Angela

I was late. I never had gotten out of that phase when I went to college and all throughout my working life. Today was no different, though it was the one day that I wasn’t trying to be late. It was my first day down at the Bordeaux Law Firm and I didn’t want to give them tardiness as my first impression. I was ecstatic for the job, but my thoughts of the past kept me up all night and not even three set alarms had been able to pull me from my dreams.

Now I was rushing out the door to catch the bus. There was a thought that struck me when I got outside. It was a chilly morning and I was already late. The bus was just going to make me even later. I was going to take Marcus up on his offer for a ride, even if I knew that he had just said that to be nice. He hadn’t always been the nice guy type, but I needed a ride bad if I was going to have a chance of being almost on time.

I knocked a couple of times and looked through the living room window. It looked much like it had the last time that I was there. I didn’t see anyone move and since I was so late, I didn’t have time to keep trying. I had to make sure that I caught the bus or I might as well not even go into work because I wasn’t going to have a job there anymore anyways.

The bus was running late and I was almost thirty minutes late when I arrived at the law firm. I got a couple of looks and I could tell that I was starting off on the wrong foot. It was going to take some time to get myself past this. I was going to have to be on time, every day for a long time. Maybe it was a mistake to have sold my car. Jimmy had taken all of the money out of our accounts so I didn’t have a choice, but I was really kicking myself at the moment.

“Angela, so glad to see that you could join us.”

I looked up to see the man whose name was on the side of the building. “Sorry Sir. The bus was running late…”

He stopped me with a raised hand and I waited to hear what he was going to say. My heart pounded in my chest and I was nervous about it. This man had my fate in his hands and I could honestly say that the feeling sucked. I didn’t like a man that I didn’t really even know being the one that decided if I was going to stay with his company or not.

“Things happen, I get it. Just make sure that you are leaving early enough to make sure that those things don’t affect the time that you get here. I need you here on time. I have a deposition across town and we are going to be late now because you weren’t on time. You can see how this can have a domino effect and then the whole day is shot, don’t you?”

The older man was not talking loud, but there was a condescending tone in his voice that I could have done without. Apparently he took punctuality very seriously and I was going to do just as he suggested and leave early from now on. The pay was good and even though I only got as far as paralegal, he was willing to give me a shot. I could easily get the last few credits that I needed and take the test. I just had to stay put long enough to do it.

“Yes Sir. I can assure you that it won’t happen again.”

He was staring down at my tits as I talked and I could have used that to my advantage. I didn’t have to though. It seemed that the boss was ready to forgive me and I was going to ignore the reason why. It had been a while since I had worked so closely with someone like him, but it wasn’t near the first time that I had met someone just like him. There seemed to be a lot of people like Mr. Bordeaux in the world.

***

My first day was confusing and a little more than I was ready for. I had tried my best to keep it friendly and professional with Mark, but it was almost impossible. The deposition turned out to be an all-day event and it seemed that my boss wasn’t alone in his fascination with my chest. By the end of the day I was reconsidering wearing the white satin blouse that I had on. It puckered in the wrong place and seemed to be too much of a distraction. Tomorrow I was tempted to wear a turtle neck and see if I would fare any better.

When I got home, the lights were still off over at Marcus’. I wanted to talk to him and even though our last meeting had been a little strange, I didn’t want to have this tension with him. I didn’t think it was just me that was feeling this way and I wanted it to go away. I had a year lease at this place and the last thing that I wanted was to dread coming home. I was just going to have to swallow my pride and move on from the past. But Marcus had to come home first so that I could.

I looked out the window several times throughout dinner and even once before I went to bed. Marcus had always been a night owl, but even by morning there was no sign that he had been home. His bike wasn’t out and neither was the car that stayed parked in front of the garage door. The garage was too full of tools and half-done projects to get anything else in there.

After another day of this, I started to think that it was Marcus that had bailed this time. He had to come back to his home eventually, but for the time being, he was still not showing his face. The third day of this I was starting to worry and I thought about going down to the biker bar a few miles away and seeing if I could get any information. I knew the kind of place that Marcus hung out at. His older brother had been going there for years and it only made sense that Marcus would be seen around there too.

Leaving the house right before the sun started to go down, I walked the few blocks to the bus station. I passed a blacked out SUV that I hadn’t seen before. Looking towards the driver’s window, I could see a figure sitting in the seat, but nothing else beyond that. I got a shiver that ran through me as I passed them and I walked a little faster because of it.

When I got on the bus, my heart started to slow down. I don’t know what had gotten into me, but something in my gut had gone a little crazy. New Orleans wasn’t the city that I remembered or I wasn’t the same girl as before. I wasn’t really sure which one it was.

***

“Hey I am looking for someone. Do you think you can help me?”

The bartender was short and a little round. I had to get rather close to him, leaning over the bar to get him to hear me the music was so loud. “Who are you looking for sweetie? I would be more than happy to help you with whatever it is that you need.”

His eyes and emphasis didn’t leave much to the imagination of what that offer all entailed. He wasn’t my type, none of the men in there really were. Not when I had my heart set on seeing Marcus. It hadn’t taken but a quick sweep of the place to see that he wasn’t there. His bright red hair always stuck out in any crowd, even a rough one like this.

“I am looking for Marcus.”

“The one with the Devils?”

I didn’t know who the Devils were, but I mentioned his red hair and the man knew who I was talking about. Apparently he was with them and no one had seen him around for a couple of days.

“Well if you hear anything, would you mind giving me a call? Maybe you could ask around?”

He told me that he would do one better. “Everyone shut up!!”

The bartender moved back as he started to yell and I was thankful for that because he was rather loud. I didn’t like the attention that it put on me though. It felt like everyone in the room was staring our way. Everyone had indeed shut up, but that just meant they were looking in our direction now.

“This fine little lady is looking for Marcus. Does anyone in here know where he is? He is going to kick himself if she walks out of here. Hell I know that I would.”

His words and suggestive smile made me blush. I wanted to melt into the bar stool that I was sitting on, but no such luck. I was still there and when everyone started to get back to their business and the room got loud again my hopes of finding Marcus were gone. The sad thing was that I didn’t even know what it was that I was going to say to him when I found him. I wasn’t sure what it was that made me want to see him so badly, but I did.

“You’re looking for Marcus?”

The guy was huge and I had to crane my neck up to look at him. “Um yeah. We are old friends and I haven’t seen him in a while. Just wondering if he was out of town or something.”

“We are looking for him too. Who are you?”

The man had a strange accent to his voice. It was southern for sure, the man was southern, but it wasn’t from Louisiana. He wasn’t from here and I don’t know what it was, but the man looking down at me was starting to make me nervous. That was a hard thing to feel surrounded by a bunch of rough looking men like the bar was full of, but I couldn’t help it.

“Like I said before, I am a friend. We go way back.”

“How do you know he is gone?”

I shrugged and said that I had gone by his house a few times. “I am looking for Marcus too. Why don’t we go look for him together? I have a few ideas of where he can be.”

The very first answer that came to my head was no. I didn’t want to be in the same building as him and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to the idea of leaving public with him. Here he couldn’t really do much. I didn’t think that anyone would just let him haul me out of here. So I declined as nicely as I could and thanked him for the offer.

“Thanks, but I am going to go home. I was just trying to find him. It isn’t that big of a deal. We are just old friends.”

He shook his head and smiled at me. It was the kind that didn’t quite reach his eyes. The man left not long after I turned him down. The walk to the bus stop was one of the longest of my life and when I got back to my part of the city, the SUV was back or still there. I wasn’t sure which one. Why did I get the feeling that Marcus was in trouble?