Текст книги "Something About Lorelei"

Автор книги: Sandi Lynn

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Chapter Forty-One

Jack

I threw my phone across my desk after Lorelei hung up on me. Who the hell did she think she was after everything I’d done for her? As I leaned back in my chair, staring at the empty desk that sat outside my office, Coco walked in.

“I’m surprised you’re here. It’s Saturday,” I spoke.

“I kicked Joshua out and broke up with him.”

“What?” I quickly sat up.

“I told him last night that I knew about the woman he was seeing and to get the hell out.”

“What did he say?”

“He said good riddance and that he didn’t even know why he bothered staying as long as he did because he was never in love with me.” She started to sniffle.

I got up from my chair and walked to where she was standing and pulled her into me.

“Don’t, Coco. He’s a scumbag. You know it. He’s not worth a single tear.”

“I know he’s not worth it. I’m crying because I didn’t break up with him sooner.”

I broke our embrace and handed her a tissue.

“Things with him fizzled fast, Jack. I haven’t been in love with him for a long time.”

“Then why did you stay with him?”

“Because I was afraid nobody else would want me. Every guy I had met over the years was intimidated by me and my career. Joshua was the first man who wasn’t because he had that same craving for success. I still can’t believe he’s blackmailing our mother.”

“Have you seen her yet today?”

“No. I haven’t. I tried calling her and she didn’t answer.”

“I’m right here,” my mother spoke as she stepped into my office and shut the door.

She looked tired and weary. This whole thing was taking a toll on her.

“Where were you?” I asked.

“I was running some errands. I want both of you to sit down. I’m leaving the country in a few hours and I’m going to Paris.”

“WHAT!” I shouted.

“Sit down and be quiet, Jack.” She pointed her manicured finger at my chair. “I’m not paying Joshua the money. That slimy, spineless coward can go to hell.”

“So you’re just going to leave and leave us to clean up your mess?” I asked in a stern voice.

“I’ve already taken care of it. I didn’t tell you this before, but that woman that he’s seeing is Shae, the woman I hired to go work for Flourishing. He’s using her, and I told her that. I also told her that as soon as he gets the money, he’ll dump her. So I offered her two and a half million dollars to keep quiet and deny everything. She accepted and she’s leaving town tonight.”

“How can you trust her?” Coco asked.

“I can. More so than Joshua.”

“I broke up with him last night,” Coco spoke.

“I know. That bastard called me last night to tell me that I had twenty-four hours to give him the money or he was going to go public. I made Shae see that Joshua is only using her. I planted ideas in her head and got her thinking about a couple of things. So if Joshua does go public with the information, he doesn’t have proof and it will look like a revenge thing, so to speak, because you, my darling daughter, kicked his ass to the curb.”

“If it’s settled, then why are you going to Paris?” I asked.

“Because, darling, I need to hide out until all of this blows over. Bradley is closing out the accounts as we speak and the money will be put back into our accounts first thing Monday morning.”

“Tell me, Mother, why were some creditors not paid?”

She waved her hand in front of her face. “Pish, I told Bradley not to pay a few vendors because they were screwing with me. I can play just as dirty as they can. Anyway, I spoke with them and called off that lawyer girl you hired. We reached an agreement and all is good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a couple of things to do before I leave.”

“You’re just going to walk away as if it’s no big deal?” I spat.

“Stop overreacting, darling. Everything will be fine now.”

She hugged and kissed Coco goodbye. As she began taking steps towards me, I held up my hand. Her brow arched right before she strutted out of my office as if she didn’t have a care in the world. A bad feeling crept up inside of me. A shit storm was rolling in and she was seeking safety in Paris while she left us behind to ride it out.

When I slammed my fist down on my desk, Coco flinched.

“You heard what she said, Jack. She took care of the situation.”

“The hell she did, Coco. I have a feeling this is far from over.”

****

After spending the day trying to calm down and get some work done, I headed to the toy store to pick up something for Hope. I had texted Lorelei earlier in the day and the doctor said that Hope had strep throat. As I was walking through the store, not knowing what the hell I was going to buy her, I stumbled across a wall of children’s movies. My eyes scanned the rows and then fixated on one particular movie that caught my attention: Charlotte’s Web. I smiled as I picked it and looked at it. She would like this. After checking out, I had Tony drive me to Lorelei’s apartment.

“Does she know you’re dropping by?” he asked.

“No.”

“Don’t you think you should tell her?”

“No.”

“After the recent events that took place, she may slam the door in your face. Or you may not even make it through the security door.”

“She may and maybe I won’t. But I am not leaving until I give this movie to Hope and I see how she’s doing for myself.”

“She’s not your responsibility anymore.” He glanced up at me through the rearview mirror.

“Doesn’t matter. I still need to make sure she’s okay.”

He gave me a small smile and didn’t speak another word.

Hope wasn’t the only reason I wanted to come over. After the clusterfuck of a day I had, I needed to see Lorelei. I didn’t necessarily need to talk to her; just seeing her was enough to make everything okay. I rang the buzzer to her apartment.

“What are you doing here, Jack?” Her voice came through the intercom.

“I want to know how Hope is doing.”

“You could have just called.”

“I have something for her, Lorelei, and I would like to give it to her.”

The door buzzed and I let out a sigh of relief. When I reached her apartment door, she was standing there with it open.

“You didn’t have to get her anything,” she spoke as she moved to the side so I could come in.

“I know. I wanted to.”

“Jack!” Hope leaped up off the couch and wrapped her arms around my legs.

“Hi there. How are you feeling?” I bent down and picked her up.

“Not really good. But I’ll survive.” She smiled.

Carrying her over to the couch, I handed her a pink gift bag with a picture of Cinderella on it and pink tissue paper inside hiding the DVD. She reached her small hand in the bag and pulled out Charlotte’s Web. Her eyes grew wide with excitement.

“I didn’t know there was a movie!” she exclaimed. “Thank you, Jack.” Her arms wrapped themselves around my neck.

“You’re welcome.”

“Will you watch it with me?”

“Of course I will. That is, if it’s okay with your mom.” I glanced over at Lorelei as she stood there with her arms folded and her narrowing eye glared at me.

“Please, Mommy,” Hope whined.

She hesitated with a response for a few moments as her eyes never left me.

“I guess. But as soon as the movie is over, it’s bed time.”

“Okay. I promise.”

“Are you going to watch it with us?” I asked, trying to cut through some of the thick air that was around the room.

“I have to finish Hope’s Halloween costume, so I’ll be over at the table while you two watch it.”

Chapter Forty-Two

Lorelei

I put in the DVD and walked over to the table where I had my sewing machine set up. I couldn’t deny that what Jack did for Hope wasn’t sweet. It really was, but I still had my guard up where he was concerned.

As I was working on Hope’s costume, I silently smiled at the laughter and light conversation that was coming from the couch. Suddenly, the sound of sniffles took over. I turned around and saw Jack put his arm around Hope and pull her closer to him. I had no choice but to see if Jack was all choked up as well over Charlotte’s death. I called out to him.

“Hey, Jack?”

He didn’t turn around. He simply spoke, “Yeah.”

“Can you come here for a second?”

“Sorry, Lorelei. It’s going to have to wait.” He brought his finger up to his eye.

“Okay.” I smiled as I turned back around and continued working on the costume.

It wasn’t too long after that the movie ended and I could hear the subtle conversation between Hope and Jack.

“Jack, what was the point of Charlotte dying? She could have lived and they all could have been happy.”

“I agree, Hope, but the story of Charlotte and Wilbur was about true friendship. Even after Wilbur’s best friend passed away and she could no longer help him, he still helped her. Make sense?”

“I guess. You’re really smart, Jack.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Not as smart as you. Are you ready for bed?”

“I think I need my medicine.”

I stood up from my chair. “Yes, you do need your medicine. Go get in bed and I’ll bring it to you.”

“Can Jack tuck me in too?” she asked.

“Yes. Jack can tuck you in.”

Hope scurried off to her room and I went into the kitchen to get her medicine from the refrigerator.

“Yuck. I remember that stuff.” Jack made a face when he saw the bottle.

“It’s pretty bad, isn’t it? The good thing is Hope doesn’t seem to mind it.”

After pouring the medicine in the medicine cup to the correct dosage line, Jack grabbed the glass of water on the counter and we went to Hope’s room.

“Mommy, my head hurts again.” She pouted.

Jack placed his hand on her forehead. “She feels warm.”

I handed Hope the medicine and told her to take it while I went to the bathroom and got the thermometer. It read 101 degrees.

“Fevers always get worse at night. Hopefully, by tomorrow, it’ll be gone. I’ll go get you some Tylenol.”

“I can get it,” Jack spoke. “It’s on the kitchen counter, right?”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

After giving Hope some Tylenol, I kissed her head and told her good night. When I walked out of her room, Jack followed and pulled the door enough to where it was opened a crack.

“Thank you, Lorelei.”

“For what?” I asked as I sat down at the table.

“For letting me come in and give Hope that movie.”

“Like I had much of a choice. You were standing outside my building already.”

“You called me over earlier during the movie. What did you need?”

“Never mind. I did it myself.” I silently laughed.

He took a seat in the chair next to me. “My mother took off for Paris today.”

I looked up at him from my sewing machine. “What? Why?”

“Apparently, she had a talk with the girl this morning that Joshua is shacking up with. Come to find out, she was the one who she hired to spy on Flourishing and she just so happens to be the one that told Joshua everything. My mother paid her off and then fled the country. According to her, now that the girl has her hush money, Joshua doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

I looked at him in confusion. “But why did she leave to go to Paris, then?”

“To escape the limelight of what’s about to come. Even though people will think he’s making the story up, she didn’t want to be here to answer any questions from the press.”

“So she ran and left you and Coco to handle it?”

“Yep. Mother of the year again. I have a bad feeling about all of this and I feel like there’s something she isn’t telling us.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet.” He sighed.

I could see the anger and worry that consumed his eyes. Even though he’d never admit it, I could tell he was hurting.

“Enough about that. You seem to be feeling better.”

“I’m am. I’m still really tired, but overall okay.”

“I should get going so you can finish Hope’s costume.” As soon as he got up from his chair, his phone rang and he answered it.

“What!” he spoke in a panicked voice. “When? My God, I’m on my way over.”

He ended the call. The look on his face was terrifying.

“What happened?” I asked.

“That was Coco. Joshua was murdered.”

I cupped my hand over my mouth in shock.

“I need to get to Coco’s house. The police are there, questioning her.”

“My God, Jack. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll talk to you soon, Lorelei.” He walked out the door.

****

Jack

This was unbelievable. I hailed a cab and went straight to Coco’s brownstone where the flashing lights of a police car lit up the normally dimmed area. After stepping through the door, I headed straight to the living room and found my sister sitting on the couch crying while two male police officers questioned her. I ran to her side and she threw her arms around me, sobbing.

“Clearly, you can see she’s upset. Can you please come back tomorrow?”

“I’m sorry. You are?”

“Jack Sutton, her brother.”

“We apologize, but we have to ask where she was around six p.m.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Sutton, but we have to check all possible leads.”

“Coco, where were you?” I asked her.

“I was at the office.”

“Were you alone, ma’am,” one of the officers asked.

“No.”

“May I have the name of the person who was with you?” The officer took a pen from his pocket.

She hesitated for a moment and looked at me.

“Garrett Sullivan was with me.” She turned to the officer as she spoke.

“Why was Garrett at the office on a Saturday?” I asked.

“Thank you, Miss Sutton. We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions. We can see our way out.”

Coco stood up and took in a deep breath. “That’s a lot of work trying to make myself cry and fake being upset.” Dabbing her eyes with a tissue, she walked over to the bar area in her living room and poured a glass of wine.

“Would you like some?” she asked.

“No. What I would like is for you to answer my question.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Jack

I threw back my glass of scotch as Garrett walked into the living room. I slammed my glass down on the bar and pointed my finger at him as I walked towards him.

“How fucking dare you!” I yelled.

“Jack, stop!” Coco screamed.

“You’ve been sleeping with my sister and you didn’t tell me!”

“Jack, calm down.” He put his hands up.

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down!” I threw a punch at him.

He stumbled back and held his jaw.

“Do you feel better now, friend?” he asked in a calm tone.

I went to throw another punch.

“Jack, no!” Coco grabbed my arm and held me back. “I swear I will never talk to you again if you don’t stop.”

“She’s my sister, man. My fucking sister. You’ve known her your whole life.”

“And I’ve been in love with her my whole life!” he shouted.

I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head. Taking a seat on the couch, I cupped my face in my hands to try and process everything that was going on.

“Jack.” Coco sat down next to me. “Do you want me to be happy?”

I looked over at her as the tears streamed down her face.

“Of course I do.”

“Garrett makes me happy. He always has. Sometimes, the person you’re meant to love is standing right in front of you the whole time.”

“Coco, he’s like a brother to us.”

“But he’s not our brother. He makes me feel alive and whole. You can’t understand that because you never let anyone in. I’m in love with him, Jack.”

I looked over at Garrett, who was still standing in the same spot, holding his jaw.

“Do you love her?”

“Yes. I do.”

I got up from the couch and poured another drink.

“Why did you stay with Joshua if you were seeing Garrett?” I asked. “Which brings me to another question. How long has this been going on?”

“We’ve been seeing each other for a little over a month. Why do people who are married cheat and still stay married?”

I shook my head as I took a sip of a scotch. After downing it, I looked at Coco and then at Garrett.

“I’ll see you two Monday morning at the office. I need to get out of here and think.” I grabbed my coat and walked out.

As I was on my way home, I sat in the back of the cab and thought about what Coco said about me not letting anyone in. She was right. I had never let anyone in except one woman: Lorelei. The one woman I brought into my bed that was off limits to everyone. The only woman who I held in my arms all night. And what happened? She withheld a vital part of her life from me.

****

Lorelei

My mom and Stella sat at the table with shocked expressions as I told them about my week; being sick and Jack taking care of Hope. They couldn’t say anything because Hope was right there. My mom reached over and took hold of my hands.

“I wish you would have called us, sweetie.”

“Why, Mom? You were on a boat in the middle of the ocean. There would have been nothing you could have done.”

“Still. I’m so sorry we weren’t here for you and Hope.”

“That’s okay, Grandma. I liked Jack taking care of me. He’s fun.”

“He is?” Stella gave her a look with a twisted face.

“Yeah. He read to me and we watched Cinderella. He took and picked me up from school. He came to my spelling bee when my mom was in the hospital and he cooked. He’s not a good cook, though. He burns everything.” She giggled.

“That was very nice of Mr. Sutton to take care of you, Hope.” My mom hugged her. “And I’m happy you’re feeling better.”

Hope went to her room to take a nap and my mom left to get home and unpack from their trip.

“Okay. What’s going on with you and Jack?” Stella asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing, my ass. Why would a man who fully admitted to you that he hates children take care of your kid while you’re lying helpless in a hospital bed?”

“Because he knew there was nobody else who could take care of her.”

Again, she twisted her face. “I think Mr. Sutton has a heart and I think he’s madly in love with you.”

“No, he’s not, Stella. He left me and Hope the other night to go on a date.”

“Oh.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “Why would he do that?”

“Who the hell knows. Probably because he needed to feed his sex addiction.”

“He has a sex addiction?”

“Let me rephrase that. Probably because he needed to feed his sexual appetite.”

“He’s a man. They’re always horny.” She smiled. “I see a possible relationship here.”

“I can’t and I won’t.” I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen.

“Why not, Lorelei? It’s obvious the man has deep feelings for you or he wouldn’t have taken care of Hope the way he did. That little girl adores him.”

“Of course she does. He’s the first man who has ever paid attention to her.”

“And whose fault is that?” She frowned.

“I gave in to my feelings once before and I won’t make that mistake again. Look at how he treated me when he found out about Hope. The things he said. If he truly had feelings for me, he wouldn’t have said those things. Brett would never have said those things to me.”

“Aw, honey. You have to stop living in the past. Maybe Brett never would have said those things to you. Hell, he didn’t even know you were pregnant, Lorelei, so you really don’t know for sure how he would have reacted. You’re a grown up now and you’re playing in the grown up world.”

“So you’re saying that it was okay for him to talk to me like that?”

“No. That’s not what I’m saying. But you also need to understand that he was hurt. He found out by accident one of the most personal things about you. He probably felt betrayed that you didn’t trust him enough to tell him.”

“How could I trust him when he flat out told me he hated kids? You even told me not to tell him. Hell, Garrett didn’t even tell him because he was afraid he’d fire me.”

“Okay. Okay. You have a point. But still.”

Taking our coffee over to the couch, I sat down and crossed my legs.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You’re never going to believe what I did.”

“Oh my God, what did you do?”

“I created a profile on Match.com.”

“Shut up! You did not!” she exclaimed.

I grabbed my laptop from the coffee table and logged into my account. This was the first time I had done that since the night I created it. I had over fifty responses.

“Oh shit. Look at this.” I laughed.

We spent the next hour going through the profiles and laughing.

“This guy isn’t bad. He’s an ad executive. He has a daughter who’s eleven and his hobby is bird watching.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s also forty years old. What the hell does he want with a twenty-five-year-old?”

“You really need to ask that?” Stella spoke. “Just think of all the different kinds of birds you could learn about. I wonder if he makes those weird bird sounds to them.” She laughed.

Chapter Forty-Four

Lorelei

I stopped at Starbucks to get Jack his morning coffee. I hadn’t heard from him since Saturday night and he didn’t respond to my text messages. As I walked down the hallway to my desk, many of my coworkers welcomed me back. I took in a deep breath as I walked into Jack’s office.

“Good morning,” I spoke.

He looked up at me from the papers he was looking over and mumbled, “Morning.” When I set the coffee on his desk, I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. He looked back down at his papers and acted like I wasn’t even standing there.

“Did you get my text messages?” I asked.

“Yes,” he responded without looking up.

“Why didn’t you text me back?”

“I really didn’t have time.”

“Oh.” I stood there feeling like an idiot. “How’s Coco?”

“She’s fine.”

“Any more news about Joshua?”

“No.”

“Does your mother know what happened?”

He sighed and looked up at me as he grabbed his coffee cup.

“What is this? A million questions? If I wanted to talk to you about this, I would. You have a ton of work to do since you were out all last week. I suggest you get to your desk and start working.”

Wow. Wow. Wow. What the fuck was his problem? I quietly walked out of his office and sat down at my desk. Asshole. I pulled out the small framed picture I had of Hope and set it next to my computer. A few moments later, Garrett walked up and I couldn’t help but notice the large bruise on his face.

“Ouch. What happened?” I asked with concern.

“Jack didn’t tell you?”

“No. Jack isn’t saying much to me these days.”

“He punched me.”

“Oh my God. Why would he do that?”

“I’d rather not get into that right now. How are you feeling? How’s Hope?”

“We’re both a lot better. Thank you for asking.”

“Good. I’m happy to hear that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to talk to Jack. Let’s hope he doesn’t punch me again.” He winked.

Sitting there, I watched Garrett walk into Jack’s office and shut the door. What the hell was going on with him that would make him punch his best friend?

A few moments later, the door opened and Garrett walked out.

“Escaped without any assault.” He winked with a smile and then strutted down the hallway.

Garrett left the door open to Jack’s office and I couldn’t help but steal a glance from my desk. Jack was sitting in his chair, looking out the window.

“Oh shit!” he exclaimed as he jumped up and ran down the hallway.

I needed to know what was going on, so I followed him down to the lobby, and when I reached the doors, Coco was standing outside trapped by a bunch of paparazzi who were taking her picture and shoving small recorders in her face. Jack grabbed her and led her inside the building. I hurried and stepped into the elevator before they saw me. The shit storm had arrived and Jack and Coco were left to deal with it alone without any help from their mother.

I made it back to my desk and I saw Jack take Coco into her office. He was in there for about an hour. Before going into his office, he stopped at my desk.

“You are to field any calls that may come in from anyone asking about Joshua or the company.”

“Yes, Jack. Don’t worry.”

He picked up the frame from my desk and stared at the picture of Hope. Without saying a word, he set it down, walked into his office, and slammed the door. I flinched.

After working on a couple of projects, I glanced at the clock and saw it was lunchtime. Grabbing my sketchbook and my purse, I knocked on the door and told Jack I was heading to lunch.

“Jack, I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to lunch now.”

“Fine. Don’t forget my coffee.”

I sighed and shut the door. “Don’t forget my coffee,” I mumbled as I headed toward the elevators. With his attitude towards me, he’d be lucky if I didn’t spill it all over his desk and leave him to clean it up. Exiting the building, I headed down to the café for a sandwich.

After my lunch was over, I went to Starbucks and got Jack his afternoon coffee. When I arrived back to the building, the paparazzi had grown in size and began to crowd me.

“You’re Jack Sutton’s PA, aren’t you?” one man asked.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Would you care to say a few words regarding the murder of his sister’s boyfriend?”

“I’m sorry, but I know nothing about that.”

“Rumor has it that Kit Sutton fled the country? Did she know something about it?”

I sighed. They were all around me, invading my personal space and not letting me get inside the building. I looked at Jack’s coffee and then back up at the people who surrounded me. I took a step forward as if I was pushed and accidentally spilled some coffee on the guy in front of me. Then I spilled some on the person next to him and then the person next to him. They backed off as they began to yell.

“If you wouldn’t have invaded my personal space, I wouldn’t have spilled coffee on you.” I smiled.

Suddenly, I felt a hand grasp my arm and pull me back. Jack led me inside the building while holding up his hand at the paparazzi.

“Thanks, but I didn’t need saving.”

“If I didn’t stop you, there wouldn’t be any coffee left for me to drink.” He smirked.

I gave him a small smile and we rode the elevator up in silence.

****

Over the next couple of days, nothing much had changed. The paparazzi were still camped outside waiting for their next victim. But when they saw me coming with coffee in my hands, they slowly backed away and let me get through. As I was sitting at my desk doing some work, Daniel from the editing department walked up.

“Hey, Lorelei.” He smiled.

“Hi, Daniel.”

“I saw your profile on Match.com,” he said rather loudly.

Oh shit.

“Really?” I cocked my head.

“Yeah, and since we know each other, I thought instead of messaging you online, I’d come talk to you in person.”

Double shit.

“Oh.” I raised both my eyebrows in surprise.

“I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner some night.”

I took in a deep breath when I saw Jack jump up from his chair and walk over to my desk.

“Lorelei, in my office, NOW!” he shouted. “And as for you, Daniel, she isn’t going to have dinner with you. Now get back to work before I fire you!”

I took a seat across from his desk and he slammed the door.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re on Match.com? Really, Lorelei?”

My knees were trembling and I needed to get a grip.

“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong with that? Do you know how many psychos there are in the world looking for someone like you to prey on?”

“Yes.”

Clearly, he was upset by the fact that I was on a dating site. It was none of his damn business and now I was getting angry.

“‘Yes?’ Is that all you can say?”

Clearing my throat, I spoke, “What I do on my personal time isn’t any of your concern, Jack.”

His eyes were now fully consumed with anger.

“It is my damn concern if something happens to you and I’m left without a PA!” he yelled.

“Then you’ll hire another one!” I yelled back, losing all control.

“I don’t want another one. You’re by far the best I’ve had. Both personally and professionally.” He realized what he had said and turned his back to me and stared out the window with his hands in his pockets.

I was stunned at his words and I couldn’t find it in me to shoot anything back at him.

“Thank you. If you’re done screaming at me, I have work to do.” I got up from my chair and headed towards the door.

“Lorelei?” he called out to me. “You’ll date some random stranger that could hurt you, but you won’t give me the time of day?”

My stomach sank and my heart started to ache.

“You already hurt me, Jack.” I walked out and carefully pulled the door shut.

Tears started to form in my eyes, so I went into the bathroom to collect myself.