Twelve Days - The Beginning (27 page)

Elise gave Cole a watery smile – he really was the world’s worst liar, just as she had told Vaughn herself earlier today. Maybe she did need to own up to the truth but in the cold light of day, what the hell had it got to do with any of her colleagues anyway? Her marriage may be in trouble but that was no one’s business but hers and she was damned if she was going to let some dried up old harridans dictate who should and shouldn’t know.

“Thanks, Cole, but I’m not owning up to anything. It’s no one’s right to know what is going on in mine or Vaughn’s life. The only people that are interested are those that are too sad to have a life of their own. The important people in my life know the truth – the rest of them can just believe what the hell they like. If you don’t feel comfortable lying then don’t. Just tell them you don’t know anything and leave it at that.”

“It’s not that simple,” Cole replied, “Olivia has been telling anyone who will listen that she saw you and Vaughn leaving the nightclub together the other night. Even I didn’t know about
that so I’ve had a hell of a job trying to convince people that it was innocent. Stephen has been saying that he and Vaughn were there together at a party and that they left together later but people would rather believe Olivia’s version. Elise, you and I really need to talk but for now - you’ve got some pretty serious shit to face.” Cole looked at her and for the first time she saw the hurt in his eyes. She hadn’t been honest with him and hadn’t had the chance to in reality, but even so, as far as Cole was concerned, she had been holding out on him and as a result had hurt him in the worst possible way.

“That bitch!” Vaughn said, “Who the hell gave her the right to be judge and jury on my life?” He was seriously angry now but so was Elise. She was mad at herself for getting herself into this situation and mad that she had hurt Cole. She needed someone to lash out at and if it hadn’t been for Vaughn sleeping with Olivia after the Christmas party then maybe Olivia wouldn’t have had an axe to grind and none of this would have escalated like it so obviously had.

“I think you’ll find you gave her the right,” she spat back at him, “when you went and slept with her just over a week ago!”

“You’re seriously taking this out on me?” Vaughn asked incredulously, “Throwing something back in my face that you believe to be true – after everything that has happened?”

“Who the fuck else am I going to blame?” she was shouting by now. “Sure my life was messed up before you came along but at least I was in control of it. Now, ever since you decided to walk in and turn it upside down, I’m so out of control of it that it’s ridiculous! It’s like someone else is living my day-to-day life and I’m just a passenger waiting for it all to come crashing down. It’s alright for you, you have nothing to lose. You can just go back to playing happy families with Olivia or whichever bitch you pick up with next. This is my life and thanks to you it is pretty royally fucked up. I wish to hell that I’d never met you, Vaughn Granger!”

“Elise – that’s enough.” Cole said, “You’re both upset and angry and saying things you don’t mean. Let’s just calm down and think about it or the shit really will hit the fan when you go inside.”

Vaughn hadn’t moved, he was standing by the side of his car, bag in hand, staring at Elise. She looked up at him, aware that in the heat of the moment she had gone too far but she couldn’t take the words back now. They were out there. His face was cold and his eyes expressionless as he continued to regard her. For a brief moment, the familiar fleeting look of pain crossed his face as their eyes locked but then he smoothed his features back into a carefully controlled mask.

“You really think you’re the only one with something to lose?” he asked quietly, continuing to watch her for several long seconds.

She remained silent; she had no idea what to say. He shook his head helplessly and she saw the beginning of tears glistening in his eyes. He shrugged once and then he turned on his heel and walked silently out of the car park and into the office.

Elise watched as his broad back retreated and tortured herself by watching his hips sway, admiring his neat backside. She knew that she had blown it. In the space of a few minutes, she had hurt the two men that she loved most in the world. As unbelievable as it sounded, she had fallen in love with Vaughn. It was instinctive, it was pure and it sure as hell made no sense but there it was. Somehow, somewhere, this man had got inside of her head and she seriously doubted whether she would ever be able to convince him to leave.

Physically though, he had just left her - walked away. It was over. And as that realisation hit and reality sunk in she felt the world around her beginning to spin and sway, before the blessed relief of blackness claimed her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Elise woke up in the first aid room at the office - the blinds were drawn and a warm flannel was being pressed to her head. The door was closed and the only light was from the corridor, which was being filtered through the gap underneath the door. She felt a hand stroke her cheek and turned to see Cole sitting next to her, watching over her with a worried expression on his face. As soon as he registered that she was awake, he relaxed and smiled, his chocolate brown eyes almost invisible in the dark.

“Hey, baby,” he whispered, “How’re you feeling?”

“I’m ok, I think. What happened?” she whispered back.

“You fainted in the car park right after Vaughn left. I carried you up here. The first aider wanted to sit with you but I insisted. I hope you don’t mind?”

She reached out to clasp one of his hands. “Of course not. I’d much rather wake up to you than her any day.” She laughed lightly and realised that her throat was really dry. “I could do with a drink though.”

Cole reached behind him and passed her a glass of water. At her look of surprise at his efficiency, he put his three fingers to his head in a mock salute. “I
was
a Boy Scout, you know – always be prepared!”

She drank the water gratefully as a sudden vision of a younger, gangly Cole wearing shorts, a khaki shirt and a necktie sprung to mind and she found herself giggling again. “You? A Scout? Well that’s one secret you sure managed to keep.”

“Seems I’m not the only one keeping secrets.” he said and then shook his head, “Sorry Elise, that was uncalled for. It just threw me for a loop, the whole nightclub thing. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know Cole. We’ve just not seen that much of each other over the last few of days and it never really came up. You’ve had your own stuff to deal with and it really wasn’t that big a thing. Vaughn and I just went back to his place and talked. It got late so I stayed the night and then he dropped me back at my car in the morning. That’s all. I had no idea that Olivia had seen us until I saw Stephen at work and he told me. I knew she had a problem with me but I didn’t realise that she would take it to these lengths. I guess she’s raw at Vaughn no longer being interested in her.”

Cole nodded, “Makes sense I guess but baby, you know that I am here for you – regardless of what is going on in my life. If you needed to talk you could have just called me. Don’t shut me out of your life, I couldn’t stand it.”

“Hey, Cole Andrews, there is no way in a million years that I am shutting you out. You don’t get off that easily! This thing with Vaughn, it just happened. It wasn’t planned. We bumped into each other in the nightclub by pure accident and things just got a bit out of hand. He
started asking about Dale, he picked up on the bruises the same as you and I just found myself telling him everything. He’s a good guy, Cole; he wanted to help me.”

She continued. “These last couple of days with him have been the best of my life. We’ve shared something – a bond – something beyond the physical and he has helped me to finally realise that my marriage is over. I am going to leave Dale, Cole, as soon as Christmas is over. I haven’t told Vaughn that yet although I’m not sure that he would actually care anymore. I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want him to think I was leaving Dale for him. I’m not. I’m leaving Dale because it’s the right thing to do and it’s about time I started doing the right thing. I did hope that maybe Vaughn and I could have a future once all of the dust has settled but I might have just put paid to that with my performance in the car park.” She shook her head, “How the hell did my life just get even more complicated?”

Cole stood up and jumped up beside her to sit on the examination couch that she had been lying on. He dropped his left arm over her shoulder and pulled her to him.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’ve lost him. He’s mad at you, sure – you said some pretty hurtful things to him down there – but don’t you remember what he said right before he left? He said that he had lost something in all of this too. Now I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure he was talking about you – that he felt that he was losing you. He feels deeply for you Elise, you don’t seem to realise. You make quite an impression.”

He turned her face gently to his using his right hand under her chin and she could see his eyes more clearly now, hers having adjusted to the gloom.

“You don’t realise how beautiful you are, babe.” He said almost reverently and then he leaned forwards closing the distance between them and lightly laid his lips over hers.

Cole had kissed her before, many times in fact, but somehow this felt different. Initially Elise didn’t respond - she was too shocked and numb with all that had gone on and it took her a moment to register what was happening. When she did she was surprised to realise that Cole was still kissing her rather than pulling away like he usually did and unbidden, she began to feel the first fluttering of desire.

Cole reached his hand behind her head, pulling her closer to deepen the kiss and ran his tongue experimentally across her lips. Elise complied to his unspoken demand, caught up in the moment, and shivered lightly as their tongues connected; the kiss lengthening, their tongues searching and questing.

She could hear Cole’s breathing becoming quicker and more ragged and a tiny part of her brain began to register that this was wrong. Despite the attraction that had always burned between them, they were best friends. They worked as best friends. Cole was too important to her and was too much of her life to risk losing him like this. She depended on him, she idolised him and she loved him with all of her heart. This would only lead to heartache for both of them and she already had more than her fair share of that. This needed to stop now. They needed each other far more than they needed a quick physical release.

Gently she began to pull away from the kiss, pushing him gently on his shoulders at the same time, to create some distance between them. As they separated their eyes met and she saw desire lingering in his but she also saw regret and she knew that he felt the same. They both regretted that they couldn’t be together like this when their attraction to each other was so strong but they also knew it had to be that way. Any relationship they had other than friendship would destroy them both and they loved each other far too much to let that happen.

Cole leaned forward and allowed his forehead to drop onto hers before taking a deep breath. “Sorry Elise, I don’t know what came over me – I’m just a bit messed up at the moment.”

Elise gently kissed the tip of his nose. “I think we both got carried away. It’s been an emotional few days for all of us.”

He nodded, “Sure has babe.”

Lightly she placed a final kiss on his lips. “I love you Cole Andrews, with all my heart.”

“I love you too baby” he replied and they held each other tightly in the darkness of the room, holding on as if their lives depended on it - afraid to ever let go.

It was just past five o’clock when Elise and Cole returned to the main office. As it was Friday, most people had gone home and it was blissfully quiet for which Elise was thankful. Cole headed off in the direction of his office to finish up and Elise walked over to the other side of the office to her desk area. She was hoping that Stephen would still be there as she wanted to thank him for all that he had done, and also to check if he had spoken to Dale. She thought it unlikely that Dale would have called as he wasn’t expecting her back until this evening but her husband was nothing if not unpredictable.

Most of the lights had been switched out but she was relieved to see that one still shone in her section and she hastened her steps to make sure that she caught Stephen before he left. Rounding the corner she almost stopped in her tracks as she realised that it wasn’t Stephen still in their section but Olivia - probably the last person in the world she wanted to see right now.

She hesitated for a moment and then decided that she would just go to her desk, check that all was in order and then leave again. If Olivia chose to speak to her then so be it, but given the rumours that the girl had been spreading, Elise wasn’t going to waste any breath on pleasantries with her. It didn’t matter that the rumours were true, that was beside the point. Elise hated gossiping and in particular people that knew half a story and then made up the rest. She was of the opinion that people should live their own lives rather than everyone else’s and unless you knew the full facts, you should not judge, preach, gloat or revel in other people’s misfortunes.

As she approached her desk, Olivia turned and Elise drew in a sharp breath at the pure hatred that crossed the younger girl’s face as she registered who it was.

Slowly Olivia stood from where she had been crouched at the filing cabinet. “YOU....” she said, pure venom dripping from the single word.

Elise opted to ignore her and went to her desk where she opened the drawer, collected a couple of personal items, and checked for any important messages that may have been left. She had no need to get into this - whatever this was - with Olivia, and anything else, was just none of the girl’s business.

As if realising that she was being ignored, Olivia rounded the group of desks and started to walk up to Elise, clearly determined to have her say. Elise contemplated walking away; knowing that that would be the smart thing to do but she also knew that if Olivia didn’t get this off her chest, the atmosphere would rumble on and on and that would not be good for anyone at work. Perhaps the girl would just say what she needed to and then they could part, agree to disagree and leave it at that.

By now Olivia had reached her and was standing directly in front of her, eye to eye, as the women were of a similar height. Up close, Elise registered again how pretty Olivia was but her face was contorted by pure loathing and for the first time Elise realised how much the girl really did hate her.

“You bitch...” she hissed between gritted teeth, her voice low and deadly, “You fucking bitch. You knew he was mine. How dare you think that you can have what is mine?”

Elise blinked, momentarily stunned and not immediately following Olivia’s train of thought.

“Did you fuck him? I bet you did, you dirty bitch. Is it not enough to have one man waiting at home that you have to take someone else’s as well?”

Vaughn. She was talking about Vaughn.

“Even if you did fuck him,” she continued, “you know he’ll be coming back to me. What we share is way beyond anything you can ever give him. Who knows what he saw in a dirty whore like you but I know he’ll be back. I have everything that he needs and that night that we were together was the best night of his life. Why would he want someone that’s old and tainted, when he can have me?”

Elise didn’t reply, her brain was still trying to comprehend all that Olivia was saying. In those few sentences she had confirmed what Elise had always suspected, that Vaughn
had
slept with Olivia that night but she was also suggesting that there was more to it than that and that there was some kind of relationship going on.

She understood that the girl was angry and quite possibly a little deluded but she had no reason to disbelieve what she was saying. Surely you wouldn’t get this worked up over a man if you didn’t think there was something going on between you? What kind of promises had Vaughn made her? All the time that he had been with her had he been thinking about Olivia? She knew that he had never openly given the girl any encouragement at work but then that didn’t mean anything. He could have just been trying to keep his relationship with her under wraps. Ultimately she knew so little about this man that she didn’t know what his usual MO was. Did he have lots of girls at his beck and call, to choose as he wanted and dump when he
was done? Maybe that was why he wasn’t married; he preferred to keep his options open. He had the looks and the money so surely getting new girls on a regular basis was easy enough – hell, she had fallen for his charms with very little effort on his part.

But then part of her believed him – believed in him and trusted him and the depth of feelings for her that he claimed to have. As far as she could tell he had no reason to lie either but it was obvious that one of them was and at this point in time she had absolutely no idea which one it was.

“Nothing to say, Miss Perfect Grayson? Oh sorry, I mean
Mrs
Breedon.”

What the...? How the hell did Olivia know her married name? She never used it – ever. Shit. What the hell was this girl’s problem?

Recognising the need to reply at least on some level, Elise decided to go for an abridged version of the truth and hope that she could diffuse the situation. Olivia clearly had a problem and it needed to be sorted out in a mature and sensible way. She opted to leave the issue of her married name to one side – for now.

“Olivia, I don’t know what you think happened between Vaughn and me but I can assure you that you are wrong – completely. We are co-workers, colleagues and yes; there was an incident today at the conference which Vaughn – dealt - with. His actions were a little over the top but I know that he is a good man and he would have stepped into the breach for any of his employees, exactly the same.”