Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (27 page)

“Krista.”

Everyone looked up at the looming shape of
Ron Powers. And then, as if on cue in a play, all scattered.

“
Jesus
, Ron, that’s a neat trick,”
Krista said as Perry made his escape.

Ron smiled without looking around. “I have
been in this company a long time, Miss Fields. People know when to
make themselves scarce.”

Ron had a serious expression and an air about
him that was intimidating. He was the Fat Cat, alright. He was
reigning over his empire, second only to Tory. He was Sean’s
nemesis and his hero all wrapped in one. Not to mention a giant
roadblock to Tory’s job.

“I was wondering if you would mind if I sat
here for a minute?” he asked.

Krista shrugged. “Well, you scared away all
my friends, so why not?”

He smiled and took the chair opposite her,
previously occupied by Perry.

“Did you need another drink?”

Krista shook her head. She still had half of
one left. What she
needed
was to get out of the bar
pronto
because pretty soon it would be drunk time and she
would do something stupid. Most of the company already retired to
get a good night’s sleep. Or because they, too, got drunk too fast.
Krista needed to take a cue.

“You intrigue me, Krista Fields,” Ron
started, looking at her as if she were a mouse he planned to trap.
“I haven’t told anyone about the paintball game.”

“What about it?”

“That was an impressive move you did. I
thought I had you. I certainly should have, but you moved so
quickly and unexpectedly, I was off-put.”

“That was the plan. Sean and I figured that
would break through the defenses. It seemed to work out okay, but I
didn’t see you until the last second. It was a narrow miss!”

“Then you shot me. Fool me twice, so to
speak.”

“I didn’t fool you, Ron. I bested you.”
Krista countered the sting with a wink.

Ron leaned back in his chair. He had a
snifter that was probably filled with expensive cognac. If he had a
cigar, he would be right at home.

“You did. Takes a man to admit it. It was
only paintball, of course. The sport of the young.”

Krista shrugged. “Live hard, play hard.”

Ron smiled, a big crater forming in his lined
face. He seemed mildly put out that she wasn’t intimidated. “I
underestimated you.”

“Join the club. All the boys from my region
think I don’t belong.”

“It must be tough being the odd one out.”

“I am a woman in a boys’ club. What do you
think?”

“But you’ve held on. You’ve kept a level head
all weekend. You are competing like your male counterpart, and
what’s more, you are winning. Impressive for one so young.”

“More so for a woman? Look, Ron, I know what
I’m up against. Truth be told, I hate it. I’ve hated being here
this weekend. It is not
impressive
to me. I know what I can
do, and I strive to do a good job. It sucks that I have to prove it
time and again, and
still
people think I shouldn’t be here.
I don’t play the ‘my penis is bigger than yours’ game. In fact, in
life outside of work, I judge that game. Maybe that freaks men out.
But you have another think coming if you think a bunch of sexist,
racist homophobes are going to get the best of me.”

Krista was getting heated, fueled by equal
parts frustration and alcohol. She figured she might as well push
her luck since her soap box was so firmly in place. She almost
started with,
and another thing!

Instead, she said, “You’ve been here a long
time, Ron, as you said. And that is awesome. You molded things the
way you liked them. That’s a great feat. But it’s a different world
out there now. Your mold might not fit as snug as it once did. To
keep your self-proclaimed empire, it might be time to reassess and
flex. Move over bacon, something leaner is coming through. Know
what I mean?”

Krista stopped talking and had a sip of her
drink. Would she have been so bold sober? No way. Going a step
further, she would probably regret all this tomorrow. She still had
yet to find out what the guy wanted.

After a pause Ron said, “You are pretty blunt
to your superior.”

Again with the intimidation tactics. It was
irritating.

“You are a higher level than me, but you
aren’t my boss. Nor my superior. And this isn’t company time. Maybe
my edge has worn off dealing with this garbage
en force
all
weekend. Regardless, I don’t make excuses for it, and I’m not
planning on apologizing for it. Your ego is your problem, not
mine.”

Ron’s eyebrows shot up. She was getting a
little too reckless, perhaps. It was undoubtedly bedtime.

“Aren’t you worried that I can make your life
hell?”

Had this man not met Sean McAdams? When it
came to manipulation tactics, Ron Powers took a backseat.

“Worried? No. You want to battle on the work
field, bring it on. That battle I will meet head on. You know what
worries me? The comment Blake made today. Men that make comments
like that, and get other men to think it’s okay, are men that date
rape. All you’ve ever worried about is your job. Can you imagine
also having to worry about your safety? That’s the game I am forced
to play this weekend. So no, you don’t worry me. If I get fired, or
fed up, I’ll just get another job. Like I said, it’s a different
world out there now.”

“This conversation isn’t really going the way
I thought it would. I still find you intriguing. And you are right,
of course, it is a different world. Blake, though…”

“I don’t want to talk about that, if you
don’t mind.” Krista cut him off firmly.

“Just know that he is not the norm. Anyway, I
am impressed on how well you work with McAdams. You’re close?”

“We work well together, yes. Always
have.”

“It surprises me because I have heard a lot
of rumors that might say a girl as smart as you would be careful
where she treads. Sean has a reputation, after all.”

“He does, yes. I only agreed to work with him
if he would cut out the womanizer rigmarole. After he did, we’ve
got on really well ever since.”

“So you worked with him before?”

“At my last job, yes. Marcus, too. A couple
others that are in the L.A. branch. We all worked exceptionally
well together. You just haven’t seen Marcus and me in action
because he is off with the admins this weekend.”

“Didn’t Marcus meet Sean at Dexico? Did you
work there, also?”

“I did. We were the team that handled our
account—this company’s account, I mean. Tory brought Marcus, me,
and a few others on, a couple years ago.”

Ron leaned forward with a puzzled expression.
“I should have heard of you, then. There were two women in that
team—an older one and a Marshall, if I am not mistaken. Were you
more behind the scenes?”

“Ah, no—I am the Marshall girl. I had to
change my name.”

Ron looked at her empty ring finger. He was
clearly not connecting the dots.

“Long story short, I had a run-in with a
crazy ex-boyfriend that had a habit of following me around. I had
to move and change my name. I turned Tory down on the job offer,
but then he offered me to work the L.A. branch. So…”

“And Marcus with you?”

“Yeah, and Ben. You don’t know him. But
yeah.”

“I’ve heard of Ben—he’s a part of your
assessing team, am I right?”

Krista was sipping her drink, so she nodded
instead of answering. This guy was well informed.

“But not McAdams?”

“They had their own thing going.”

“And you had no idea he would be assigned to
L.A.?”

“We didn’t communicate after I left San
Francisco. So yeah, the first I heard of him taking the job was
when Tory announced it on stage at a company meeting.”

“But weren’t you close to him?”

“Before I left, yes. Very, as I am sure you
know. I saw him six months before he moved to L.A., and still not a
peep.”

“I find that very…surprising.”

“Surprising? Really? I found it
infuriating
. I very nearly quit, but decided, against it.
I’ll beat him at his own game instead.”

“And how is that working out?”

“So far, dismal.”

“Yes, he is an intelligent young man.”

Krista sighed. “I know. I thought about
messing with his desk, but figured he would know it was me.”

Ron grinned. “I see now why you weren’t
worried about me.”

“Why? Because I am already battling? Or
because I resort to more extreme forms of expression?”

“Both, I think.” Ron settled back. “I agree
with you on the world changing. What would it take to get you to
come to New York?”

“Everyone talks down to me for being a brazen
b-word, but then they offer me jobs. I will never understand
it.”

“I think a woman in your position has to
be…that way in order to survive. I’ve seen the way you’re treated.
I’ve seen what you are up against. You’ve never showed weakness.
Not once. That shows merit. I admire that. To be frank, I want to
use it. Plus, a lot more of our clients are women. I think they
would prefer seeing another woman represent them.”

“You are right about that last part. But I’m
afraid I am going to stay where I am for now. At least in L.A.
That’s where all of my friends are. If I want to move on, there are
plenty of options closer to home. If I want to stay with the
company, then I won’t leave Sean. He’s never thought the way you
have, despite his reputation. I trust that.”

“Forgive me, but it doesn’t seem like being
loyal to Sean has helped you in the past…”

“
Au contraire, mon frère
. He has done
nothing
but
help me. Granted, he cut off all conversation
and planned a hostile takeover of my work life without consulting
me, or even letting me know, but aside from that, he manages me
well. He gives me work, then walks away. I do my deal, get noticed,
get praised, and get promoted. He manages me loosely, and I
flourish. He’s a righteous asshole, yes. And I want to poison him,
sure. But that is the scorned woman talking. Business sometimes
needs to be devoid of passion if you want to succeed.”

“Hmm. Smart girl. Well, for now I’ll just say
I hope McAdams sees what he’s got.”

“But secretly wish he doesn’t so you get your
way?”

Ron just smiled and got laboriously to his
feet. “Enjoy yourself,” he said as he moved back into the dwindling
crowd.

Krista looked at the now empty table. Donald,
Perry, and Georgie were nowhere to be seen. No use sitting there
with a mostly gone drink…

She made her way up to the bar. She figured
she’d have one more, and then lights out. As she waited for her
drink from the younger, peppy bartender, she looked around for
Sean. Then, after a few seconds of not finding him, slouched onto a
barstool miserably, wondering who he found to take back to his
room. She knew he didn’t want to be with her until she was sure,
and she also knew he had his needs, but it broke her heart that he
would do this to her here. If their positions were reversed, she
would never sink that low to impress some co-workers—or
anyone
.

She was half way through her last drink and
nearly ready to head up when she felt a presence beside her.

“Hi Krista.” Blake was too close. He was
standing between bar stools, the side of his body touching hers
nonchalantly.

Speaking of date rape.
It was the end
of the night. Of course the bottom feeders would turn up to take
home anyone willing. Or in his case, too drunk.

“What’s up, Blake. What do you need?” she
asked tersely. She was too far along the alcohol train to be smooth
with put downs. She had to go for the swat away tactic.

“I wanted to apologize for what I said today.
I’m sorry about that.”

“You’re sorry that you said it, or sorry that
you got in trouble for it?”

“Sorry I hurt you, of course.”

“Oh, of course. Look Blake—“

“Krista.” This from the other side.

It was Marcus, who was leaning
lackadaisically against the bar over the barstool.

“Yeah?” she asked, turning toward him.

He surveyed her a second, then glanced at
Blake. “Sorry to interrupt, but I wondered if you might give Sean a
message for me? He’s in the little boys’ room.”

“Uh… okay?”

She wanted to ask if she would be cramping
Sean’s style, but didn’t dare with Blake there. Lord only knew what
elaborate plans she would be stepping on.

“Would you mind walking with me?” Marcus
said, a little too serious for Krista’s taste.

“Um, yeah sure. Blake and I were just
wrapping up anyway.”

They walked away from the bar.

“Stay away from him, Geegee. He’s
trouble.”

“Marcus, I was literally telling him to f-off
when you walked up. Give me some credit.”

“Umm hmm. Well, anyway, sorry for snubbing
you earlier. I am currently
besties
with the biggest
busybody on the face of the earth. She is also a god-awful wench,
but anyway. She hates you with a passion, so I had to keep my
distance.”

“
Geez
, Marcus, thanks for breaking it
to me gently.”

“Oh, don’t worry, doll. Her opinion is
generally thought to be ass backwards anyway. She doesn’t think
women should be in the workforce.”

“But
she
is in the workforce…”

“Yeah, I know.” Marcus rolled his eyes.
“Anyway, tell Sean I have a granny gold nugget for him, and I’ll
give it first thing in the morning. Also, to
behave
.”

“I don’t think he was planning to behave,
Marcus, but I’ll tell him.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Just that he said he was going to give the
men what they expected, then chatted up all the pretty girls.”
Krista’s words were slurring. She was officially drunk. Actually,
she should probably add a
really
in front of drunk. She
needed to hit the sack.