Diary of A. . . (19 page)

“Maybe I just feel we went a little too
fast, Theo, and I’m just trying to slow it all down.”

“Bullshit.”

Was he doing that mind reading shit
again?

“I’m not going to sit and lie to you. I have
no reason.”

“Come to dinner with me.”

Mackeroy would scream if I canceled and if I
know him, he was probably going to ask me for dinner tonight.

“No, thanks,” I said simply.

“I don’t take rejection well when it comes
to something I want,” Theo said firmly.

“Get used to it.”

That half smirk came. “Do you want me to
resort to unethical measures?”

Confused, I asked, “I don’t know what you
mean.”

“So you’ll let me have you for dinner?”

“Obviously you’ve got wax in your ears. I
said no,” I said, becoming very upset. I leaned over my desk two
inches from his face daring the motherfucker to do something crazy.
“Now leave.”

Theo stood up straight and went over to the
door. “See you later? Seven?”

“I’m not going to dinner with you!”

He winked and then left out my office.

Dammit! Why’d he have to be crazy?! I was
really pheening for him now that I’d seen him. I also really wished
I had accepted his invitation for dinner just so I could get some
good loving.

Sitting down and catching my breath, I ran a
frustrated hand through my hair and growled to myself. Fuck him
being crazy, you could have accepted.

Nope. I’d have some fatal attraction shit
going on and then what?

I opened up my home brief to stuff anything
I wanted to work on in there. That’s when I realized the Sroban
file was still there.

Opening it back up on my desk, I looked at
the report.

The Sroban Group had opened ten years ago
and was doing minor customer service accounts for small businesses
in Detroit. Currently it was certified with several top customer
service organizations and was slowly making way as one of the
leading customer service companies in the Metro Detroit area.

The research went on to say that there were
five employees and two administrators, but it was no one I knew. So
this was a competitive company, I surmised, that had gotten to
Erin?

Of course! They were on the threshold to
being some serious competition for Earl. Why shouldn’t they
approach his vice-presidents and glean off the talents that had
made Earl successful? It was the American way.

I flipped through the papers some more and
came across the assumed names part. I couldn’t believe the name
written on the bottom of the page. The same name that had signed
the papers to bring the company to life.

Theopolis Thornton.

How? Why?

WTF?!

Entry Thirty-One

I had to calm myself down, but I couldn’t
completely until I had some answers.

Knowing just who to get them from, I threw
everything in my brief and rushed out the office to see if I could
catch up with Theo. When I arrived in the parking lot, I saw a
large gray Expedition about to exit.

Suddenly it stopped, was put into reverse
and driven backwards until it came to a final stop in front of
me.

Theo was sitting in the driver’s seat
looking over at me through the passenger window, which slowly
rolled down. “Changed your mind?” he asked curiously.

“Sroban,” I said suspiciously.

A deep frown creased his brow. He popped the
lock. “Get in.”

“Not until you tell me how your name is on
their founding papers and articles of incorporation.”

“Get in.”

“No!” I said firmly.

“Then I guess you don’t want to know.” The
window started to rise and he began to put the car in drive.

“Wait!” I pressed up against the glass,
which instantly stopped moving.

Opening the door, I warily climbed in the
passenger side. I didn’t close the door just to be stubborn.

“You’ll risk falling out once I start to
drive,” he said.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Theo. I
just want answers.”

“And you’ll get your answers when you go
with me.” He spoke as if it was a simple decision.

I closed the door and he took off. After
putting on my seatbelt, I found the papers and put them on the
armrest between us. “Start talking.”

“Not until we get to our destination.”

“What destination?”

He checked the watch on his arm. “It’s
early, but I’m sure we can find other things to do besides eat.”
There was a wicked look in his eyes.

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

It was scary when he didn’t respond and I
wondered why I hadn’t noticed this malevolent side of him
before.

Cause you’re a slut and you might as well
admit it! my head screamed.

“Where are we going?” I demanded to
know.

He changed the subject. “So who is he?”

“What are you talking about?”

“A woman such as yourself has got to have a
main course, even though you might take on appetizers and even
dessert every once in a while. But you keep the main course around
for … how should I say it? Safety? Security?”

I hated him. “And which do you think you
were?”

“From the way you treated me back there in
the office, I’d say you were trying to treat me like dessert.”

“Trying? It was a mistake.”

Theo smirked. “I’m never a mistake,” he said
arrogantly.

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” I
exclaimed.

“Of course you are and once we get there,
you’ll enjoy yourself. Even if I have to tie you up and make you
enjoy yourself.”

He looked dead serious. The horrible part
about it was the fact that I wanted him to.

“We have nothing to do together or enjoy
until I get the answers I want, Theo.” Deciding to pout since he
was being unreasonable, I looked forward and pressed my lips
tightly together.

Theo continued to drive as if it meant
absolutely nothing to him. I realized after ten minutes he was
driving out of Detroit and we were headed towards Ann Arbor.

“Where the hell are you taking me?” I
demanded to know, forgetting what I had said earlier.

“I thought you weren’t talking to me unless
I discussed Sroban.”

I shot him a glare. “Where are you taking
me?”

He ignored me and continued to drive.

I wanted to slap the damn sexiness off of
him. Unfortunately, that would be a lot of slapping, so I pouted
again, looking forward but still paying attention to my
surroundings. If he decided to leave me out in the middle of
nowhere, then at least I could find some kind of law official and
tell them where I was.

Stupid! You shouldn’t have gotten in the
car!

We didn’t stop until twenty minutes later
when he pulled in front of a home in the middle of nowhere.
WTF?

“I’m not getting out,” I said
determinedly.

“That’s fine,” he said and got out.

I watched him go to the back seat to remove
several bags of food and a large duffle bag. I hadn’t even noticed
he was packed to go somewhere. Was he crazy?

Yes, he was! I decided when I saw Theo also
remove a shotgun.

Oh gawd! I’m gonna die!

Entry Thirty-Two

I braced myself in panic. My body wanted to
scream and run at the same time, but I was so damn terrified I
couldn’t move.

All the times I spoke brazenly about what I
would do if someone was going to kill me, flew out of my head. I
was paralyzed in fear.

Theo came around the SUV on my side and
then… kept walking to the door of the house.

My body collapsed back in the seat. I wanted
to throw up and yell at him for making me scared like that.

Theo fuddled with the keys and then entered
the home. Looking back at me, he had an ‘are you coming look?’ on
his face.

I crossed my arms defiantly. Shrugging, he
turned and entered the home without even leaving the door open to
welcome me just in case I changed my mind.

That prick! my thoughts screamed. What the
hell was I doing here? And where the fuck was here?

I cracked the door so the security feature
wouldn’t lock me in. Then I continued to sit there as if something
was about to happen.

Taking a good look at the home, I realized
the structure seemed brand new. It was a one story ranch, possibly
a two bedroom. Beside the home toward the rear was a small private
pond with no one else in sight – not another person, home or
road.

I had traveled all over the US, but I was
never inclined to venture into the great outdoors. My business was
handled in urban cities, not out in the motherfucking woods!!! The
thought to relax like this had never even crossed my mind. To be
outdoors for no good fricking reason seemed silly to me.

Plus, these $500 pair of shoes were not
about to touch that dirty ground.

I looked around the cab of the vehicle to
see if I could find my own weapon, but the truck was spotless.
Dammit! At that point I also realized that I had walked out the
office without my purse or my cell phone.

Wanting to die, I angrily hit the seat
beside me and looked down at the papers that HE was supposed to
explain to me.

He ain’t coming out, I thought.

He had to! Did he know that these shoes were
never supposed to touch dirt?

After half an hour of staring at the door
like I had telekinetic powers, Theo still didn’t come out that
house. I resolved that if I stayed in here, I would either freeze
in the middle of the night or every bug this side of the
Mississippi River was going to fly inside the car since I had to
keep the door open.

Huffing in frustration, I grabbed the papers
and my brief before opening the door. In slow motion, I slid from
the car to the ground.

Testing my weight on the soft dirt, I moaned
to myself and started to walk carefully toward the door. I’d rather
mess up a pair of $500 shoes rather than a $5000 suit.

The door was unlocked. Walking inside, I
could still smell the freshly painted walls that were in a soft
cream color with wood accessories. There was an adjoining living
and dining room, with a kitchen that connected to a bar. There was
also a long hallway, which I suspected led to bedrooms and
bathrooms.

The home was recently finished. There was
too much newness. I wondered whose home this was.

Theo was in the kitchen. The smell of
delicious chicken wafted to my nose, making my stomach rumble
loudly. All I had was that light salad earlier and it had not been
enough to hold me all day.

“I know you’re hungry,” he said, not even
bothering to turn around.

I walked to the kitchen. “Do you know how
much these shoes cost me?”

Theo turned to me and smirked again. “No,
but I suspect a sister like you won’t put anything less than five
hundred on her feet.”

“Then you know I shouldn’t be walking around
outside in the dirt in these.”

He nodded to a chair in the front room.
“There are some clothes for you. I hope you don’t mind. They should
fit. They’re my sister’s who uses this cabin more than I have
lately.” A look of hurt crossed his face for a brief moment. “I’ve
been so consumed with trying to work out what’s going on with my
life to even come here anymore.”

“Whose place is this?”

Looking a little glad I asked him something
personal, Theo walked a couple of steps to me using a towel to wipe
his large hands.

“This used to belong to a stepfather, who
gave it to me when he died. His kids were pissed about it because
they felt I wasn’t even blood and didn’t deserve it. I got a loan
approved to build a house here. I did everything, of course with a
couple of friends, but all this was my idea instead of re-selling
it just to get the money.” He sighed. “That was the first argument
we had.”

He didn’t have to tell me what the “we” was
about. I knew it had to do with his wife. I didn’t speak and he
continued.

“After that we seem to have a lot of fights.
She said I had no drive to succeed, no determination to make my
life better.”

“Well, she had a good point,” I said.
“You’re too old to be a security guard.”

He looked down at his uniform. I realized
that he had taken off the weighted belt and laid it on the dining
table, along with a set of keys by them.

THE KEYS TO THE TRUCK?

I could steal them, run to the truck, get
inside and lock the door before he even thought about getting me.
Slowly, I edged over to the keys, hoping he didn’t realize what I
was doing.

With a look of annoyance, he said, “This is
just passing the time until I can get what I want.”

“What do you want?” I asked, just to keep
him talking.

“I want my own security company. I want a
woman to share my world with. I want a wife that I can call my own
and not have to share with another man because she can’t keep her
legs open.”

The keys were only three feet away!

“You ever thought it might have been your
fault your wife cheated on you?”

“I’m never a problem,” he responded.

“That’s what all people who are the problem
say.”

“You’re trying to make me angry,
Sheryl.”

I was, but I wasn’t going to admit to it.
“Think what you want to think. When two people are busy making each
other happy, then they shouldn’t be wanting outside things. Were
you really giving her the hundred percent to make her happy?
Because that fifty-fifty shit doesn’t work in a real marriage.”

“You do have a point.”

One more step and I’d be in arms length of
the keys.

“I think after awhile,” Theo said
reflectively. “I realized she really didn’t love me. Maybe never
had. We married for all the wrong reasons and we were too stupid to
just look at each other and say we made a mistake.”

He paused and so did my movements. I even
looked at him with concern as if I cared.