Damaged Perfection (The Perfection Series Book 1) (14 page)

              “My wife and son died some years ago. I have a lot of business partners that I can leave the company to, when the time comes. I may have an employee or two that are brilliant enough to take over.” He winks at me before turning his attention back to my father. I place my hand on my father’s as I know he is probably thinking of my mother. We lost her so suddenly that it is still hard to talk about, even after five years. Frank notices the somber ambiance that has spread at the table and I think he is going to try to bring the mood back up but instead he clasps his hands together and takes a sip of water. After a few moments he finally speaks again.

              “Mr. Adams, you have a remarkable daughter. I cannot tell you how happy she made our customers with her design for the new school. She blew me away in the interview. Now we are working on retaining a new and much respected client. Piper met with him this week and I have heard nothing but praise about her.”

              My dad looks at me; his eyes are brimming with pride. My cheeks flush a bit as the afternoon that followed that meeting plays out in my mind. I stifle the smile that wants to form.

              “Please, call me Pete. I know how wonderful she is, she is my daughter…”

              I stop listening as I feel my phone buzz in my purse. I fumble for it, quietly, for it a couple seconds.

             
Fenton: “Where are you?”

             
His ears must have been burning as I was just thinking about him.

             
Piper: “At lunch with my father and Frank.”

             
I put my phone back in my purse after as it was already rude enough of me to have it out in the first place. My father is a stickler about that type of thing and I am sure he is going to scold me about it.

              “Honey, I was just telling Frank that I am surprised you aren’t begging him to work in the field more often.”

              “I do love working on the site. Don’t get me wrong, I love drawing out the schematics but there is nothing better than being out there working beside someone creating my vision.” Thoughts of Fent and I working on the site together come to mind.

              “Well, I am glad to hear that. I am a big fan of being in the field as your vision is coming to life. After all, no one knows better how to make it happen that the person who created it.” Although I am glad he agrees, I am not about to tell him that I cannot work next to Fent every day.

              Just as my father begins to say something, Frank excuses himself from the table to take a call.

“I am impressed, sweetheart. Although he seems to have a sad home life, he really seems to care about the business.”

              “I am very sorry. I have to cut this short but please stay and finish your brunch. I will have a car sent for you, shortly.” Franks informs us, upon returning to the table. He talks with the waiter a moment and before he leaves, he walks back over to us.

“Piper, you wouldn’t happen to know where Fenton is?” he eyes me suspiciously.

“He isn’t at the job site?” I ask a little alarmed. He never mentioned missing work today.

“No. That was Liam and he informed me that Fenton hasn’t shown up yet. He didn’t call either of us to let us know what was going on.” I don’t want to get him in trouble by telling him he just texted me so I will have to deal with him on my own after my father leaves.

“No I am sorry, Mr. James, I haven’t seen him since I worked with him the other day.” He doesn’t need to know anymore than that.

“Ok, well the two of you enjoy your brunch. Mr. Adams, it was very nice to meet you. And thanks for lending us Piper.” He winks at me. While my father stands to shake Mr. James’ hand, I quickly grab my phone and send Fent a text.

Piper: “Where are you?”

I stand to shake Mr. James’ hand as well, but he pulls me into a hug instead.

“I will see you back at the office later this afternoon,” he says, as he begins walking away. My father sits back down and begins eating his food. I try to eat but my stomach is in knots worrying about Fent.

“You want to tell me why you just lied to your boss?” he asks, while he continues to eat.

“I didn’t lie to him, Daddy.” That is kind of the truth, considering I really don’t know where Fent is. He places his napkin in his lap and focuses on me.

“What has gotten into you, Piper? I come to visit and find you battered by some friend and now you are lying to your boss. I am disappointed in you Piper.” I have heard those words from my father’s mouth far too often lately.

“I…I know that you don’t believe me but I know what I am doing.” He nods his head and throws his napkin on the table. After taking one last glance at me, he stands and walks away.  I quickly check my phone only to find no messages. Fent is going to hear it when I find him.

I walk out and Dad helps me into the backseat of the Bentley Frank sent for us. As much as I want to break the silence between us, I just really don’t know what to say. This is a new situation for me; usually my father and I can talk about anything, but he usually isn’t disappointed in me.

“Daddy, are you going to talk to me?” I can’t stand the silence any longer.

“I need to head back to Ohio when we reach your office. Please promise me you will keep yourself safe, Piper.”

“I will be fine. I don’t know why you are acting this way.”

Once we reach the office, we walk to his truck and he leaves without a word being spoken. I stand awkwardly staring at the empty space that my father just occupied. My head hangs a bit as I walk back in the building.

I have to right the situation with my father. I cannot handle the disappointment I saw in his eyes. I flop in my desk chair and try to get started on some work. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to work on a report, I call Jane.

“Hi Piper, what can I do for you?”

“Hi Jane, I’m just curious to know if they have found Fenton?” She is quiet and that worries me.

“I am not sure. You will have to talk with Mr. James.”

“Oh, ok. Sure, I will talk to him. Thank you, Jane.”

“You’re welcome, Piper.”

I blow out a deep breath; that wasn’t the answer that I was hoping to hear. I guess I should go and talk to Mr. James.

“…get this mess cleaned up, and get it done now!” Mr. James demands of someone on the phone.

“Mr. James?” I call, as I knock on the door.

“Yes, come in Piper.”

“I just want to thank you for treating my father and me to such a great brunch. I know his mind was put to ease. He worries so much about my sister and me even though we are grown and…”

“We haven’t found him yet Piper,” he says, cutting off my mindless rambling. I bring my eyes up from the floor to see the sadness in his eyes.

“Who, Fenton? Oh goodness. I wonder what is going on with him.” I don’t want to seem as though that is the only reason I came to his office, even if it is.

“He has a lot of issues, Piper. I am just giving you fair warning, he is no good. Please be careful when you are around him.” He seems to be sincere; however, I can’t help but think that there is something deeper that I am missing.

“What happened between the two of you? I know it probably isn’t any of my business but the tension is always so thick when the two of you are together.”

“Fenton and I have a long history, one of which I don’t care to share. I am sorry, I mean no offense by that but I very much want to keep work and home separate.”

“I understand. I didn’t mean to pry, I just respect both of you and I feel as though I am surrounded by anger or hatred when both of you are together.”

“I am sorry. I will try my best to keep that away from you. As I said, I like to keep things separate.

Chapter Thirteen

Piper

              I have been completely deflated since returning to my office. I know that I wouldn’t want people prying in my business but Frank seemed a bit aggravated with me and I am not sure why.

I look at the piles of work on my desk but all I want to do is go home and start this day over. I pull up my email to find that I finally have some. I begin reading the first one and find that I have to read the same thing over and over; my mind is fried.

My desk phone begins ringing and when I see that it is Phoebe, I contemplate not answering. It has already been such a stressful day; I can’t imagine she can make it any better at this point. But, maybe she needs something.

“Hey, Phebes.”

“Piper, you should probably get home.”

“If it is because of Dad, I have already gone rounds with him today.”

“Uh, no. There is a big hunk of a man sitting in your room and I don’t know what is wrong with him and he won’t leave.” I sit straight up.

“Why is he at my house?”

“I have no idea, he isn’t talking.”

“Um, ok. I will make something up and be home shortly.”

I beeline for Frank’s office again, racking my brain for a good reason to go home.

“Piper, to what do I owe the honor of having you in my office twice today?” He asks with a grin.

“I am sorry, but I need to go and see my father before he heads back to Ohio. I thought he was going to be here until later this evening with my sister but it turns out he has to head back now.”

“Sure, but that just means you will have to work over the rest of the week to ensure everything is finished.”

“Absolutely. Thank you so much!” I run back to my office, grab my purse and head home. My mind is racing the entire drive. Why has he missed work today, telling no one where he is? And why is he at my house? He couldn’t even text me back to let me know what was going on. He has a lot of explaining to do.

I pull up to my apartment and my heart begins to race when I think about what I may walk into. I hope Frank isn’t right and he has gotten himself in some kind of trouble. I walk up to my apartment door and take a moment before I walk in. Not knowing what I am walking into is scaring the shit out of me but not really knowing what this man is capable of is scaring me even more. After taking a deep breath, I finally open the door. Phoebe is sitting on the couch with her leg crossed over her bouncing knee.

“I don’t know what is wrong with him but you need to fix it.” I can’t answer her until I see what kind of shape he is in. I make it to my door and take one more deep breath before opening it. What I see before me immediately brings tears to my eyes. Sitting in the middle of my bed is Fenton. His legs are crossed Indian style and his arms are crossed over his chest. His head is reclined against my wall with his eyes closed.

I quickly walk over and sit, facing him, on the bed. I uncross his arms from his chest and take one of his hands in mine. I take his drenched face and bring it eye level with mine. He opens his eyes and pulls me to him for a few minutes before I pull away.

“Tell me what is going on, Fenton.” He pulls me to him and I don’t think he is going to tell me. We sit there a few more minutes until I feel his racing heart begin to calm.

“He’s gone, Piper.” I immediately dislodge my body from his.

“Who is gone, Fenton?”

“I can’t go through it again, Piper.”

“Fenton, tell me what you are talking about.” As I sit, watching his beautiful features, clearly anguished by something, I wonder why he came here of all places.

“Fenton, your nose is bleeding,” I say, moving to get a tissue for him to clean himself up. He gets up and walks to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

“Phoebe!”

She comes rushing in my room. Her attention is immediately drawn to the space that was recently vacated by Fenton.

“How long has he been here? And what was he doing in here?”

“He has been here over an hour and I am not sure what he was doing in here. He just came in here and sat on your bed. I tried to talk to him but he wouldn’t talk to me.”

“Fenton, what have you gotten yourself into?” I ask, as he comes back in from the bathroom. He turns to Phoebe and asks her to have a couple minutes alone with me.

“It’s nothing, Piper,” he answers, closing the door behind Phoebe.

“You can either tell me or you can leave, Fent. I am missing work because of this bullshit. You can at least tell me what is going on.” He takes my hand and leads me to the bed and we sit. He rests his elbows on his knees and places his chin on his fists.

“Can we go for a ride?”

“Um, I guess. Where are we going?”

“Please, just take a ride with me?”

“Ok, Fent.” His tone is alarming. I don’t know what happened from last night to this morning but it must have been awful for him to miss work.

“Why weren’t you at work today, Fent?” When he doesn’t answer, I begin gathering my things to leave. I don’t know why I am agreeing to go with him when he can’t even tell me what is going on with him. But I feel like he needs someone and that someone must be me.

“You should put some jeans on.”

“Fent it’s a hundred degrees outside.”

“Piper, please put some jeans on.”

“Fine.” I pull some jeans from my closet and change. I glance at him when I have taken my skirt off and I can tell he is a million miles away. Instead of stepping back into my flips flops, I throw on some tennis shoes, and grab the rest of my things.

“Ready?” I ask. He nods and we leave. I wave to Phoebe as we walk to the front door. I see the trepidation on her face but decide to text her from the car to let her know I will be fine.               Even in Fent’s current melancholy state, I am not worried about where or what we may be getting ourselves into. I know it seems crazy but I trust Fent completely. I follow him outside and am in search of his old beat up truck when he walks up to his bike. I can’t say that I am surprised that he has a bike; I am just surprised that I am just now seeing it. I have never been on the back of a bike, so I am both excited and nervous about this. With anyone else, I would immediately tell them no but I would give almost anything a shot with Fent.

He can sense my hesitation and pulls my lips to his as though to tell me to trust him. I wrap my hands around his waist to let him know that I do, unconditionally. Without speaking a word, he picks up the helmet and places it on my head. He helps me on the bike and then puts his helmet on and joins me. He fires the bike to life and just as the engine on this bike, my insides come alive. I can’t help but think that this ride is going to be just as therapeutic as wherever it is we are going.

“Are you ready?’ I feel like that is a loaded question as I am not sure I am supposed to be ready for. The ride on the back of his bike? Or the ride that consists of his crazy life? I should hesitate with my answer but I don’t. I believe I am indeed ready for whatever this man is going to offer me.

“Yes Fent, I am ready.” He kicks the stand up, pulls my hand arms around his waist and takes off. I squeeze Fent as the exhilaration of the ride begins. He isn’t going too fast but every turn and every passing car seems a little too close for comfort. We pull up to a stop light and while we are waiting on it to turn, he squeezes my hand for comfort. Once the light turns green, I feel the eagerness for the ride seep through my veins. We merge onto the ramp to the interstate and the straight forward ride that the interstate offers gives me a chance to enjoy the passing world rather than worry about the next corner we are going to turn.

              From the direction we have driven, I gather that we are somewhere around Fent’s house but it is an area that I am not familiar with. We are driving down some country roads and the houses become fewer and fewer the further we get away from the city. From my view, the fields and trees are beautiful. I wish I would have known before how liberating it is riding on the back of a bike.

“What are we doing here, Fenton?” I ask, as we pull up behind a small, abandoned, yellow building that is sitting right in the middle of a large field. He puts the stand down and we both hop off the bike and remove our helmets. He says nothing only reaches out his hand for me to take. I place my hand in his and we begin walking across the field and I am anxiously waiting for him to begin telling me what this is all about.

We walk to the bottom of a gravel filled hill that leads up to a set of railroad tracks. Fent walks half way up the small hill in front of me a couple of feet then turns and puts out his hand for me to take. Wearily, I take it and begin climbing with his help. We make it to the top and are standing right in the middle of the tree lined tracks. He steps up on one side of the tracks and walks on it as though it is a balance beam. I just stand there, looking around to make sure there are no trains coming. You know, because I probably wouldn’t be able to hear them or anything.

As we continue to walk, the hill on either side of us gets steeper and steeper. Fent steps down off the track and sits. He lifts his hand out to me, inviting me to sit with him. Reluctantly, I sit and once he has my hand in his, interlocks our fingers. His eyes focus directly on the tall switch grass in front of us.

“I have not lived a very respectable life, Piper. I am not going to pretend that I have. I know Frank has told you that and I wish it were me that made you aware of that fact, instead of him. I was locked up for a few years. It was the worst time of my life and I almost didn’t make it through. When I was released a few years ago, I started working for Frank. I had no family and no friends. He gave me an opportunity that no one else would, so I took it.

“I was eating lunch one day a couple weeks after I started working and this dude named Gibson came up and we started shooting the shit. He was a little older than me and had a wife, so we didn’t really hang out all that much outside of work. He told me one day that he couldn’t handle our type of work any longer and was starting his own security business. Told me I had a position, if I ever wanted to get away from construction. What I liked about Gibson is he would listen to me, without judgment. When everyone else made me feel like a piece of shit, he told me not to listen to them.”

“Who all treats you like shit, Fent? Other than Frank, I mean?”

“Liam doesn’t really treat me any differently but I see the pity in his eyes when he talks to me, and I hate that shit. I don’t need pity from anyone.”

“Why does Frank treat you so badly?”

“He and I have a long standing disagreement that will never go away.” I really want to ask what that is but I don’t want to push, hopefully he will tell me at some point.

“So what is going on today? Why did you skip out on work and end up at my house?”

“The meeting that I went to last night was with Gibson. He is, or was, my silent partner in the bar that I own. I thought we were meeting to go over business plans. I was hoping to only stay with Frank a little while longer but Gibson had other plans.

“Anyway, his wife left him last night. They break up and get back together more than any couple I have ever known, so I didn’t think too much of it. I offered for him to stay at my house but he wouldn’t, so he got a hotel room.” He stops for a moment. He dips his head and rubs the back of his neck with his hand.

“What happened, Fent?” I suddenly feel like maybe I don’t want to hear what he is getting ready to tell me.

“I woke up to a text to meet him at his hotel room that he needed to talk to me. I was excited. I just knew that he was going to tell me that he and Marla were getting back together and that he was going to be able to continue with our business agreement. He had so much hope in his voice…” Tears begin streaming down his cheeks and my heart is aching for him. I scoot myself closer to him and wrap my arm around his shoulders.

“Please continue, Fent.”

“After asking the front desk clerk which floor I needed to be on, I took the stairs two at a time. He said he was going to leave his room unlocked. I had to stop for a moment before I went in the room to catch my breath.  I knocked on the door and hollered his name but he didn’t answer. I pushed the door open but he was still in bed…” He stops talking.

“What happened, Fent?” After a few minutes, he continues.

“…I walked over to wake him up only to find him lying in a pool of his own blood and I freaked. I called the cops and the front desk clerk. I needed someone up there with me that could tell the police that I had just arrived. The police showed up and made me wait in the hall. Marla showed up a little bit after the police. She looked at me with disgust in her eyes. I don’t know why Piper, I have never done anything but try to help keep the two of them together.” He stops talking and is shaking from his sobs. I rub his shoulders in comfort. He wipes his eyes with the hem of his shirt before continuing.

“An officer came out and asked to talk to me. He was asking about the last time I saw Gibson and what we were doing. I panicked. I know you don’t understand but I never want to go back to prison, Piper. I can’t, I won’t survive.”

He begins shaking again as he tries to continue telling me the story. Evidently he can’t continue because he puts his face in his hands.

“Oh my gosh, Fent. I am so sorry you had to go through that.” I wrap both of my arms around him to try and comfort him.