THE JUNIOR BRIDESMAID (8 page)

“Of course, Mr.
Smith.” Maria’s voice always sounded like it made several trips through her
nasal passages before it was emitted. Her whiney voice on a normal day made my
stomach clench so at that moment while I was already lightheaded it was like a
good dose of that serum my mother would give us when she wanted us to throw up.
I straightened my posture hoping to elongate my stomach and unclench my
muscles. All I accomplished was offering the bile that was swirling around in
my stomach a direct path up my esophagus.

I stood abruptly
excusing myself at the same time before I further embarrassed myself and
vomited all over the conference table. “If y’all excuse me. I’ll be right
back.” Out of the corner of my eye I watched as Hugh stood with me. Y’all? What
the heck was with my accent? I had worked very, very hard to abandon that thing
a long time ago.

“Are you okay, Ms.
Welling? You don’t look so good.” It was nice of Hugh to show concern because
Stacey and Steve didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass that I was as white as a ghost
and swaying like a drunken sailor who’d lost his sea legs. It was also nice
that he was keeping our interaction on a professional level. The alternative
was having my worst nightmare come true.

“Yes. Just forgot
my notepad.” I lied, swallowing back the rising storm.

I saw his lips press together and
then he bit the inside of his mouth before he nodded accepting my excuse.

I somehow held it
together as I bounced off the walls of the hallway to the ladies room. However
once inside I tossed my cookies in the closest toilet. Once my stomach was
emptied, I collapsed against the stall door feeling soooo much better. I sighed
heavily deciding that I was going to have to get my shit together. “Calm down,”
I slowly blew through my pursed lips. “Just relax,” I whispered to myself.
“He’s not here to decimate your world. He’s here for a legitimate meeting.”

Then I heard the
door to the ladies room fly open and crack against the tile wall. My partner
and full time she-devil was shrieking my name. “Delilah? So help me God if you
fuck this up I will throw you right out our office window. Do I need to remind
you what floor we are on?”

I exited the
bathroom stall and went straight to the sink. Cupping water into the well of my
palm, I slurped it into my mouth. A few swishes later I spit it in the sink
ready to face my nemesis. “Thanks for your concern, Stace. I’ll be fine,” I
stated sarcastically wiping my mouth with a paper towel still leaning over the
sink.

I heard her sigh
heavily and peripherally I could see her shift her weight from one foot to the
other. “What are you, like, pregnant or something?” She asked with indignation.

I hadn’t been with
anyone since I had broken up with Carson eight months earlier. She knew I was
single. More than that, she knew I wasn’t like her. I didn’t just fuck guys in
utility closets for career advancement or just because I had the good fortune
to find myself with five extra minutes between conference calls. She, however,
had demonstrated on more than one occasion that she was capable of either or
both and considered either scenario a bonus. After Carson announced that he and
Stacey went at it in the utility closet, needless to say, it was over between
us. By us, I mean all of us. Carson and I were over. And any illusions of
Stacey and I being friends became clear. Stacey never said a single word about
her actions nor did she ever apologize. I wasn’t surprised that Carson pursued
her. He was immature and angry that I wasn’t
affected
by his charm, good looks and self-confidence. But I was a
little surprised that she participated and did so without showing a hint of
regret or remorse. Not a lot surprised but definitely a little. If nothing else
it spoke volumes to how our work relationship was just that. In other words we
weren’t friends and we were never going to be. I never told her or gave an
inkling that it bothered me she and Carson betrayed me because I knew deep down
he and I didn’t have a future and she basically did me a favor. But what kind
of person has sex with her partner’s boyfriend in a utility closet while she is
in the coffee lounge checking her watch every five minutes waiting for him to
go to lunch?

I turned my head
from the sink basin to look at her and I knew she saw the resentment that
flashed in my eyes. “I’m going to say this one time and one time only, Stacey,”
my eyes bored into hers. “Hugh Rowen is off limits. If I see you so much as
sneeze in his direction, Stacey, I will rip your useless heart right out of
your boney chest. Do you hear me?” I swear I don’t know what came over me. It
was like I was possessed.

Stacey’s eyes
widened and her chin tucked back to her chest. I saw her swallow hard and
detected that she was going to try to defend herself but I was having none of
it. “Don’t,” I warned. “Carson was one thing. Hugh is
a-complete-fucking-nother. Don’t fucking test me. You stay away from him or so
help me God there will be consequences.” I tossed my wet paper towel into the
trash and then paused in front of her before I grabbed the handle to the ladies
room door. I stared into her soulless eyes so she knew I was serious before I
pulled the door and swaggered (yes swaggered) back to the conference room. I
entered with my head held high and a confidence that I had never felt in my
entire life. It didn’t hurt that I was lot less nauseous.

When Stacey
returned to the conference room she was behaving quite differently than when
she left. I think she even secured a button higher up on her blouse. I saw her
jaw clench a couple of times. I assumed because she was angry that I had cut
her to the quick. But I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t let her get anywhere
near Hugh. Not just because she was a soulless whore. With my luck he would
enjoy that about her like every other man in the building. But because if there
was a shot in hell that I could ever have Hugh Rowen it would bother me to the
core that Stacey had him first. So even though my intentions seemed selfless
they were not. If anyone was ever going to get a shot at Hugh it was going to
be me. Not Stacey Horn Dog.

Hugh noticed
Stacey’s chilly change in demeanor. He even went so far as to ask her about it.
“Stacey is everything all right? You seem…agitated,” Hugh asked innocently.

He had no idea how
agitated she really was. I turned my head poignantly in her direction unable to
wait and see how she was going to answer that one.

“I, um, well, don’t be silly Mr.
Rowen, I am not agitated. I just take my job very seriously. This is my game
face,” she answered.

“Please. Call me
Hugh,” he responded.

“That’s okay. Mr.
Rowen is just fine,” she answered glaring at me.

I disingenuously
smiled at her as we wrapped up the meeting. Stacey slapped folders shut so hard
that they made a distracting clapping noise. Who knew that telling her to keep
her hands off one man in the entire Universe could get her so angry? I had to
admit, watching her juvenile reaction made me question if I had inadvertently
upped the anti. We all stood to finalize details and then the meeting was over.
Hugh’s fingers went to his suit jacket to close the top button. Maria broke in
on the intercom to tell Steven that he had a phone call, which he picked up
right away and Stacey fled the scene like the boyfriend thief that she was.
That left a distracted Steven on the phone, Hugh and me. I gave a cursory grin
as Hugh rounded the table to get to me. As he approached my heart began to drum
a little faster and my chin tipped up to keep my eyes on his.

“Did you get my message?”
he whispered.

I nodded before I
spoke and then I smiled. I felt my cheeks flush at the thought of his message.
“It was a nice surprise.” I downplayed the entire drama. No point in admitting
that I was running around the lobby of my apartment building like a chicken
without a head.

“Dinner?” he
whispered.

My head cocked to
the side in disbelief. I pointed to myself while my eyebrows touched. “You want
to have dinner with me?”

He didn’t answer
my question per say yet he answered it all the same. “I’ll pick you up at
7:00.”

Steven hung up the
phone and slapped his hands together. “We have a great team in place. I think
you will like these gals.” He directed his comment toward Hugh as I smiled at
his remark.

“I think you’re
right, Steven. I think I like them already.” I didn’t miss Hugh’s eyes roaming
my face and that only made me smile wider.

I barely made it
through my office door when Stacey’s tirade commenced. I was shocked that she
went on the offensive but I guess that’s what a wild animal does when their
back’s against the wall. They attack.

“I did you a
favor!” she screamed.

“Seriously? Are we
going to do this now?” I asked her heatedly.

Stacey folded her
arms over her chest and threw out a hip.

Yes we were.

“Okay. Here goes,
Stacey. You may or may not have done me a favor. We will never know. But what I
do
know is that the moment that you
chose to have sex with my boyfriend you chose to never have any type of
meaningful relationship with me. You don’t do that to a friend or a partner
that you give a flying shit about. You just don’t!” I yelled back at her.

“He wasn’t your
boyfriend! You didn’t give a rat’s ass about him. Don’t try to bullshit me.”

That was true but
I had never verbalized my feelings of ambivalence to Stacey and even if I had
it still didn’t justify her decision to have sex with him.

“Oh, please! I was
in a relationship with him.” Obviously she needed to be educated on the subject
so I took it upon myself to explain the moral code to her. “How serious it was
or wasn’t was none of your business,” I paused momentarily and then changed
tactics. “Maybe I made a mistake not taking you to task with the whole Carson
debacle. But this is different. I wasn’t kidding before. Other than business
you stay away from Hugh. Do you understand what I am saying?” Stacey had never
seen this side of me. Hell
I
had
never seen this side of me. But one thing was for certain. There was no way
that I was going to stand by and watch Stacey dig her claws into the man I had
spent my entire adult existence longing for. And I was going to make damn sure
there were no misunderstandings between Stacey and me. I pointed my finger in
her face while I carefully laid out in detail the parameters in which she was
allowed to function around him. “You don’t have drinks with him, dinner, or
even share a cab ride. Nothing. And I am not in the least bit exaggerating.”

I saw her chin set
and her eyes squint. “You don’t own him, Delilah. Hugh Rowen is fair game.”

Welcome to the
jungle.

I knew she
wouldn’t back down. But I just figured she would go behind my back and stab me
in between my shoulder blades trying to avoid a direct challenge. But I was
wrong.

“As far as you are
concerned? I do,” I challenged back. “I’m serious, Stace. You mind me,” I
finished.

Then I watched as
her entire being was consumed with indignation. I could actually see her
calculating her next move as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Oh,” her voice softened, “believe me, Delilah. I heard every word you said.
And if there is one thing that I can tell you for sure it’s this. When I
do
Hugh Rowen, and I will
do
him, I will make sure to
mind you
the entire time,” she purred
her threat caustically. The claws were officially out. And I was actually
introduced to yet one more sinister side of Stacey.

“So, you’re
intention is to
do
Hugh just so you
can fuck me over?” My eyes squinted in disbelief just before I heard the
crackle.

Psht. “You are
such a bitch.” Psht. “Over.”

Well at least I
had Logan on my side.

“You’re fired!”
Stacey bellowed at Logan. “Again!”

Chapter 6

I was late. But
there was no way that I was leaving work for the day without moving out of the
office Stacey and I shared. Stacey’s challenge was the last and final straw.
Working with her was one thing but sharing space with her for nine hours a day
would be impossible. Now I found myself under some serious pressure to get
ready for dinner with Hugh. I ran through the front door of my apartment
building in a flat out run on the tips of my toes. With everything going on, I had
forgotten to change back into my walking shoes when I left my office so my feet
were on fire from running fifteen blocks in my heels. Davis’ eyebrows shot up
in surprise at the sight of me. I was the quintessential mess. My hair was
stuck to my head with sweat, my blouse was hanging out of the waist of my pants
and my briefcase was only half zippered with papers peeking out here and there.
My one free arm was flailing out to the side as I rushed to make the turn to
the bank of elevators. “Buzz me in. Quick!” I was desperate to get upstairs and
find something to wear for dinner. I had approximately 25 minutes before Hugh
would show to pick me up for dinner. That amount of time, given my current
state, was cutting it absurdly close. I needed to shower.

“Good evening,
Miss Dee,” Davis greeted at the sight of me while reaching for the button to
unlock the interior door. “Your package showed up,” he shared excitedly as he
grabbed the package from behind his desk and chased me down with his hand
outstretched.

I pushed at the
door with my chest heaving as Davis followed me through. “Oh my goodness. Thank
you, Davis, I am so late.” My words came out in a rush as I repeatedly tapped
the call button for the elevator. The doors opened at the same time as Davis’
approached. I reached for the package and stepped in at the same time. Just as
the elevator doors began to close they popped back open as I fumbled the
package to get it under one arm. “Thanks,” I blurted as the doors reclosed. I
barely witnessed him raising his hand to wave and nod that his mission was
accomplished. My mission for the evening, however, was just beginning.