Personal Experiences (36 page)

"Perfect, well Sara, I'm pulling you off of Brooks and Fairfield Inc. account. You'll now be working under Elle here; helping her with anything she needs. Nate will be swinging by your office to pick up everything you have on them."

"Trev, this is bullshit! I have been working with them for months now. They won't deal with anyone else; they told me that; they'll pull out." She claimed as she folded her arms over her chest and stuck her left foot out in front of her.

"I'll deal with them, you don't worry. Elle, what was it that you said you needed this morning? Oh yes, have Mary order up from supplies a box of 500 memory sticks, also call Chris over in the IT department and have a laptop checked out and brought up to my office for Elle by 1:30. We have an appointment that is in need of our attendance."

Damn, I thought she was pissed when he pulled her off that account. Fuck, she was fuming now. If she was a cartoon character, smoke would have been coming out of her ears. She was put back in her place and I didn't have to say a word. Although, I would have loved to ask her how it felt to be back down here on the ground floor with the rest of us. I'm picking my battles, I have a feeling we're going to have a few.

Coming back to this discussion, I raised my eyebrow at TJ and he just winked. Sara didn't say another word to me or him, for that matter. She turned around and marched out. I kept my eyes straight on him.

"Ummm, where are we going and why are we not working?" I asked, now my hands were folded over my chest and I was looking at him with a quizzical brow.

"You said you needed a physician, I made you an appointment and I'm taking you."

I dropped my hands down to my sides. "Oh fuck that, you're not going. I don't need you to go. I simply asked you what his name was; I was totally capable of finding him."

He walked over to me and rubbed my shoulders. "Shhhhh, don't work yourself up. I am taking you by the doctor's and then we will have an early dinner. We will take our work back to the hotel and will do as much as we can; together. Possibly with a bottle of wine… or a bottle of whisky… your choice." He said with a smile.

"You're an ass, Trevor McHale." I teasingly retorted. "You're not getting me drunk tonight, we have too much work to do, and I think we've played enough for one day. Now, can I get someone to show me to my office?"

He laughed heartily. His head tilted back and everything. He walked up beside me, grabbed my hand and said "Allow me, Miss Barker."

* * *

Before we left for the doctor, TJ showed me the office I would be working out of, which incidentally was located right next door to TJ's; coincidence? I think not.

He showed me more of the building, taking me to the different floors I would mostly be working on and then we headed back up to his office. Just as we were arriving back, Chris the IT expert showed up with my laptop; top of the line Apple 15 inch Mac Pro with Retina display, it was sweet. TJ and Chris went back to TJ's office to trade his laptop with the same one I had. While they were in there, Sara paid me a visit with a box of memory sticks. She walked in, approximately three steps and pleasantly threw them at my desk. They landed on my desk, thankfully, and then just as pleasant as she threw them at me, she walked out. I guess she was still attempting to find whoever the fuck it was who pissed in her cheerios this morning.

We gathered up what files we could, along with the memory sticks and piled them all into a huge storage box. Flipping the laptops over our arms, we headed out for the day. As we passed by Carlene at the front desk, she attempted to hand me my badge. Since my hands were full, I pushed my hip towards her and told her just to drop it in my purse. We walked to the elevators. Our ride started out quiet which I didn't have a problem with but obviously, TJ did. He would glance at me then turn away, glance back then turn away.

Finally I'd had enough; I knew he was doing this to agitate me so I didn't want him to see that he bothered me.

"What's the story with Sara? She seems like she wants to be your BFF."

He snickered "she's just very dedicated to her job."

I kept my eyes straight ahead when I replied "Uh-huh."

His snickering turned more into a laugh; "Why Miss Barker, do I detect a hint of jealousy there?"

I looked at him, my face was straight as a board and informed him "I don't get jealous, Mr. McHale."

The bell chimed. Looking up, I noticed we were on the eleventh floor. The doors opened and several executives stepped in. As I stepped over into the corner I noticed one of the men were Sam. He did a double take as he walked closer to me.

"Elle, how are you doing so far?"

I looked over at TJ, who was standing in the other corner staring laser beams into Sam's skull. I'm totally surprised his head didn't explode.

"Sam, it's going great so far. I'm just on my way with Mr. McHale to a meeting, thank you so much for asking."

"Well, again if you need anything, please feel free to give me a call." He smiled as he reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his card and placed it in my fingers that were clinched around the bottom of a box.

I smiled pleasantly at him and nodded my head. The bell chimed and the doors opened and everyone began to exit the car. TJ and I stayed back and let them go out the front first, then we began our stroll to the front doors.

"Where's that card, Elle?"

"It's in my other hand…why?"

His face was as hard as stone "Hand it to me now, Elleny."

I know he's not playing around and he's fucking pissed, he never calls me Elleny.

"Hold on, the box is heavy."

He stopped right where he was, in the middle of the walkway of this beautiful atrium of a lobby. He dropped the box of files so that it landed right in front of his feet. He grabbed the box in my hand and dropped it to the ground so that it landed on top of the other one and held out his hand.

"Here… Christ, it's only a business card."

"Don't fuck with me on this, Elleny."

Ok, still pissed off, I guess my "it's only" was uncalled for.

"Why Mr. McHale, do I detect a hint of jealousy?"

He didn't even look at me. He ripped up the card and threw it on the ground, picked up my box and handed it to me, picked up his own box and began walking when he replied;

"Fuck yes you do!"

We had to go by the hotel on our way to the doctor's to drop off these computers and files so we didn't have to worry about it all getting stolen. This was pretty important information here, and it really wasn't worth not stopping and locking it up in the safe. While we were there, I decided to change, freshen up; again and change another pair of panties… which reminded me; mall. I grabbed a pair of dress jeans and since it was pretty warm I grabbed my peach sleeveless blouse that draped down in the front. I put on a long silver necklace and some silver hoop earrings, pulled my hair up in a ponytail, refreshed my makeup and slipped some peach flats on. I was ready to go.

I walked out into the living area and saw TJ sitting on the couch texting something in his suit pants and dress shirt.

"You changed…" He said as he put his phone down.

"Well yeah, I figured it was such a nice day and you said we would go out to dinner, maybe we could drive with the top down so I could see the sights along the way."

He smiled a huge smile and jumped up from the couch.

"Give me ten" he said as he placed a kiss on my forehead.

He ran into his room and shut the door behind him. I picked up a magazine and began thumbing through the pages when I heard my phone ring. I picked it up but didn't recognize the number, it was a Richland area code, so not even thinking I put it on speaker phone and answered my professional greeting. "This is Elleny Barker- Jackson."

No one said anything, so I was quiet for a moment and then repeated "This is Elleny, is anyone there?" Still flipping through the magazine, I heard his voice.

"Yeah, I'm here bitch, where the fuck are you?"

Fuck, I mouthed as I put the magazine down and looked towards TJ's bedroom door to make sure it was still closed.

"Ah… Bear, I thought we had discussed this the other night. I left you that note because you weren't home, telling you I had a business trip to go on… ummm… remember?"

Quiet for long moments, my eyes still on the TJ's door.

"Where the fuck are my kids?"

"They're safe, Bear."

"That's not what I asked you, Whore!" He yelled.

I winced and kept my eyes on that door.

"Bear, I'm not out whoring around. Can you please stop calling me that?"

"Listen here, you nasty whore-"

Just as Bear was going off TJ's door opened. I quickly picked up the phone and took it off speaker phone and put it to my ear. I replaced the mask back on my face with the beautiful smile.

TJ however, did not.

"…y, you ever try to tell me what to do again, I'll kick your ass so far into next week; you'll be fired for not showing up. Now where are my fucking kids?"

I looked at TJ and put my index finger to my mouth trying to ask him to be quiet

"Bear, you were out… wherever you were and I wasn't sure if you would be home so they're staying with Lilly."

I wasn't about to tell him Rachel's; he would go over there and since Curt was a cop, I figured that he could protect his wife better than Kevin could.

"Well, I'll go pick them up and bring them home that way they're in their own beds and with their blood."

The mask dropped off my face. My face went from happy and beautiful to white and scared shitless.

I screamed "NO!! No Bear… please don't do that. Lilly and Curt have been planning so much with the kids, and you know how much Austin looks up to Luc, he was planning on teaching him some of your best football plays. JoJo, Harlee and Lilly were planning on going shopping. It's fine, they wanted to stay over there and they have plenty of room. You just enjoy your time alone; go out, have a good time."

I didn't realize it, but I was pacing back and forth and I was pacing fast. I had my fingers in my mouth biting all my nails down and I even think I had sweat beads around my front hairline.

"Yeah, maybe your right, some of the guys at work are going down to the titty bar for some beers, maybe I'll join em."

I stopped moving and put my head back and closed my eyes. My mask went back in place. "That sounds like fun. Well, Bear, hun… I've got to get back to my meeting, I'll let you go, ya'll stay safe tonight."

"Uh huh, what the fuck ever."

Click

Holy fuck!

I threw my phone down on the coffee table and headed for the couch.

"Just give me a moment, would 'ya, please."

I sat and put my head in my hands and just closed my eyes. I took some breaths and opened my eyes again.

"Luc."

I reached for my phone and immediately called Luc's phone. I began to think of his schedule, "He's at lunch" I said to myself. The phone was ringing and ring-

"Momma?"

I closed my eyes and forced the tears back; my baby boy's voice.

"Momma, what's wrong?"

I took a breath and put the smile back on my face so he didn't hear any different.

"Hey, my sweet angel baby."

"what is it, momma?"

"Hey baby, do your momma a favor this afternoon, no practice, I call coach. Just get in Auntie Rachel's car, pick up JoJo and Harlee and go back to Auntie's house k?"

"Momma?"

"Baby, I'm fine… everything is wonderful, my love. Just do this for me? Send me some pics of ya'll swimming this evening ok? I will video conference ya'll before I go to bed so that I can kiss you good night."

The tears were welling in my eyes, I looked up at TJ; he was staring at me. He looked absolutely helpless, as though he was waiting for me to tell him what to do. There was nothing he could do. I brought my eyes back to the magazine.

"Love you, my big protector."

That was when I saw TJ turn his back to me and headed for the kitchen.

I heard Luc's voice.

"Love you too, momma."

"I'm gonna call coach and JoJo and tell her to wait in the office. You remember safety rules right? Stay alert today, baby. I'm calling you tonight."

"K momma; bye."

I hung up with him and immediately called JoJo.

Her phone went straight to voice mail. I pushed the end button and put the phone to my lips and closed my eyes and prayed that she answered this time.

"One more minute, k?"

No answer from TJ.

I dialed her again.

"Momma, what's the matter, Luc's texting me."

"First off, hey my sweet angel baby, momma misses you."

I'm screaming and destroying shit on the inside of me.

"Hey momma."

"Second, Luc's not staying for practice, no cheerleading today. I'll call Sandy, stay in the office til he comes inside to get you. I'm gonna call Leslie over at Har's school and tell her to keep her in the office until you or Luc come in and get her. Safety rules ok? Pay attention; stay alert, K?"

"K momma, I love you."

Two tears stroll down my cheek but my voice doesn't falter.

"Oh baby, momma loves you too. I wanna see pictures tonight of ya'll swimming your tails off in Auntie's pool k?"

"Yes momma, I'll send some."

"Good girl. K, I'm gonna go now. Talk to you tonight, my sweet angel."

"K momma, bye."

I instantly call Harlee's school and tell my friend from high school that Harlee needs to stay in the office until one of the twins comes in and picks her up hand in hand. I even lose my temper and tell her not to fuck this up; it's important. She agrees and I disconnect the phone.

I head to the kitchen and TJ is standing facing the counter holding himself up with his arms balanced on the counter. All the sudden he slams the cupboard above his head as hard as he can, it opens and shuts three or four times. The sound of the slam makes me jump.

"What the fuck is going on Elle?" his voice is scary low. I've never been scared of TJ, ever in my life and right now at this point in time I'm terrified.

"Let's go, TJ."