thank you so much for protecting me.”
Max set his half empty cup of coffee down and gave her a smile. “We’ll do that. You know we’ve got your back. Always have. We’ll keep him out of here.”
“Thank you all.” She gave them a heartfelt smile of gratitude.
“So how’ve you been?” Trixie smiled and reached her hand out to Callie’s arm. “We been missing you around here! Tell us all of your news.”
Callie visited with them for a while longer and hugged them all goodbye and thanked them again for what they were doing to look out for her. She walked out of the club and was about to get into her car when she saw the same blonde man standing a short distance away, holding a camera up and pointing it straight at her.
She frowned at him and he lowered his camera and came to her, giving her a half smile as he did. When he reached her she frowned at him darkly. “Who are you and what do you want?”
He shrugged indifferently. “I’m Kyle Reeves. I work for the Seattle Times. I thought you might have a few minutes to talk to me.”
Callie lowered her brow at him. “After what you’ve already printed all those lies about me? Why would I ever talk to you?”
He gave her a half smile. “So I could do an exclusive on you and get your take… your rebuttal against Barretti’s article. Where did you get the fix for the Summitech app?”
She shook her head at him. “I’m not going to tell you anything! I’m not going to talk to you about any of it at all. None of it is your business, and after seeing what you did with it the last time, I’m not about to hand you anything! Now leave me and the people in my life alone!”
With that, Callie got into her car and slammed th
e door close, leaving him standing outside. He chuckled a little and shrugged again, watching her as she drove off.
When she got to work, she went into Alexander’s office to talk with him about it. He saw the look on her face and grew concerned.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” He asked worriedly, getting up from his chair behind the desk and going to her.
“That jerk reporter Kyle Reeves from the Seattle Times has been asking about me at the bar and my friends there asked me to come down to talk to them. They wanted to tell me all about what Kyle’s been up to, and it’s been a lot. He has been hounding everyone for information about me. As if that wasn’t enough, when I left the place, he was waiting outside for me, and he ambushed me there. He was snapping photos and wanted to know if I’d give him an exclusive on me. It’s so ridiculous! We aren’t news! He has no business coming after me like this! It’s maddening!” She railed as she told him all of it.
