Twelve Days: The Beginning Part 11

"Took myself off for a drink with Keith at lunchtime man, can that guy drink." he said referring to his friend. Elise hated Keith with a pa.s.sion and she knew the feeling was mutual. In the early days he had tried to come onto her and when he finally realised she wasn't interested, he had spent the rest of his time trying to corrupt Dale and wind her up. Unwittingly it would seem that he was finally succeeding.

"Anyway gave the whole career thing some thought and decided that I'd talk to the old man and see what I could work out. We've agreed for me to put in some extra hours over the next few days and then we'll review the situation. Means I'll be working long days for the rest of the week...probably won't have time for anything other than sleep." He yawned.

"Sorry, precious," he added with a leer, "seems you won't be able to take advantage of this for a while." and in a deliberately lewd gesture, he grabbed at his crotch his party trick these days, it would seem.

Elise tried not to register any emotion on her face and ignored the innuendo. For a minute there, he had been really lucid and she had been impressed that he had decided to sort things out at work. The problem with Dale was that he didn't stray far from his natural path for long and with one quick comment and gesture, they were right back at square one.

"Why don't you go and sit down?" she said, "Dinner won't be long and there's something that I need to talk to you about."

"Oh yeah? My little wifey has something to say? That should be interesting." Christ, Dale really was a complete b.a.s.t.a.r.d when he drank. G.o.d knows how he had managed to hold a conversation with his boss, let alone drive home unless he had topped up later which wouldn't be unheard of. Who knew what went on in his sad and corrupted world?

She was however concerned about one thing though.

"Dale, did you drive home?" she asked. At this point in time, she was less worried about the damage he could do to himself and more about any hurt he could inflict on innocent parties.

"Eh?" he asked, already heading into the lounge. "Nah, left my car at work caught a taxi. You can drop me off in the morning."

Simple. In Dale's world, everything was very simple.

At least he'd had the sense to take a taxi home which was something for which she was very grateful she was just really annoyed that she would now have to leave extra early to go out of her way to drop him at work. He wouldn't have even considered any possible inconvenience to her and unbidden a picture of Vaughn flashed into her head. He may have his dominance issues too, but from what she knew of him, she was pretty certain he would never a.s.sume that she would do anything without asking her first.

The timer on the oven beeped and she dished up the dinner, no longer having the appet.i.te she had had when she had prepared the meal. At least it was a fairly light dinner so she hoped she'd be able to eat enough without Dale getting suspicious. It didn't help that she had filled up with pizza at lunchtime G.o.d, that seemed like an age ago now. Funny how a few minutes with Dale could erase pretty much any other experience.

Dale was sat at the table and, having abandoned his coffee, was nursing a beer. Where had that come from? She'd got rid of all the booze over the weekend he must have brought it home with him. His length of abstinence was really impressive.

Sitting down opposite him, she watched as he tucked into his dinner he never seemed to struggle with his appet.i.te.

"So..." he said, in-between mouthfuls, "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about? I hope it's to tell me that you've come to your senses and given pretty-boy the old heave ho." He laughed he was the only one that found his humour amusing.

"No..." she said carefully "Actually, it's to let you know that I have a conference to go to at the end of the week; Friday, to be precise."

"Oh yeah? Well that's nothing new. You're always off somewhere or other. Where is it this time?"

"It's in Swindon" she paused, waiting for the implication to sink in.

"That's a fair old drive." He observed, "You go careful".

"That's the thing, Dale; because it is such a distance, most people are travelling up on Thursday and staying overnight that way we'll be fresh for the morning and will make the most of the opportunity."

"I see," he said. "But you're not staying overnight are you?" There was a thinly veiled threat to his words.

"Actually I am." She tried to keep the tremor from her voice. "Vaughn has asked me to go with him early on Thursday to help set up and then we will all be at the hotel overnight. Vaughn will bring me home again on Friday when it's all finished. I don't really have a choice on this one Dale; Vaughn has already told me that it is well within the terms of my contract." She glanced up at him nervously, completely unsure as to how he would react.

"Vaughn's going is he? Why didn't you say so in the first place? I like him good bloke."

Elise blinked, trying to hide her complete amazement.

"That's fine. It's just as well really as I am going to be working h.e.l.lish hours anyway. What time's the football on tonight? Did you buy a TV guide?"

And that was it. Change of subject, conversation over, permission given.

Dale's world. Simple very very simple.

Chapter Nineteen.

The following few days pa.s.sed quickly and before Elise knew it, it was Wednesday evening and she was packing for the conference. Now that Dale had given his 'permission', she found that she really was excited about it; not least because she got a whole night away from home. She tried hard not to consider that it had anything at all to do with spending quality time with a certain MD.

He had not communicated with her further since she had slammed out of his office on Monday, save for work related e-mails that were generally sent to everyone. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. On the one hand, she knew that they had a lot of time together coming up but on the other, he seemed to blow hot and cold. She didn't know why she was surprised at the lack of communication, considering that it was her that had slammed out of his office in the first place. She could hardly blame him.

Cole had been on much better form and was really pleased for her having the opportunity to spend this time with Vaughn. Apparently he had a reputation in this field and there were high expectations that Vaughn would be gaining several promising contacts. They had not discussed Cole's situation any further as she reckoned that he was as confused as she was and needed time to process everything. There was absolutely no doubt that he was attracted to girls; his endless pursuit of most of the female population of the office was testament to that and she knew that there was definitely a simmering attraction between the two of them he just needed to work out what his feelings were for his own s.e.x and that was something that really only he could straighten out in his own head.

Grabbing the overnight duffel bag from the back of her wardrobe, her eyes lingered briefly on her dress, the one she had worn to Indigo and slept in at Vaughn's flat. She toyed with packing it for dinner tomorrow night but knew that it would be a working dinner and it really was a party dress rather than a formal one. Sighing forlornly she went back to the task in hand and pulled out her dark blue trouser suit for the day of the conference. It was smart, practical and comfortable and she could wear her flats with it, which would be a G.o.dsend when she would be on her feet all day.

For Thursday, which was their day of travelling and setting up, she decided to wear her smart jeans and a grey halter neck top that had a matching knitted jacket. It was casual but tidy and would be perfect for travelling and lugging dirty conference equipment around.

That just left dinner, and for that she selected her failsafe little black dress with a high oriental collar neck and mid length sleeves. It was longer than her usual dresses and skimmed her calves giving her the illusion of extra height. She usually wore her black suede heels with this dress so she packed those too.

Once she was all packed, she left her bag by the front door ready and had a long hot bath before turning into bed. Dale wasn't home yet. True to his word, he had been working long hours to try and make up the time he had lost and had not been getting home until at least ten pm. As far as she was aware, he'd not had a drink since Monday, which had meant for a relatively cordial att.i.tude at home although they had hardly seen much of each other which had been a blessing for Elise. Neither of them had mentioned the conversation that they had had in the car the day he left hospital, and Elise felt that him drinking almost immediately after discharge rendered the whole discussion pointless in any case. He had clearly not managed to change his ways for long and although the atmosphere at home was calm, Elise couldn't shake a nagging feeling of dread that this was most definitely the 'calm before the storm' and that Dale was just biding his time. She had been married to him long enough to know that these quiet periods never lasted for long however she also knew that this time, when the blowout finally came, that there would be a h.e.l.l of a lot more at stake.

Thursday arrived and Elise went into the office as usual. The plan was for her to leave her car in the underground car park and they would go together in Vaughn's. They were due to leave just after nine so she made sure she was in by eight-thirty to check on any last minute details and answer any e-mails before she left.

Sure enough, just after nine she saw him striding through the office towards her desk and she hastily shut down her computer and grabbed her handbag.

"Ready to go, Elise?" Vaughn asked, as he reached her desk. It was the first time she had seen or spoken to him since she had slammed out of his office and the sound of his voice had its usual effect, the tingling beginning to radiate from the nape of her neck.

"Yes sure, I just need grab my bag from my car if that's okay?" She asked, busying herself with her handbag and keys in an effort to hide her now trembling hands. She really needed to get a handle on her reaction to this man. Before he had a chance to reply Olivia spoke, taking them both by surprise.

"Er... Vaughn sorry, Mr Granger - I just wondered...would we be able to talk about me joining the off site team at some point? I really think it's where my strengths lie and that I would be an excellent addition."

Vaughn glanced across at her, a slightly irritated expression on his face.

"How long have you worked for Andrews & Andrews, Olivia?" he asked.

"Er... just under a month" she replied.

"Right. And how much experience do you have in the field?"

"Well, none really since I only just graduated from university. But I came top of my cla.s.s and I'm a quick learner I really would love the opportunity to work in all areas of the company."

"I'm sure you would." Stephen muttered under his breath and Elise had to stifle a giggle. She had been unaware that he had also been listening to every word.

"I think, Olivia," said Vaughn patiently, "that you have probably just answered your own question. Employees that work off site are usually our more experienced staff as you can be asked any number of awkward questions and are expected to think on your feet. At present, you need to finish your core training period. Then I am sure that we can think about reviewing the situation."

End of conversation.

Unfortunately for Olivia though, she didn't recognise the tone in Vaughn's voice and instead carried on speaking and trying to press home her point.

"But Roger....he's going with you and he's only just started as well. How is that fair?"

Her tone of voice and choice of words made her sound like a petulant child and Elise almost felt sorry for her as she watched Vaughn struggle to keep his patience.

"It is not my place to discuss other employee's careers with you or anyone else for that matter. Now if you'll excuse us, we really need to get on the road. Continue to work hard Olivia and I am sure that you will find yourself rewarded in due course. Stephen." he nodded to his friend and grasped Elise lightly by her upper arm, steering her out of the door and down the stairs to the bas.e.m.e.nt car park.

As soon as they were safely out of earshot, Elise burst into laughter effectively breaking any leftover tension between them and causing Vaughn to stop and regard her quizzically.

"You do realise that you've just shattered that poor girl's illusions, don't you?" she said in-between splutters.

When Vaughn continued to regard her in total confusion, she punched him lightly on the arm - again. This was becoming a bad habit.

"Ow! Will you stop hitting me?!"

"Man, you're so dense!" she said, "If that wasn't an invitation to jump back into your bed then I don't know what it was!"

"What do you mean, 'back into my bed'?" he queried, following her to her car where she proceeded to unlock the boot and retrieve her overnight duffle bag.

"Duh! After the Christmas party of course, when you all headed off home together. She was definitely rough around the edges the following morning."

"You think I slept with Olivia that night?" he asked incredulously. "You must think a lot of me if you think I did that and then began pursuing you the day after." He shook his head at her in total confusion, his hair flopping adorably over his eyes as he deposited her bag into the boot of his car.

"Is that what you're doing then? Pursuing me?" She decided to focus on the second part of his statement. The first, questioning what he had or hadn't done with Olivia that night was somewhere that she didn't think she was ready to go. She knew that he had left the party with Olivia that night and in her own mind had decided what that meant but to hear him confirm it would be too hard. Besides, she didn't want him to think she was jealous. Because she definitely wasn't...was she?

"Yes, Elise," he said almost tiredly, "pursuing, seducing call it what you will. You know and I know that we have something here and I have every intention of proving that to you, sooner rather than later. Consider that fair warning."

The finality with which he delivered that statement caused an excited tingling to course through her body and she shivered involuntarily. She once again wondered how she could find such dominance so attractive on Vaughn but so repulsive on Dale. It didn't make any sense.

"Oh..." was all she could manage and it squeaked out in a ridiculously small voice as she felt the electricity begin to crackle between them again. Why did she lose all useful faculties the second she was in this man's company? For the second time that morning she felt sorry for Olivia - the poor girl would seem to be similarly afflicted.

Vaughn unlocked the doors chuckling, clearly aware of and enjoying the effect that his words had on her, and they both got into his car. She'd never really taken much notice of it before but now she did and registered that it was sleek and black panther-like. She smiled at the simile he was all sleekness, dark eyes and dark hair and he could definitely be described as predatory. The car suited him and she luxuriated in the leather of the seats which she remembered from the first time she had ridden in it. The smell was still beautiful and fresh and she breathed it in almost hungrily as she settled into the pa.s.senger seat.

Vaughn was watching her with an amused expression on his face. "You are the strangest, most infuriating and most arousing woman that I have ever met." he said. "You go from laughing manically one second, to punching me the next, then when my back is turned you are berating me, and now you're practically having an o.r.g.a.s.m inhaling my car seats. I am beginning to think that my radar is seriously off where you're concerned!"

Elise picked up his intentional s.e.xual reference and laughed quickly in order to cover her reaction.

"That's what you get when you play with damaged goods." she quipped. "One sandwich short of the nearest inst.i.tution!"

She looked across at him, surprised to find that his face had turned serious rather than amused or even perplexed at her odd play on words.

"Don't, Elise." he said, suddenly serious. "Don't ever refer to yourself as damaged goods. You are beautiful inside and out - I mean it. Don't let how that man treats you dictate how you feel about yourself and never sell yourself short. You are worth so much more. Believe me."

He paused and locked his eyes onto hers for a moment and then started the engine, navigating out of the parking s.p.a.ce and back onto the street. His words ran around in her head as she watched his hands, beautiful and capable on the steering wheel. She had never really thought about hands before, particularly men's hands, but she found she couldn't stop staring at Vaughn's, admiring them flexing with each turn, the fingers long, nails square and bluntly cut. Abruptly a memory of those hands all over her body filled her head and she had to turn away from him to hide her blush. Heat began to seep through her as she remembered what had happened in his bedroom and she had to close her eyes to break her vision of him so that she could have a chance of recovering some equilibrium. If she carried on like this, the car journey was going to be absolute torture. She really needed to find something else to focus on and wrung her hands together, wishing that she had thought to bring a book with her.

His voice broke through the silence, and it was almost as if he had read her thoughts.

"I've got my sat nav but I never completely trust those things so I prefer to have a good old fashioned map as back up. There should be one in the side pocket of your seat."

Elise reached down, grateful for something useful to do, and located the map. Opening it to the right page, she proceeded to plot a route to their destination in Swindon, surprised to see that the journey was largely on the motorway.

"I didn't realise that it would be virtually all motorway," she said, voicing her surprise out loud. "I guess I'm so used to living in the country that I forget that there are proper roads out there in the big wide world."

"Yep, the motorway; a wonderful modern invention!" He laughed. "I take it you've not travelled much then?" he asked.

"Not really, no. I was born and brought up in Eastwood, attended university there and met Dale so I've never really left. We kept meaning to go travelling, but the time was never right. I'd love to go to New York but we just don't have the money perhaps one of these days." She finished wistfully and glanced out of the window, taking in the harsh beauty of the winter countryside.

He nodded and was quiet for a moment. "New York is beautiful, you'd love it. It's a completely different world over there. Maybe ..." his voice trailed off.

"Have you travelled much then?" she asked when it became obvious that he wasn't going to finish his sentence.

"Not greatly, although I did have the luxury of a few holidays to Spain and the Canaries when I was a child. Outside of the UK in recent years, I've only really visited America and spent a bit of time in Vegas - the usual tourist spots." He shrugged "I've never had a need to travel either; I guess I'm just a country boy at heart too."

"What about your parents? Are they local?" she asked and then immediately regretted her words. What if he was one of those people that had had a rubbish childhood and didn't want to talk about his parents?

He must have caught her stricken look and he laughed again. "Don't panic I had a very normal childhood with very normal parents who I love dearly and still speak to most days."

"Phew!" she said relieved. "I always speak without thinking and it generally gets me into trouble. Do you see them often?"

"As often as I can. They moved to a retirement village a few years ago, right down on the coast near to Lands End so it's a bit of a trek. We always meet up for Christmas though. This year, we're going to my sister's. She lives about halfway between us with her husband and my two nephews so it kind of makes sense. It's usually pretty noisy but that's what Christmas is all about. See..." he spread one hand out in a nonchalant gesture, "completely normal."

Elise found herself suddenly saddened at the comparison between what this man was going to be experiencing over Christmas and what she knew was in store for her. There was no way she would be seeing her parent's over Christmas. She had already used up her allotted monthly visit for her Dad's birthday so it would just be her and Dale as usual.

"What about you, Elise?" He asked softly, "Do you get to do the whole family thing at Christmas?"

She considered for a moment before answering, unsure whether to lie or to be truthful. She opted for the truth; she was totally fed up with all of the lies.

"No, it's usually just Dale and me. I'm an only child so no nieces or nephews and my parents well, I don't get to see them as often as I would like. It's fairly quiet." Nearly the truth then.

She left it at that, hoping that he wouldn't decide to pry any further. Sometimes Christmas was noisy; those were the occasions when Dale would go just a bit too far with the drink and start shouting at her for some minor misdemeanour. Usually though he just sat in the chair morose, and then demanded his 'present' once he'd finished with all the re-runs on the TV. She was probably one of the only people who were grateful for modern twenty-four hour television; especially on Christmas Day.

The year after the debacle with her parents, she had tried again and had bought a tree and decorated it, made a full roast for lunch and even made a Christmas cake. She had bought Dale a present and had lovingly wrapped it and put it under the tree. That had been the year when his drinking had really escalated he'd taken one look at the tree, called her a 'sentimental b.i.t.c.h' and promptly removed it to the garden, dumping his present in the bin on the way. He hadn't even opened it. That was the night when she had finally realised what it was to have your heart broken.

"Hey, Elise where'd you go?"

"Oh sorry" she started at Vaughn's soft s.e.xy voice, "Just reminiscing. What were you saying?"

"I just wondered what junction we needed on the motorway and if there was a service station nearby. I could really do with a coffee."

"Oh right erm yeah. If we get on the M5 here," she pointed with her finger to the right place on the map, "then we can pick up a service station after about 10 miles. Would that be okay?"

"Sounds perfect!" he said with a wink, "Woman take me to my coffee!"