Personal Possessions (9 page)

“Judy, it’s Trevor. Look,
I need for you to get me a number.”

She was quiet, but I could
hear her scrambling looking for a pen.

“
Ok, go ahead.”

She was such a proficient
secretary. Older, so I didn’t have to be concerned with her being a
distraction, because that’s the last thing I needed. Me fucking my
secretary and then her slapping a sexual harassment suit on the
company.”

“I want you to find the
best private detective here in the Atlanta area, check his
references and research if he has ever worked on any high profile
cases, then text me his number.”

She never asked why or
what for, she just did it.

“If I don’t answer, it’s
because I’m on the plane.”

She was so quiet. I could
hear the pen scratching on the paper as she was writing down what I
was saying.

“
Do I have any
messages?”

She answered right away in
her Boston accent, “No sir, nothing that can’t wait until you get
back in the office.”

I always followed the same
routine when I got back into town. I went straight to the office,
worked until early the next morning, and then went home to sleep.
Got a couple hours of shut-eye, showered, and returned before the
sun was up to start the next day. She knew that I would get those
messages right away.

“Thank you, Judy” I said
before I hung up.

I hadn’t even realized
that I was approaching the airport exit. I entered the airport, and
approached the rental car agency to return the car. My phone began
ringing again, I looked down and saw it was Greg again. I had to
answer it this time.

“I’m returning the rental
now, then heading in the airport. Can I call you right back?” was
my greeting.

I wasn’t in the mood to
talk about the details of the trip, as a matter of fact, I wanted
to forget the whole afternoon. I slip my arms in my Armani suit
jacket, then grabbed my suitcase and briefcase out of the back
seat.

“I take it shit happened,
huh?”

I didn’t answer him. I
just let the phone go silent. He had known me long enough to know
what that meant.

“Ok, we still on for
tonight?”

Shit, I forgot about that.
I guess I could meet with him and go eat, then come back to the
office. “Yeah, sure. We’re on,” I answered as I strode in to the
airport. Hanging up with him and checked in and found a seat to
wait for the boarding call. I heard my phone go off notifying me of
a text message.

I saw that it was from
Judy, it was the information I was looking for. I had one more call
to make before I boarded that plane. Dialing the number, I was
surprised when they picked up after the first ring.

“Hello?”

I didn’t answer. I just
sat there a minute, thinking about what I was doing. This wasn’t
right. I could feel it deep down in my soul. I shouldn’t be making
this phone call, not with all the shit that went down today and
what Rachel had said to me. I could say her name, if I really
wanted to. It was a name, nothing else.

A name that had no meaning
to me whatsoever anymore, that was spoke daily on another man’s
tongue. The more I thought about it, the madder I
became.

I couldn’t think these
thoughts, I had to block them along with the feelings that occurred
right along with them, and hide them down where they meant nothing
to me.

“I need to see you
tonight. Midnight. Your apartment, be ready for me.”

I didn’t even wait for a
response before I disconnected the call.

Chapter 5

I dialed Greg’s number,
and headed for the parking garage. I went straight home from the
airport because I knew I had plans after I met with Greg. My head
was swimming with thoughts. Thoughts of what Rachel had said to me
were blaring in my mind. Hearing her voice, saying the words over
and over were making it so I couldn’t think of anything else other
than
her
face.

The way that the sun was
shining hit her skin and she didn’t look a day older than the last
day I had seen her thirteen years ago. Her smile was captivating.
Her whole face lit up, she looked so content with what life had
given her. If there was anything going on behind her front door,
you weren’t able to tell by the look on her face.

“
Yello,” Greg’s answer
pulled me from my thoughts.

“
I am in my car heading
for O’Malley’s,” I responded shortly.

I wasn’t in the mood to
have a conversation right then, besides, I wasn’t able to hear him
anyways over what was going on in my head. I hit the end button and
got in my car. Driving the two blocks to where I could wash the
shitty day down my throat, and forget it ever happened.

Entering O’Malley’s, I
noticed immediately it was busier than usual. As you walk in, there
were seven or eight tables with chairs scattered around a small
area. You could smell the cigarette smoke even before you opened
the door. The lights are dim, but every other table had the
standard stained glass chandelier that hung down over the table,
which fed light out from beyond the seating area.

The walls were lined with
red and black wallpaper, which made the place even darker. In the
middle of the small area is a rectangular bar, which seats around
fifteen people, stocked fairly well with the best bourbons,
scotches and beers.

Over in the left corner,
on one side of the bar was a pool table, which always was taken, on
the other side was an electronic dart board. That was my game of
choice. Many drunk, arrogant assholes lost hundreds of dollars to
me playing on that very dart board.

I had to stop inside the
door to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. Mikey called my name
from behind the bar, so I began walking towards him. By the time I
reached the stool, I saw Greg playing a game of pool with a girl
that looked like she had just stepped off the bus from Mayberry. He
liked the innocent type, always wanting to teach them a few
things.

“Hey Mikey, give me a
double bourbon, on the rocks. Please,” I ordered as I found a stool
to sit on.

“Hard day, Trev?” Mikey
asked as he filled my glass with ice.

“
Busy, that’s all. Just
flew back in from out of town.”

I apprised him of my day’s
activities as I wiped my hand over my face. I looked down at my
watch, seven-thirty. I hadn’t even eaten since I had lunch with
Rachel, that could’ve been why I was feeling drained.

“Well, glad you’re back,”
Mikey said with a smile, as he handed me my drink.

“
Greg, has been here since
about four. He’s just about made his St. Patty’s day tab look like
a drop in the bucket compared to tonight’s,” concern lacing Mikey’s
voice.

I gave Mikey a look, that
wasn’t like Greg.

He knew that we would meet
in the morning to discuss everything about the meeting, and what
the next move would be. We had to decide how to get that business
off, and making a profit. Never did he drink like it was a weekend
during the workweek. I could hear him over in the corner
encouraging the girl to go for the other shot, since he probably
bet her some piece of her clothing would have to come off if she
missed.

“Shit,” I spoke aloud to
nobody in particular.

I didn’t think Mikey could
hear me, but apparently he did.

“Yeah, ya bett’ah git ya
boy before I half ta cut ‘em awff.” Mikey’s strong Boston accent
ringing though.

I didn’t say a word, just
nodding. Fuck him, he was cut off now. I wasn’t going to babysit
his ass tonight, I had places to go, a person to see.

“Yo, Greg!” I yelled as I
turned around in the stool to look for a table.

He wasn’t turning around,
he was ignoring me.

“Hey Mikey, order me a
pizza, loaded. And a water for Greg,” I requested.

I was going to have to
sober Greg up. Mikey nodded, grabbing the receiver off the wall to
call Pizza Palace.

“Greg!” I yelled again,
but this time my voice was different, he knew it when he heard
it.

He turned around this
time. I nodded my head in the direction of the table and carried my
drink with me as I walked that way. I saw him kiss the girl on the
cheek, and head my way. He made his way to the table, and I
thrusted the glass of water at him. He was done drinking, we were
going to talk. Whatever he wanted to do after was up to him, but he
called this fuckin’ meeting we were going to get it over
with.

“Hey?” I questioned hoping
to spur the conversation forward.

Greg didn’t speak, just
stared off over my shoulder.

“What the fuck is going
on, Greg? Whatever it is, we can fix it,” I reassured him thinking
maybe he was in some kind of trouble. He took a breath and let it
out, closing his eyes in the process.

“I want out,” he deadpanned. Had to hand it to Greg he went
straight for the kill.

I was shocked. I thought
everything was going great. We were buying, selling, and making
shitloads of money. I downed the rest of my bourbon, and held my
glass up, while calling out Mikey’s name. “What’s going on,
Greg?”

“
I just think it’s time to
move on to other things.” He looked at me, waiting to see what my
reaction was going to be. He thought I was going to be pissed off,
probably to the point that I would beat his ass, but that wasn’t it
at all.

This business was a way to
become a successful businessman, and a way to make millions upon
millions of dollars, but it was also extremely stressful and very
demanding. It was perfect for Greg, but he had gone just about as
far as he could go with it, there was no more bite for him. He
liked the thrill of the hunt, once the prey was down - he was
done.

I nodded once. I honestly
was surprised that it had taken him this long to reach this point.
Mikey came over, and dropped my drink off at our table. As he
walked back to the bar, I told him just to make two more and bring
them now.

“So, what’s the plan? You
gonna let me buy you out? Or you gonna be a silent partner…” I
asked as I shot the glass of bourbon all at one time. I needed that
fire to take away the fucked up, shitty day that this was still
turning out to be. Greg grabbed one of the double shots Mikey set
down in front of me and downed his as well.

“Of course, I’m selling my
shit to you, unless you want someone-“

He didn’t even have to
finish that statement. I didn’t want to be in business with anyone
else. He set the glass back down, and went to reach for the last
one. Blocking his steal, I shook my head. “Order your own fucking
drinks, by the way, since you’ve started a mile long tab already,
you’re paying for these,” I joked with him. He laughed.

“
I thought you’d be
pissed, Trev.” He said as the smile left his face.

This was my brother. I had
known him since the first day I started college at Harvard. His
family was my family. They never treated me any different then they
treated him. I loved them all. There was no way in hell, I would
let something as senseless as business come between us.

With a smile on my face, I
did the best Boston accent I could spew out of my southern mouth as
I said, “Fuck you brutha…you aint getting rid of me that
easy.”

He tipped his head back
with a mountainous roar of a laugh. Just then I saw the front door
open, and a delivery boy walk in with our pizza. I flagged him over
to us, taking out my wallet to pay. I gave the boy a fifty and told
him to keep the change. It was time to relax by spending the rest
of my evening eating pizza, and playing pool with my
brother.

I looked at my watch and
saw that it was eleven twenty-eight. After closing out my tab, I
told Greg I would see him in the morning at work, and not to wait
up. I didn’t tell him that often, but when I did, he knew where I
was going. I jumped in my Audi, and headed downtown.

I didn’t want to think
anymore. I didn’t want to justify anything to myself. I was over
it. Needing to get my mind off the complete fuck up of a day, I
floored the accelerator into the ground. I didn’t even feel the
enjoyment of purchasing my father’s company out from underneath him
like I thought I would.

I drove through town,
watching the lights from the soaring high-rise buildings twinkle as
I passed them at a high speed. The top on my car was down, and I
could feel the coolness of the air whip through my hair as it left
a stinging sensation on my face. I needed this sensation to balance
the numb feeling that I had grown use to carrying within
me.

I was oblivious to feeling
anything anymore. Pulling on the ring around my neck, I swung it
back and forth letting my mind wander to wherever it could go to
find some type of solace. I finally came to the building and pulled
into the garage. My mind was set on one thing, and one thing only
now.

I walked to the garage
elevator and pushed the button. I knew what would take my mind off
everything, what always filled that void, even if it was for a
short amount of time. Entering the elevator and pushing the button
for the penthouse, it took off. The ride wasn’t long at all, that
was a good thing, because I didn’t think I could wait much longer.
As soon as the doors opened I stepped out.