Chapter Sixteen
James and Eleanor stayed at the gala longer than either had intended. Once word of their engagement had gotten out they were bombarded with several well-wishers and people haggling for wedding invites. Eleanor seemed to take all the attention as graciously as he expected her to, while James was slightly annoyed. He couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t happier.
By the time they left the function, Eleanor suggested they go back to her apartment for a nightcap. After a few drinks their light chatter turned into kissing and heavy petting. While Eleanor’s kisses were pleasant and aroused him as they would with any man, something wasn’t right. The chemistry was missing; it was as if both of them were simply going through the motions. James figured it was something they could work on. He refused to acknowledge his disinterest had anything to do with Noelle.
After a few more awkward attempts at foreplay Eleanor finally put an end to their make-out session when it was clear neither one of them was really into it.
“We have to save something for later,” she’d laughed. James, secretly relieved, didn’t argue and they made arrangements to see each other again over the weekend. It was just past midnight and while he could have gone to the penthouse to see Noelle, something held him back.
The following day at his office James stopped himself from instructing Paul to make arrangements for Noelle’s departure from the penthouse. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Paul was another issue in itself. There was something different about his Executive Assistant. He was as efficient as ever but the other man seemed aloof and more than a little peeved whenever they spoke. The more James thought about it, Paul’s affable demeanor had turned to something that was almost hostile. Instead of the pleasant good mornings and polite inquiries, Paul was abrupt and to the point.
Several times James had asked his EA if there was a problem, but Paul always answered with a clipped “no.” James hoped the younger man would get over it soon because it was getting old. While he didn’t expect them to be buddies, James did care about his employees well being.
He called Paul’s office. The younger man answered on the first ring.
“Yes, Mr. Rothschild.” And that was another thing. While most of his employees addressed him formally, Paul was one of the few who called him by his first name. Or at least he used to.
“If you have a minute, do you mind coming to my office?”
“Sure. I’ll be right over.” Paul hung up.
A few minutes later a tap on his office door indicated Paul was outside his door.
“Come in.”
Paul came in and closed the door behind him before walking over and halting in front of James’ desk. “What can I do for you?”
“Actually it’s more about what I can do for you. Please have a seat.”
The other man seemed surprised but sat down.
James gave him the once over. There it was: that hostility. Paul seemed to be looking through him instead of at him. “You’re probably wondering why I’ve called you in here. Don’t worry, it’s not about your job performance. I have no complaints in that department. However I have noticed a change in you.”
“I’m not sure I understand, Mr. Rothschild.”
“Right there. Since when did you become so formal with me?”
Paul shrugged. “You’re my boss.”
“Let’s not split hairs here. I’ve always been your boss but only in the last several weeks you started calling me Mr. Rothschild. You seem upset about something. I know I may just be your boss, but if there’s anything going on in your life or perhaps in this office that’s giving you a problem perhaps I could help you.”
If he wasn’t paying close attention, James would have missed how Paul narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about Mr. Rothschild.”
“Paul. Cut the bullshit. What’s really going on?”
“With all due respect sir, I feel if I were frank about my feelings they may cost me my job so I think I’ll keep my opinions to myself. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask me again.”
What the hell? “I am asking. You can speak openly without fear of losing your job because I asked you to.”
Paul flexed his jaw as if he were trying to hold back whatever it was on his mind. Finally, “Okay, but remember you asked. It’s about Noelle.”
James stiffened. Paul had been with him for the last five years. In that time, there had been countless women in and out of James’s life. Paul made sure they were taken care of and he often checked on them at James’s behest. Not once, however, had he mentioned any of them, or seemed to be remotely interested beyond what his job required. James was instantly suspicious. “What about her?” he asked tightly.
“I think the way you’re treating her is atrocious. Not to mention—”
Paul was cut off by the sound of a loud commotion outside of James’s office door.
“Miss you can’t go in there!”
The door flew open and a red-faced Gillian stormed into his office. Her eyes shot fire and she was practically foaming at the mouth. Her hair was slightly mussed and her clothes were wrinkled. James had never seen her look anything less than elegant. Right now however, she appeared to him like a raving mad dog.
“I’m so sorry!” Stella apologized, running into the room behind Gillian.
Two security guards burst inside and grabbed Gillian each taking an arm. “We’re sorry sir, she got past us. It won’t happen again. We’ll call the police.”
“Get your damn hands off me!” Gillian screamed struggling like a wild woman.
James held up his hand to halt the security guards from dragging her away. “Let her go. I’ll talk to her.”
“You’re damn right you’re going to talk to me. Who the fuck do you think you are ignoring my calls. I know your lap boy here must have told you I wanted to see you.” Gillian slammed her palms on his desk.
He received the messages, but he had no intention of returning any of them. James chuckled at her outburst. “So this is what happens when you’re ignored? What happened to all those elocution lessons from finishing school? Show a little decorum, sweetheart.”
Gillian circled around his desk, her fist balled with the clear intention of hitting him. One of the guards restrained Gillian before she could assault James. “Son of a bitch!”
“Seriously Gillian, pull yourself together. No one in this room appreciates your tantrum. There’s no need to be so dramatic about AlCore’s turn of fortune. You knew it would eventually go bankrupt.”
“You asshole! This is your fault. All David needed was a little boost. You could have helped. I swear to God if he dies, the blood is on your hands!”
What the hell was she talking about? James was well aware of the precarious state of AlCore but he had no idea what his former lover was talking about.
James nodded to the security guard. “Let her go. Wait outside and close the door behind you,” he dismissed him. “That goes for the rest of you too.”
Paul and Stella seemed only too happy to leave while the two guards hesitated until James made a sweeping motion with his hand, signaling them to leave.
When they were alone, James focused his attention on Gillian and saw tears streaming down her checks. Real tears. Not the fake crocodile ones she produced when she’d told him they could never be together. No, this time her eyes were red, her massacre was slightly smudged.
“Explain to me why there’ll be blood on my hands? Who’s dying? The old man? Hasn’t he been at death’s door for years now?”
Gillian’s lips trembled and her fists clenched and unclenched. “David, you ass! He’s crashed his car earlier today.”
James froze. Even though David had been his nemesis since they were children, he didn’t wish the man physical harm. “I’m sorry to hear that Gillian.”
She pointed her finger at him, her body shaking. “You drove him to it!”
“I can hardly be blamed for a car accident.”
“He crashed his car into a tree. There was no alcohol in his system or skid marks on the street. Can’t you see, he wanted to die?” James barely processed her words before she was next to him, delivering a sound smack across his cheek. When she would have hit him again, James caught her wrist and stood up.
“That’s enough. I’m sorry David was in an accident but if he did it deliberately as you think he did, the person you need to blame is him.”
“If you would have only—”
“What? Blindly given him the money to save an ailing company he had no solid business plan to save. All that would have done was delay the inevitable. I didn’t appreciate how he had the gall to send you to see me in the first place when you had no clue about the business. And then for him to show up and expect me to bail you guys out on the strength of our flimsy familial connection—a connection he made damn sure to deny until it was convenient for him to acknowledge it. Well, too little too late, Gillian. Now he has to deal with the mess he’s made and you’ll have to live with your choices as well.” He let go of her wrist, bent down and pressed the speaker button to call the security phone.
“Yes, Mr. Rothschild?”
“Please see that Mrs. Alexander is escorted out. And going forward, she’s not allowed back in the building.”
Gillian backed away from him, almost stricken. “You don’t even care do you?”
“About what? About David? It’s sad, tragic even, but people get into accidents every day.”
“He’s your brother,” she whispered, hand to mouth.
“And he’s your husband. Shouldn’t you be at the hospital with him? Did you come here in hopes I’d save you from the mess you’re in? I’m not as gullible as I used to be.”
He could tell by the way she flinched, he’d hit his mark. Gillian might have been genuinely upset but she was more worried about her own future than she was David’s. “You didn’t use to be this cold.”
“I am what you, David and the old man made me. The three of you labeled me as a nothing, a non-entity. So you don’t get to come in here and lay this shit at my feet.”
Just then security showed up, discreetly tapping on the door before entering. One of the men grabbed Gillian by the elbow but she yanked it out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me.” She ran her hands down the front of her outfit before shooting James a glare that could have killed him on the spot if she had that ability. “I hate you.”
“The feeling is quite mutual.”
“Go to hell.”
“I’ve been there Gillian and when I visited, I noticed there was a spot reserved for you.”
She glared at him before turning on her heel.
When he was by himself again, James sank in his chair. A cold chill swept through his body. As he’d told Gillian, he was not responsible for David’s action. So why wouldn’t his hands stop shaking?
For years he’d forced himself not to feel, channeling all his past frustration and pain into a singular goal. From James’s earliest memory the Alexanders had given him nothing but grief. He should be celebrating their downfall, but the deep wounds they’d inflicted over the years wouldn’t allow him his victory. It made him angry… angry because the old man was too incapacitated to realize just how much trouble the company he’d built was in. It also pissed him off that David tried to take the easy way out. Gillian’s barbs had hit their target. James did fill guilty and he had no reason to. The Alexanders were still fucking with him without effort and it drove him crazy.
James couldn’t concentrate at the blurring words on his computer monitor. His eyes were sore from strain and his temples throbbed. Damn Gillian and her dramatics. She had no right to come here and accuse him of anything after what she’d done—they’d done —to him.
Realizing he wasn’t going to get another thing done, he powered down his computer and packed up his laptop. He called Paul to let him know he could go for the day, mentally reminding himself to continue that conversation they’d started earlier. Right now, however, he was too distracted to concentrate.
He barely responded to the security guards’ good nights as he strode out the building into the parking garage. Instead of heading to his house however, he ended up driving. He got on the highway without a destination.
His mind drifted to the first time he met the imposing figure of Sheldon Alexander, which ironically was at the funeral of James’s father Stephen. He had been nine and had already learned some of the harsh realities of life. His grandfather having suffered a stroke and had become wheelchair bound. His mother was hardly home and when she was, she was drunk or high. He’d spied his mother shooting up in the bathroom once. When she saw him, instead of telling James to leave she asked him to pull the strap around her arm tighter while she gave herself some special ‘medicine’. It wasn’t unusual for things to go missing around the house. His grandfather tried to cover for her, but James knew his mother stole the items to sell for more drugs.
James pretty much took care of himself because of his grandfather’s limited mobility and his mother’s drug addiction. School wasn’t much better. The children made fun of his worn clothes that were two sizes too small or large. He was often dirty because something was always getting cut off. He was lucky to get one square meal a day let alone three.
So he was surprised one day when his mother, who had been surprisingly lucid, brought home a brand new suit and shoes that fit perfectly. It was the best thing he’d ever own.
“Make sure you get behind the ears. Don’t get out of the tub until you’re squeaky clean.” His mother claimed she was taking him someplace special. It must be because he couldn’t remember when she ever paid this much attention or showed any interest in his hygiene or appearance.
His mother also took great care with her appearance, something she hadn’t done in a long time. She actually looked pretty again. She’d artfully covered the bags under her eyes and the sores and scars on her face. Her clothes concealed the track marks on her arms, and how painfully thin her frame had become in her drug use. Her long blonde hair was arranged in a classy-looking bun. And she seemed sober.
He didn’t ask questions as they rode the bus and walked three blocks to their destination, which turned out to be a church. He hadn’t stepped foot inside of one since his grandfather’s stroke. As they walked in, solemn organ music played and James realized this was no ordinary church service. It was a funeral. He’d only ever saw one on television. His mother chose a seat in the back as they listened to the dour minister give the eulogy. At the front of the church was a closed coffin with several flower arrangements on top. Beside it was a framed thirty by forty picture of a man who looked oddly familiar though Jaime was sure he’d never met him before.
His mother clutched him tightly, which was almost the most affection she’d ever shown him. She held on as tears ran down her face and he couldn’t figure out why she mourned this man. Then he heard the name Stephan and he knew. That man was his father. His mother had mentioned that name many times yet this was the first time he’d seen his face. James’s attention remained on that picture as he tried to commit every feature to memory from the gray eyes, like his own, to the ink black hair, also like his.
Sometime during the service he got the sensation someone was watching him. When he turned slightly to the left his eyes collided with a man with iron gray hair and a stern demeanor. James wasn’t sure how long they looked at each other before the old man turned back around.
Once the benediction was read, the pallbearers surrounded the coffin and proceeded to roll it down the aisle. It was followed by a tall, thin blonde woman, and with a small blond boy clutching her hand. The boy looked to be around James’s age.
As the coffin passed them, his mother reached out to touch it. The blonde woman glared at his mother. “What are you doing here? You weren’t invited,” she hissed.
Kelly raised her chin defiantly. “My son has the right to pay his final respects to his father.” She said it loud enough for the people around her to hear.
Then the man with the gray hair approached them and looked at James. He scrunched his face as if he’d smelled something unpleasant. “So this is the little bastard.” It was all he said before ushering the woman and the boy out the church.
James didn’t know how he ended up in the parking lot of Noelle’s penthouse. Tonight he needed to just lose himself in her. When he walked through the door however, she looked to be on the verge of walking out the door. He didn’t know where she intended to go but she’d have to change her plans.
Noelle was barely recognizable from the girl he’d first met. She wore way more makeup than she needed and her outfit, while well put together and obviously expensive, seemed wrong on her. Had he imagined her to be something she wasn’t? Like Gillian who’d made a fool of him. The longer he stared at her, the angrier he grew. Everything from earlier hit him all at once and he wanted to lash out.
She fidgeted beneath his gaze. “I uh…I was just going to meet my cousin and some of her friends for drinks.”
He didn’t speak, as he continued to stare her down, taking in every single detail of her appearance from the high heeled boots to the jeans that provocatively hugged her hips. She’d lost weight since they’d been together but her curves were just as tempting. His cock stirred and all he could think about was how he planned on sinking himself into her tight wet pussy.
She ran her tongue across her gloss covered lips. “Well, I wasn’t expecting you, so I didn’t think it would be such a big deal to go out. I’m stuck in the penthouse most of the time and I—”
“Call your cousin and cancel your plans.” He strode past her and made his way to the bar. After the shit day he’d had James was in no mood for arguments.
“No.”
He went about his task without missing a beat. “Take off your clothes, Noelle.”
“Did you hear what I just said? I’m going out with my cousin. It would have been nice if you’d called ahead.”
James slowly pulled out a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He poured himself a drink and took a sip before he acknowledged her. “I heard what you said; now take off your clothes.”
“You can’t order me around like this!”
He’d had enough from her. If she wanted to act like a child he could certainly accommodate her. He refused to put up with her tantrum. “Five seconds, Noelle or I come over there and do it for you. And if I have to come over there, I’m going to paddle that delectable ass until you can’t sit for a week.”
She literally stomped her foot on the ground with her hands clenched into fists at her side. “James!”
“One.” He took another sip of his drink.
“You’re being unreasonable.”
“Two.” He licked his lips making eye contact with Noelle, leaving no doubt of his intentions.
“I’m a grown woman, and you have no right to treat me this way.”
“Three.” He put the glass down.
“Stop this.”
“Four.”
Despite her protests he could tell Noelle wanted him just as much as he wanted her. She trembled and her lips quivered. The outline of her nipples peaked through her shirt just begging to be sucked and licked.
“Five.” He walked from behind the bar and stalked toward her. He bent down just enough for his shoulder to catch her midsection as he lifted Noelle off her feet.
She let out a sound between a squeak and a scream.
As he carried her to the bedroom he swatted her ass. “I think it’s time for a little reminder of who you belong to.”
Though Noelle whimpered and kicked earning her another swat, James refused to change course. Once he tossed her on the center of the bed he paused for the briefest of seconds and their eyes collided. That look in the depth of her big brown eyes made him flinch. In the back of his mind he knew she didn’t deserve this but he could think of no other way to exhume his pain. After this night, she might hate him, but it wouldn’t be as much as he hated himself.