Chapter 31
Meg
“Well, how was it. I know you got laid last night. I can tell,” she says smugly. I know we are best friends, but I am shocked that she could tell.
“Ugh, yes, fine. I did. It was amazing. Is that what you wanted to hear,” I ask her exasperatedly. Piper laughs at me and I realize she was bluffing. She didn’t actually know anything, she just guessed. I fell right into her trap.
“You bitch,” I say and laugh. She is already making me a coffee and grabbing me a miniature quiche.
“I expect details later, but I know you want to go up to your office,” she says. I nod in agreement with her. She is right, and it also buys me time. I don’t want to kiss and tell too much. I kind of want to keep it to myself.
Taking my paper bag and caramel latte I give her a wave. I make my way up to my office. I unlock it and enter through the door. Placing my bags down on my desk, I walk over to the windows and open the curtains.
I walk into the conference room and do the same. Without the windows open it can be dark inside. While my back is turned, I hear footsteps behind me. Whirling around I look and see a man. He is fairly nondescript. Brown hair, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, and pale looking. Who is this guy?
“Can I help you,” I stutter out. Not sure what to say. I’m trapped in this space. He is blocking the door. If I can get him talking, maybe we can move this out to the main area. Where my cell phone is, and if all else fails the door to escape.
“Can you rewind time Ms. Wilson,” the man asks and takes a step toward me. I’m standing on the other side of the small table. Right now, it is my only line of defense. My eyes are darting around the room trying to come up with something anything. What I wouldn’t give for my trusty umbrella.
“Can you reverse the decision that cost me millions of dollars,” he asks and takes another step. My vocal cords finally decide to participate in this conversation.
“Who are you,” I manage to ask. I thought that Quentin Ashfield was locked up in the county jail. Sterling must have believed it too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dropped me off unattended.
“Joseph Brookins,” he answers me. He doesn’t elaborate. I raise my eyebrow in question. Obviously this is not Quentin. Before I can ask another question he begins to speak again.
“It seems that I have had to pay, Mr. Ashfield has had to pay, and now it is your turn,” he says lowly. He takes another step towards me. He has finally reached the edge of the table.
“You see, I’m not in the habit of letting people ruin deals and sabotage partnerships that I have spent years building,” he waves his hand at me.
“And I certainly won’t be bested by some girl, who should stick to social media posts,” he finishes his tirade. Insulting my career is not something that I take kindly too. I work hard, and don’t appreciate his belittling. Great, so not what you should be focusing on right now, my mind scolds me.
“I was hired by the local businesses and chamber of commerce to do a job,” I try to explain to him. Speaking in a calm tone. Hoping to reason with him, I continue.
“I am sorry that your plans didn’t work out, maybe we can come up with an alternative proposal,” I try to bargain with him. I need to get out of this small space. He laughs at the suggestion.
“I don’t want an alternative proposal. I want my original plan. It would have made me millions,” he yells. His mouth open. I feel like everything is happening in slow motion. I can see the spit spraying from his mouth as he speaks.
Suddenly, it dawns on me that I’m standing right above the register in Piper’s shop. If I make enough noise, maybe someone will come. Hoping that she is actually at the register, I put my idea to work.
“I understand, I was just trying to help my community,” I say. I bring my hands up and purposely hit the chair, knocking it over. It hits the floor hard.
“Oops,” I say and bend over to pick it up. I bump the other chair in the process, it falls over and hits the floor again. Hoping that that’s enough, I right both chairs and apologize.
“Sorry, I’m a bit jumpy these days,” I say in a leading way. I would like him to confirm that both he and Ashfield were in this together.
“Ah, I can imagine so. Ashfield just couldn’t get the job done though. It is always up to me to finish everything,” he says thoughtfully. Suddenly I’m angry. I stomp my foot a few times.
“This is ridiculous, you come after someone for doing their job. How old are you anyway? You are acting like a 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum because they didn’t get their way,” I stomp again when I finish, hoping he just thinks that I’m fired up.
My phone starts to ring over on my desk. I look at it.
“Ignore it, you won’t be able to answer it in a few minutes anyway,” he says darkly. He takes his hand out of his pocket. The one that has been in there during this whole time. Attached to it is a hand gun.
All of a sudden, I hear footsteps on the stairs outside. Oh no, this isn’t good. If it is Piper, she will get caught up in all of this. Just as my brain thinks it Piper bursts through the door.
“Meg is everything…” she trails off as soon as she sees the gun. Joseph Brookins glares at her.
“Go stand by your friend,” he orders pointing the gun at her. Piper looks at me. Her face a bit paler than normal. Robotically she moves to where I am standing. Still behind the table.
“Look, you don’t have to do this,” I start. Just like every other person in a movie that has a gun pointed at them. If I could hit myself, I would.
“Your friend just made this a bit more complicated, but that’s alright. I always get the job done. Today won’t be any different,” he threatens.
“We can just pretend this never happened, all of us can walk out of here and forget this moment,” Piper speaks up.
“Why would I do that? I don’t want to forget the moment that I got my retribution. This moment is what I have been waiting for for the last month,” he says rubbing his freehand over his face. The hand holding the gun is a bit shaky.
Just great. It would be my luck that he would shoot me accidentally, before getting to his actual plan.
“Sorry,” I murmur to Piper. I got her into this mess. Unknowingly, but still. I should have figured he had a weapon. She silently shakes her head at me. As if to say, shut up. I realize that my hands are shaking. She reaches out to grab my hand with hers. We have to get out of this.