Come Back To Me (8 page)

He wanted a woman that he could pull
close after making love, and wake with her next to him, while their
limbs intertwined to keep each other safe. There were many women
who waltzed through his life and bed, but he still had yet to find
one that danced into his heart and stayed.

He decided against his morning jog,
Kandie had worked him over last night and his muscles were feeling
the burn. She took pleasure from him in high doses, and gave plenty
in the form hardcore fucking. It was great for the night but
long-term? She wasn’t the one for that. She would probably just
move on to some other man willing to shell out the pleasure she
needed. He was done.

Once he showered, Jake opened the front
door and retrieved the Sunday Newspaper; he flipped through the
pages, and noticed an entire page spread on Emily’s event the
following weekend. In the center of the page was Emily herself
performing a ribbon cutting ceremony for an Outreach Center in
L.A.

She held a pair of giant novelty
scissors, while others gathered around for their place in the shot.
Her smile was luminescent as usual, and even though the photo was
in black and white print, she made it all seem colorful. Like her
natural glow shone through and lit up the page she was printed
on.

Jake remembered that he needed to give
Gabe a call about the invitation he needed, he reached for his
phone.

“Yo, Jake what’s up?” Gabe answered
cheerfully.

“Hey man, I just wanted to check and
see if you snagged an invite for me yet?”

“Yeah, got it right here, I’ll be at
your office around lunch tomorrow.”

“Great, thanks I really appreciate
it.”

Jake heard a female voice giggling in
the background. “Am I interrupting something”? He asked with a
slight smile.

Gabe let out a laugh “You know me,
can’t seem to shake the ladies.”

“When are you gonna stop messing around
and find a keeper?”

“Ha! A keeper? Yeah I’ll do that as
soon as you do Jake.”

“Someday a woman is gonna grab more
than your balls, and don’t come whining to me when it
happens.”

“Trust me Jake, that
will
never
happen.”

“Never say never Gabe, it will come
back to bite you in the ass.”

“Okay, well I need to go; Amy here has
been a very bad girl and needs a spanking.”

“Enjoy yourself, see you tomorrow.”
Jake disconnected the call.

Jake often felt like he was Gabe’s
babysitter, the man was twenty-nine, but acted like a horny
teenager all of the time. Gabe was a good guy; he just had his
priorities mixed up something awful. He was always there for Jake
though, no matter what he needed, and they were each other’s best
wingmen. Everyone needed a buddy like Gabe.

After spending most of the day watching
MSNBC, and checking emails, Jake was beat. The clock said it was
already eight p.m. so he headed to bed, wanting to rest up for the
busy Monday morning ahead.

The next morning Eliza greeted him as
always when he entered the office. “Good morning Mr.
Bradford.”

“Good morning how was your
weekend?”

“Oh you know, same shit different day.”
She rolled her eyes.

Jake snorted. “That good
huh?”

“Yeah well, I’m still not convinced
that the entire male population are not all jackasses…no
offense.”

“None taken.” Jake offered.

“Other than getting dumped by a cage
fighter, it was uneventful.” She said sarcastically.

“Either way Eliza, there is always
promise for a better weekend next time.”

“We shall see.” She
muttered.

“Oh hey by the way Gabe is stopping by,
will you let me know when he shows up?”

“Oh goodie, the king of jackasses is
coming today, let me get my fan, I might swoon.” She said
dryly.

“He’s not that bad Eliza.”

“Compared to what? Getting a limb
hacked off by a chainsaw, or someone making a skin suit out of
you?”

“Just get me when he comes
please.”

“Sure thing boss.” She gave him a
salute.

Jake went into his office and shut the
door; he hoped that when Gabe did show up, he would take it easy on
Eliza. She threatened to quit so many times before after Gabe made
annoying advances on her. He talked her into staying of course, his
powers of persuasion were epic, but she was one headstrong woman,
and he admired her brass.

Around noon Eliza’s voice came over the
phone speaker. “Mr. Bradford, the almighty powerful Gabe is here to
see you.” He could almost see her rolling her eyes.

“I’ll be out in just a minute
thanks.”

When he reached her desk, Gabe was
sitting on the corner, yet again harassing her. “Would you leave
her alone for fuck sake Gabe?”

“Sorry, I was just asking her out.”
Gabe gave an innocent pout.

“Yeah sure you were.”

Eliza interjected. “Actually Mr.
Bradford he was just asking me out.”

Jake was stunned to see her smile at
the gesture of him asking her on a date, and his own lips lifted in
a smile.

“Hmm, that’s a step up for you Gabe,
are you sure you weren’t abducted by aliens last night?”

“Hey fuck you man!” Gabe
snapped.

Jake threw up his hands in a sign of
defeat. “Okay jeez, calm down. Do you have what I asked
for?”

Gave shoved an envelope in Jakes
direction. “Yeah here.”

Jake opened the envelope. “There are
two invitations in it.” Jake said confused.

“So, take a fucking date.”

“I don’t want to take a
date!”

“Fine, take me; I have no obligations
Saturday night. Plus if you are planning on scoring some high class
pussy, you might need your trusty wingman.” Gabe winked.

Jake pondered the idea, and
figured taking Gabe wouldn’t be so bad, he would know more about
networking with those kinds of people anyway. They were more in
Gabe’s
class
of
people.

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” Jake
sighed.

“Sweet! It’s a date.”

“Ugh gross, could you two continue your
bromance somewhere else? I’m trying to eat lunch here.” Eliza
interrupted.

Both men threw their heads back and
laughed.

“Well gotta go, I’m meeting
my parents for lunch, something about my grandfathers will…and of
course the “
Gabe you’re a major fuck
up
” speech as
usual.”

“Alright talk to you later.”

Gabe left his office, and Jake noticed
Eliza watching him depart. He wanted to say something to her, maybe
warn her about Gabe, but the reality was, she already knew about
the infamous playboy.

Jake took the invitations back to his
office and laid them on the desk by his laptop. He went back to
reviewing case files, and would look up at the envelope every so
often. Every time he did, the anticipation would clench his
stomach, and make him nervous. He tried to calm himself down, from
the thoughts of getting to see Emily in just under a
week.

Would she remember him? He truly hoped
she did, because he never forgot about her.

Nine

“Finally Monday morning.” I said to
myself sleepily, as I rose from my comfy bed. I was awash with
eagerness for my first day of work. It was like my new life plan
was all falling into place, I loved it thus far, and it could only
get better right?

I took a wonderfully hot shower while
the coffee brewed in the kitchen. I emerged from the steam, wiped
off the mirror with my hand and stared at myself. I had come to not
even recognize the person looking back at me, and it wasn’t a bad
thing. It was a welcome change from the melancholy person that
always gazed back at me, now I saw a happy, strong woman, and I
could hold my head up high. The worries of being in the shadows of
my family were lifting and I felt new and revived.

I dried my hair, and styled my strands
in a half up, half down do for the day, and then went to the
closet. A black pencil skirt was the foundation of the ensemble,
and the navy blue puff sleeve top matched perfectly with it. I
threw on a pair of three inch suede pumps, and went back to the
bathroom to apply makeup.

When I finished I looked once again
into the mirror, I was satisfied with what I saw. My clothes didn’t
scream “slutty secretary” but had substance that held their
own.

I loaded up my travel mug with java,
grabbed my purse, and was out the door by seven a.m.

There was already a cab waiting at the
curb, and one glance at Harold told me it was his doing. I gave him
a wink of appreciation, and climbed into the car.

When I reached the building that I
would be working in I sighed. “Here goes nothing…or everything.” I
said under my breath.

Crossing the lobby, I could see the
hustle and bustle of others like me, making their way to work for
the day. I walked to the directory on the wall, and found that I
would take the elevator to the Sixteenth floor. I hopped on board
with about twenty other people and began the ascent.

Nervousness slid over me when the doors
opened on my floor; here I was someone who previously hob knobbed
with celebrities and even got whipped by Bill Gates at
Chess.

I put one foot in front of the other,
and walked through a menacing set of glass doors. I found myself in
front of a reception desk, behind it sat a girl that looked no more
than twenty-one. My Mother always told me “Never judge a woman’s
age, just ask for her plastic surgeons number”. I let out a giggle
at the recollection.

“Um can I help you?” She said with a
grimace.

“Yes, I’m Emily Mills, here to see Mr.
Brewster.”

“Have a seat over there.” she pointed
to a row of chairs, “I’ll let him know you’re here.”

It wasn’t long, and a man in his
forties greeted me. “Hello Emily, I’m Eric Brewster, follow
me.”

“Okay thank you.” I said
politely.

“We have had a change of plans in the
office, my secretary Molly went into labor this weekend, so you
will be working with me instead of with the interns.”

“Sounds great.”

“From your resume you have experience
in the law field, which will come in handy, as Molly was a
paralegal.” He stated.

“Yes sir, I studied law at NYU, I will
be more than happy to assist you.”

“Assisting would be putting it lightly
Miss Mills, there will be occasions I will need you in court with
me, and you will be asked to stay late if the need arises.” He said
firmly.

“That shouldn’t be a problem
sir.”

“Good, this is your desk, I will have a
new laptop delivered this afternoon, is there anything else you
will need?”

“No this will be fine, thank
you.”

“I expect you to take a lunch break
promptly at 11:30 each day, if you leave the office, I expect you
to be gone no more than one hour, is that clear?”

“Yes it is.”

“I run a very tight operation around
here Miss Mills; there will be no social influences where I am
concerned. We keep things professional at this firm, and there will
be no room whatsoever for your personal life here.”

“I understand.”

“Good, now if you excuse me I have a
meeting.”

He turned and walked down
the hallway, and I felt like a child that had been scolded.
Obviously this prick had been reading gossip magazines, and
watching too much television. Damn it, I just wanted a nice neutral
start here, and I already had captain ass hat as a boss.
Fuck me running.

The day was fairly uneventful, I
answered the phone, took some memos for Mr. Ass Hat, and my laptop
was delivered. Around 4:30 I heard my bosses’ office door swing
open and a loud curse come from within.

I wanted to hide under my desk until
the storm passed, but I wanted to see what the ruckus was. I stood
from my chair, and peeked around the door frame into his
office.

“Is everything alright sir?”

“Fuck no everything is not alright!” He
shouted.

“Is there anything I can help you with
sir?”

“Unless you are capable of doing a
fucking deposition in fifteen minutes then NO!” He
yelled.

This man would be lucky if I didn’t
slip arsenic into his coffee one day. “Actually sir, I do have
experience taking depositions.”

His expression softened. “You
do?”

“Yes, if you will just let me read the
case summary, and have the list of questions, I would be glad to do
it.”

He shoved the documents across his
desk. “They will be in the conference room at 4:45.”

“No problem sir.”

He eyed me with doubt, but I was going
to make certain this ass clown didn’t see me as just a bimbo
secretary. I swiftly ran over the summary, and had five minutes to
spare before the meeting time. I hurried to the ladies room to
freshen up.