Enlightened (Red Flags) (28 page)

The door swung open and in walked Hunter.  I stood, frozen in place. 

Damian looked at him in amazement.  "What are you doing here, Hunter?" he asked, looking genuinely surprised.  Hunter didn't say anything and just as Damian began to walk over to him, he stopped.  Shortly after, Jason walked in, looking like he could murder someone.  Damian's mouth dropped.   He and Jason stood, glaring death stares at one another.  "William, call security and have this man escorted out of the building please."

William moved to his phone, but was stopped by the low rumble of Jason's angry voice.  "I wouldn't do that so fast, William."  Jason moved closer into the office and Hunter trailed behind him.  "This will only take a second."

"Jason!"  I shouted.  This was becoming more than what it needed to be.  "I told you I didn't want you to come here.  What the hell?" 

Jason turned his head to me and gently softened his scowl, but completely ignored what I had to say and went back to glaring at Damian.  "You think you can throw your money and your so-called prestige around?  Think again, Rossi."  Damian lowered his shoulders and cocked his head, but didn't say anything.  "You have no idea what it means to be professional.  I can take you hating me, but when you throw that hate at Cara, and try to destroy her, I have a big fuckin' problem with that."

"Excuse me.  You're going to need to leave before I do call security and have all three of you thrown out of here," William said, his eyes fixed on Jason. But as Jason turned his wrathful gaze over to him, he slightly backed down.   

"You call yourself a business man, yet you have no idea what kind of unprofessional asshole you've formed a partnership with, and you didn't give a rat's ass about finding out."

"Jason, that's enough!"  I yelled out, but he didn't turn his gaze away from William.

"Listen to your girlfriend, young man.  You won't be in any trouble if you leave now."

Jason laughed a wicked laugh that sent shivers through my body.  He was trying to channel his anger, and for the most part, he was doing a good job with it, but that laugh sent my skin trembling, and not in a good way.  I watched as Damian and William altered their expressions as well, indicating that the laugh had the same effect on them that it'd had on me.

"I'm not going anywhere.  In fact, I think it should be the other way around.  William, go ahead and have security escort Mr. Rossi out of here."  Jason's mouth turned up in an evil grin that deeply overshadowed the effect that the laugh had on me. "You see, Mr. Rossi is so busy trying to exact his revenge on my girlfriend, that he took his eyes off me."

"What the hell are you talking about, Bradley?"  Damian looked as if his mind was moving a mile a minute, leaving him utterly confused.

"Your stock.  The price was right.  When I saw you were the owner, and that you had chosen SDSM as your marketing company, there was no way I was going to let you hold your power over Cara.  So what did I do?  I kept buying and buying, and to my shock, you weren't paying any attention."  Jason moved closer to me and stood with both hands rested on my shoulders.  "It looks like The San Diego Tide has a brand new owner, and that owner is none other than Jason Bradley." 

My mouth hit the floor and I heard a couple of gasps fill the room.  Damian looked like he was going to be sick, but quickly twitched his neck, trying hard to regain his composure. 

"You're a lying bullshitter, Bradley."

"It's all here," Hunter said, pulling an envelope out of his inside jacket pocket.  I looked over to Hunter completely flabbergasted.  He winked at me, but quickly turned his impassive face back to Damian, as he handed the envelope over to him. 

Damian looked over the contents of the envelope and I watched as horror flashed through his face.

"You see, Damian, I own a majority share of The Tide, so it's now my team."  Jason's grin widened.  "I could slap you with theft, sexual harassment, and a host of other things that you've done wrong since working with SDSM, but I'm not going to do any of that.  Instead, I'm gonna let you walk out of here, without so much as a wrinkle on your pretty little designer suit.  But if you ever, come near Cara again, I'll beat your ass so quick you won't know if I'm coming or going." 

Jason quickly wiped away his smile and turned to William.  "Go ahead and call security." 

William quickly dialed the number for security.  When he finished with the call, he moved around the desk and stood in front of Jason.  "I'm terribly sorry for the misunderstanding, Mr. Bradley."

"There is no misunderstanding.  You didn't protect your employee.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

Just then, there was a knock on the door and a tall, overly muscular security guard stood in the door frame.  "I'm here to remove someone from the premises."

"Yes.  Will you please escort Mr. Rossi out?" William said, waving his hand in Damian's direction.

"Actually, you'll be taking--" Jason stopped to look at William's name placard on his desk, "Mr. Rolston with you as well."

William's eyes shot open.  "What?" he asked.

"Yeah,  see, I don't like your business practices and, since The Tide is the largest account that this firm has, I had a pretty good say over who I wanted working with my team.  I told the Board of Directors that I would pull the team and move them elsewhere if you still had anything to do with SDSM.  They, not unlike yourself, value the almighty dollar and gave in to my demand."  Jason walked over and patted him on the shoulder.  "You can check if you'd like."

I couldn't believe what was unfolding before my eyes.  It felt like a dream, but as I pinched myself, I quickly realized that this was real. 

Jason escorted William over to where Damian and the security guard were standing.  Just as they were walking out of the office, Jason yelled out, "And take that sour faced receptionist from downstairs with you.  Fraternization is not tolerated at SDSM."  The men walked out of the office, looking sick and defeated.

"Amanda," Jason called out, "Some of the guys from the supply room will be coming up with boxes.  Will you please pack up Mr. Rolston's belongings?"

"Yes, sir," she quickly answered, looking over to me, nervous as hell. 

"Well, if that's it, I'll wait for you down in the car."  Hunter said, nodding over to Jason and me.

"Thanks, man.  I'll be down shortly."  Jason said, and then turned back to me. He walked over and took my hand, then proceeded to lead me out of the office.  We walked back down to my office, and Jason lightly closed the door behind him.  "You okay, Gorgeous?"

I looked at him through a mix of emotions.  I didn't know if I should be happy or angry with him.  He had done me a huge,, necessary favor, but he had also withheld something else from me.  Frustration came out the clear winner and I plopped down in my chair, blowing out a deep breath that had embedded itself into the walls of my chest. 

"No.  I'm not, Jason!"  I shouted.  He looked at me completely baffled.  "This is something else that you've kept from me.  Did you not learn anything about all of the gosh damn secrets we went through the first time around?  They don't help us." 

Small traces of the nightmare we'd gone through before began filtering in, and it scared and angered me all at the same time.  I did not want to have a repeat of the secret keeping, and this felt like round two.

Chapter 20

"I couldn't say anything, Cara.  I swear, I wanted to tell you." Jason's voice was escalating, but he caught himself, bringing it back down to a normal level.  "Hunter didn't even tell Chelsea.  We were under a very tight gag order, and I didn't want to risk anything souring this deal." 

His eyes looked at me in a pleading manner, begging me not to be mad at him.  I didn't know what to feel so I just sat, staring at him until he spoke again.  "I did this for us.  I can't stand Damian Rossi and I damn sure didn't want you to be tortured by him because of me."  He moved around my desk to where I was sitting and tilted my chin up so our gazes met.  "Cara, everything in my life is about doing the right thing to make you happy.  You think I'd deliberately do anything that I know could jeopardize what you and I have?"  He spoke with conviction and, with a face to back it up.

"I guess not, but you can't blame me for suspecting," I said, softening my tone.  "All this weekend, when I was worrying over my job, you knew."

Jason cautiously smiled.  "Yes, I did.  Hunter did too.  It was so hard for both of us.  Especially when we were all together last night, but we knew it had to be kept on lock down for a few more hours.  That’s where I rushed off to this morning."

"I'm glad you did it, but I'm still not happy about being left in the dark."

"I know.  And that’s why I'm making it up to you tonight.  Come by the new house after work."

"Work?  What's left to do?  I have no boss.  I have no direction." 

Jason put his finger over my mouth to quiet me.  "I dropped a folder with Amanda before coming in here.  She can go over it with you."

"And you're putting me in charge?  I have all of a minute's experience."

"No," he said, laughing as he did.  "I'll be interviewing candidates with the Board for the position.  They're all internal, so it's a matter of who fits best.  You'll still keep your same role, but in the meantime, I need you to keep things in order."  He leaned down and kissed me, then stood from the desk.  "You're more than capable of running the show for a few days." 

I looked at him, gently shaking my head when he kissed me again.  "I'll see you later." 

"Bye," I said, as I watched him walk out the door.

Not long after Jason left, Amanda came stomping in, looking flushed as ever and breathing erratically. "Oh. My. God.  I thought I was unemployed."

I smiled at her.  "Well, that makes two of us."

"That hot piece of ass is your boyfriend?  I thought you said you didn't have a boyfriend."

I looked at Amanda and laughed.  "I didn't.  He was my ex at the time and he's been working tirelessly to get back in my good graces."

"Like buying you a basketball team?"  She playfully shook her head.  "I love my husband, but I must be doing something wrong."

"No.  I think you are doing everything just right.  I mean, even Sunny got the boot."

"Yeah.  So I heard. He must have been on a roll this morning.  By the way, she did call up here screaming about something you said to her when you came in."

"Well, I figured today would be my last day, so I just let her have it.  I was sick of the snickers and sneers."  I paused for a second before continuing.  "Do you know she even had the nerve to accuse me of trying to sleep with both guys?"

"No way."

"Yes.  And after everything I've been through with Damian and William, I just couldn't hold in my anger when I saw her this morning."

"Good for you."

We sat sifting through Jason's meticulously detailed notes.  Except for a small break for lunch, Amanda and I were busy with phone calls, memos, and other important team information.  Before I knew it, it was close to 5 p.m. and time to head home for the day.  I packed up my work and strolled out to my car, thankful when I saw a perky blonde in the receptionist desk chair, smiling and bidding me a good evening.  It was definitely a refreshing alternative to the black cloud that had previously occupied the seat.

The drive from the heart of San Diego up to La Jolla on a Monday evening was excruciating.  Normally, I would make the ten minute drive to my condo and be done with it, but my normal ten minute commute turned into almost an hour and a half.   By the time I reached Jason's house, I was mentally, as well as, physically exhausted.  I trudged up the driveway and rang the doorbell.

Jason answered, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and flip flops.  My eyes sprang to life as they took in his bare, chiseled chest standing before me.   "There'll be time for that later," he said, smirking at me.  "I have dinner waiting for you."

I stepped into the house, stopping to kiss him, then my eyes just about popped out of my head.  The beautiful but empty house that I had seen only a day before was now fully furnished in ornate silvers and reds.  I didn't recognize any of the furniture from the previous house, and I wondered how he had time to have this done.  He had been out taking over basketball teams all day. 

"Do you like it?"  Jason asked expectantly.

"I love it."  My smile wasn't enough to convince him.  "I'm just wondering when you had time for this." 

He relaxed and ran his hands over his hair.  "I had a company come in first thing this morning.  I wanted it done for you by the time you got here.  They just recently finished."

"It looks amazing," I said, turning to take in all of the exquisitely rich furniture pieces that Jason had picked out. 

The aroma from the kitchen made my stomach grumble.  "What's that smell?"

"Oh, that's dinner.  Go take a shower and I'll have everything all set up when you 're done."

I stood staring at him for a second before finally saying, "I don't know where the shower is."

Jason laughed.  "Oh yeah.  Upstairs, third room on the right is the master.  Everything is all set up for you."

I stared at him curiously, but didn't argue.  As I walked up the stairs, I found pictures of Jason and I, throughout our relationship, hung up on the walls.  There were pictures from our night out at Wranglers, Easter at the Nakamura's, standing next to the water fountains at the Bellagio in Vegas, and even a couple from the dreaded night of the gala in Heath. My heart beat just a bit faster seeing them.  He had obviously taken a great bit of care to get this house set up in a way that included me as well.

I jumped in the shower with a smile plastered to my face.  Food and Jason were tugging at my stomach and my heart. I wanted to soothe both, so after showering, I threw on what looked to be my favorite camisole top and mesh shorts, then ran downstairs to meet Jason, who was seated at the island awaiting me.

When I walked in, he looked up and smiled.  "You hungry?" he asked, moving from his seat over to the fridge.