Chase Me (19 page)

“Excuse me?” Eddie asked as his coughing slowed and he walked into his office bathroom and started soaking up the liquid off his pants.

“What do you think I said?” I asked playing coy. I ran my fingers across his oak desk seductively as I moved down the front of it. I shifted some papers and climbed onto his desk. “All you have to do is sit in this chair and you will have the best lunch of your life.”

I heard a buzz as I placed my legs on either side of his empty chair spreading the tight skirt of my dress as much as I could. I heard it once more and then my sperm donor echoed through the room.

“Get off his desk!” Henry bellowed. “It would help you along Kate if you remember I am always one step ahead. That little stunt might have worked elsewhere to get you fired, but Mr. Wellington is gay!”

“What?” Eddie and I shouted at the same time. We both looked at each other and I busted out laughing. I climbed off the desk and looked around to see where he could see me.

“Henry, send the flowers to every woman who works here and give me five minutes with my new boss. I need to know just how gay he really is.”

“Kate,” the voice came through the speaker as I whispered to Eddie. “Is there a way to turn off your intercom so no one hears me?”

“Yea, I will unplug it for a few minutes.”

“Is that all it takes to get you off?” I asked out of defiance as I pulled a blue post it note and wrote the words ‘suck it’ on the back and hung it over the camera in the corner of the room. When I turned back Eddie was unplugging a cord coming out of his desk.

“I was warned that my new employee could be trouble, but I never once thought you would start your work day like this,” Eddie admitted as he sat back down in his chair.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I swallowed my pride to admit to my mistake. It was no longer funny. “I wasn’t – I mean, what are you – I didn’t mean to offend-,” Eddie held up his hand and cut me off.

“I am offended that everyone thinks I am gay,” he stated and I busted out laughing again.

“I’m sorry,” I said through the laughter. “When I decide to make impressions I go all out. What are you really doing here?”

“I am Henry’s CFO (chief financial officer) and you are my new assistant.”

“Is this a joke?” I asked as I walked over and looked out the wall of windows at the great big city I loved so much.

“Not a joke. They were going to stick you in some job you would have hated, with no pay, and longer hours than I work in a week.”

“You are my boss?” I asked as the phrase sank in. So far today I had been a soda pop girl from a one-night stand. An ungrateful daughter. A prostitute who fucks for beer, and now I was the employee of the only man I could see as fuckable. I apparently was the jack of all trades and it wasn’t even 9AM.

“I am your boss,” Eddie replied. “I ask that you don’t cuss, and don’t call me Eddie here.”

I suddenly felt ashamed of myself for the first time. I was going to work under this man and had already cussed at him, hit on him, slept beside him, fucked him, and had given him a full dose of myself.

“Do you want to start over? From the moment we met and go from there?” I asked quietly.

“My first impression of you was you calling me an asshat and telling me I didn’t know how to treat a lady. Is that what you want to go back to?”

“My first impression was of you ratting me out,” I replied defensively.

“How about we call that a truce and we forget the spanking and get to work, or shall I pull up your skirt nice and slow while you bend over and spank you for every infraction you have committed since I met you?” Eddie asked and I swallowed hard. That sounded enticing when it shouldn’t. I felt like it was a trap I wasn’t walking into. I nodded my head and went to shake his hand.

“Truce.”

“You really are Henry Huntington’s daughter?” Eddie asked as he was going over the daily tasks I would be assigned to do.

“That is what they tell me,” I replied.

“How is your mom?” Eddie asked and I could feel my body lighting up as I told him about every single miniscule bit of progress she made, but then I had to tell him the bitterness of her health.

“I’m so sorry,” he replied and I nodded. “If there is anything you need let me know.”

“I need to know why you haven’t called since we got arrested.”

“Kate, you didn’t know me and I pushed my way into your life. I knew you were vulnerable and could be there when you needed someone and it would give me a permanent home in your world, but that is not what I wanted.”

“What did you want?” I asked softly as stood in front of his desk.

“You. I wanted to know everything about you inside and out. I wanted to take your pain and make it mine so you didn’t have to feel it. I wanted to kiss you until I was all you knew.”

“What stopped you?” I asked as nausea rose up in my belly. He was talking about commitments, and long term things and that stuff made me freak out.

“You,” Eddie replied. “Even through your mild anxiety you gave yourself freely to me. It was like you had finally found what you needed, but the way I entered your life felt like a manipulation. I felt like maybe I had pushed you too far when you were vulnerable and I was taking advantage of you.”

“We don’t know each other completely so I will let it slide, but if I want you gone you will be gone, but until I say those words, don’t leave me assuming that it is what is best for me,” I placed my hands on my hips suddenly extremely upset that he was willing to stay away even. I wanted him to chase me, even when I didn’t want him too. I was a contradictory person.

This was not the way I intended to start a new job, but as I put my things away I had to laugh. If anyone could ever leave a hellacious first impression, it would be me.

“Let’s go over this one more time,” Eddie proceeded to repeat himself for the thousandth time.

“I got it when you don’t want to take a call I get the name and number, what it is regarding, and then I tell them that you are out of your office for the day, even though you never go anywhere,” I replied and Eddie smiled.

“I think you got it now,” he laughed and went back into his office.

The days had flown by and every day at lunch I would sit at my desk, call my mom, and check on her. Then when five rolled around I would grab dinner so that Eddie and I could eat with her and Mike.

“Mr. Wellington’s office this is Kate how can I help you?”

“Hi, Kate,” a familiar voice sounded on the line.

“Who is this?” I asked and grabbed my memo pad and a pen.

“Kurt,” he replied and my stomach sank. I hung up and the phone rang again.

“Mr. Wellington’s office this is Kate how can I help you?”

“I miss you Kate,” Kurt said in a demonic tone. “Seems you and I have a date with destiny. You jump, I jump.”

I hung up again. Then the phone rang again.

“Mr. Wellington’s office this is Kate how can I help you?”

“I just wanted to ask you a question,” Kurt growled.

“If you will go away and stop calling I will answer.”

“What would you do if tomorrow Edward took a tumble down thirty-nine flights of stairs and died. Would you surrender -,”

“Kurt,” I cut him off. I have to go my boss is looking at me. I lied, but I had to get him off the phone. As I kicked my heels off ready to run and the cord wrapped around my feet.

“No he isn’t, Kate, and you are an awful liar.”

“Yes, I swear to you he is,” I lied again, and was contemplating hanging up on him again.

“Don’t lie to me,” Kurt screamed into the phone. I heard him take some deep breaths and then with a lowered quiet voice he said the words that made me jump. “I can see you Kate, and the next time you lie to me it will be your blood dripping down your body.”

I stood up as the feeling of being stalked plagued me. I did a 360-degree spin on the room as chills traveled down my spine and nerves fluttered through me. The cord caught around me and ripped my headset off.

I fought with the cord in a panic to untangle myself as Eddie walked by.

“Kate,” Eddie called my name before he saw I had wrapped myself. “Are you and the phone fighting?” He asked with a smile. I nodded as tremors wracked my body. I searched the room as Eddie walked into his office. By the time, I got the cord off me, plugged it back in, and sat back down.

“Kate,” Eddie called out behind me. “Are you okay? You are really pale?” He asked as he placed his palm on my forehead. “Are you sick?” He asked and I shook my head. “Okay well I am going downstairs, hold my calls okay?”

“No,” I shouted too loudly. “You need to stay here I lost connection with an important call and they might call back. Will you wait till tomorrow to drop off those forms?”

“Sure,” Eddie nodded. “I have some other work to do, let me know if whoever it was calls back.”

When the phone rang again I stared at the light that flickered to tell me what line. I stared because I didn’t know if it would be him again or not.

“Mr. Wellington’s office, this is Kate, how can I help you?” I finally answered on the fourth ring, right before voicemail picked up.

“Mr. Wellington, please,” a feminine voice came across the line.

“Can I get your name please?”

“He will know my name, just put me through,” the women sounded annoyed.

“Policy states that I get your name and number prior to transferring,” I replied trying to sound completely business like.

“Daisy,” she replied and I wrote down her name and number. “Now transfer the damn line.”

The real me wanted to reach through the phone and pluck out every hair she had on her head, but I needed this job, and Eddie needed to be able to keep his.

I transferred her to his voicemail – oops – and then I cleared the line. Within seconds it rang again and both Kurt and her made me not want to answer any more calls.

I answered on the second ring this time, prepared to apologize.

“Mr. Wellington’s office, this is Kate, how can I help you?”

“Miss Huntington, you have the sexiest phone voice ever,” Brooklyn teased.

“You are going to get me into trouble,” I whispered and Brooklyn laughed.

“Since when do you care about getting into trouble? I became a lawyer just so I could defend you.”

“I got the impression, okay I heard a rumor, that if Eddie can’t handle me then I will be transferred, but he will be fired. Henry knows that kind of pressure will keep me in line. I don’t want Eddie to lose his job like Mike did.”

“Kate Huntington, you like him,” Brooklyn stated with fake shock.

“I just don’t want to see him lose his job like Mike is losing his,” I whispered into the phone.

“Honey, that man will not lose his job over you. He might lose his manhood, pride, ego, or he might lose his load, but his job will still be there. Stop listening to water cooler talk, half of it is bullshit anyway.”