Where She Belongs (23 page)

"No,
no. I need to go back to my office, quit my job and find a new place
to live.”

"Alright."
He seemed confused. “Wish I could help by giving you that job.”

“
Don’t
even worry about it. I need to be far away from this company.”

Shanna
sang to herself as she went back to her office. Her former office.
She stopped by the supply room and found an empty box. She started
packing her things from her desk.

Trenton
came out of his office. "You've graced me with your presence.
I've been looking for you for a half hour. Where have you been? What
are you doing?"

Shanna
leaned on the desk. "Have I been a bad girlfriend?"

"No,
you've been wonderful."

"Then
why would you not want me to succeed?"

"What
do you mean? Of course I want you to succeed. There are no jobs in
marketing. In a few months―"

"In
a few months, you'll be a distant memory to me." She watched
while he frowned deeply. "It's a long, boring story about how I
learned all this, but I know you got your Daddy to block marketing
from hiring me."

"Shan,
I would never do such a thing. You wouldn't believe an office rumor
would you?" He reached out and grabbed her arm.

She
shook her arm. "Get your hands off me and don't Shan me. Ever
again. You wouldn't be the type to use a girl's brain to get his work
done in college either, would you? I technically got two degrees,
yours and my own."

"That's
not what it was like at all."

"Right,
before you met me, you were this close to failing out of school."
She held her thumb and index finger millimeters apart. "This
close. And within a few months of dating me, your marks were the top
of the class."

"Because
we studied together a lot more. Before you, I didn’t do much of
my work."

"Bull.
You can't proofread your own work. You can't spell worth shit, and
your reports are crap before I go over them. If I haven't written
them in the first place. You know what? I don't even care if you
admit it to me, though I'd respect you a lot more if you manned up to
your shit."

"Shanna,
you're not mad about you helping me out. I still did the work."

"Still
lying. Whatever. I'm going home. I'll inform HR of my employment
status on the way out of the building." Trenton headed for his
office. "Go call Daddy. While you are on the phone asking him
what you should do, because you can't even figure that out for
yourself, ask him if you can stay at his condo tonight. You need to
stay out of the apartment for the next couple of days while I pack my
things."

"You
can't go in and pack the apartment without me agreeing to what you
take."

"Here
is what I want. My clothing, my personal items, and all the toilet
paper because I think that's funny. And the espresso machine. You can
keep the furniture, especially the furniture, the only reason I'd
take it is to burn it. I certainly don't want it."

"What
about all the jewelry I gave you?"

"Those
were gifts, I'm going to go pawn it. I paid for at least half the
furniture, so don't even start with the jewelry. Now, go call, so I
can finish packing my desk before I go home and pack."

Trenton
slammed his office door. Shanna turned on some music on her cell
phone and cranked it up. She danced while she finished packing the
box. The phone rang twice, but she ignored it both times. She thought
about answering it and disparaging Trenton to the caller, but she
decided that would be unprofessional, and she wasn't going to stoop
to being like Trenton.

She
had her drawer's empty of personal items when he came back out.
"Father says, you badmouth me, him or the company and we'll
sue."

Shanna
snorted. "You're an ass. I'm sure someday I'll remember that I
liked you and I wanted to marry you. I wish I'd let you buy me that
twelve thousand dollar engagement ring. I'd have to return it, good
manners and the fact that I broke things off. Because you'd never
manage to sell it for what you paid." She laughed bitterly.
"Bye, Trenton. Have a nice life." She wanted to slap him
across the face, instead she kept her head held high.

“
What
will you do?” he asked, as she grabbed the door handle.

She
whipped around. "Move to Claresholm and marry Gabriel.”

"You'd
decide that five minutes after dumping me? I always knew you were low
class."

"I
have loved Gabe for as long as I can remember. And he promised to
give me everything I wanted. Someday I'll thank you, when I'm done
being pissed that I wasted the last two years of my life on you.”
She turned on her heel, then turned back. “You know what’s
great? I’m leaving you, and you are worried about material
goods. That tells me how much you felt for me over the past four
years. Thanks for clearing that up.”

“
Oh,
like you’ve been so close to me the last few years. You out
there in Alberta kissing Gabriel, who you’ve been in love with
the entire time I’ve known you. I was surprised you came back
at all, but you did and I had won. I beat him. I needed to get the
ring on your finger or get you pregnant so you were secure. Once we
had kids, you’d give up the idea of working in marketing and be
my assistant from home.”

There
was so much more she could say to him. He’d never understand.
“Home?” she waved her hand. “Never mind. I’m
done. And you know what? I’m more upset about losing the
marketing opportunities than losing you. That tells me how much I
cared about you.”

She
turned on her heel and went back to her desk. She finished grabbing
her stuff, then headed downstairs. She stopped at HR and dropped off
her employee ID tag. She wanted nothing more to do with the von
Brooke family.

*
* *

Gabe
stretched his arms over his head. He’d have to call or message
Shanna and thank her for setting Bryce up as mentor. He hadn’t
had a more peaceful or productive day at work.

It
was bittersweet, actually. He missed Bryce at the office, doing his
thing. Gabe didn’t want to be in charge. But, Bryce wouldn’t
be gone forever, only until the following year, hopefully, giving his
body and mind a full chance to heal.

He
was making progress with Shanna as well. He’d only thought of
her every half hour today. Up from five minutes last week.

He
hadn’t heard from her since Monday night when she called half
drunk and distraught. Two long days without her. He’d thought
about asking someone else out. The old “the best way to get
over someone is to get under someone else,” but he was too old
for that crap. Or it was too soon.

No,
he’d head home, have a quick shower, then go to the Whittikar’s
for supper. Rita had insisted and since his only plans were watching
television alone and moping, it hadn’t taken him long to agree.

Maybe
they’d heard from Shanna. Maybe she’d been so swamped by
offers from other companies she’d been too busy to send a
message.

He
closed his eyes. Maybe she’d realized her mistake in leaving,
in choosing Trenton, and she was busy packing her stuff to drive back
to Claresholm. Back to him.

He
imagined going for the office door and Shanna coming in as he opened
the door. She didn’t say anything, didn’t need to with
the smoldering look in her eye. She’d kiss him, and his clothes
melted in fantasy fashion, and she lifted her skirt to reveal her
lack of underwear. In his office chair, she’d ride him all the
way to their mutual climax.

When
she recovered her breath, she’d tell him how much she loved him
and that she was sorry she’d ever left and she wanted to spend
the rest of her life with him.

He
opened his eyes and stared at the door for a minute. Then he
shrugged, deciding she wasn’t going to come bursting through it
tonight. Shanna did very little without far too much forethought and
planning every contingency. If she came back to Claresholm, she’d
discuss it with him, to death.

What
he was going to do now, was go home and jack off in the shower and
forgot how lonely and desperate that act made him.

*
* *

Shanna
finished stuffing her clothing into her suitcase. There was a knock
on the door. Oh, hell no. Trenton would not show up would he? Because
she might lose her control and hurt him.

She
flung open the door. “Trent―” She stared into eyes
that were much like Trenton’s but the surrounding face was much
older. “Byron.”

“
Shanna,
I came to reason with you.”

“
On
what, Trenton or the job?”

“
Both.
There’s a marketing position open for you. They will be waiting
for you on Monday. If it helps at all, I told Trenton to let you move
on, that a bright girl like you wouldn’t be happy.”

“
Yet,
at his insistence, you called.”

“
He’s
my eldest son. He will take over the company someday. He wanted to
keep you where you belonged, at his side. Eventually you’d have
children and stay home with them, and work charity events like
Yvette.”

“
God,
you men. You keep saying I was going to stay home with the kids as if
I planned that the entire time. Maybe I wanted to return to work and
hire a nanny, or put them in daycare.”

“
Von
Brooke children are raised by their mothers, who stay at home.”

“
Then
it’s a good thing I will not be siring any von Brooke children,
isn’t it?”

“
How
much will it take for you to reconsider?”

“
How
much? How much money? How much money would I take to marry Trenton?”

“
Yes.
How much?”

“
Not
everything is about money. Go marry him off to Micaden or Kendall
Cooper, or someone whose great ambition is to look pretty.” She
started to close the door then she opened it. “You know what I
want? I want the last five years of my life back. I want Trenton to
grow up and do his own work.”

“
You’re
a naive little girl. You’ll never make it in the business
world. I know many people who own companies, I’ll black-list
you to every person I know. Trenton chose you because you were an
easy mark. You wanted to believe he liked you because you were pretty
and sweet. I told him to get a ring on your finger or get you
pregnant as soon as possible, but he said he had time, that you
weren’t going anywhere. Arrogant fool.”

“
I’m
not naive. You’re a cynical bastard. Karma will take care of
you, so I won’t even bother. Tell Trenton I’ll be out day
after tomorrow at the latest. I need find a place to go.”

“
You
aren’t going to run home to Daddy?”

“
I’m
a bright girl, I can find a job and live alone. I’ll be out in
two days at the most, and don’t ever contact me again.”

She
closed the door in his face and locked it. She was shaking as she
checked her pocket for her cell phone and went into the bedroom.
Bryon von Brooke had to have Trenton’s key to even get in the
building. Or maybe he owned the fucking thing, or his assistant knew
how to pick locks.

She
wanted to phone Gabe, but she had to figure this out on her own.
Gabe’s only response would be to come home, and she didn’t
want to do that. It would be a little like admitting defeat. She had
to try on her own for a few weeks. She hoped she could find someone
with a spare room they were willing to rent temporarily or even
permanently.

She
went back to texting her friends and searching online classifieds to
find if anything was available.

Chapter 15

Gabe
parked his car in his driveway. He could see someone sitting on his
front step from the street, but he had no idea who might be waiting
for him. Shanna had been gone almost a month. She'd texted a few
times, but nothing more. No phone calls, no color in the world. He
was starting to feel the fog of post-break-up depression start to
lift.

He
grabbed his briefcase and moved slowly to the front step. A flash of
blond hair caught his eye. It couldn't be. He forced himself to keep
walking, not to drop his case and run. He was a grown man, he had to
remain calm.

He
stopped a couple of feet from the steps where she sat. "Hi,"
he said.

"Hi,"
she replied. "Good to see you, too."