BOMBSHELL (14 page)

JOSHUA:

I had gone and sealed the nail in the coffin. My heart ached and there wasn’t enough money in the world to fix that. The only good thing about this, was that I’d be able to see her for the next three months. She would be professional, I would do the same and that would be best for all parties involved. Why didn’t my heart understand that? This feeling was so foreign. When I called it off with Alura, before the whole marriage thing, I knew I didn’t love her, but at the time she was a convenience. She intrigued me, put up a challenge and then I’d gotten to know her and didn’t like what I found. Therefore, I called it quits. She didn’t want to, thought we’d make a fairy tale couple, but I wasn’t feeling any of that. If I didn’t know her grandfather well, I’d think the whole marriage idea to get the trust fund was Alura’s and not his.

By the time I made it to my empty penthouse, I lost it. I broke every lamp in the living room by throwing them against the wall. I’d been living in this penthouse for eight years and I’d never, not once felt lonely until now. I went to the gym and beat the bag until my arms couldn’t take it anymore. I stood in the shower and let the scalding water run over me, hoping to soothe my aching chest. Then I laid in bed and waited until sleep overtook me. It didn’t, so I just laid there staring at the ceiling, praying to God that I didn’t just give up my life partner.

The next day, or later in the morning since I didn’t get an ounce of sleep, I carefully got ready for work. I was excited to see her, I could admit. I wore my Dolce Gabbana custom brown suit, with the matching yellow shirt and striped yellow and brown tie and matched the interior of the suit. I always wore suits at work, so this wasn’t out of the ordinary. I wanted to look especially good, because I had to present to my marketing department and her team.

We all met in the marketing conference room. I knew she was there before I saw her come through the door. It was like I had Samantha telepathy. She was laughing with Vicki as she strode in, looking exquisitely professional with a turtle neck on to cover my markings, I presumed, a tight skirt suit that displayed her curves and those long legs. She even had on fuck-me heels. Goddamn. I adjusted myself discreetly. She sat at the other end of the table, therefore I sent a messenger to ‘ask’ her to sit at the head with me, so we’d be a united front during the presentation. She graciously nodded, walked up to me and said, “Good morning Mr. Kelly.”

“Good morning, Ms. Wilde,” I croaked, because there seemed to be something wrong with my voice.

She sat down and started going through her folders. I called attention to the meeting, had everyone sign the non-disclosure agreements, and presented the promo for Stark, our plan to partner with S&W, introduced Samantha and her crew to the group, and told them what we proposed. I asked Samantha if she had any words, she did – which basically was her saying she looked forward to working with such an extraordinary team. After showing Samantha’s team where everyone would be working, I showed them their space so they didn’t feel they were intruding on everyone else. It went well, overall. It was difficult being so close to her and not being able to touch her.

Samantha and Craig, the head of the marketing department, had met for the first hour to sort out last minute details or that needed clarification. This meeting went better than I could have imagined, they worked well together and fed off each other. I just sat back and gave instructions to my assistant.  If Craig wasn’t a happily married man, I might have felt a little jealous. He worships his wife, so I know that was all in good hands. Samantha and Craig relayed their directives to their team and off they went.

Professionally, the first week went off without a hitch. Personally, the first week was a disaster. By the end of the week, she was back to wearing those silky blouses because my marks were gone. Samantha didn’t really talk to me directly, unless with someone else. Even if I was on the floor, she would publicly address me by raising her voice to say, - ‘Oh, Mr. Kelly, are you checking on our progress?’ this would cause everyone to take notice of me and look for an answer. So, I would get updates even when I wasn’t looking for them. One time I sent my assistant to get her, but she came up with Craig as well. She told him I wanted to see ‘them.’ By the time Friday rolled around, she and I hadn’t had a conversation yet. I didn’t call her, text or email her. I was clear and she was clear, but I was hurting and she looked fine.

This sort of interaction went on for the first month. The entire team had been coming along quite well, so I was happy about that. Well, I thought I was until I decided to take the stairs down to check on their progress, but really catch a glimpse of Samantha. I did this on a daily basis, maybe 2-3 times a day. I made it to the 37
th
floor when I heard Samantha’s name and laughter from two males. I stopped to make sure my presence wasn’t known and listened.

“Man, Sean’s right about that. Her body is to die for.”

The other man grunted.

“Those eyes, titties, that ass and oh God, those legs.”

“Umm, mmm” the other man seemed to agree.

“I bet she only got this job because Kelly wanted to hit that. She’s just his type. That’s if he didn’t hit it already. I wouldn’t be surprised. Why else would he bring a no-named company in to work with us, if it wasn’t to get into that tight cunt?”

I saw red.

“Damn man, her company is all over the country. She’s had some really big clients.”

“She’s not as big as Nunce. Why didn’t he bring them in? I tell you why, because they don’t have anyone over there that looks and dresses like her. Or maybe she puts out if she gets the deal, probably how she got her own company. Shit, I don’t care, more eye-candy for us. Man, you think she’ll go for me.”

“Hell no, she don’t even give Kelly the time of day and he’s more up her alley. She talks to Craig, her people and that’s it.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but it won’t hurt to try.”

“Do you value your balls? She’d eat you alive and spit you out. Did you see the way she cut that vendor who screwed up the order? I think that man peed his pants.”

“That’s what I like, a strong woman, on top or on her knees.”

“You’re a fucking idiot. Strong women like that don’t go for guys who want them on top, she goes for guys who will demand she be on top or command her on her knees. That ain’t you.”

“Fuck outta here. You been watching too much Dr. Phil.”

“Whatever, I’m right.”

The door creaked and then there was silence.

What the fuck. This is the shit she was talking about and I completely dismissed her. Called her fucking paranoid, said she was trying to sabotage us and pick a fight, but this was the shit she dealt with every day. Damn, I really fucked this up with her and I didn’t know how to fix it, but I would fix the fucker that talked about her like that.

The IT guy pulled the footage of who was in the stairwell on the 36
th
floor between 11:05 and 11:15 AM, then I called Craig up here to explain the situation. He was appalled and equally upset. He wanted to fire him personally, but I told him that we would have that privilege together. We called both Mr. Holden and Mr. Smith to my office. I explained what I heard in the stairwell and I wanted to know which one of them said it. They both looked at each other and then Mr. Holden admitted it was him. His voice was the same guy I heard running his mouth. We asked Mr. Smith to step outside a moment.

“Do you know that a woman makes $.77 cents to every dollar a man makes?” I began, “women work as hard, if not harder and they don’t get the respect they deserve financially, emotionally, physically or intellectually. I, like you, didn’t know how hard it was for a woman, even after one exquisite woman explained her plight to me, to gain respect from her male counterparts. How she would be looked at like an object, questioned to see if she was sleeping her way to the top or overlooked because she was of child-bearing age and nobody wanted to pay for maternity leave. I was an idiot, just like you, but unlike you, I was older and didn’t listen to that woman. It didn’t impact me until I heard you talking about a woman that I’ve come to respect, whose company has made it on the map, despite her ethnicity and gender, who doesn’t sleep with her colleagues, because that’s her rule, so she could never be accused of sleeping her way to the top.”

I stood up, walked around and rested on the front of my desk, so he could see the anger in my eyes.

“That woman down there left a company because they didn’t value her as a partner, started her own company and will go on to be a force to reckon with in the years to come. As a business man, I want to invest in companies like that. So, it shames me to know that I have a guy working at my company, Mr. Holden, that talks and if given the opportunity would treat her in the same way her last company did. We are equal opportunity here at Kelly International, we don’t discriminate on anything, even asshole opinions, but we also don’t allow others to do that to partners and guests in our home.”

I turned to Craig.

“So, Mr. Holden, you are relieved of your duties at Kelly International, effective immediately. Here is your official letter of reprimand and you’ll be escorted out once you’ve gathered your things with security.” Craig said with anger laced in his voice.

He added, “I personally hired you and I’m so embarrassed.”

Holden was bright red and looked close to crying. His face was a combination of embarrassment, shame and guilt. I had no remorse, because the one thing I didn’t say was that he was speaking about the woman I loved.

******

SAMANTHA:

The past month was so hard for me. I avoided Joshua like the plague. My old plan that I had developed in the beginning was put in motion. Always have someone with me and never be alone. I did that and he allowed me to do that, I knew. He wanted the separation too, so there it was. He didn’t make it difficult and I worked extra hard to make sure he didn’t have to come at me or Craig for anything. We gave him daily updates, projections, and thoughts. If the next couple of months worked like this, we would be good, professionally. Personally, I had no idea. I saw him every damn day and that was hard on my heart. I talked to Elliot and Roslyn about it, but they just kept saying we made a mistake, because I told them this was a mutual decision. I even told them about BDSM, which neither of them flinched about. They both seemed to be quite familiar with it and schooled me to some things. Then Roslyn, not in front of Elliot, pointed out that I had engaged in some form of BDSM before. I had to remind her, I only dealt with the D in that acronym, and nothing else was even remotely appealing. She responded that it was because Joshua didn’t do it to me. Urg.

Trevor tried to contact me several times, but I told him exactly how I felt about what I heard and I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. He didn’t seem to want to take no for an answer, so I had to throw out the tact and I let him have it, loudly – since the third floor likes to be in my business. My parting words were ‘what’s the point of having enemies, when there are friends like you.’ Then slammed my front door in his face, on cue. I heard a thump and a “Fuuuuck.” The next day, I found that he had in fact punched a hole in the wall. Great, an angry ‘frienemy.’ I decided it was time to take the stairs more often.

Christmas and New Years had come and gone, so we were approaching February and our second thirty-day cycle had already begun. Vicki and I were working on edits when we saw one of the marketing guys being escorted by security. Behind them were Craig and Joshua, who both looked livid. Joshua met my eyes and he held them. I wasn’t sure if I would be privy to why they were escorting him, which in essence meant he was fired, but decided I’d ask Craig. I turned my focus back to Vicki and we continued working. Later on, Craig filled me in that Mr. Holden made some disparaging comments and he was fired. I asked him when did disparaging comments get someone fired, he said they were about me and Mr. Kelly heard them. I made him tell me more, but he didn’t want to reveal too much, because if Kelly didn’t give me that information, he didn’t know if he wanted to me to know. What stuck with me was that Kelly laid into Holden about women having to struggle in businesses and work twice as hard and how he didn’t listen to a woman who told him about this, but that he was once an idiot. I could not believe my ears. Joshua Kelly was advocating for women and firing employees who crossed the line.

Oh shit.

I told Craig I wouldn’t say anything, because I hadn’t even been talking to the dude. My iciness did cool a little and if he stepped in the room, I’d speak directly to him and not call attention to his presence. He must have realized this, because he would make it a point to come ask me about specific questions and I would answer them, instead of getting Craig. I still sent correspondents to him with Craig cc’d on them, but I kept my ‘steer clear of Kelly’ campaign going, just maybe not with such an icy vengeance.

We were approaching March now, with literally twenty days to go before the project would be complete. Professionally, everything was going great and personally, things had gotten better. I was still going to the Herpes Anonymous meetings once a month and I’d met a guy there. He was tall, cute, and happened to be Hispanic. That was a first for me and we had a date this Friday. He sent me flowers to my office, which was cute and he wrote the message in Spanish, because he was trying to help me learn the language. He sounded so good when he spoke Spanish. He also spoke French and Portuguese. He was a lawyer and he worked at the United Nations.