Personal Possessions (38 page)

“It’s a bacon
cheeseburger…with the works and fries. I can tell you how it’s
going with Elleny.”

Sarah smiled as she
flipped the top open revealing a huge, juicy burger. My stomach
rumbled at the sight of it. I pushed my seat back and approached as
Sarah held up the box.

“Why don’t you have a seat
right here, and we can discuss Elle and I’s progress.”

I took the box and headed
back over to my desk.
“Thank you for the lunch, Sarah but right now is not a good time. I
am in the middle of some reports that need my full attention. Maybe
the three of us can meet later today and discuss your
progress.”

The smile quickly left her
face. She didn’t look too happy about being turned down, but I had
learned… to never mix business with pleasure; it can turn into an
ugly crime scene.

I worked while we ate,
Sarah stared as though she was thinking of something to say and I
worked on reports and made phone calls. I finished and headed into
the bathroom to wash up and noticed that I had dropped something on
my shirt. I reached into the closet that held my extra shirts and
put the new one on while I threw the dirty one on the closet floor.
Tucking my shirt in, I heard voices out in my office. I stepped out
to see Sarah sitting on the couch, replacing her lip gloss back
into her bag and Elle standing eyes glued to me, face three shades
of red.

“Obviously, I have
interrupted something, I’ll come back later.”

“
Elle, wait.”

This was not what it
looked like and I was taken back that she would even think that. I
followed her out into the hallway where Mary sat, luckily she was
at lunch.

“Elle, let me explain.” I
said as she continued her quick stride down the hallway.

“I was just looking for
Sara, I have to have her put these up so that they don’t get lost.
I actually took some time and arranged them alphabetically so that
she would have an easier job at putting them away.”

I caught up with her and
tried to take the box from her, she made her grip tighter. Was she
really going to challenge me, because if need be, I could always
take her back in my office and show her who’s boss.

“
Elle, let me have the box
and let’s go back in the office and talk for a minute.”

“Talk about what, TJ?
There’s nothing to talk about. Look, I’m really busy, I have phone
calls to make and papers to file. I need to get this back to Sara
and…“

Just at that moment, I
felt as though the odds were actually in my favor. I took the box
from Elle just as Sara was walking from my office.

“Sara, go files these and
keep them organized just as they are….now.”

The look on her face was
priceless. The thought of her making implications to Elle of
something happening between us made her deserving of filing, plus
it was going to give her a nice start on her new position within
the company. Her eyes were huge as she pursed her lips, she was
using every swear word she could come up with as she cussed me out
mentally…I could tell, it was written all over her face.

Sara headed off in the
direction of the file room while I took Elle by the hand leading
her back into her office. I saw Mary coming back from lunch as we
passed her desk, I lifted my hand in acknowledgement as she pasted
a huge smile across her face.

I opened the door and
allowed Elle to enter before me. I pointed to the couch, I was
losing my patience and they were nowhere to be found.

“
Sit!”

“Fuck you, I’m not a
dog!”

I closed my eyes and drew
in breath, I was trying so hard not to lose my temper as
well.

“Elleny, don’t start this
shit again. We’re both aggravated and I have something I need to
say to you so please….don’t fight me on this.”

Elle looked directly in my
eyes and stood, crossing her arms over her chest. Oh, so now I’m
dealing with stubborn Elleny…fine, I can deal with this.

“
Really TJ, to be honest
with you, I really don’t care what you have to say and I really
don’t think you owe me an explanation on who you do and who you
don’t do. Just like, I don’t owe you an explanation on what goes on
in my bed either. It’s not like we’re married. I would’ve liked to
have known so that you could’ve used protection.

I’d had enough. She wasn’t
being stubborn Elleny, she was acting as if she was a two year old
who didn’t get her way. If she wanted to act like that, she was
going to get treated like that. I walked over to her, picked her up
and tossed her gently on the couch.

“
I said sit!”

“
Trevor
McHale!”

“You’re gonna sit and
we’re gonna talk, and don’t call me Trevor again!”

I demanded as I sat down
beside her. I had realized that Elle wasn’t used to having someone
in her life to talk things out with. I’m sure Bear wasn’t one that
she could pour her heart out to, so she was used to making the
decisions on her own, well that time was through. Now she was going
to grow the fuck up and remember what a real relationship was
about.

“I don’t have time for
this bullshit, TJ. I have calls to make.”

I was going to try
something new, something that was going to be as difficult for me
as sharing was for her. I was going to ask and not demand. I
reached down and grabbed Elle’s hand, placing it against my
mouth.

“Babe….where did you go
this morning?”

Elle looked at me, but
didn’t say anything…just stared. I saw her eyes move over my face
but she never said a word. I would’ve given anything to know what
was going through her mind at this very moment. I turned her body
towards me

“
Elleny?”

Slowly, Elle raised her
hand and cupped it on the side of my jaw. Gently she took her
finger up against my brow that must’ve been raised and ran across
it until I lowered it. I had still didn’t know what was on her mind
but she was no here with me. She continued following the curves of
my face, I closed my eyes and memorized her touch against my
skin.

I could hear the leather
under us so I knew that Elle was moving. I sensed her presence
before me; she was now straddling me. I let her continue. I felt
her lips against my ear as she pulled my earlobe between her lips.
I knew where this was going to lead and I wasn’t sure that sex was
going to make this situation any better…

“
Do you like when I do
that?”

…with her words, I changed
my mind.

I didn’t answer her
verbally, I ran my hands up her thigh.

“
Hmmmmm, I take it that’s
a yes.”

Elle continued to whisper
in my ear. I had no idea what she was trying to do, maybe this was
something she needed, to hold the power…well, if that was the issue
I would allow it.

“Tell me what you’re
thinking, Trevor.”

Did she really want to
know what I was thinking? Last time she asked me a question like
that, she wasn’t too thrilled with my answer.

“
Do you really want to
know what I’m thinking?”

Elle sat back for a moment
and looked at me, she wanted to know, she would know.

“I’m thinking what in the
hell I have to do so that you will never leave me
again.”

“
Fuck!”

Elle blurted out at the
top of her lungs. That really wasn’t the reply I was hoping for.
Without responding anymore, Elle jumped off of me and headed for
the desk. I saw her grab her purse and head for the
door.

“
Where the fuck do you
think you’re going?”

Grabbing the knob, she
found out that I locked the door. Elle turned to me and
glared…hard. If she could’ve had laser beam eyes, I would have been
turned into a pile of dust at that very moment.

“
Nice Trevor….real
nice.”

I just shrugged. I didn’t
need someone walking in, especially Sara while I had Elle bent over
the desk half naked. That would’ve not been a good
thing.

Elle unlocked the door and
walked out, I followed not far behind.

”We need to
talk!”

“Go talk to Sara…I’m sure
she’ll eat your bullshit up!”

I headed back to my office
where the piles of work had started to dwindle down to nothing. I
called some of my salesmen and told them what to be on the lookout
for and made appointments for some meetings that would be held out
of town.

I had gone dick hard all
afternoon when I looked down at my watch and seen it was the middle
of the afternoon. I looked out into the waiting area and saw Elle
approaching. I didn’t say a word, she looked like she was on a
mission.

“
I have booked you solid
on Monday until 4:30; Tuesday until 7:30 and you’re going to have
to do signings all weekend long to even start to get ahead of this.
I talked to Mary, she’s calling me a cab. I’ve had a shit day. I’m
going to the hotel to work and then going to bed. Have a good
evening.”

Ok then.

I decided to stay at the
office until I thought Elle would be asleep. I was drained from the
fighting, the fucking and then the whole healing bullshit Rachel
slapped on top of me. There was no way in hell Elleny Barker wanted
to be who she was…she wasn’t “that girl” anymore. I had to realize
that as did Rachel. I brought up the internet and started looking
through the news. I found the article of Angela’s death and started
reading. I wasn’t into it a full sentence when my phone
rang.

“Trevor
McHale…”

Silence.

I wasn’t about to say it
again, so I hung up. Seconds later, the phone rang
again.

“If you want me to stay on
the line you better start talkin’'…”

“Trevor…”

“Tasha?”

Chapter 19

I agreed to meet with
Natasha for a drink because I needed her to understand that this
was not normal and I was completely serious when I said that we
were through; she needed to move on with her life. I forgave her
for the shit she pulled over on me, but the harassment had to stop
and there was no way in hell that we were getting back
together…ever.

I looked at my watch
before I left the car; eleven-twenty. I was giving her thirty
minutes…tops.

I walked in and the bar
was dark. It took me a minute but I found her sitting in a circular
booth in the very back of the bar, she looked like shit. Her hair
was a mess, she looked as if she hadn’t slept in days, and hadn’t
had a bite to eat in weeks.

Her blonde head raised as
I approached and she met me with a drunken smile on her
lips.

“Tasha…what the
fuck.”

“Come…have a
seat.”

The words slurred from her
mouth. She attempted to move around the table so that I could sit
but ended up falling on the seat. Seeing as how she couldn’t even
hold her head up, this didn’t surprise me.

“Tasha…how did you get
here?”

There was no way in hell
she was getting behind the wheel of a car. With her luck, she would
get in a wreck, kill the other driver and would live, most likely
in a vegetative state.

“Ah…honey, this is my home
away from home. Now that you kicked me out…”

I closed my eyes and went
to the other side of the wrap-around bench. I didn’t want to sit
next to her and give her the wrong idea. Once again, Natasha tried
to scoot closer to me, but again…that wasn’t what
happened.

“Shit, next time I’m
getting a fucking table.”

I could barely understand
what she was saying.

“Natasha, grab your shit,
I’ll take you to a hotel…or a friend’s. You really need to sleep
this shit off.”

“I’m not going
anywhere!!!” She screamed.

I turned around and all
eyes were on us. Righting myself, I rolled my eyes. Talk about
drama…this was enough to turn a man.

“Fine. What is it that was
so important?” I replied quietly.

Taking a chug of the
liquor that was in front of her, she smiled a wide almost crazy
looking smile.

“You’ve been a very bad
boy, Trevor.”

Natasha said as she waved
her index finger from side to side.

I looked to my side and
saw the waitress standing there.

“Can I get’cha a drink,
hun?”

“Fuck off, Ginger…he’s
taken.”

I looked back at Natasha,
who now had her face buried in the rest of her drink. I ignored the
remark and ordered.

“Jack…straight up…on the
rocks, please.”

Ginger winked and headed
back up to the bar.

I turned back towards
Natasha wanting her to continue with what she was saying, I didn’t
want to spend more time than I had to with her. She made me sick. I
might have forgiven her; that didn’t mean I didn’t
forget.

“How’s that,
Tasha…”

She held up her hand as to
ask for another drink as he face came back to me.