“But I already have plans for those weekends,” cried Claire.
His steely gaze burning into hers, Jason said, “Yes, I’m sure that you do have other engagements planned, however, I feel that this job and this merger are your clear priorities and if not, then we’ve a serious problem.”
The threat in his voice was clear and Claire knew that if she continued, she could well find herself unemployed. “Ye… Yes, they are and I’ll be here on Saturday. Are we starting early?” Claire asked hopefully.
“No, I’ll be late getting in on Friday so let’s give ourselves some extra rest on Saturday and come in around lunch. We can have dinner brought in later so no need to worry about that.” With her heart sinking Claire managed a nod and Jason was gone. Oh great, he wasn’t going to let up on the weekend work, ugh.
She already had bachelor parties planned with Pam for the next few weeks, and they were all several hours away. She was going to have to call Pam and cancel and hope that she could find a replacement for her. She decided to put that off for later and gathered up her purse to go to the cafeteria for lunch. As luck would have it, Suzy was just coming down the hall towards her office when she stepped out. Claire walked over to the elevator where her friend was waiting.
“Hey hey girlfriend, I’m starving, let’s go grab some eats,” said Suzy.
“Are we going to the cafeteria?” asked Claire.
“Nah, why don’t we walk around the corner to the sandwich shop? I could use a change of scenery,” replied Suzy.
“Ok, that actually sounds good, maybe we could get a table outside.” Suzy kept the conversation flowing until they’d reached the sandwich shop and settled into a shaded table outdoors.
“So, what were all the fireworks with boss man last night?” asked Suzy.
Nearly choking on her iced tea, Claire said, “What’re you talking about?”
“Oh come on babe, do I look like I suddenly got stupid overnight?” laughed Suzy.
She knew it was pointless to continue to act ignorant. Claire sighed, “I don’t know Suz; I really don’t.”
Suzy finally asked, “Has something been going on between you two that I don’t know about?” Claire decided that if she could tell anyone the whole story without being judged it was Suzy.
She poured out the story of her second job and the reasons behind it. Finally coming to the part of her encounter at Jason’s friend’s bachelor party during the weekend and what had happened in the restroom afterwards, Claire kept going until she’d told Suzy everything, including what occurred the previous night. Suzy sat in silence looking at her with her mouth opening and closing like a fish.
“Holy shit, who are you and where is my friend Claire?” exclaimed Suzy. “I feel like I’ve entered the twilight zone where you turn into me, and I turn into you. Why in the world didn’t you tell me what you were doing on the side? You should know that I of all people wouldn’t give you grief about it.”
Claire reached over and took her hand seeing the hurt on her face. “I know you wouldn’t Suz; I was just embarrassed to tell anyone, including you, about my financial problems and the second job. You know I would never be doing a job like that if I didn’t desperately need the money.”
“Claire, we could have figured out something; I don’t want you to think I would ever look down on you or judge you, hell, I would probably do that job just for kicks.”
As she leaned over to hug Suzy, Claire said tearfully, “No more secrets then, I’m sorry Suz, and I know you’d never look down on me, you’re not made that way.”
“Ok, enough of the slobbering all over each other, tell me when you’re going to do the boss man because I’m dying to know how he is in the sack.”
With a laugh, Claire playfully swatted at her. “I’m not doing anything with him; it was all a mistake, and he appears to regret it as much as I do,” said Claire.
“Yeah right, if that was regret I saw jumping between you two last night I’ll give up leather skirts and start wearing plaid.”
“The lines between us got blurred with everything that happened this weekend and then with the accidental groping of him under the table last night. I think it’s all going to settle back down into our normal routine now and be fine though,” assured Claire.
Suzy looked at her shrewdly asking the one question Claire didn’t have an answer for, “Do you want things to settle back to normal though?”
The subject of Jason was avoided for the rest of their lunch and all too soon they were walking back to the office. Suzy asked, “Hey you want to go out one night this week for dinner?”
“Let me see how things are with mom and I’ll let you know. I need to go by there tonight and take some groceries.”
“Claire, you know that if you or your mother needs anything you can ask me right? I’ve money saved, and I would be glad to help you if you need it,” said Suzy.
Claire felt like her friendship with Suzy had turned a corner since their conversation at lunch. She hugged Suzy again and thanked her. Suzy said with her usual dramatic flair, “We’re going to have to cut this hugging shit out today, before you know it we’re going to be braiding each other’s hair and wearing matching pinky rings,” Laughter shaking her body, Claire felt pounds lighter than she had that morning with the support she’d received from Suzy.
Suddenly remembering dinner the previous night, Claire asked, “hey Suz, what did you think of Grayson last night? I thought I noticed some sparks flying over there as well,” joked Claire.
“Ugh, paleeze, in his dreams! He’s a stud, I’ll give him that, but his blood probably actually runs blue. I’ve more important things to do with my time than literally have the life sucked out of me by Mr. Uptight. I mean he probably doesn’t even own a tour t-shirt, who doesn’t have a Bon-Jovi Tour Shirt, you know?”
“Wow Suz that’s a lot of detailed protesting, sounds like Mr. Uptight hit a nerve last night. I’m sure with the advent of eBay you could buy him a Bon-Jovi Tour Shirt,” laughed Claire. With a very rude hand gesture, Suzy stalked off towards her office and Claire laughed all the way into hers.
~~~
The rest of the week continued peacefully at work. Jason called in several times a day but with him out of the office it was easier to believe that they could return to a normal working relationship. On Wednesday evening she’d splurged and took her mother and Louise for dinner. Her mother didn’t like going out much anymore; she preferred having her meal while watching her favorite TV shows. Luckily, she was having a good day, and Claire enjoyed the time with her.
The one unpleasant aspect of the week had been calling Pam to cancel for the weekend and also informing her that she would not be able to work the next weekend as well. To say Pam was upset was an understatement; livid was a more accurate word. Pam had informed her that she would be hiring someone, and rather than her normal assurance that Claire could work all the weekend parties, it would now be a matter of who Pam felt more comfortable scheduling.
Claire had a feeling that her employment with Partiez Plus would be ending soon. The overtime pay for the weekend work from Danvers should be sufficient to fill the gap until she could find another weekend job. It was possible she might have to work several part-time jobs to compensate for the loss of income but as usual, she would do what needed to be done.
Claire had promised to have a drink with Suzy after work on Friday night, and she was looking forward to hanging out with her. Just as she was finishing up for the day, Suzy glided into her office. “Hey chick, you ready to split?”
“Yes, just finishing up here,” grimacing down at her tan slacks and equally plain white blouse, Claire said, “I wish I had on something a little less…”
“Drab, dull, old lady?” injected Suzy helpfully.
With a swat to her friend’s arm, Claire finished, “I was going to say formal but thank you for those kind words.” Suzy of course could never be called any of those things. Today, while wearing a black leather mini-skirt with fishn
et stockings, mile-high heels, and a hot pink t-shirt with a skull on it, she was as far removed from boring as you could possibly get.
Claire locked up and soon they were on their way to a bar a few blocks away that Suzy liked to hang out at. Claire had never been to this particular place, and she dearly hoped it wasn’t some type of biker bar. Suzy was blessed to fit in wherever she went; unfortunately, the same wasn’t true for Claire.
With a quick prayer of thanks, Claire was relieved to see the bar was actually upscale with what looked to be mainly professionals having a drink after work. They grabbed a couple of seats at the bar as Suzy yelled, “Hey, our phone numbers for anyone who buys us a drink.”
“Suz, are you crazy?” asked a horrified Claire.
By the time she finished her sentence, there were six drinks sitting in front of them. “I haven’t bought a drink in years, why would I start tonight? Don’t sweat it; we will give them fake numbers, unless they’re really hot.”
Claire picked up a drink that looked the most harmless. It was very sweet and tasted of pineapple and strawberry. “You better watch yourself; that baby will knock you on your ass,” advised Suzy.
“It doesn’t taste like alcohol; I think it’s safer than those shots.” Halfway through the first drink, two men approached them and took credit for a couple of the drinks. Claire was surprised to find that she could relax and enjoy flirting and conversation.
The men, Chris and Joe, were surprisingly easy to talk to and having them sit beside the girls discouraged other men from approaching Suzy for the phone number payout she’d promised. Claire realized after the first drink that Suzy was right; it might look harmless but her head was already spinning. Chris and Joe teased her about switching to Iced Tea afterwards, but she told them she had to drive home and couldn’t afford to be face down somewhere along the way.
Around ten, Claire told Suzy she was tired and was ready to leave. Much to her surprise, Suzy insisted on leaving as well. When they stepped outside, Claire said, “Suz, you didn’t have to leave, you were having fun; go back in for awhile.”
“Nah, I’m dragging and I was getting ready to bail anyway.”
“Are you sure? You looked like you were really enjoying Chris.”
“That was just a 'drink you', nothing else," replied Suzy.
“A 'drink you'?” asked Claire.
“Yeah, instead of thank you, when someone buys you a drink and you chat them up afterwards it’s a drink you.”
“Um, ok that must be Suzy language, I’ve never heard of it,” laughed Claire. “Sorry I needed to leave early; I just wanted to have a good night’s sleep before working this weekend.”
“Oh, that’s right; you and hot buns are working. Why, I wonder, are you suddenly working weekends when you never have before?”
“It’s because of the merger with Mericom,” replied Claire.
“You mean stuffed shirt Gray is so uptight that you guys have to work seven days a week to keep up with his demands?” sneered Suzy.
"Suz, I don’t think it’s that; it’s just the extra time being spent on that project is causing Jason’s other work to fall behind. I’m sure Grayson isn’t as bad as you make him out to be,” said Claire.
“Yeah right, the man needs to learn how to loosen up. I bet he doesn’t even own a pair of boxers; briefs all the way no doubt,” said Suzy.
“Um sweetie, how did we get on the subject of Grayson’s underwear choices? It seems to be that you have a very suspect amount of interest in Grayson,” teased Claire.
Suzy stalked ahead of her and grumbled over her shoulder, “I was just making an observation, no need to get your panties in a wad girlfriend.” Claire ran to catch up with her giving Suzy a brief hug as they walked on.
~~~
Claire scanned the area and saw no sign of Billy. She was almost to her front door when she heard a voice behind her and looked around to find that Billy had indeed seen her arrive. “Hey Claire, where is your boyfriend tonight?” asked Billy in a sullen tone.
“Er… He’s out of town tonight, he should be back soon though,” said Claire.
“How come you never mentioned you were dating anyone?” accused Billy.
Claire was starting to get angry as well at the nasty tone in his voice. “Billy, I really think my private life is my business, don’t you?” demanded Claire. Billy’s face reddened as Claire stuck her key in her lock and quickly opened her door.
Before she could close it, Billy said, “I thought you were different, I guess I was wrong.” Not bothering to reply, Claire slammed her door shut and vowed that she would start looking for another place to live. It was obvious that Billy was going to continue to be a problem.
She didn’t think the idea of her having a boyfriend would help especially since said boyfriend wasn’t likely to be at her place again. Great, like my life isn’t hectic enough, now I’ve a nut job neighbor stalking me, greeaat. The confrontation with Billy took some of the enjoyment out of the evening. After a quick shower, Claire climbed into bed and tried to forget the angry expression on Billy’s face; maybe Jason was right about him after all.
Chapter Twelve
Saturday morning she was up and out early. She picked up a few things at the market that Louise had requested then dropped them by along with her mother’s medicine. Claire went inside and spent an enjoyable hour eating breakfast and chatting. Her mother was having another good day and seeing how well she was doing this week made Claire that much more determined to keep her mother in her home no matter what it took.
All too soon it was time to go to the office. It felt strange to see the usually full parking garage bare but for a few other cars. The office door was ajar when she arrived on their floor, and Jason was already seated at his desk with his door open. Claire stored her handbag and walked through his door to see what he needed her to work on. Jason leaned back in his leather chair and studied her as she approached his desk.
“Thanks for coming in today, I hope it didn’t interfere with your weekend plans,” said Jason. The amused smirk on his face told her exactly what plans he was referring to.
“No, not at all. What shall I get started on?” asked Claire.
Completely ignoring her question Jason continued on, “No big party this weekend huh?”
“Did we come here to work or discuss my private life?” asked Claire.
“Well if your private life is open for discussion, I would be happy to put work aside because, quite frankly, I’m dying to hear more about your other life as a stripper.” Claire could only look at him in surprise.
After Jason hadn’t broached the subject of her second job during the week, she assumed he had decided to let it go. The look on his face assured her that he had far from forgotten it and intended to have that discussion now. “I don’t think my private life is any of your business so no; it isn’t open for discussion,” snapped Claire.
“Oh that’s where you’re wrong Claire; it is indeed my business when it reflects on Danvers. Now have a seat and let’s have this long-overdue discussion shall we?”
~~~
What the hell am I doing?I had no intention of having this conversation today. She’d reduced him to an aching, obsessing mess in the last week. That night in her apartment, with her wrapped around him, still haunted him so much he could barely concentrate on what was the biggest deal this company had ever been involved in. This was about the worst time possible to go crazy over a woman. That never happened; he enjoyed women but always on his own terms. Never had someone so completely confused and intrigued him.
The one piece to the puzzle that he couldn’t figure out was the side job. Sure, people worked two jobs all the time, hell he felt like he worked three most of the time so that wasn’t the confusing part, it was the second job that she’d obviously chosen that floored him. Claire was about as far from a stripper as he could imagine. Ok, so she didn’t actually take all her clothes off, but she was damn near naked when she popped out of that cake. She
was beautiful, and no doubt men loved looking at her; he hated to admit that. He had never noticed exactly how beautiful she was until the weekend with Liz and Harold.
She presented a whole different person daily in the office, and even though he was sure he had to have noticed she was attractive, he had never been tempted to cross the line with her. Now he was practically running and clawing his way across that line. She’d become an ache that he couldn’t get past. He needed to have her, be inside her, but more than that, he needed to know what was going on with her because none of it made any sense to him.
He rarely thought or cared what was going on in any woman’s life he was seeing. His life was this company, and that left very little to give to anyone else. With Claire though, it was fast becoming her first and the company second. It had to just be the mystery there. Once he had his questions answered then life could return to normal.
Claire seated herself stiffly in the chair in front of Jason, and the silence stretched as he seemed to be lost in thought. “Jason?”
His name seemed to jerk him back to the present, and he said, “Um… yes, where were we?”
Confused Claire said, “you wanted to tell me why my private life was your business I believe.”
“Oh yes, let’s see….Why don’t we just start at the beginning? How long have you been working your er… second job?”
Stiffly, Claire replied, “About a year.”
Jason looked at her in surprise. “You have been stripping for a year, and I never knew it?”
“It’s not stripping and you know that,” defended Claire hotly.
“Ok, ok, I mean cake jumping or whatever you call it. Claire, truthfully I’m a little baffled here. No offense to her but Suzy, I could easily see doing that; you not so much. Suzy is a very secure person who wants and enjoys the attention of men, and it shows. That’s her personality, it’s who she is and that’s great. You, however, obviously don’t want or seek that type of attention. If you did, your main wardrobe color wouldn’t be tan or brown, and I’m quite sure I would have seen a hint of cleavage before. Well other than the last week. I know you didn’t just decide you needed some excitement so what gives Claire?”