Into The Woods (Dark Fairy tales), page 25
“That sounds wonderful,” Sutton said, trying her best to hold back her excitement. “My only issue is that I have classes until about noon every day.”
“No problem at all, dear. I like to get my beauty rest, so I don’t even start my day until about ten-thirty. I can make do until you get here,” Tavia said, as she extended her hand to Sutton. “Welcome to the team.”
Sutton excitedly shook Tavia’s hand. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“No darling, thank you.” Tavia gave Sutton a smile over the rim or her glass. “Now that we have that settled, shall we have brunch? I’m starving.”
Sutton nodded a quick yes, then snagged a muffin from the array of delectable treats before her. “What exactly will I be doing? I mean, what are my duties as your assistant?”
“Mostly to run my errands and help me throughout the day. I do a lot of charity work, so a good portion of your job will be assisting me with that.”
“What about Maverick industries? Will I have anything to do with that?”
“Mostly as a go-between. A lot of the major work is handled by my second-in-command, Jeremiah. You will get to know him very well,” Tavia said with a giggle. “Not many know this, but Jeremiah is the brains behind my organization. I could not do as much charity work without him handling my business. I’d be lost without him.”
“So, when you say working with Jeremiah, what exactly does that entail?” Sutton asked, trying to hide her concern.
“It’s like I said: you would be a go-between, delivering documents and various other task. There will be time to discuss all that later. Right now I want to get to know a little more about you, Sutton.”
“What do you want to know? I have my resume…” Sutton said, as she reached into her bag.
“No, I want to know about you on a personal level. Do you have family in Atlanta?”
Sutton swallowed hard at the thought of her grandmother. It had been months since she’d seen her. “I do,” Sutton replied shortly.
“What about a boyfriend?” Tavia asked, with a sly grin. “A beautiful girl like yourself must have a special guy.”
“Well…no, not really,” Sutton lied.
“No one at all?”
“No one at all.” Sutton felt her heart speed up as the lie escaped her lips. She didn’t know why she said no, but at that moment it felt like the right answer. It felt best to keep her personal life separate from this new, potential-filled job. This felt especially true given the fact that Maddox had complete disdain for her boss’s right hand man. Sutton gave Tavia a smile as she sipped her drink. The thought of how Maddox would take this latest development in her life was making her a little anxious.
***
There was never a good way to tell Maddox bad news. Sutton had discovered this as she’d listened to his anxious staff explain away mistakes to no good effect. However, Sutton knew this was not really a mistake, but more of an annoyance. Maddox was going to be mad about the fact she was working for the same company as Jeremiah, but she hoped that he’d understand, and that he would see this job was a stepping-stone to something bigger.
However, knowing Maddox as well as she did, she knew none of this was going to cross his mind. Maddox would hone in on one detail and then demand that she quit. This was the reason she kept things from him, and the reason she had so many lies and secrets. It was hard to tell Maddox things when she knew that it would result in his anger, or his demanding behavior. So Sutton didn’t feel quite so bad that she was delivering her bad news with a side of sex.
“I’m coming. Oh yes!” Sutton screamed, as her orgasm hit along with Maddox’s.
“Baby, that was amazing,” Maddox panted, as he collapsed to the bed.
“Yeah, it was,” Sutton concurred happily as she snuggled in closer to Maddox.
“I love when you come over here ready for action,” Maddox teased, pulling Sutton in tightly.
Sutton halfheartedly giggled, knowing the trap she was laying. It had been three days since she’d gotten the job with Tavia, and she was running out of time to tell him before she had to start work. She’d intentionally came over after she knew Darius would be in bed, and when she knew Maddox would be ending his work for the evening. It was always the best time of the day to talk to Maddox. He was too tired to really fight, plus couple that with mind-blowing sex, he was going to be putty in her hands. That was normally the case. Sutton knew that this subject was going to be tense, no matter how much pussy she gave him. However, she hoped the sex would lighten the blow.
“Maddox, I was hoping to talk to you about something.”
“What’s that?” Maddox asked, as he ran his fingers through Sutton’s tousled hair.
“Well, as you know I’ve been looking for a job for after college,” Sutton explained hesitantly. “Well, I found one.”
“That’s great, honey. What kind of job did you find?”
Sutton sat up and looked down at a deeply relaxed Maddox. “An assistant position to a very important CEO,” Sutton said apprehensively.
Maddox sat up and cautiously looked at Sutton. “Who’s the CEO?”
“Tavia Maverick,” Sutton said quickly, as if to soften the blow.
Maddox ran his hand over his face and took in a deep breath. “Absolutely not,” he grumbled jumping out of the bed.
“Maddox…”
“No, Sutton, this is a non-subject. You cannot work for that woman,” Maddox yelled, as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants.
“I’ve dreamed of working for Maverick Industries for years. This is my opportunity.”
“No, Sutton, this is going to lead to nothing but trouble.”
“Trouble? What trouble can I get into being Tavia’s assistant?”
“You don’t know Tavia Maverick like I do.”
“What in the world do you know about her that would hurt me?”
Maddox let out a grunt, as he clenched his fist. “Sutton this is a non…”
“You’re not the boss of my life, Maddox. I can make my own choices, and I’m tired of you trying to dictate my life.” Sutton jumped out of bed and began to dress. “Why do you always do this? I tell you I have a great new job and what do you do? You ruin it and try to boss me around.”
“I’m not trying to boss you around, just help you.”
“Help me do what? What is letting go of a great job like this going to do?” Sutton countered, as she zipped up her dress.
“I know Tavia. I can tell you personally that she is trouble. She always has a motive behind her actions.”
“So, what are her motives behind giving me a job?” Sutton spat angrily.
Maddox looked at a furious Sutton and then turned his eyes away. “Sutton, just trust me. I know what’s best,” Maddox grumbled through clenched teeth.
“So do I, Maddox.” Sutton calmed herself slightly as she met Maddox’s gaze. “I can’t take this anymore, all we do is fight,” she mumbled sadly
“That’s not true.”
“It is true, Maddox. I care for you, but I cannot be in this relationship when all you want to do is control me.”
“Sutton, I’m not trying to control you, I just want to protect you.”
“Well, Maddox it seems pretty controlling to me. I hate that you think you know everything and that I’m this stupid little girl that you need to protect. I can take care of myself and have been doing a good job since I left my grandmother’s.”
“Really? You are doing a great job how? You have some go-nowhere job cleaning offices. Then there’s the fact that you live with Charlotte rent free. You got your car from me, so tell me what is it that you’re handling? Working with Tavia is a mistake, and if you are so determined to make it then…” Maddox stopped cold, trying his best to hold his next angry statement inside.
“Then what, Maddox?” Sutton snapped, as she moved in closer to her angry lover.
“Then I will not sit here watching you fall into her trap.”
Sutton looked into Maddox’s stubborn and infuriated eyes. A cold seriousness ran through her as his gaze pierced her. She knew that he was challenging her. That he wanted her to back down and say she’d quit the job. However, Sutton was over bossy people and their unreasonable ultimatums about her life. “Then, Maddox, don’t watch,” Sutton countered, as she walked out the room.
Every step seemed to take an eternity as she reached the front door. What just happened? Sutton thought, as she hurried to her car. Are we over? Was that the end? Sutton hopped into her car and sped down the long driveway. Tears flooded her eyes as she thought about the fact that she might have just ended everything.
***
“I believe an informal garden party would be best,” Tavia said to the very vocal table of socialites.
“I don’t think that would be a good choice,” a middle-aged blonde woman replied, as she sipped her tea.
“No, we’ve already done that and it was horrible. If you remember, it rained the night before and the ground was soggy,” a gray-haired black woman added.
“We have to raise money for the scholarship fund. This annual gala has to be better than last year’s if we want to make big money. What about a formal ball? Something black tie,” Tavia added to the mix.
Sutton listened as Tavia and the ladies who lunch went over their ideas for the Maverick scholarship fundraiser. During the past two weeks working with Tavia, Sutton had been to more lunches, brunches, dinners, and cocktail parties than she’d ever thought she could handle. Hobnobbing seemed to be the only thing on Tavia’s schedule. On one hand, Sutton really didn’t mind it; she enjoyed meeting the elite of the Atlanta business and social scene. However, it seemed that the work was frivolous, and it bored her to tears.
She looked around the table at the six immaculately dressed women. Each one wore thousands upon thousands of dollars in clothes, jewelry, and bags. It seemed silly that the women plotted a charity event over five star cuisine served by Tavia’s personal chef in her palatial mansion.
You could sell all your jewelry and put half of Atlanta’s seniors through college, Sutton thought laughingly, as she studied the ladies.
“Maybe we need a fresh prospective?” Tavia said, as she sipped her drink. “Sutton, darling, do you have any ideas?”
Sutton snapped out of her thoughts at the mention of her name. “Um…what about an auction?” Sutton murmured between sips of tea. “You could have an auction. Everyone could donate items and bid on them. That could be something new.”
“Auctions are so overdone,” the gray-haired woman countered, in a less than thrilled voice. “I say we stick with the black tie…”
“Excuse me ladies. I hate to interrupt,” Jeremiah interjected, as he approached the table.
“Jerry, I’m so glad to see you. Where have you been the past few weeks?” Tavia greeted Jeremiah, as she gave him a kiss on each cheek.
“Out of the country.”
“Business?” the blonde woman asked, with a flirty smile.
“Mostly, with a little pleasure mixed in,” Jeremiah joked, to the delight of all the women except Sutton. “Well, it’s so nice to see you again, Sutton. Tavia told me she had a new assistant, but I had no idea it was you.”
“Jeremiah, you know Sutton?” Tavia asked, as she looked from a smiling Jeremiah and a nervous Sutton.
“Yes. We met at…”
“A dinner party. We were both at a dinner party a few months ago,” Sutton finished brashly, trying her best to hide the truth.
Jeremiah gave her a sly grin, “I believe it was a cocktail party, but it doesn’t really matter. Let’s just say she knows me and I…well, I know her,” Jeremiah added, his suggestive comment lost on everyone but Sutton.
“Great. She’ll be my go-between for files and documents, so I don’t have to drive all the way to your office for mundane tasks.”
“Only Tavia considers multibillion dollar deals mundane tasks,” Jeremiah joked, to the delight of the ladies and Tavia alike. “Well, speaking of mundane tasks, I’m here for those files. Have you had a chance to look them over and sign them?”
“I have, and they’re sitting on my desk. If you’d like to join us for dessert I can run up after and get them,” Tavia suggested, as she returned to her seat.
“I wish I could, but I have a meeting to get to downtown. I’ll just run up and get them.”
“Jeremiah, you will never find them in the mess I call my office. Sutton dear, will you run up and get the files for me? They’re the ones I had you put away yesterday.”
“Yes, of course,” Sutton said, as she leapt to her feet and hurried out the room.
At that moment she would have taken out the trash just to get away from Jeremiah. Since the night she’d seen him and Charlotte in his room, he hadn’t returned to The Woods. Sutton was happy: the last thing she needed was to be trapped in another intense moment with Jeremiah. She wasn’t sure what it was about him that made her nervous. Was it his piercing eyes and intense good looks? Or the fact that he was practically her boss, and had seen her in some of the most intimate moments? The last thing she wanted was for The Woods to encroach on her professional life. Having Jeremiah know her dark side made her feel uneasy.
Sutton looked around Tavia’s desk. The woman was right about one thing: it was a mess. Although Sutton had put the file away, Tavia had since moved it. This was another thing about her new boss that drove her crazy. The woman was scattered-brained and a complete slob. No matter how she tried to keep her boss organized, nothing seemed to work.
“It drives you mad, doesn’t it?” Jeremiah asked, pulling Sutton out of her thoughts.
“What’s that?” Sutton asked, not taking her attention from the search for the file.
“How messy she is? I never understood how a woman worth millions just keeps everything in one big pile on her desk. It’s like she wants to get taken for everything,” Jeremiah joked, as he began to help Sutton look for the file.
“Yeah,” Sutton chuckled halfheartedly. “Here it is,” she chimed, as she handed the file to Jeremiah and headed to the door.
“Do I bother you, Sutton?”
“No,” Sutton said, as she turned to face Jeremiah. “Why do you ask?”
Jeremiah moved in closer, “You just seem jumpy, is all. Do I make you nervous?” he asked, his gaze boring into hers.
“Honestly, yes. I don’t want you sharing where we really know each other with Tavia.”
“What does that mean?”
“Mr. Wolfe, I think you and I both know what that means.”
“Never call me Mr. Wolfe; it’s Jeremiah.”
“Fine. Jeremiah, you know exactly what I mean.”
“Why would you ever think I would tell Tavia about you and The Woods?”
“I don’t know. I just really don’t want that side of my life being put out in public, especially for Tavia. I really look up to her, and I would die if she found out.”
“Why? Are you ashamed that you go to The Woods?”
“No, it not that.”
“Then why would you die if Tavia found out?”
“Because Tavia is my idol. I want to be just like her, and business women of her caliber don’t take part in places like The Woods.”
Jeremiah let out a condescending chuckle. “But lowlifes like myself do?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean? That a successful business person couldn’t possibly have a healthy sexual appetite”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s just hard to look you in the face knowing that you’ve probably seen my…naughty bits,” Sutton whispered, with a slight giggle.
Jeremiah let out a hearty laugh. “Okay, I get it. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you.”
“What secret?” Tavia asked, as she entered the office.
“Oh, just that you’re the messiest person alive, but then again that’s not really a secret,” Jeremiah teased.
“Well, if you two will excuse me I’ll get back to the lunch,” Sutton excused herself, shutting the door behind her.
“So, what do you think?” Tavia asked, latching her arm into Jeremiah’s
“About?”
“Sutton. What do you think about Sutton? She sure is beautiful, and she just so happens to be single.”
“She’s a little young.”
