Enlightened (Red Flags) (14 page)

"I'll get you some coffee.  Be right back." 

I tried hard to smile at her as she walked by because she wasn't my source of irritation, but it felt forced and hard to come by.  Damian sat with one leg crossed over his knee and watched me as I walked around to my desk.  He was dressed in a navy pinstriped three piece suit, and although he looked absolutely delectable, I was annoyed with even his presence. 

I sat my things down and finally took a seat at my desk, turning on my computer, when he said, "Well good morning to you too, Miss. Cara."  His eyes were low and he watched me intently.

I looked up and flashed him the forced smile I had tried to muster for Amanda.  He smiled, but continued.

"Amanda and I were going over some dates.  This is going to be a busy week for us."

I stopped what I was doing, looked him in the eye and pouted my lips together, waiting on him to fill me in.  He finally took the hint and took his Blackberry out of his jacket pocket.

"You and I will be scouting locations today and tomorrow for a photo shoot for the team. Then, Wednesday and Thursday, will be the photo shoot, and then Friday, we'll treat the team to a luncheon in their honor."

"When did all of this come about?"  I asked, purposely lacing my tone with dismay.

"Mr. Rolston and I have been hashing out the details, but everything became a go early this morning.  I came in to see him and he sent me over to get all the details to Amanda." 

Amanda walked into the office, carrying a piping hot mug of coffee.  She sat it down in front of me, asking, "Can I get you anything else, Cara?"  I shook my head softly and finally gave her the smile she deserved, as she turned and walked out of my office. 

"Do we really have to spend two days scouting locations?"  I asked, hoping I could lessen my time around him. 

He studied me for a minute longer.  He cocked his head to the side and sipped on the mug that was sitting in front of him.  It must have been cold by now because he took one small sip and immediately put it down.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking genuine.  "You didn't seem right after talking to Bradley on Saturday."

I rolled my eyes, blatantly obvious to make sure he saw that I was in no mood to talk about Jason or our encounter Saturday at Chelsea's party.

"How do you two know each other?" he asked, either not noticing or simply ignoring my gesture.

"He's my ex-boyfriend," I curtly answered, not giving him anymore information.

A sly smile spread across his lips. "You dated that jackass?" he laughed a little.  "No wonder the word ex is now attached to that title." 

I lowered my eyes at him, now interested in what he had to say about Jason.

"What do you mean?  How do you two know each other?" 

He let out a light sigh before running his hand over his mouth and letting that same sly smile creep back over his face. 

"Do you know Stacey Miller?" he asked, and I felt the blood drain from my face.  "Well, I take it you know her.  Anyway, Jason's a prick who doesn't know how to treat women.  Let's just leave it at that." 

I wanted to climb across my desk and choke more information out of him, but that would have been animalistic and I was at work, so I quickly composed myself.

Damian stood and straightened his suit jacket. 

"I'll be back shortly after lunch to collect you for the shoot."  He flashed his impeccably perfect smile, but now that Stacey's name had been attached to him, his attractiveness had plummeted about fifty notches.

Damian had successfully piqued my curiosity, as well as my annoyance.  The mere sound of Stacey's name was like nails on a chalkboard for me.  It seemed the whore was in everyone's mouth, literally
and
figuratively.  His cryptic response about knowing her and him knowing Jason played over and over in my head.  Since Jason had practically begged me to text him, I figured I'd take this opportunity to get some straight answers out of him once and for all.

To Jason

If you're free, I'd like to talk to you today.

Just as I was finishing up my text and sitting my phone down on my desk, my phone buzzed with a response from him.

From Jason

I can come by on your lunch.

To Jason

Busy! Can you come by tonight?

From Jason

Yes!  Can't wait!

I Love You!

I didn't respond to his last text. I simply put my phone into my desk drawer and got to work on some of the print mark-ups for The Tide.  Drowning myself in my work was exactly what I needed to rinse my head of all things Jason and Damian.  Between the two of them, and the ambiguity of seemingly everything that came out of their mouths, I felt like I was riding an unpleasant roller coaster.  Unfortunately, diving into work made me lose track of time and before I knew it, Amanda was escorting Damian into my office.

"Cara, Mr. Rossi is here for your location scouting."

I reluctantly dragged my eyes off the papers I had been staring at and smiled in her direction. 

"Thanks, Amanda.  Can you please forward all calls to my voicemail.  I'm expecting a couple of calls from the guys in print."

"Absolutely."

I grabbed my purse and my briefcase, expecting to be out most of the afternoon and hoping to go home after scouting.  Damian gestured for me to lead the way and I hurried along, hoping to get this over with quickly.

Passing through the lobby, Damian walked close to me and as we approached Sunny's receptionist desk, she flashed the one and only smile I had ever seen spread across her face.

"Have a nice day Mr. Rossi--Cara."  Damian flashed her his million dollar smile while I merely looked in her direction and slightly frowned.  I didn't understand her at all. 

Damian escorted me out to a silver BMW two-seater.  He pulled out a pair of sunglasses and smoothly walked over to the passenger side to open the door, motioning for me to take a seat.  I sat, looking around at his choice of vehicle and feeling like it fit his personality perfectly.  He sat down and fastened his seatbelt, making sure that mine was fastened as well, before pulling out and making our way to the busy I-5 freeway. 

"What's on our agenda?"  I asked, hoping the places wouldn't be too far away and that I could call it an early day.

"Sports Arena, the Harbor, and Mission Bay Park," he answered, looking over at me through the top of his sunglasses.  I sat back in my seat, stewing from the locations because I knew we'd be out for a good chunk of the afternoon. The locations were all over San Diego, which didn't please me in the least bit.

We sat quiet for a minute before Damian ended it.

"So how long did you date Bradley?" 

I could tell he wasn't going to give up on this topic, and since he was so eager to know so much about me and Jason, I figured I'd take it upon myself to find out a few things about him as well.

"Not that long," I answered, trying to remain as open-ended as he had been.  I turned in my seat to look at him.  "How do you know Stacey?"  Her name on my tongue sent a metallic taste attacking my taste buds.

"I dated her."  He answered solemnly.  "My family knows the Bradleys through business, and through business, I met Stacey."

I could tell I would have to pry information out of him.

"When was this?  What does this have to do with Jason?"

He let out a slight chuckle before looking over to me and shaking his head.

"The Bradleys think the world revolves around them.  They think if they want something that they have to have it.  When Jason and Stacey broke up, I started dating her, only to find out that she had been cheating on me with him."

The tale sounded about right, She was every bit the slut that I had envisioned her to be. 

"So why do you hate Jason for that?  Did he even know you were dating?"

"I'm sure he knew," Damian said, in a warning tone.

"Absolutely sure?" I asked, hoping to get some definitive answers from him.

"I know the Bradley's and their I'm-above-everyone mentality.  I'm pretty damn sure he knew."

For some reason, I found myself defending Jason. Damian's answers just weren't sitting right with me.  It was probably because Stacey had been thrown into the mix.  Anything with her name attached to it was like poison to me and, there was nothing in the world that would make me believe or sympathize with anything concerning her.

"Do you know what kind of person Stacey is? She isn't all innocent--you know." 

Damian looked over and smiled.  "I know she isn't.  But Jason can be rather aggressive and demanding when going after something he wants."  I blushed, recalling how we'd gotten together.  "From that look, I'm guessing you are well aware of the ways of Jason Bradley."

I swallowed the lump forming in the back of my throat and blurted out, "Well, you do know she's pregnant, right?"

Damian tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but continued looking forward and mumbled, "I guess that's why you're no longer with Bradley."

I almost yelled out that it wasn't Jason's baby, but I couldn't be absolutely sure about that, so I kept my mouth shut.  Everyone close to me felt like there was no way Jason could be the father of Stacey's baby, even Chelsea--who despised him--but for some reason, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that just wouldn't allow me to jump on board with their feelings.  We dropped this topic of conversation, and partly because I could see Damian growing more and more agitated by the second, and because I was secretly seething on the inside as well.  Stacey and all of her wretchedness had a way of getting under my skin, even when she wasn't physically near me.

We spent the afternoon scouting the three locations that had been picked out, and after careful consideration, decided to drop Mission Bay Park.  There was no more talk about Jason or Stacey, two people who were nowhere to be found, yet, had successfully frustrated both Damian and me.  When we pulled back into the parking lot of the office, Damian made his way around to my side and opened my door.  I got out and thanked him, mostly thankful that the afternoon was over.

"You'd be wise to stay away from him, Cara.  He treats women like shit." 

I didn't know what to say to that so I just smiled and got into my car, leaving him standing there.  

I watched Damian get back into his car and drive away. I pulled out my cell phone to find a few missed calls. Unfortunately, I was in no mood to talk to anyone and just wanted to get home, so I chucked my phone onto the passenger seat and drove off.

<>

I had only been home for about a half hour before the doorbell rang.  I rushed down the stairs, but before I made it down to the bottom, I heard Chelsea ask, "What the fuck are you doing here?"  I rushed down the rest of the stairs, hoping to get to Jason before Chelsea went into attack mode.

"When did you get home?" I asked Chelsea almost sure she hadn't been home when I'd gotten in.

"I got here a few minutes ago," she answered, looking at me curiously.  "Why is he here?" 

I pulled Jason by the hand into the condo.  He smiled as he passed Chelsea, prompting her to frown in his direction.

"I asked him to come, Chels," I calmly retorted, not wanting to get involved in any sort of confrontation.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere if that's what you're hoping," she said gruffly, looking in Jason's direction. 

"I don't care if you stay.  We just need to talk," I said, with purpose in my eyes.  She took my expression with sincerity and told me she'd be upstairs in her room if I needed her, then turned and walked upstairs, not giving Jason another glance.

I led Jason into the living room, offering him a drink as we passed the kitchen which he declined.  We sat down on the couch, looking at one another as awkwardness spread over the room.

"Thanks for lettin' me come over.  I love what you girls have done with the place," he said, trying to break the stale air that hovered over us.  I smiled and pulled my hair back into a hair tie. Jason took a deep breath, then continued, "I don't even know what to say to you, Cara.  I just know you damn near hate me now and it kills me to think I've put you there." 

I watched as pain flashed through his face and felt a slight pinch of sympathy. 

"I don't hate you, Jason," I said, "I just felt like I was sucker punched by you."

"You said I was already dead to you," he dropped his head, rubbing his hands over his shaggy cut.  "You have no idea what those words meant to me, Cara.  I felt like you had gutted me right there on the floor.  People can say whatever they want to me, but your words mean the most, and definitely cut the deepest."

"What did you expect, Jason?  After everything I'd heard that night, I felt like you had gutted me.  You could have told me all of that shit and we would have never even gotten to that point."  I watched him for a second before continuing.  "Stacey was the final straw."

"That whore is out for blood, Cara.  Trust me when I say that I am not the father of her baby."

"So I keep hearing," I mumbled.

"What do you mean?" he asked. His beautiful brown eyes lit up with hope as he asked the question. 

"Everyone keeps telling me that there is no way you're the father of Stacey's baby, including her very own sister."

Shock crossed his face.  "When did you talk to Heather?"

"Not too long ago.  She was here in San Diego.  You didn't know?" 

"No," he said firmly.

"Why are you mad that she was here?" I asked, now irritated by his reaction to the mention of Heather.

"I'm not mad.  I'm just wondering why she was here and didn't say anything, that's all.  Was her asshole husband with her?" 

I smiled, sparking Jason's interest.  "No.  Apparently Heather is on a mission and came to San Diego to cut ties with her demon sister in person.  She decided to see me because she felt like things needed to be cleared up, after what I went through in Heath."