Enough Said

 

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

- Edmund Burke

 

 

RISKE

 

Security waved me right through when they recognized my face. If they were at all surprised, they didn’t show it. The only person who did was the secretary who caught my flying employee badge on my way in.

I pushed the elevator button for the top floor, standing proudly amidst the sea of suits in the confined glass cage. Surprisingly, I was enjoying the ride all the way up. Before I could hit the top floor, I pressed another button. I exited the elevator on the earlier floor, motioning for the additional guard to let me through the glass partitions. When I was through, I gave him a small “Thanks” and headed past his confused face, making a straight beeline to the corner office.

The office of Gregory Sears was highly decorated; his ornate walls were as pretentious as his attitude. Framed degrees flanked the white walls, and several pictures of Greg among famed politicos and publishing celebrities hung at eye-level around the entire perimeter of the room.

I was surprised his office door was even open. I could hear his obnoxious laugh from the front door. By the time he looked up, it was too late. I was practically on top of him. I smiled.

WHAM! I hit him. Hard. I relished in the crack of my knuckles against his face, and the next thing I knew I was standing over him, watching him hold his bleeding nose with both hands.

A flashback of the time I punched a tyrant of a teacher in high school fought its way to the frontal lobe of my brain. Only this time, I was the heavy, the one in control. And the physical odds were evened out. No longer a student-to-teacher situation or boy-to-adult… but man-to-man.

“Get your pansy ass up, so I can knock you the hell down again.” I took a step backwards, motioning to his ruffled form on the floor.

Greg groaned in response. The prick was probably more upset that his suit was getting wrinkled than his nose was getting broken, and he held his head back, attempting to smirk in my face.

I didn’t have time for his bullshit. Now that my itch had found its scratch, I settled in, shutting the door behind me.

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way…” My glare tightened. “Where is she?”

“She?”

“Yes… She.” I stood rigid. “I didn’t fucking stutter.”

Greg sniffed, blindly grabbing for a tissue from his desk. He sat down in his leather seat, nearly falling to the floor again. I made no move to help. His words were slurred by the blood, when they finally fumbled out of his loosened teeth.

“Let’s see… Kat is…”

“No,” I cut in. “Not Kat. Don’t play any games with me, Sears, or I’ll put another hole in your skull… You know which ‘she’ I’m talking about.”

Suddenly, the door swung open. As if she had been listening on the other side, Laney ambled in, her stride long and graceful in a pair of heels too high to be professional. She peeked at me behind orange-red bangs, her smirk wide and pronounced.

“Nice to see you again, Foxx.”

My answer for her was a little shorter. “Fuck you.”

She laughed, a musical sound that turned my stomach.  “Why all the hostility? We go way too far back for you to be so angry.”

“I’ve been nothing but angry since the moment I met you. It was you we found in the barn the night of the cow-tipping… bent over… getting fucked doggy-style by the deputy. You. Not Christy…” I pointed a finger. “And I knew it. Unfortunately, I’d seen Christy’s bare ass in her little cut-off shorts too much to mistake it for anyone else’s.” I threw daggers with my eyes. “And you knew it would come out—that I would confirm the truth with Christy. And that’s why you ruined us. That’s why you ruined Kat and me. You’re a crazy bitch.”

Stepping towards the desk, she fingered the edge. She looked up at me, ignoring Greg completely. “Maybe just a little…” She brought two fingers close in the air, and I stifled the urge to snap them in half.

“You’ve always been jealous of Kat… Never wanted anything good for her.” I stepped closer. “Tell me something: Did you decide to completely turn insane before or after you started sleeping with Deputy Moines, turning him against Kat?”

Laney put a finger against her chin, tapping. “Probably before…” She giggled. “The deputy was just the beginning, though. I never thought I’d get here. Never thought she’d actually bring me along. I mean…” Her eyes widened. “She made me part owner of her company.” She smiled crookedly. “And then I put those parts in Greg’s hands…” She glanced at the bleeding man. “Which I can already see are full right now.”

She shook her head slowly, tilting it at me. “Maybe we would have stopped being friends all those years ago. Maybe I would have gotten bored with toying with Miss Perfect.” Laney shrugged. “But then you had to go running to Miss Mighty Mouth about me and her little boyfriend, Mr. Moines.” She sucked her teeth. “Should have just let the dumb oaf have his fun.”

My breathing grew shallow. “With every barely legal girl in town…”

Laney smiled. “Sure. Why not? It worked for Christy. Dumb broad actually thought she was in love with the ‘couldn’t-keep-his-dick-in-his-pants’ cop. I did her a favor.”

“And ruining her reputation along with mine? Was that a favor, too? I never made a move on Christy, and you fucking know it.”

“Yes, but she made a move on you. Like I knew she would. Poor sad Christy,—broken-hearted and in need of some cock after being dumped by the cop. Wasn’t hard to make sure Kat showed up when it counted, when you just had to console poor little whimpering Christy. God, were you a sap...”

Laney looked like a lunatic. Her shiny red hair appeared almost diabolical on top of her head, and if I looked close enough, I could probably see the horns underneath. I’d known she was a bad friend—a heinous bitch who’d blackballed me out of Kat’s life, but a thief? A potential murderer?

This went beyond even my expectations.

“And I guess killing her was a bonus?”

Laney shifted on her feet, making the skirt at her waist sway. “I made sure she could get out safely…” She shrugged, her fingers touching the edge of her blunt bob. “For the most part. Point is… There’s no way she can recoup her losses. Not without an office. Not without a home. She took the news pretty hard… when Greg called her this morning to tell her I’d sold my share of the business. Word is, she flew the coup. Without a business, Kat’s out of the game… And so are you.”

She reached back, behind Greg’s desk, throwing the magazine she’d pulled at me. “Your precious kitty let the cat out of the bag.”

I grabbed the paper before it hit the floor. Unfolding, I read the headline, printed and bolded at the top.

Billionaire boy Brendon Foxx hides shameful little cheating secret… and we’re the ones to dig the dirt out of the Foxxhole!

I read further.

The article covered the advent of my tiny start-up travel magazine, Tripping Out! Following my movements, the popular fodder magazine had dug up enough info about my new company to bury me with my father. It showed that I had been “cheating” on Foxxhole Publishing… with my business. The exclusive was enough to bar me from Foxxhole for life, and when I looked at the name of the man who’d “made me,” I grinned from ear-to-ear.

Charlie Simpson had done a beautiful job “uncovering” my secrets, and it was a good thing the former journalist was on my payroll; his teaming up with Kat had been one of the luckiest coincidences of my life… and the nail in the coffin I needed to quit Foxxhole without kicking up any further suspicions.

I needed a cover… for the day that I would take Foxxhole Publishing down for good…

But that was a different story.

Right now, the only story that was on my mind was the one that Laney would likely sing in court… the day they’d book her fire-starting ass. I nodded, not revealing any emotion.

It all seemed simple. Laney was practically swimming in glee, and if Greg wasn’t close to drowning in his own nose-blood, I’m sure he would look the same. But I had secrets of my own…

“You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?”

“Looks like it.” Laney looked triumphant. “It’s too bad that you’re like every other man… You think with the little head between your legs rather than the one on your shoulders. We could’ve used you here at the office. Paperboys are always a scarcity.”

I brushed my fingers along my bruised knuckles, reveling in the pain. It made me grin to think that I wouldn’t be the only one soon. I tapped a finger at my chest, feeling the wire beneath.

“That’s the funny thing about business. It really is like making love to a woman. Guess that’s why you’ve never been worth a fuck… Literally. And the only one that needs to be concerned about paper here is you, Laney. County papers. You’re going the fuck to jail.”

She crossed her arms, tittering. “How do you figure that?”

“You were so quick to count out Christy… You didn’t think you were the only one out for revenge, did you? I called in a favor or two.” I leaned forward, speaking into the wire strapped to my chest. “You can come in now.”

Laney’s gaze wandered over my shoulder and while Greg tried to lift his head, the front door abruptly opened, bringing with it an older man, suited in blue, his silver badge winking on his wide-set arm. Nine years hadn’t changed him at all.

Still as serious as he’d once been, more stoic than ever, he only nodded at me as he walked in, the mustache beneath his nose twitching as he stared at the two soon-to-be jailbirds on the other side of the room. He crossed his arms.

Laney looked like she’d seen a ghost. She glanced at him, her gaze perusing our sudden guest from head to toe. “Deputy Dildo—I mean, Moines?”

“Oh yeah,” I motioned to the man on the right. “Guess I forgot to mention it.” I grinned. “And I guess you forgot to do your homework. You remember him, don’t you, Laney? Meet Florida’s newest Chief of Police, Franklin Moines—again. The spouse of the woman you tried to run out of town… AKA Christy’s husband.”