I was still swimming in those thoughts that afternoon as I looked over another presentation, when there was a commotion in the lobby that carried through the entire floor. I got out of my desk and went to my door to peek out.
And then I saw the cops strolling past my office and a flustered Mrs. Andrews following after. She gave me a look when she went by my door and I got up from my desk. Damn, they’d called in the big guns. The cops looked like they spent half their time working out and the other half thinking about working out.
Everyone else was popping their heads out of their offices to see what was going on, but no one seemed to know. I shot a questioning look at Mr. Dunlap across the hall and he just made a shrugging motion.
This probably had something to do with Lucah’s investigation. Well, I was curious to see what was going to go down, so I left my office and started walking down the hall as they stopped in front of Mr. Craig’s door and knocked. His door was the only one that wasn’t open.
The cops weren’t messing around as they knocked again and then busted the door open. Dad was trying to take control of the situation, but the cops passed him a warrant, so his hands were tied, but he calmly sent Mrs. Andrews into his office to contact the company lawyers. People were starting to edge closer to get a better view as the cops smashed the door in and dragged Mr. Craig out.
He went quietly, not wanting to make a fuss and the drama was over as quick as it had begun.
Or that was how I thought it was going to go.
Mr. Craig did not go gently into that cop car. He went kicking and screaming and dragging his feet and begging for mercy and cursing and asking all of us to help him.
It was almost tragic, really. I’d never seen a grown man behave like that outside of a bar, or a sporting event. Dad came and found me and motioned for me to come into his office. I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say to me.
He closed the door behind me as Mrs. Andrews dashed past me to go back to her desk. Or maybe to do some damage control as everyone dropped whatever they were doing to gossip and chat about the insanity that had just gone down.
“That was ugly, but it had to be done. Mr. Craig and at least eight other people were using money from this company to funnel drugs over the border from Mexico,” he said, rubbing his eyes as if he just wanted to go to bed. I didn’t blame him.
Stealing money from the company AND drugs? How stupid could you be? I always wondered at criminals. They always seemed so stupid when they got caught.
“Do you want me to leave you alone?” I said after a few minutes. The voices chattering outside were distracting.
“No. Yes. I think I need to call a meeting.” He hit a button on his phone and Mrs. Andrews’ voice came through the speaker.
“Please let everyone know that we are having an emergency meeting right now. Mandatory for all Senior Management.” She agreed and then Dad put his arms out and I gave him a big hug. He needed it.
35
The meeting was nuts, with everyone talking and asking questions at once. I stayed in the back and kept my mouth shut and my eyes on the floor. Dad didn’t mention me, or Lucah or anything, just that there had been an internal investigation and if anyone had any questions they could ask him and that there would be no talking of the issue outside of the office, or else there would be severe consequences.
We’d never had a scandal like this before, so keeping the lid on it was going to be quite a job. We had a PR team, and they stood up with Dad and talked about how there would be a statement they would email around to all of us about what we could and could not say to anyone outside the office, including the press.
God, I didn’t even think about that. This was going to explode in the media. Lovely. That was going to be fun to deal with. Not to mention what would happen once this got out and our existing clients heard. Oh, f**k. Shit, f**k, crap, f**k.
I nearly passed out when I thought about that prospect. While we were still talking, I swore I could hear everyone’s phones ringing off the hook. Everyone downstairs was probably also freaking out.
What a f**king mess.
Any work for the rest of the day was shot to hell. I didn’t even leave my desk or put down the phone. I knew Lucah was waiting for me, but everyone was doing damage control, and that included me. I wasn’t going to bail on everyone so I could go have sex with my boyfriend.
Boyfriend. I could finally call him that, think of him like that. In all the suckage, that was the one bright little spot. I had a boyfriend to go home to whenever I could get the hell out of the office. If that ever happened.
I texted Lucah that I was going to be super late and as the night got later and later and still, I didn’t see an end.
At seven thirty, Dad came into my office and ordered me to go home. I tried to protest, but then he yelled at me and I got the hell out of there.
The cabbie couldn’t drive fast enough to get my exhausted ass to Lucah’s apartment.
This time when he opened the door, I was the one who pushed him up against the door and started ripping his clothes off. And by ripping, I wasn’t exaggerating. Buttons went flying and I nearly tore the zipper out of his jeans. He didn’t even have time to put a condom on as he lifted my hips up and I slid down on him.
“Fuck yes,” I said.
“Hello to you too,” he said as we started moving together, setting a pace that we both craved. It was quick and hard, and soon I was sliding off him and he was carrying me to the couch.
“Rough day?”
“Something like that. And it’s all your fault. Nine arrests. Fuck you very much, Mr. Blythe.” I smacked him in the chest and then went to the bathroom to clean myself up. I didn’t have to worry about much since I was on the pill and we’d both been tested, but I was still paranoid about pregnancy, even with my precautions.
I was a paranoid person in general, apparently.
Figuring I was going to spend the rest of the night naked, I stripped down the rest of way and left my clothes in his bedroom. Then I walked out into the living room wearing just my heels. That led to him getting all the way naked and me working out more of my frustrations with the awful, terrible day.
The next day at work was even worse. There were actually people with cameras and microphones and so forth camped outside the building the next morning. I was grateful I was having a good hair day, because they definitely took pictures of me and asked me questions that I responded with, “No comment.” I’d kind of always wanted to say that, but it turned out it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.