Chapter 3
1438 Words
3
“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded to know once they were in a corner by themselves. She was more shocked than angry. “Are you sick or something?”
“I don’t really trust that guy, Boss,” he vaguely explained. “There’s something not right about him.”
“Did you smell the woman? There’s definitely something not right about the amount of perfume she was wearing.” Stephanie leaned back against a nearby wall and wrinkled her nose. “She could’ve drowned us all in that stench if we’d stayed there any longer.”
“I’m serious, Boss, he’s bad news.”
Stephanie looked at him, and from the look on his face she could definitely tell he thought it was serious. His eyebrows were pushed together and he was frowning pretty bad. She, on the other hand, didn’t think much of it. He’d asked all the usual questions, he’d just been more persistent than others had been.
“Maybe we could both use a drink,” she suggested. She playfully dragged him from their corner and to the bar. “That’ll take our minds off this stuff.”
“You know that’s not a good idea, Boss,” Chuck reminded. “You don’t handle alcohol too well.”
“I’ll only have a little, I promise.”
Those were always her famous last words. A few hours later and she was nearly being carried by her partner to their rooms.
“What did I tell you?” he scolded. They came up to her door and he fumbled for the card key. “You always drink too much and eat too little.”
“I’ll get the combo down some day, sir knight,” she slurred. She had a goofy grin on her face and laughed when they got into her bedroom and he plopped her face down onto the bed. “That was fun, let’s do it again.”
“We’ll probably do it again tonight if you don’t learn your lesson from this hangover.” Chuck rummaged through her purse and found a small bottle of hot sauce. It was her instant drunk fix. “At least most everyone was gone before you suggested we all do the conga dance together.”
“But that woulda been so great!” she exclaimed as she rolled over and flung her arms into the air. “All those snobby people dancing in a line with me leading them.”
“Yeah, right into traffic.” He popped open the bottle and sat down beside her. “Now open wide, it’s your medicine time.”
“But I don’t want any medicine,” she whined. “I’m a girl, so I just wanna have fun.”
“Well, fun time’s over.”
He took advantage of her next argument and tipped the bottle into her mouth. It had a slow pour cap, so she only got a few drops into her mouth. That was enough to make her eyes pop out and have her screaming for mercy. She clawed at her tongue as she rushed into the bathroom.
Chuck smirked as he glanced over the ingredients. All he needed was a few ghost peppers to get her wide awake and coherent. In pain, too, but he saw that as a slight necessity. Besides, it wasn’t his tongue flaming off right now.
“Are you trying to kill me!?” Stephanie shouted from the bathroom. She stuck her head out and her face was bright red. “Did you give me that god damn hot sauce again!?”
“Maybe…” he slowly replied as he hid the bottle behind his back. “Or maybe you just made a miraculous recovery.”
“Not with this taste in my mouth,” she accused.
At that moment her face turned a deeper shade of red and she dodged back inside the bathroom. He could hear her gagging and water splashing everywhere. By the time she could drag herself safely away from the sink, it was nearly time for them to start getting ready for their dinner engagement.
Chuck made sure she was going to survive and went to his own room to get his suit and tie on. Stephanie managed to get her simple blue dress with the hidden interior pocket on, but she struggled to get into her shoes. They were just her normal high heels, but she still felt so hung over from the drinks and the hot sauce she was having trouble aiming her foot. It didn’t help that she was standing and trying to slip her feet into them with limited balance.
“You know, it’d be easier if you just sat down and did that.” She scowled at her partner as he stood in the doorway admiring her perfect proportions. She really was a beauty to behold if she didn’t hide so much behind old shirts and worn jeans. Stephanie took his advice and plopped down onto the bed. The shoes slipped on without any trouble. “See?”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s just get this party started,” she mumbled.
Stephanie grabbed her purse, minus the hot sauce, and they proceeded downstairs to the ballroom of the hotel. Even though they were twenty minutes early the room was already crowded with advertisers and clients. They mingled and mused about their qualifications and aspirations. Everyone had a story to tell, but to Stephanie none of them were worth hearing. It was always about someone blowing their own trumpet to land a better project job or more praise from their Boss. She left Chuck to deal with anyone they knew or wanted to know, and she merely let herself be eye candy for the males in the audience. Attention was never a bad thing for business, but it left a pretty bad taste in her self-respect.
“Good evening, Mrs. Yager,” a friendly voice greeted her passing. She jolted to a stop and looked to see Mr. Gregory standing beside her. He was all smiles in his elegant tuxedo with black bow tie. “Is it bad form if I compliment you on your dress?”
“You probably won’t be the only one to do it tonight,” she commented. The party was loud enough she felt safe in speaking her mind to a single prospective client. No one was going to overhear them with all this noise. “You’re looking pretty nice, yourself.” She was always terrible with compliments on the fly.
“I’m glad you like it,” he appreciated. “It’s hard to stick out at these places with so many people around. You don’t think I blend in too much with all the other fellows?”
Stephanie glanced around the room and noticed Chism standing among a group of clients. He was wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt and slacks. That was his customary outfit when he wanted to be noticed in a large crowd. It certainly did the trick, but she didn’t think it was worth all the morbidly fascinated stares he was getting.
“That’s not always a bad thing,” she pointed out.
“And what are you two doing?” Miss Seville asked as she walked up to the two. She slithered an arm around Gregory’s own limb. “Talking about the weather?” she teased.
Stephanie tried very hard to keep the smile on her face. No matter what the woman said, it always rubbed her the wrong way. That question about the weather was case in point, as though they didn’t have anything more intelligent to talk about regarding business or aspirations.
“Actually, we were talking about clothes,” Gregory admitted. Stephanie inwardly groaned. That wasn’t helping her efforts at looking intelligent in front of this other woman. “And speaking of clothes, you’re looking nice.”
Miss Seville did look nice in a low cut, white evening gown with a dipping back. A few folds covered the front to make it look decent and a string of pearls showed off her pale, beautiful neck. Her hair was set upward in a circling bun and she had on a pair of matching high-heeled shoes. In her hand was a white purse with pearls strung along the clasped opening at the top. It all looked real and overly expensive to Stephanie. She couldn’t understand why Seville would go to all that trouble and expense for a simple business party.
“Thanks, I try to look my best for these affairs,” she blushed. Her eyes wandered up and down Stephanie’s short frame, and there was a hint of a sneer on her lips. “You’re looking, well, dressed well, Mrs. Yager.”
“It gets me around in public,” Stephanie shot back. “Otherwise I’d be arrested for indecency.”
Both Gregory and Seville blinked in surprise, and that’s when Chuck slid up to his partner to rescue the conversation.
“Nice party, isn’t it?” he jollily asked the uncomfortable group. He wrapped an arm around Stephanie’s waist and put a wide smile on his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people.”
“Yeah, it is pretty crowded,” Stephanie admitted.
“You look like you could use some air, Boss,” Chuck suggested. He pointedly looked into her eyes. “How about we go outside for a sec?”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” she agreed.
- Writer
