Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Unhitched [The Double Rider Men's Club 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (22 page)

Alexis went numb.
Crap
. “How bad?”

“Nuclear explosion level. And your cell phone is apparently at your house. They didn’t know where you were to confirm or verify.”

“You know why I did that. I didn’t want Brett Bogner or his Aunt Sylvia to know where I was.”

“I know that, but they are all aflutter about the company reputation being ruined regarding the public persona of their employees, you know the drill. Even though that HR executive got caught with his pants down in the hourly motel about to get down and dirty with his regular hooker, Brown Sugar, last spring, he’s still got a job. I think you shouldn’t be in as much trouble as they are making it out to be. You’re pants were up. What happened? Were you just too drunk?”

“No. Somebody spiked my drink in the bar. The guy I was with shared the drink with me and we both got drugged.”

“Well, just tell them that. You can’t help being drugged.”

“Right.” Alexis suddenly wasn’t convinced. “The worst part is that Brett followed me out to Vegas,” Alexis said. “He probably saw that stupid video and came right out on the first plane.”

“Really? I’m sorry, Alexis. I haven’t even seen him around here for quite a while. Not since you’ve been gone. What are you going to do?”

“I was calling you to test the waters to see if I could extend my vacation.”

Jenna laughed mirthlessly. “You might find yourself on a permanent vacation.”

“Thanks for the lowdown. I guess I’ll have to call and take my medicine.”

“Well, hang in there. I’m on your side even if no one else is. And that guy in the fountain with you was
really
attractive, by the way. I have no doubt he was worth it.” She laughed.

“He was.”
And so was his friend.
Alexis smiled to herself. “Thanks, Jenna.” She hung the phone up and pondered her options.

Obviously she wouldn’t be in Las Vegas to use her return ticket to take the plane home. She had four days until her vacation ended. And she promised to try and stay here for a week. Jackson and Derek had promised to provide her either a private plane or plane ticket home whenever she was ready.

She screwed up her nerve and dialed her supervisor, Ms. Rickman. She answered as always, with a sternly toned, “Hello.”

“Hello, Ms. Rickman, this is Alexis.” There was an extremely long pause at the end of the line. “Hello,” Alexis said again.

“Alexis. I was just talking to Sylvia about you this morning.”
Crap
. Sylvia was the director of the company operations.

“Oh?” Alexis tried to sound surprised, but wasn’t.

“There have been some disturbing media clips of you in Las Vegas with a man. There has been quite a stir here at the G. Harriman Pharmaceutical Co.”

“Really? How interesting.” Alexis wasn’t going to admit to anything. She wanted to hear what they were discussing.

“We are concerned that the reputation of the company might be in jeopardy. Having one of our representatives displaying inappropriate behavior to the public is not frequently tolerated.” Her holier-than-thou attitude truly angered Alexis. She’d been a faithful, hard-working employee for over eight years. It wasn’t like this was common practice for her. Hell, this was the first freaking vacation she’d taken in literally years.

“Do I get a chance to explain what happened to me, or are you just going to condemn me outright for something that wasn’t even my fault?”

“Miss Sherwood, please take a care with your tone.” Ms. Rickman’s frosty manner grated on her nerves. Her anger allowed a defensive attitude and accompanying words to spew out before she could tame it.

“From now on, my name is Mrs. Jackson Cordell. The man in the video is my husband. The pictures were taken without my permission. We were drugged by two felons who are now in jail. I would have thought it was obvious that my behavior was unusual. I expected my employer to support me and not criticize me before even speaking to me to hear my side of the circumstances.”

“We tried to call you. But your phone is in your apartment.”

“How do you know that? Are you tracking my movements now? I was on vacation. I’m not obligated to take my company phone with me.”

“Be that as it may, Sylvia believes we should place you on administrative leave until this is all sorted out.”

“What?” This was snowballing out of control. Administrative leave? “Ms. Rickman, I’d like you to explain exactly what that means and why I’d ever be considered for it. I’m an excellent employee. I shouldn’t have to tell you that. I do not deserve administrative leave over this incident.”

“Perhaps this discussion is best left until you return for a face-to-face conversation. When will you be back to work?”

Crap
. This was
so
not the way to ask for additional time off. “Actually, that’s the reason I called. I’d like to extend my vacation for a few days. I have plenty of days saved up in my vacation hours. Will that be a problem?”

Alexis heard shuffling of papers over the phone. “I have your vacation paperwork in front of me. I show you returning in four days.”

“I’d like to extend that to eight days.”

“I don’t see a problem with that, Alexis.”

“Are you sure, Ms. Rickman? I don’t want to be put on administrative leave. Especially not over something I had no control over.”

She cleared her throat. “No. I understand. Of course, I had no way of knowing the extenuating circumstances of your situation. And I couldn’t contact you.”

“Yes. I realize that.” Ms. Rickman hadn’t ever given her any trouble. They weren’t best friends or anything. However, as a supervisor, she was usually strict but fair. Alexis wondered if Sylvia was giving her grief, but didn’t dare ask.

“Do you have a contact number I could jot down in case of an emergency?”

Reluctantly, Alexis gave her the prepaid cell number she’d been using, courtesy of her rich husband, Jackson. “Thank you, Ms. Rickman.”

“I’ll see you when you return from vacation.”

Even though her supervisor had backed down a little, Alexis still felt a little bit unsettled over the conversation. It actually hadn’t dawned on her that the Internet video would impact her job. She already felt a little bit guilty about why she was taking this extra vacation. In fact, she was considering whether or not to even return to North Carolina and her life back there.

Perhaps it was time to assess her true feelings about living back East. She had a few friends back home, but she traveled so much she wouldn’t say she even had a best friend. Jenna was her work friend, and they’d gone to lunch here and there, but she didn’t even know where she lived.

Lola was a friend from her apartment building who had told her lurid tales of her sex life as they retrieved mail from their mail boxes downstairs. She’d also been the one who’d taken Alexis to the speed dating event. Where she’d unfortunately picked up Brett as a friendly stalker.

Did she truly miss her life? She’d been sexing it up with two amazing men and had enjoyed life a lot more in Las Vegas than any day in memory, even after being drugged twice and assaulted in her hotel room. What did that say about the live she’d lived?

Alexis did love to travel. She loved that aspect of her career the best. She liked picking up at a moment’s notice and flying off to meet new people and do her job. But in retrospect, maybe that was because she didn’t have anything to look forward to at home. No close friends. No family close by.

Her father had died quite a while ago. She had an older sister that lived in Maine with her husband and kids. They got along, but weren’t really close. Her mother had retired from teaching in the Midwest a few years ago and had gone to live in Southeastern Florida with several friends in a nice retirement community near the beach. They were fairly close, but thinking back over the past several years, Alexis realized she only spoke to her mom on the phone during birthdays and holidays.

The trip to Las Vegas, which had been on a whim, had turned out to be a life-altering event for her. She sat in the most luxurious home she’d ever been in. She was married to possibly the most handsome two men in the free world. She was in love for the first time in her life and had never been as happy as she was just waiting for Jackson and Derek to come back home.

She had let her job become her whole life.

Alexis had been plodding along like a donkey chained to a wheel, endlessly following a grooved trail. It had taken a big shake-up to make her realize this.

Valentina came back into the living room. “Are you finished with your phone conversation?”

“Yes. I think I am.”

“Is everything all right?”

Alexis shrugged. “Not sure yet. I’m currently rethinking my entire life.”

Valentina smiled as if she understood. “I only came to this area in the last year. However, I do like it. There is much to see and do.”

“Can I ask a personal question?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she soon shrugged. “I suppose.”

Alexis asked bluntly, “Do you like living with two men and being a part of this lifestyle here?”

Valentina considered her question for several moments before answering. “For me it is a perfect life. Certainly better than the one I had before coming here. I fell in love with two men. It was more difficult
not
to do this. After several months, I cannot imagine living any other way.” She then shrugged. “Maybe this life is not for every person. But if you love your men, how can you not stay?”

“Good question.” Alexis smiled. “Thank you. I have the next week to think things over.”

“Perhaps your decision is already made.” She turned away with a small smile shaping her mouth and walked to the door. Over her shoulder she added, “I have get ready for work. Jackson and Derek should return in an hour or so. I wish you good luck. I am sure we will see each other again.”

“Thanks for lunch.”

“My pleasure,” she said, and flashed another quick grin.

Valentina picked up her coat and a bag and left Alexis alone to ponder her feelings. Every trail of thought led back to Jackson and Derek. How could she ever leave them? Why would she ever want to? Did they feel the same way about her? They’d asked her to take a look at and to try their life for a few days before leaving. They hadn’t asked to make things permanent. But maybe that was because she’d been so vocal about wanting to go back to her home.

Alexis decided the best course of action was no action for now. She’d live in this fantasy world for the week like an extension of her Las Vegas vacation, and put off any life-changing decisions for later.

Chapter Fourteen

Clay lost track of Brett Bogner in Las Vegas immediately after he unsuccessfully tried to contact Alexis in their hotel suite. Jackson and Derek had whisked her out of the hotel before Brett had even turned away from the registration desk. Clay had seen that for himself on the hotel footage. It was an annoying fact to have misplaced him, but not as significant as keeping track of the degenerate asshole, Virgil Watkins, that had kidnapped Alexis with help of his drugged-up girlfriend, Marlene.

Virgil had been arrested several times, but never convicted of some very serious crimes. Surprising, since most of his arrests involved assaults against women. Apparently, Virgil didn’t like taking the word “no” for an answer. Worse, in Clay’s opinion, was that Virgil and Marlene had gone after several of his victims more than once.

The
unofficial
information Clay was able to dig up about him said he was a nasty character with a penchant for vendettas against his ill-fated victims. Unfortunately, he also harbored a lucky streak regarding the lack of any punishment for his
alleged
crimes.