Authors: Audrey Carlan
Chase sighs and kisses each breast then lays his chin on my chest. “I have to go, Baby.”
I frown and puff out my lips. He grins and kisses away my pout. “I know. I don’t want you to.” With a sigh, I sit up and find my bra and panties. I pull them on and grab a pair of yoga pants and a tank top from my drawer.
Chase finds his trail of clothing and dresses quickly. Someone knocks on the front door. “That would be Jack.”
I nod and walk him to the door. He opens it and gestures for Jack to wait in the car. He pulls me into a hug and a long kiss. It’s not a goodbye kiss, it’s a “wait for me” kiss. I give it my all trying to express without words everything that’s soaring through my mind and heart.
“Gillian, today was…great. The weekend.” He shakes his head and tugs me to him. He leans his head into the crook of my neck and inhales deeply. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.” I believe him. The man I met a couple weeks ago seemed a lot more reserved and conservative. This Chase,
my
Chase is those things and so much more.
I smile my best hundred watt smile and hug him tightly. “I’m so glad you like my family!”
“I do. Very much, but not as much as I like you.” He lifts my chin and kisses me softly. “I’ll be back Tuesday evening. Can I take you out for dinner Wednesday?”
“I’d like that.” He turns to leave and my chest hurts. “Chase?” He turns and cocks his head to the side, waiting. “I’ll miss you,” I admit.
“I’ll miss you too, Baby.” His tone is laced with sex and possibly something more. He winks and I shut the door.
I lean against it and close my eyes. “I’m falling for you, Chase,” I whisper.
Chapter 13
A text from Chase first thing Tuesday morning makes me giddy.
To: Gillian Callahan
From: Chase Davis
Business is booming. Will be in LA until Wednesday afternoon. Dinner at 7:00 p.m. my place.
Even in text messages, he’s bossy, but I know it’s just his way. He has full control over his life and everyone around him. Not having full control over me and our relationship throws him off balance. Until now I’ve never felt in control of anything in my life. I spent years being controlled by a man I thought loved me and even more years trying to heal from it.
Before I can respond to Chase’s text, Taye calls me into his office. His tone is not the laid back, easy going one I’m used to. It’s more the stressed out and upset variety.
I enter Taye’s office but my smile is quickly wiped by his demeanor. “Sit down, Gillian. We’re waiting for Ms. Peterson to arrive.” I’m sure my mouth just hit the floor. Ms. Peterson is the Director of Human Resources and based on his tone and stiff spine something bad has happened. I scramble to think what I could have done to upset him. Enough that the Director of HR is warranted.
“What’s this about?” I ask Taye.
“I’ve been asked not to discuss the situation until Ms. Peterson arrives,” he says tersely.
He doesn’t look at me, and he’s really tense. His jaw is clenched and sweat beads on his forehead. He makes a point shuffling papers around his desk as if he doesn’t know what to do with his hands. But what is really unsettling is that he still hasn’t looked at me. Something is wrong, really wrong. I rack my brain. What could have brought this on? Why does the Director of Human Resources want to meet with me? I draw a complete blank.
Ms. Peterson enters Taye’s office briskly and takes a seat across the small table from me. Her blonde bob accentuates her face but her blue eyes are cold and unfeeling. She wears a deep red power suit with a white silk blouse. Tiny pearl buttons run down the center. The woman is quite pretty. She’d be beautiful if she smiled every so often.
“Ms. Callahan, some troubling information has been brought to our attention. I felt it was in the best interest of the Foundation to bring it to light promptly.” Her eyes burn into mine and I clasp my hands in my lap, worrying my fingers together nervously. She pulls out a newspaper and opens it to a section in the center and sets it on the table. A picture of Chase and I, taken at the charity event this past weekend, half fills the page. Above it the caption reads, “Billionaire Chase Davis, a Bachelor No More?” In the image, Chase is clearly kissing my neck as I lean against him. His hand is around my waist affectionately holding me to him. My eyes are closed and I’m smiling. It’s a candid shot some photographer snapped. Probably the one that Jack threw out that evening. I can’t look away from the picture. It’s one of those images of you and your mate looking so happy you’d want to frame and treasure always. Seeing it splashed across the San Francisco Chronicle is obviously a problem.
“That is you, Ms. Callahan, is it not?” Her tone is harsh. I look at Taye, and he’s staring off into the distance. His hands are clasped tightly. He’s uncomfortable with this meeting and definitely angry. I’m not sure if it’s at me or on my behalf. I hope the latter.
I nod at Ms. Peterson, not knowing what to say. Then she drops the bomb.
“This behavior is unacceptable for a Foundation employee.” As if my head wasn’t connected to my neck it slams backwards my mouth opening and closing ready to verbally battle. Before I can say anything in my defense, she continues. “Mr. Davis is Chairman of our Board and the Foundation’s largest donor. His donation each year pays all of our payroll and overhead.” Her beauty is suddenly diminished by the putrid pinched look she’s giving me and the accusation in her voice.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Peterson. Where are you going with this?” I ask.
“Are you in a relationship with Mr. Davis?” she asks bluntly. Her mouth pulls together in a sneer and her jaw clenches.
“I don’t know how that’s any of your business, but, yes, we are seeing each other.” I’m not ashamed of my relationship with him, and I have no reason to be. It’s not conventional to date someone on the Board, but he’s a volunteer, not an employee. I do not believe this falls under any fraternization policies. Come to think of it, there are plenty of employees dating one another. I’m not sure how this is a problem.
“I’m going to make this very clear, Ms. Callahan. This relationship does not look good for the Foundation. It’s ethically inappropriate.” She adjusts her hair and folds the newspaper. “This relationship puts the Foundation in a negative light. We cannot have members of the staff dating members of our Board.”
“What are you saying?” The question is meant to sound confident but it comes out weak and breathy.
“You have a decision to make.” Her face twists into a grimace and she holds up her hand displaying three fingers. “One, you break off your relationship with Mr. Davis.” She pulls that finger down. “Two, you continue your relationship and he’ll have to step down as Chairman of the Board.” Another finger falls.
At that moment, everything around me starts to sway and shake. My world as I know it is crumbling like a wall on the edge of a cliff that’s just been hit by an earthquake. Each piece slipping off the ledge and falling into the ocean’s murky depths. I’m certain my face has gone pale and probably looks frightened or shocked. All of which I’m feeling in spades. Tears prick the edges of my vision but I don’t let them fall. Ms. Peterson’s grin holds an evil curl as she puts more nails into the coffin of my life and career. “Or, three, you quit or be relieved of your position with the Foundation. Your choice.” I dab the corner of my eye with a finger. “I’m going to ask you to leave for the rest of the week and return on Friday with your decision. You’re being suspended with pay for three days. This should give you ample time to determine what’s best for you. We are doing what’s best for the Foundation.”
Ms. Peterson seals my fate by standing and turning to Taye. “Mr. Jefferson, is there anything you’d like to add?”
He shakes his head. “No, Ms. Peterson I believe you’ve covered it. Thank you.”
She nods and walks out of the room, a pep in her step. The entire conversation took less than fifteen minutes. Her heels dig into the carpet as she stomps away in her pristine red suit.
And that is that. She didn’t say one kind word about my work, just that I was damaging the Foundation by having a relationship with Chase. Everything I’ve worked for, two years of my life have just been tarnished, damaged yet again by my choice in men.
I shake my head and reach the door. “I guess I’ll get my things.”
“Gigi wait,” Taye says.
“Oh, now it’s Gigi, huh? Not Miss Callahan? Taye, you didn’t stick up for me when she was gutting me. All the work I’ve put in, everything, it counts for nothing.” The tears fall and I wipe them away and leave his office. I storm to my desk, grab my purse and practically run out of the building.
I cannot believe this is happening. I knew once I found out Chase was the Chairman of the Board that dating him could be a slight problem but I never thought I would be faced with an ultimatum. Chase or the Foundation? The one place that helped me when I was broken, when I had nothing, when I could have died.
What the hell am I going to tell Chase? Nothing. I can’t tell him anything. It’s obvious I won’t be able to have dinner with him tomorrow. Now I have to figure out what to do. Fresh tears roll down my face and my whole body heats. Slight tremors spiral through my limbs and I hit the gas on my Honda Civic, racing to my apartment.
I burst through the door, racked with heaving sobs before I ever make it to the couch. Maria is there and when she sees my face, she jumps off of the kitchen barstool, ends whatever call she was on with a quick, “Shit! I gotta go!” then she’s to me in an instant. “Gigi, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” I shake my head but I can’t stop crying and heaving. The pain is so fierce I ball my hands into fists and press them to my eye sockets to stop the waterworks. “
Me estás asustando!
” she shakes me. “You’re scaring me, Gigi! Speak,
Hablar!
” she pleads.
I take deep breaths, willing my emotions to settle so that I can spare my friend her anguish over seeing me like this. “Work found out about Chase and me,” I barely get out as the tears stream down my face. She wipes them away and holds my cheeks.
“And?” Her eyes show her concern.
“And…And they said that either Chase and I have to break it off or he has to step down from the Board.” She hands me a tissue, and I dab at my tears. “Or I have to quit or they’ll fire me!” I sob.
“
¿Qué mierda!
That’s crazy, Gigi!
Lo siento mucho
, I’m sorry
Cara Bonita!
Please don’t cry. It will be okay.” She pets my hair and hands me another tissue.
“But it won’t!” I say with misery. “Either I lose my job, a job that I love and worked so hard for, or I lose Chase. The man of my dreams!” I cry harder.
“When do you have to tell them your answer?” she asks then helps me up from my crumpled position on the floor to sit with me on the couch.
I blow my nose loudly into the tissue and grab another. “Friday, first thing.”
“Talk to Chase, he’ll know what to do,” she suggests, but I know I can’t do that. I shake my head.
If I tell him he could break up with me and that will beyond hurt. It will gut me. Already I’ve invested too much of my heart in this thing between us. I haven’t wanted to be with a man the way I want to be with him in longer than I can remember. It’s as if I’d forgotten what it truly was to be excited about a man. To look forward to every moment you’re with them. To want them and know they want you. God, what am I going to do?
“I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. I need to think this through.” I take a deep calming breath and push off the couch and start walking down the hallway.
“Okay,
Cara Bonita
, but I think you should talk to him. This involves him too,” she reminds me.
I don’t need to be reminded. The heavy ache and crushing anxiety burning my heart is enough. The thought that he could lose his position on the Board of the Foundation, the one he founded, breaks my heart, shattering it into a million tiny shards. And I could never ask him to pick me over what he’s built. The question plaguing me now is whether or not I could quit or let myself be fired from the one place that made me feel whole again? The organization that pulled me out of hell, gave me a fresh start. I owe the Foundation so much more than harming their good name with a tawdry love affair. Ms. Peterson is right. I made a horrible decision to get involved with Chase and now I’m going to reap what I’ve sewn.
Taking a scalding hot shower, I try to numb the pain. It doesn’t help. Punishing the canvas doesn’t change the picture, it just distorts the view. After my shower I fall into bed still cursing for allowing myself to get involved with Chase. God, but he’s everything I could want in a man. He’s strong, drop dead gorgeous, takes care of himself financially, a God in the bedroom and he seems to like
me
. To see the
real me
. Not just redheaded, pasty white, Gillian who works at a nonprofit and lives in a shoebox with her wild roommate.
Maybe this is a sign? Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling me that we weren’t meant to be. The tears slip down my cheeks again, wetting my pillow.
I hear a tap at my bedroom door. “Gigi, your cell phone rang while you were in the shower and then you received a text from Chase.” Of course I did. I sigh loudly and stick my hand into the air. She hands it to me and sits on the side of the bed, petting my hip in a soothing rhythm. “Will you be okay? I have rehearsal, but I can totally blow it off if you need me?” she offers.
“Ria, your show is in less than two weeks. You know you can’t do that. Now go. I’ve got my big girl panties on. I’ll be fine.”
She squeezes my hip one last time and leaves. I stare down at the screen. One missed call from Chase and one text message from him.
To: Gillian Callahan
From: Chase Davis
I tried calling. Call me.
I sigh. There is no way in hell I’m going to call him tonight. I can’t deal with myself let alone an inquisition. I text him instead.
To: Chase Davis
From: Gillian Callahan