Personal Possessions (31 page)

I could hear Kip exhale
the smoke from his lungs, god only knows how many he had smoked
since he saw whatever it was that he saw.

“That there brother of his
says he’s into him for four hundred thousand big ones. Heard him
say that man whore your buddy’s been a ’fuckin’ been smokin’ all
the shit your buddy was meant to sell. He done told that there Bear
that he better start finding money or else, he was gonna be mixed
with fertilizer. You know how little ya gotta be to be mixed with
fertilizer?”

Holy shit, so that’s why
he wouldn’t leave Elle. That’s why he was doin what he was doin on
the side, he wanted her money…he needed her money. He knew that
chick was smokin’ his stash…you could tell she was strung out the
nights I saw her. More than likely what was happening was Bear
thought he was in there good, since his Bubba was the supplier. He
would give her what she needed and wasn’t worried about it. Then
shit turned ugly; Bubba found out about Bear’s fingers in the pot
and got pissed. Now it was time to pay up and Bear didn’t have
it.

“
Trev…”

I heard Sara’s voice
close…real close, standing here in my office.

“I gotta go, go work…call
you right back.”

I didn’t allow Kip time to
say goodbye, I just hung up the phone, put a smile on my face as
though I was dealing with business and continued on as any normal
day but yet, my mind was fixated Elle.

“
Sara, I see you had a
chance to meet Elleny.”

She didn’t answer me, just
went into her spiel like she did every other day.

“
Trev, I am up to my neck
in paperwork, Mary called me up here and now there is no way I’m
going to be done by lunchtime. Ya know, I don’t think I ask for a
lot here, is there any way she can work with me here on this
problem? I have asked her and asked her not to buzz me, but every
time I turn around…..”

“
Yes Mr. McHale, thank you
for asking. I did have a chance to introduce myself to Sara here. I
have a wonderful feeling the time we spend together is going to be
an enjoyable one, don’t you think so….Sara?”

There it was…I knew that
Elle could take care of herself, and I had a feeling that I was now
going to be pulling apart a catfight, but it would’ve been totally
worth it to see Elle take Sara down. I could look over and see the
disgust that Elle’s face was covered in. It couldn’t be, really was
it…she was…jealous?

There was nothing more
that I wanted to do right at this very moment than to bend Elle
over my desk, pull her skirt up, rip her silk panties off and fuck
her blind. My dick was hard just thinking about it. This woman was
going to be the death of me and I loved every minute of it that
included her.

I noticed the small lines
that were indented in her skin by her mouth as she turned it up
into a grim reminder that she did feel emotion…still, they were
just buried deep down. Jealousy suited her, and I didn’t want to
see it leave her face.

I couldn’t help but
smile.

“Perfect… well Sara, I’m
pulling you off the Brooks and Fairfield 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.

Sara was fuming, but as I
looked over at Elle, I could see a small smirk glaze over her lips,
she approved with my decision.

Very well, it was
done.

“Trev, this is bullshit! I
have been working with them for months now, they won’t deal with
anyone else, and they told me that. They’ll pull out.”

Did she really believe
that ultimatum shit was going to work with me? She had another
thing coming if she did.

“I’ll deal with them, you
don’t worry about that.”

My head turned back
towards Elle.

“Elle, what was it that
you said you needed this morning? Oh yes, I need for you to 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
brought up to my office for Elle by 1:30, we have an appointment
that is in need of our attendance.”

Sara didn’t say a word,
she couldn’t. She knew she was on thin ice with me. Every week it
was something with her, and I was done listening to the bullshit.
She had more wrongs than rights lately and if she didn’t want to
sit downstairs checking in guests she’d better watch how she played
her cards.

Elle’s turned towards me
quickly, caught off guard by my announcement. She wanted to ask for
about my doctor without telling me what was going on, I took care
of it and all was ready to be dealt with. Next time she will think
carefully about what the consequences are.

“Ummm, where are we going
and why are we not working.”

“You said you needed a
physician, I made you an appointment and I’m taking
you.”

She knew exactly what I
was talking about and now she was going to act like
Sarah…Jesus…women aren’t happy…ever and I had two of them in my
office at the same time, ready to bite my head off.

Elle put her hand on her
waist and showed me that Elle attitude I loved so much.

“
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.”

Walking over to her, I
felt the need to calm her down before her head exploded.

“
Shhhhh, don’t work
yourself up. We are taking by the doctor’s and then we will have an
early dinner and then 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.”

I informed her in a
sarcastic, satirical tone bringing back the memories of last
night.

“You’re an ass, Trevor
McHale.: Elle retorted as she relaxed her stance. “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?”

I laughed heartily, she
had come to accept the decision that I would be accompanying her to
the doctor’s and then would continue on with the plans I had made.
I grabbed her hand and followed her out of my office.

“
Allow me, Miss
Barker.”

Finishing the afternoon,
we stepped into the elevator going to the hotel so that we could
drop these boxes of confidential client information off.

“
What’s the story with
Sara? She seems like she wants to be your BFF”

I could hear the jealousy
slither out of her mouth as she said Sara’s name. I decided to
leave it alone…for now.

“
She’s just very dedicated
to her job.”

“
Uh-huh”

Elle’s eyes never would
come to me. That was another way I knew that it was eating her up
inside that I worked with Sara. She was not an ugly woman, by no
means. She was young, yes but she was gorgeous and if I was
twenty-four or twenty-five, I’d totally be tappin’ it.

But deep down I knew it
would never happen…I would never let it happen.

I snickered at the blush
that was now flooding Elle’s face.

“
Why Miss Barker, do I
detect a hint of jealousy there?”

Immediately, she affirmed
what I knew to be a lie.

“I don’t get jealous Mr.
McHale.”

She could tell herself
that, but I knew better. I saw it in her eyes, they were so green
they were jade…jealousy has always been associated with the color
of jade.

The bell chimed, and I
felt that the elevator had come to a stop. The doors opened and
several executives stepped in. As I stepped over into the corner I
noticed one of the men were Sam, his eyes caught me and then
immediately flashed over to Elle as a smile began to form on his
lips.

“
Elle, how are you doing
so far?”

I was furious! Sam was
doing this shit on purpose. I wasn’t sure who he thought he was,
but I still owned this company, goddammit and he was overstepping
his boundaries.

“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.”

Elle was just trying to
keep it professional, she didn’t know Sam the way I knew him.
Through the years, we had gone to meetings…conventions, anywhere we
could go to network and market our services. Sam wouldn’t think
twice about going home with the VP of a company after he had just
banged her receptionist in the coat closet, it didn’t matter to
him. He would sweet talk them and then they would be putty in his
hands. That was not going to happen to Elle, I would make sure of
that.

“Well, again if you need
anything, please feel free to give me a call.”

He smiled his cheesy ass
smile as he reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his
card. I could see as he was looking for a place to put his card he
made sure his eyes glazed over her cleavage. I felt like knocking
him across the elevator.

Sam and the others got out
as we waited a moment for them to get ahead of us. I had boxes in
my hands but I didn’t give a fuck, that card was not going any
further as long as I was here.

“Where’s that card,
Elle?”

“It’s in my other
hand….why?”

“
Hand it to me now,
Elleny”

I had to hold my temper
back, I was ready to blow. I either wanted to knock Sam into next
week or mark Elle so that when she was in his presence, he would
know she was mine.

“Hold on, the box is
heavy”

I stopped right where I
was, in the middle of the walkway and dropped the box of files.
That was paperwork, this was my life…my future I was working on,
none of that mattered to me. If Elle asked me to leave all this
behind right now, I wouldn’t even question it. I would grab her
hand and walk away, no questions asked.

I had all this before, the
money…the recognition, it meant nothing to me. At the end of the
day, coming home to an empty house that held no love, no emotion…I
had lived it, all my life…I was ready to have what I needed;
Elle.

“Here…..Christ it’s only a
business card.”

It’s only a business
card…yeah right. Maybe she was truly naïve.

“Don’t fuck with me on
this, Elleny.”

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

I could hear that soft
Georgian accent come through in her voice. That tone was what she
used when she’d tell me that she loved me. I closed my eyes as I
ripped up the card and let the wind blow it everywhere. The
gardeners would pick it up. I didn’t care who got a hold of it, as
long as it wasn’t her. No one was going to hear that tone, other
than me.

I grabbed her hand and
began walking to the car…

“Fuck yes you
do!”

We walked into the hotel
room with our hands full of boxes. Elle placed the one’s she was
holding on the table so I followed. She excused herself while I
went to wait for her on the couch. I opened my phone to check for
any messages from Kip…there was nothing. I was kinda curious what
else he had been working on.

It didn’t take Elle long,
but she had gone in and changed her clothes…was she serious about
wearing that…I think she had lost her mind. Did she really think I
would be able to stand beside her while she wore that outfit,
smelling of that perfume and not try and touch her? Her hair was
pulled back and now that I knew that she had that ink behind her
ear, I could see it now so clearly. I had to stop thinking about
shit like that.

“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.”

Well I was not going in
this suit if she was looking like that. I decided to go casual as
well. I walked up to her and wrapped my hand around her neck,
bringing her into me. I needed to feel my skin against
hers.

“Give me ten.”

I said as I laid my lips
to her forehead.

I didn’t let her reply, I
quickly stepped off into the direction of my suite. I heard her
phone ring, since the couch was right up against the wall of my
room, the walls were paper-thin.

“
This is Elleny Barker-
Jackson.”

I heard her answer her
phone just as clear as if she was sitting right next to me. I made
the decision to go into the bathroom to finish getting ready when I
heard her voice change.

“
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?”

“Where the fuck are my
kids?”

She had placed it on
speaker so I could hear every word that mother fucker was saying to
her, and what I heard made me want to vomit. Did he just seriously
talk to her that way?

“They’re safe,
Bear.”