Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (15 page)

“Anyway, they’re hiring. Paying top dollar,
too.” Kate looked at Krista intently. “They’d bring you on in less
than a second.”

Krista sighed and closed her eyes. Then felt
a hard spray of room temperature water blast her in the face.

“
Damn it!”
Krista screeched and jumped
up. “What the hell?”

Kate was laughing. “I see you more than
Jasmine. I got loan of the squirt bottle.”

“Jerk,” Krista said with a smile, walking
out. She thought she was safe from the squirt bottle.

The week flew by as Krista tried to do a
week-and-a-half’s worth of work in three days. She was excited to
go to the conference because she had never been to one before. She
generally liked team building exercises, and sincerely hoped their
team would eventually accept her enough to work cohesively. She
didn’t have high hopes. With Sean putting her up on a pedestal, the
only person that would even look at her was Donald, and that was
just to walk around her. But then, Donald might as well have been a
robot, so it wasn’t all that reassuring.

Krista decided to fight dirty. She wanted to
hit those guys where it hurt. It wasn’t just business anymore—not
the way they were carrying on. If she hoped to last another couple
months, let alone a year, she had to cut them down to size. To do
that, she did what she had not yet done to date: She sought out
Marcus with an assignment.

Krista walked in to his department with an
easy and friendly demeanor. She was still drawing eyes. Since her
promotion happened about the same time as everyone finding out she
and Sean had history, the rumors were vicious and unstoppable. That
was helped, of course, by her fellow managers!

Marcus was in the back, where he liked to be.
A light was out, like he liked it. He was the crowned prince of
this region, and if Sean had his way, soon the whole company. Very
little happened that Marcus didn’t find out about. He took being a
busy body to a new extreme.

As usual, Marcus was on the phone. He had a
hands free device, so he was working on his computer as he was
talking about his wardrobe for the weekend. He saw Krista and his
face lit up.

“Gotta go, babe. A celebrity is in my midst.
Ciao.” He hung up with a flourish, which was actually just pushing
a button on his headset, and smiled big at Krista. “Geegee baby,
how is life in the fast lane?”

“Don’t you think Sean’s assignment is going
to your head a little too much, Marcus? One day soon he’ll have you
transferred, and then you’ll have to work your ass off.”

“Oh, I know, doll, I know.”

Doll was his new term. Everyone was doll
whether he liked ‘em or not.

“I need to get in my leisure time while I
can. I was thinking…you know how Sean thinks about things way
before they happen?”

“All too well, Marcus.”

“Oh right, forgot about your drama. Well, do
you think he had Ben and I transferred here with you so we were all
in one place? Then he moved in for the hostile takeover you were
talking about? Because Tory didn’t know how well we worked together
in the beginning, remember? He latched on quickly after he found
out, of course, but it took him a nanosecond.”

Krista’s mind went backwards, remembering. It
made sense. Lots of sense. “Maybe. Now I think of it, there isn’t
any other reason why you and Ben would be moved down here. You and
Ben together makes sense, but you’re right, Tory didn’t know I fit
into that equation.”

“People from the San Francisco office said
Sean wouldn’t work with them. If he wasn’t coming here, he wasn’t
even going to accept a job offer. Could have had his pick of women,
too, but he wouldn’t even climb in the sack with any of ‘em in case
you found out. Tory didn’t even push. Had here in mind for Sean the
whole time. Though, it would have been San Francisco if you’d
stayed, obviously. Tory knows how well you two work together.”

“Marcus, I don’t want to hear any of this. I
never asked you to pick sides.”

“You think I’m crazy enough to pick sides
between you and the young stud? Usually I would be behind you
because you always get what you want. But Sean…Sean is the king of
always getting what he wants. I’ve been sitting back and taking
bets with you two.

“Speaking of, what do you want from Sean? He
obviously wants you back, but you’ve got your road block up.
Doesn’t look like you’re bending. Which means, he didn’t give you
what you’re looking for. What are you looking for?”

“What are you talking about? Nothing. To be
left alone. By all of you!”

“Nah, not buying it. First, everyone loves
me, so that can’t possibly be true. Second, I think you want him to
prove his love. That’s what I think. Old Hollywood style. He messed
up and now heneeds to redeem himself, right?” Marcus leaned in with
a gleam in his eye.

“What…
No!
I don’t know. That’s not why
I came down here. I want to buy information.”

Marcus was about to keep going, then stopped.
If he was a shark, he would have just smelled blood. “Speak.”

“Nice, Marcus. I’m not a dog. Listen, I am up
against the boys’ club of upper management. They’re going to be
spreading some awful rumors about me at this company thing. I want
some dirt that I can fling in their face if I need to.”

“You came to the right place. What kind of
dirt?”

“I don’t mean normal dirt that other people
know. I mean
serious
dirt. I want to embarrass them, and
shove it in their face. Discrediting dirt, you know?”

“Oooooh. A challenge. They don’t have many
friends. Okay, I’ll see what I can do…for a price.”

“I figured. What is it? I don’t imagine I can
just sleep with you and call it a day?”

“’Faid not, Geegee, not my type. You have an
innie—I like an outie.”

“Eww.”

“Homophobe. And anyway, you are a prude
lately. No. You want me to get unattainable information, then I
want you to do the same for me.”

“People don’t like me enough to reveal
things, Marcus. They don’t even like me enough to talk to me,
period. You know this…”

“I want to know what is really going on with
you and Sean.”

He said it as if he had a vested interest. He
was drop-dead serious. This wasn’t a game to him.

“Marcus, I just don’t see why you care so
much. Plus, that is not information I want the whole company
knowing. I have it hard enough here without that kind of stuff
getting to the boys’ club.”

“This isn’t to spread. I want to know. I love
you both. You are like family to me. I want to know what is really
going on.”

“You know the history. I just… I’m just
really hurt, which makes me really afraid of getting more hurt. I
don’t trust him with my heart anymore.”

“From the beginning.”

Krista looked at him incredulously. “No.”

“Geegee, listen. Knowledge is power. When I
was little, my parents were in the middle of a messy divorce, and
as the youngest, I was always sent to ferret out information. My
brother and sister thought I was the cutest, so they thought I
could get it. Well, it turned out that all my parents really needed
was an ear to listen.”

“Did you keep them from getting
divorced?”

“No actually, but I kept them from being
enemies. My dad was gay. Divorce was inevitable.”

“Well at least coming out was easy for
you.”

“Wrong again. He didn’t want me to be gay
because it is a harder life than being straight. He wanted his
children to have it easy. I mean, we’re black, so we already have a
struggle. Add gay and my dad thought I was doomed.”

“Little did he know that you were just a
jerk.”

“Geegee, no one likes to talk to you because
your jokes are terrible. Now, get comfortable and spill.”

Krista slouched. “I’ll tell you part of the
story. You can hear some of my dramatic history, but Sean’s secrets
are his own.”

“Fair enough.”

“And for this, you better get me a golden key
into that boys’ club.”

“I’ll give you a golden grenade, doll. Now,
spill.”

“Not here. It’ll lead to tears. And not
alone. Kate and Jasmine will need to be there. Might as well bring
Ben, too. He can fill you in on the fight between Sean and my
Ex.”

Marcus’s eyes got big and an excited grin
spread across his face. “If you two get together one day, can I
talk about the fight?”

“In generalities, I guess. No details. I’m
sure you’ll know why when you hear about it.”

“I saw why when I saw your neck, Krista,”
Marcus said seriously.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what
kind of man Jim was.

“Okay, drinks tonight.”

Marcus acceded and Krista got out of there.
She really hoped he could find something unusual. Talking about her
and Sean’s sordid history was a steep price to pay.

Chapter Eleven

Thursday morning was a mess of travel plans
and arrangements. The night before, as promised, Krista had told
Marcus all there was to tell about her and Sean. She made sure to
note it was all her perspective, but she was honest. She glossed
over the Jim stuff, told him nothing about Sean’s stuff, and had to
break for half an hour when he guffawed over the whipping incident
when she’d gone to the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco.

She arrived to the hotel and got her room key
from the check-in desk. She would be sharing with Sean’s assistant,
who was a nice woman, but probably planned to go bed and rise
early. What’s worse, she would be doing all that sober. No fun.
Krista was still in her twenties—barely, but it counted—free dinner
and drinks were a godsend, and damned if she wasn’t taking
advantage of it.

The hotel was fabulous! They were in Boulder,
Colorado, of all places, with plush furnishings, marble, glass, and
brass everywhere. From the outside, the hotel looked like a boring,
big, square block. The architecture wasn’t anything special, not
giving the viewer high hopes.

The inside, however, was very cool. The very
middle was hollowed up to about the eleventh floor. From the glass
elevator, which traveled up the side of the hallowed area, one
could see the bar and surrounding tables, a lounge with a piano, a
seating area, and the walkway into the restaurant, which was
further into the building.

Krista’s room was a business suite with a
desk, a living room area with a TV, couch and chair, and a separate
room with two queen beds and a bathroom. Being tired from traveling
and staying up too late the night before telling Marcus all her
woes, Krista headed straight for the bed.

Before she could get there, however, she
heard, “Helllloooooooo?” in a high, sing-song voice.

“Hey,” she said as she dropped her stuff on
the floor next to the bed without a book on it.

Janice came out of the bathroom, her face
newly made up and her hair sprayed into a sort of old lady, curled
style. She was mid-fifties, stocky, sweet, and chatty. She dressed
in vests and shirts of the same style as Mary Poppins’s carpet
bag.

“I left half the closet and drawers for you,”
Janice said with a smile as she walked over and opened the
drawers.

“Oh, that’s okay. I’ll just keep my clothes
in the suitcase.”

“No, dear, that just won’t do. I have strict
orders to make sure you hang your things.”

“From whom?” Krista said indignantly. Sean
had another think coming if he was getting his assistant to boss
her around.

“That handsome gentleman with that smile of
his!”

Marcus. She should have known.

Krista sighed loudly, just to let Janice know
that she was put out, and started hanging her stuff. Janice paused
a second to make sure it was being done properly, and then walked
back to the bathroom, muttering something about her daughter and
women her age. Krista didn’t need to listen too closely to know the
general gist. You hear one mother, you’ve heard them all.

After Krista hung up her crap, to the peeping
eyes of Janice who apparently needed to make sure it was done
properly, she blessedly laid down and closed her eyes for a
second.

“Krista, honey, you need to get up now. Time
to get ready.”

On what planet did Janice think Krista
actually needed three hours to get ready?
Really?

Trying not to be angry, Krista opened her
bleary eyes and pointedly looked at the clock. The large red
letters said 2:30. What seemed like one second was two-and-a-half
hours.

“Crap!” Krista jumped up.

“Language,” Janice said with a
tsk
.

“Janice, this is dire. You have to help me
get ready. Please?!”

Janice put her hands on her hips and scowled.
“Okay, hurry up and shower.”

Krista thanked her profusely, nearly promised
the woman her first born, and high-tailed it to the shower. Five
minutes and a quick scrub later, she was back in the room, grabbing
a thong and a bra. She turned to the suit she’d left out, and saw
that it had been switched out. Then she realized there were voices
in the outer room.

All sound stopped. She froze, they froze—it
was like a house full of people realizing there was a burglar in
the other room. Each party listened for the other’s movement.

Finally Marcus broke the silence. “Geegee?”
He entered a second later.

“
Marcus!
A little
privacy
please?”

Marcus just laughed. “No need for the pillow
shield, doll. Not interested. Now hurry up, I’m missing things. Put
on the suit I picked out for you. Honestly, thank God for me, cause
you have no taste.”

“Marcus, get out! I need to get ready.”

“I know. Hurry!”

Giving up on modesty, and being that Krista
at least had on her undies, she jumped into the suit and dashed to
the bathroom for hasty hair and makeup.