Chapter 8
Hayes~
Now, the thing about Kirby Vellum was that he wasn’t a smoker in the traditional sense.
The man only smoked when he was stressed the hell out, and so whenever one of us saw him smoking, it was understood that we should check on him.
There was also the fact that, as the company’s president of public relations, the man knew a lot of shit, and though his job had him bound by confidentiality, he was prone to letting a lot of shit slip when he was stressed out.
So, wanting to make sure that the fellow was okay, I ventured out into the smoking area, resisting the urge to grab a broom.
While the offices of Carlie Incorporated were well-maintained, the smoking area was far enough from the building that it was an afterthought to the janitorial services.
The area didn’t really get cleaned up until landscaping came and did their thing weekly.
“Hey, Kirby,” I greeted. “How’s it going?”
“If you must know the truth, I think it’s time for a new job,” he drawled out before taking another hit of his cigarette.
“That bad, huh?”
“I just gotta be able to sleep at night, and these people...” Kirby let out a heavy sigh, and it was hard not to feel for him. After all, it shouldn’t be this hard to be a decent human being. “Especially, Lyle Simmons.”
That immediately had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. “What about Lyle?”
Kirby looked over at me, and that’s when reality finally sunk in. “Oh, shit,” he rushed out. “I probably shouldn’t be talking crap about your boss.”
“Normally, I’d agree,” I chuckled. “However, I’m very aware that Lyle’s moral compass is broken most of the time.”
His eyes narrowed a bit as he took another puff of his nicotine. “Well, were you also aware that he’s trying to acquire The Fantasy Factory?”
My mind immediately went back to how Lyle had instructed me to keep quiet about our interest, but now Kirby knew about it? Plus, nothing was even official yet. We’d been merely making inquiries, and those had turned out to be a dead end.
“Where’d you hear that?” I hedged.
“I had a meeting with Lyle at one, and like the rude prick that he is, he’d taken a phone call in the middle of our meeting, and instead of excusing himself or asking me to step out for a moment, he decided to just hold the entire conversation right in front of me,” he rambled. “As if I were that inconsequential.”
“Wow,” I remarked seriously. I mean, I knew that Lyle could be a dick at times, but that was super rude if you asked me.
“Right?” he rushed out. “You know, I think that thing between him and Stuart Carlie is beginning to go to his head.”
What?
“I’m sorry...did you say that Lyle has something going on with Stuart Carlie?
’ I asked, needing absolute clarification on this one.
After all, not only was Lyle married to a woman, but Stuart Carlie was the grandson of one of the founding brothers, vice president of marketing, and he was also married to a woman.
Never mind that both Lyle and Stuart had children old enough to be rocked by such a scandal.
Kirby waved my incredulousness away as if I was the only person in the entire building who hadn’t known about the affair. “They’ve been doing the deed for like six months already.”
“How in the hell do you know that?”
“Remember that Zurich meeting about Turbine?” he asked before actually putting his cigarette out, then going to light another one.
“They got sloppy drunk on our last night there, and my room just happened to be on the same floor as Lyle’s.
Needless to say, I saw them all over each other as Lyle pulled Stuart into his room, but because they’d been too busy.
..uh, appreciating one another, they hadn’t seen me. ”
“Who else knows about this?” I asked, reeling a bit, truth be told.
Kirby just shrugged his shoulders. “Since they’re not as careful as they should be, I can’t imagine that I’m the only one who knows.”
Even though that bit of information was enough to live rent-free in my head for the next century, I needed to get back to the topic of The Fantasy Factory. “Okay, so...what’s this about The Fantasy Factory? What did you hear?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, remembering what we’d been talking about. “So, while he’s so rudely talking on the phone as if I wasn’t there, he’s telling whoever was on the other end of the call that the owner wasn’t willing to sell or franchise, but that he wasn’t worried about it because he has a plan-B.”
“Did he say what that was?”
Kirby nodded. “He’s going to try to run her out by submitting bogus complaints about the club. Plus, he knows someone in the city clerk’s office that he can bribe to mess with the club’s permits or something like that.”
“Are you serious?” I asked, barely recognizing my own voice.
Kirby just nodded again. “Yeah, he’s going to try to muscle her out. He wants to cause her so many issues that she’ll be more open to selling or having Carlie as a corporate backup.”
I was going to kill the sonofabitch, swear to God.
“And you’re certain that he was talking about The Fantasy Factory?” I asked, needing to make sure that no misunderstandings were happening here.
“Yep,” he replied through another inhalation of smoke.
“That’s why I’m out here smoking. Can you imagine?
Being such a greedy bastard that you’d actually sabotage someone else’s dream just to make a lousy buck?
I mean, what kind of rat bastard do you have to be to do something like that and still be able to live with yourself? ”
“The same kind of rat bastard that would cheat on his wife with another man, I imagine,” I drawled out.
“Touché,” he chuckled, though it wasn’t a happy sound at all. “I just...I don’t know how much longer I can work for these soul-sucking leeches and still count myself as a good person.”
“I get it, Kirby,” I said, but that’s because I really did. “However, don’t let these unconscionable ghouls cost you your livelihood or professional reputation.”
“If only I could drink on the job, too,” he sighed, and I was just too pissed to disagree.
*****
Chamber~
Three days later, and I was still floating on cloud nine, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
I had waited years to finally get back out there, and Hayes had been more than worth the wait, and I could admit to still feeling a bit scared.
After all, I wasn’t sure if Hayes could still be considered a rebound since it’d been five years.
At any rate, spending the weekend with him had been fun and had felt easy enough to make me want to do it again.
It had felt like one long date of getting to know each other, and the sex alone was worth giving this thing a serious shot.
In fact, for the first time in years, I was eager to get home from work, ready to spend another night with the man.
Just then, my phone chimed with an incoming text, snapping me out of all thoughts Hayes.
Ben: I’m n the back parking lot of ur club. Can u talk?
My heart immediately jumped into my throat because there’s no way that Ben would be here if it wasn’t important. As a mother, my first thoughts were wondering if my sons were okay, but I knew that Ben would have called me had that been the case, not send me some cryptic text message.
Sticking my phone and the club keys in my pockets, I headed towards the back, the lot usually reserved for the employees.
Once I walked out of the back door, the sun blinded me for a second before I could see Ben leaning up against his Audi, looking like he just jumped off a GQ magazine cover.
Whatever could be said about my ex-husband, it couldn’t be said that he wasn’t a handsome bastard.
“What’s up?” I asked when I finally made my way over.
His dark eyes seemed to have a kind of dooms day look about them as he said, “I heard something at lunch today, and...and while I don’t know if it’s just a rumor or not, I felt like I should let you know, regardless.”
My heart started beating a bit hard, wondering what on earth could have brought Ben here. After all, it was no secret that he despised this place. “What did you hear?”
His eyes narrowed a bit. “Do you remember Darlene Ruger?”
I nodded. “Yeah, she works at the city clerk’s office. I had to deal with her a lot when I was applying for my permits.”
Ben’s face softened as he let out a heavy sigh, and I could actually feel my stomach turn. “I’ve never made my feelings about this place a secret, Chamber.”
My brows immediately furrowed. “I know that,” I drawled out slowly.
“Well, I was having lunch with Darlene to go over some environmental...you know what, that’s not important,” he said, trailing off. “After we were done discussing some city req...”
“Ben, just spit it out,” I ordered, feeling edgy.
“Darlene mentioned that she had some news that was sure to...” Ben shook his head regretfully. “News that would make me happy.”
“What kind of news?”
“She said that...that an acquisitions manager named Lyle Simmons at Carlie Incorporated wanted your club, and that he approached her about...about helping him with that,” he finally revealed.
“How could she help him with that?” I asked, my heart beating wildly.
“He promised her some compensation if she could sabotage your permits,” he confessed. “His plan is to file multiple bogus complaints against the club, then have her help him on the back end by...I don’t know, losing your permits or...or something like that.”
I wanted to cry, and I wanted to rage.
“And she thought that you’d enjoy hearing their plans because she’s aware that you hate this place,” I surmised, my voice barely working.
Ben nodded. “Though I’ve never told her anything personal, the club is a success, and everyone who knows me knows that you’re my ex-wife, Chamber.
So, when you were building this place, any time that I had to deal with the city, if they mentioned you, I always made it clear that.
..that I wasn’t onboard with what you had going on. ”
“What did you say after she told you what Carlie Incorporated was planning?” I asked, and I needed his response to be the right one. Because Ben and I had children together, hating him was something that I hadn’t ever wanted to feel. However, his reply might change that.
Ben reached out, grabbed the hem of my shirt like he used to do when we’d been married, then pulled me closer, though not close enough to be invading or inappropriate.
“I know you’re disappointed in me, Chamber.
I also know that I let us all down when my priorities shifted.
I know that, and I have learned to live with that.
However, despite how I feel about this place, this isn’t about your damn club.
This is about someone attacking you with no provocation, and not only are they doing it illegally, but I know how much this place has helped you heal from our divorce.
I know that it’d break your heart if someone were to take it away from you, and I think that our hearts have already been broken enough. ”
I couldn’t stop my eyes from tearing up, but I didn’t care if Ben saw them.
For twenty years, he had seen the best and worst of me, so it was hard to feel embarrassed around him.
Plus, we still had two children between us, so it was important that we could still be there for each other when the stakes were as high as they were now.
“So, what did you say to her?”
“I thanked her for letting me know that she was corrupt, then informed her that I’d be reporting her and Carlie Incorporated to the city mayor,” he answered, and it was clear that I’d been underestimating Ben’s character for quite some time.
“Thank you, Ben,” I said sincerely. “I’m sorry for-”
“Don’t do that,” he said, stopping me. “Don’t apologize for being happy, Chamber.
No matter what...no matter our mistakes, we still have two sons, and one day, we’re going to share grandchildren, and life’s too short to.
..to do this. While we don’t have to be friends, I don’t see why we still can’t be decent to each other.
Besides, if there’s an apology owed, I’m the one who owes it.
I let my ego get in the way of a lot of things, and I should have.
..I could have handled things a lot better. ”
“Nonetheless, I still appreciate you coming to me with this,” I told him. “If this turns into a big legal battle, it’s nice to know that I won’t be fighting it alone.”
He didn’t say anything for a bit, but he didn’t need to. We had turned a corner, and I couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t feel good. After all, he was right about us having grandchildren one day, and it’d be nice for them not to grow up thinking that their grandparents were assholes.
“Would you like a tour?” I finally asked, jerking my head towards the club.
“I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet, Chambermaid,” Ben laughed, using his nickname for me.
“Fair enough,” I smiled. “Maybe some other time.”
“Maybe,” he lied, but at this point, I had bigger issues to deal with.