Enlightened (Red Flags) (18 page)

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When I stepped into The Wine Cellar, the place was damn near empty.  Somehow I had managed to beat Damian here and that pissed me off because he made it seem like the appointment was urgent.  A lanky hostess asked if I wanted to be seated. I turned it down, and when she asked if I would like anything to drink, I stupidly declined that, too.  I really felt the need to have a bottle of wine to dilute my anger, but because this was a work meeting, I settled on water instead.

About fifteen minutes later, Damian casually strolled in without a care in the world.  He reeked of hypocrisy as he came walking in late for a business meeting.  My skin had been damn near seared off by William for showing up late earlier in the day.  He stopped by the same hostess and whispered something into her ear, which made her laugh as she held on to his forearm.  The sight made me frown, but once they turned and motioned for me to follow, I quickly put it away.

Damian and I were seated near the back, just before a patio overlooking the ocean.  He waited until I was seated before taking his seat, making sure to watch me the entire time.  I looked back to the entrance, expecting someone to walk through and look for us at any moment, but there was no one there.  Shortly after, a middle-aged waitress came by and Damian ordered a couple of glasses of white wine and bruschetta, never leaving me the opportunity to order anything for myself.  I almost turned away the wine, trying to make a point that this was a business meeting, and therefore, we shouldn't be drinking, but with the way that I was feeling, and the things that were clawing their way to come out of my mouth, I figured the liquid courage would be needed.

"Where is this guy?  So unprofessional to show up this late," I said, taking sips of my wine in the process.

Damian eyed me curiously and then burst out in laughter.

"Says the girl who shows up to the photo shoot late."

I sat dumbfounded.  "I'm normally punctual.  Today was just an off day for me."  I retorted, unable to hide my irritation.

"Well then, today is just an off day for Ben, too."  He smiled his cavalier smile at me.  "What made you so late anyway?  Asswipe Bradley?"

His eyes narrowed as he referred to Jason.  For some reason, the way he asked sent anger coursing through my body.  I could understand that these two didn't particularly care for one another, but I hated the fact that almost every time I was alone with Damian, he immediately jumped to his venomous talk of Jason. 

"Why does it matter?" I asked.

"Because if it is affecting your work with my team, then I have to rectify the situation." 

I watched as he gulped down his wine, then signaled for the waitress to bring another.  When both of our glasses were filled, I began drinking it much too fast for etiquette.  I didn't really care because I needed something to drown out the misery that I was currently sitting through, and to help me say what I needed to say to Damian. 

"Is this guy coming or what?"  I asked, rolling my eyes in the process.

Damian took another sip of wine and popped a piece of bruschetta into his mouth before replying.

"Let me check." 

He grabbed his cell phone and made a call, surprising and frustrating me at the same time.  He didn't stay on the phone long, but as he ended the call, I could hear what sounded like the rescheduling of this
oh-so-important-meeting.
  I gulped down my wine, furious by this point.  "Looks like we'll be meeting with Ben on Saturday."  There was a smug grin spreading across his lips that made me want to slap it off of him.

"Well then there is no point in us staying here," I quickly replied, acid laced in my tone.

"We can absolutely stay here.  We still have things we can work on."

"Like what?"

"Like working on the specifics for the luncheon, and planning out tomorrow's shoot."

"All of that stuff is already done, Damian.  We gave everything to the photographer for tomorrow, and the luncheon is in place.  What more is there to say?"

He looked around, making sure that the few patrons who were in the restaurant weren't staring in our direction, since I was having a hard time keeping my voice low. 

"This is my team and those specs of notes we gave to the photographer aren't sitting well with me, so I want to go over it again.  The luncheon is not finalized, and it needs to be."

My breath picked up as he spoke.  I could smell his bullshit from a mile away.  Although the words coming from his mouth were saying one thing, the cocky ass grin on his face said another. 

"Why didn't you mention any of that?  I could have been taking care of it while the guys were getting their pictures taken today."  I paused for a second to watch his expression.  It didn't change.  It was the same ass-holish grin that he'd had since we got into the restaurant. I couldn't take it any longer.

Without thinking I yelled out, "You're just being a dick and trying to monopolize my time."

His eyes finally widened and then he sat back in his seat for a minute.  I wasn't sure if he was going to fire me on the spot, and for a brief second, I didn't care.  When I came down from my anger high, I realized that losing my job was not in my best interest, and I prayed that the words
you're fired
were not the next words that came out of his mouth.

"You need to be lenient with your time, Cara."  His voice was so low that it sent shivers down my spine.  He reminded me of William when he had told me that on my first day, only Damian had a sinister undertone to his.  "Whatever social life you think you might have while trying to establish this team is out the window." 

He leaned a little closer to me and stared me in the eye.  "If you think I'm monopolizing your time, then you're probably right.  I expect and demand one hundred percent loyalty from you. As long as you're on my payroll, I'm going to get it."

"I work for SDSM."

"You wouldn't have been hired if it weren't for me and my team.  So for all intents and purposes, you work for me."  His voice turned harsh and conniving.  Rage brewed inside of me as I realized that his condescending attitude stemmed from the fact that not only had I turned him down, but that I was tied to Jason. 

"Damian, I don't really think it's fair that you're bringing personal issues into our work relationship."

"What do you mean?" he asked, pursing his lips and leaning closer once again.

"I mean the fact that you can't stand Jason.  You know I have a tie to him, and now you are acting out over it."

He laughed, frustrating me once again. 

"I can't stand that asshole.  But trust me when I say that my work has no bearing whatsoever on Jason Bradley." 

I eyed him, not believing him in the least bit.  His charisma, since finding out that I had been with Jason was long gone, and now he bordered on jealousy and spite.

"Furthermore, if you choose to waste your time on him, that's your problem, but you won't be doing it on my time."

"Well when do I get my own time to go and--" I stopped and looked him deep in his eyes, "waste it?" 

"Whenever I free you up to do so." 

I gasped.  He'd completely caught me off guard.  I was slowly finding out that he could be a prick, as Jason had said, but he was showing himself to be a royal pain in the ass, as well. 

"And don't worry.  William knows the severity of failure for this project, so don't even think about running off to him.  He's in my corner."

My intuition hadn't failed me.  William all but threatened my job because Damian had laid it out that way.  If it had to come down to me or him, and since I was the rookie in the department, there was no way William would allow his job to be sabotaged because of the failures of some entry level marketing manager. 

Sickness hit my stomach.  How could I not see that I would never get a fair shake in this position with Damian acting like a scorned boss?  He hated Jason.  He was angry at the fact that, while I wasn't with Jason, I had been with him, and he was still somewhat in my life.  From the second I'd met Damian, he'd come across as a very good-looking, yet, very cocky guy.  I wouldn't have thought to throw jealous manipulator into the description, but after seeing his sudden shift in behavior, it was very fitting now.  

Chapter 14

Frustration filled me as I lay in bed later that night.  I didn't have much to eat, and all I could think about was falling into a deep sleep and crushing the memories of an overall infuriating day.  Damian was turning into a sore on my ass, using his personal qualms to get back at Jason through work, and that work included me.  Thoughts of flipping him the bird and telling him to shove his fucking job were banging on the walls of my head, but when rationale crept back in, I quickly doused the flames of those thoughts, and remembered that I had responsibilities, and that my job was a necessity. 

Chelsea had asked a few too many times what was bothering me.  When I gave a brief overview, she acted in true Chelsea fashion, poking and prodding, but this time, I snapped at her.  My mood sent her to her room, leaving me alone for the night.  I didn't want to come off as a bitch towards her, but I also didn't want to rehash what I'd dealt with over the course of the day.

I'd tried to call Jason, but he was unavailable.  When he finally did call back, I was in such a piss poor mood, that I let him go to voicemail without a second thought.  I wasn't mad at him, or anyone else for that matter.  I was just angry with my entire situation.

When I awoke the next morning, I still had a twinge of angst in my stomach.  I didn't sleep very well, and it showed on my face.  Chelsea was awake when I woke up, but she didn't say much, probably out of fear that I would snap on her like I did the night before.  This just wasn't like me, but I was well aware that I would have to spend another annoyingly long day with Damian, and the thought of it was already souring my morning. I grabbed breakfast on the fly and made my way out the door, hurrying to my car to make the long drive up to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I thought about Jason and how I'd said I would take my lunch away from the venue, but when I finally realized how far away from San Diego we would be, irritation took hold of me as I realized that Jason would be too far away. I drove North, desperately trying to quell the rising tension in my body, but failing miserably at doing so. 

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The fairgrounds were not the picturesque grounds that I had originally envisioned when we'd decided on the location for the shoot.  It just seemed so barren and dead, not at all what I would pair with the high flying athletes of The Tide. 

I checked my watch as I stepped out of my car.  I was ten minutes early this morning, and thankful for it.  Having to deal with Damian over my tardiness or it getting back to William wasn't something that I particularly wanted to deal with this morning.  I walked in and found Damian standing next to the photographer in a three piece, navy and grey suit.  He looked hot, but the asshole in the suit ruined the image for me, and I walked over in their direction, focused only on the job for the day, hoping to get it over with quickly.

"Good morning, Cara," Damian said in a rather upbeat tone.  His voice resembled nothing of the conniving jerk that had sat with me at The Wine Cellar the night before.

I smiled.  "Good morning, Damian."  I figured trying to be cordial would not only help set the tone for the day, but would also put me in a better mood as well. 

While the team listened to the directions that the photographer gave, Damian made a few phone calls. I was thankful, since it occupied his time. I grabbed his file on the luncheon for Friday, the one he swore wasn't complete, and made follow-up phone calls with all of the vendors for the event, making sure that they had all been paid and knew exactly where they would be and when. 

After what felt like hours, the photographer wrapped the shoot at the fairgrounds and said that he would be meeting us at Balboa Park, our final location.  I hurriedly threw everything into my bag, and made my way out to my car.  I checked my cell phone, finding that there was another missed call from Jason and a missed call from Chase.  I quickly sent Jason a text, letting him know that I was leaving Del Mar and would be headed to Balboa Park.  I made a mental note to call Chase back when I got the chance.  The last time I had spoken to him, he was down on himself over his unfortunate work situation.  I had too much going on right now, but I didn't want Chase to think that his issues weren't important to me, so I decided to send him a quick text, letting him know that I would get back to him when things slowed down.

When I made it to Balboa Park, a moment of calm washed over me.  The serene backdrop of the park encompassed everything that was necessary to drown out the bullshit of the last couple of days.  I found myself smiling as I stepped out of the car, and as I walked to our designated spot, I felt the buzz of my cell phone in my slack pants pocket. I took the call without even looking to see who was calling.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Jason replied, sounding seductive as he spoke.  I wasn't quite sure if he was truly pouring on the seduction of his southern drawl, or if I was now in a state of euphoria, and his voice was what I needed to hear.  Either way, it was a pleasant sound on my ears.

"Hey.  Sorry I didn't get back to you."

"No need to apologize.  I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Well, you've got it."

"Wish I had more than just that." 

I felt my skin flush red as he said it.  I knew exactly what he was alluding to, and I found myself smiling at the reminder of just what he was talking about.

"I'm at Balboa Park right now for our final shoot.  Where do you want to meet up for lunch?"

"Wherever you want."

"Okay.  Italiano's it is.  I've been craving it since yesterday." 

Just then, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to find a smoldering Damian staring down at me. 

"I need you," he purred.  I wasn't sure if he meant work wise because the hungry look in his eyes made me think otherwise.