Into The Woods (Dark Fairy tales), page 30
“No, I think I’m owed a drink. After all, you’ve been miles away tonight, and I would love it if you would spend a little time with me,” Jeremiah said, as he continued to stare straight ahead.
Sutton wanted to argue, but she knew that he was right; most of the night she’d been lost in her thoughts. She glanced over at a very handsome Jeremiah. His sharp black suit was offset by his crisp white shirt. He wore no tie. He had his normal, well-coiffed hair, but a bit of a five o’clock shadow lined his chiseled jaw-line. Sutton felt a flurry of heat wash over her. No, she thought, as she quickly looked away, you will not do this. No matter how handsome he is or how pissed or horny you are, you will not do this, Sutton reminded herself. The doors to the elevator opened and Sutton followed Jeremiah to his door and then into his apartment.
“Please, make yourself at home,” Jeremiah said, as he kicked off his shoes and slipped off his jacket.
Sutton watched as he strolled over to the bar and began to pour two glasses of red wine. “I love your place,” Sutton said, as she took a seat on the couch. “How long have you lived here?”
“Ten years,” Jeremiah replied, as he played with his iPod on its elaborate docking station. The smooth, melodic sounds of the Dave Matthews Band began to play. Jeremiah handed Sutton a glass and took a seat.
“’Crush’?” Sutton said, as she sipped her wine.
“Excuse me?”
“The song is called ‘Crush,’ right?”
“You listen to Dave Matthews?” Jeremiah asked, a little shocked.
“Why do you seem so surprised?”
“It has nothing to do with you. It’s just that I find women your age tend to have a fondness for music that…how can I say this nicely?”
“Sucks?” Sutton said, with a giggle. “I happen to love all kinds of music. I don’t see the joy in only liking one genre.”
“Exactly. The excitement of life is experiencing everything it has to offer,” Jeremiah said, a soft smile caressing his lips.
Sutton looked away and took a big gulp of her wine. “Jeremiah, can we talk?”
“Sure.”
“I think you’re a great guy, but…I’m not sleeping with you,” Sutton said flatly.
“When did I ask you too?” Jeremiah chuckled.
“I…I assumed that this was the reason you invited me… never mind, I’m an idiot,” Sutton said, a little embarrassed at her assumption.
“No, just very savvy,” Jeremiah complimented, as he sipped his wine. “I invite you up for a drink, and then turn on music? It’s an honest mistake. However, there is nothing sexy about Dave Matthews. Now, the minute I offer you merlot and turn on some Teddy Pendergrass, then you’ll know I mean business,” Jeremiah joked, as he sipped his wine. “I really just wanted to take you out to get your mind off of…well, everything.”
“I guess my feelings are painted all over my face, huh?”
“Slightly, but it’s okay to feel sad, given the situation.”
“Didn’t you just say earlier today that I should never show weakness?”
“I meant never show him weakness. Never let the ones who hurt you see that you’re hurt. It’s okay to cry in the dark, just not forever. At some point you have to move on. Be stronger than the pain.”
“Trust me, I think I hit that point today. I don’t know why I was even sad. If anything, I’m pissed.”
“What about?”
“The fact that I should have been smarter, I guess. However, there is no reason to cry over spilled milk.” Sutton sipped her wine and then gave Jeremiah a soft smile. “Tell me about yourself,” Sutton asked, trying to get her mind off of the Maddox situation. “I don’t know anything about you.”
“There isn’t much to tell.”
“Are you from Atlanta?”
“No, I’m actually from Miami. Well, that’s where I spent the first fifteen years of my life. Then my mother moved me to Atlanta with her when she decided to follow her dreams of marrying rich. The only thing that worked out was the move, ‘cause her marriage was over before the boxes were unpacked.”
“Does she still leave here?”
“No, she died when I was twenty-five.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Jeremiah gave her a weak smile, pushing the memory of his mother’s death out of his head. “So, tell me, Miss Sutton, are you excited about graduating? You only have a few months left. Don’t you graduate in the spring?”
“I do, and I am. I just hope I can find a good job.”
“You have a good job.”
“I know, but I don’t want to be an assistant forever.”
Jeremiah finished the last of his wine and gave Sutton a sly smile. “I have no intentions of letting you be an assistant forever. I can see your immense talent. You don’t have to worry about being pigeonholed.”
“That’s very nice of you, but again, you are not my boss,” Sutton teased.
“At some point you will see that Tavia, though a brilliant business woman, has nothing to do with the success of Maverick Industries.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is. Do you know what hangs on the wall in my office, Sutton?”
“What?”
“An article from Essence magazine, profiling Tavia and her genius mind. It says something like ‘she was brilliant to acquire multiple black businesses in her conglomerate.’ That she was the face of black business. After I read the article, I had it framed.”
Sutton thought back to that very article. She remembered tearing it out of the magazine and placing it on her mirror. It was then that she had decided that Tavia was going to be the woman she aspired to be. “That was a good article.”
“Yeah, it was, but not very accurate.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because what people don’t know is that the face of Maverick Industries is not what makes it run. It’s the heart, and that conglomerate was all my idea.”
“So, if you’re the real boss of the company, why let Tavia take credit for your work? Why not let everyone know the truth?”
“Because that’s not smart. Tavia is a big figure in the Atlanta business world. Although I can hobnob with the best of the best, I would be nothing without her. In this world, we take care of our own.”
Sutton instantly thought back to Fiona’s words. She wondered if she dared ask about Raymond. Sutton decided it was best to not bring the subject up. Even though she was pissed with Fiona, she didn’t want to rattle her cage any further.
“So, I guess you are my boss, then. So don’t you think this in bad taste?” Sutton asked, as she finished her wine and placed the glass on the table.
“What do you mean?”
“You and I having wine in your apartment?”
“I’ve seen you naked and you’re concerned about wine?” Jeremiah teased.
“Can we not bring that up?” Sutton said, as embarrassment washed over her face.
“Don’t be embarrassed. It was amazingly sexy. You have a great body.”
“No, I’m embarrassed at the fact that I stripped naked in front of my boss and God knows who else. I’m embarrassed at the fact that you keep bringing it up. This is not a relationship you should have with your boss. Your boss shouldn’t see you in your most intimate moments.”
Jeremiah chuckled, “I’m going to tell you something—something that no one else knows. Something that will make you feel a little less embarrassed about our less than professional meeting.”
“What could you possibly have to tell me that will make this less awkward?”
“I once got a blow job in front of Tavia,” Jeremiah admitted, with some embarrassment. “I was young and, well… the point is, my boss saw me doing something completely embarrassing, and I’m still employed. If anything, it makes me feel even better about the relationship I have with Tavia.”
“Do tell,” Sutton said with a giggle.
“Because sex is awkward, but business is cutthroat. I’m more embarrassed about the fact I may lose a deal than the fact that I failed to get it up. Oh…I guess I left that part out of the story,” Jeremiah recalled, wistfully laughing at the memory.
“Okay, I think I get it. I won’t even ask why you were getting a blowjob in front of Tavia. Actually, can we please be done with the sharing portion of the evening?” Sutton joked, as she laughed heartily.
“I love that.”
“Love what?” Sutton asked, still caught in laughter.
“Your laugh,” Jeremiah replied, a sincere gleam filling his eyes. “It’s nice to hear. You should do it more often.”
Sutton quickly calmed and gave Jeremiah a nervous smile. “I think I should be going. I have an early day tomorrow. Thanks for dinner, and I’m sorry I wasn’t a very good date…company.”
Jeremiah walked Sutton to the door. “Don’t worry about it. If you want to make it up to me, say you’ll have dinner with me again. This time minus the boring friends.”
“That sounds fun.”
“Would you like me to walk you to your floor?”
“No. I think I can make it.”
Jeremiah leaned in and gave Sutton a soft kiss on her cheek. “Thanks for joining me tonight. It was fun.”
“Yeah, it was. Well…goodnight,” Sutton said nervously, as she hurried out the door.
The elevator doors could not close fast enough for Sutton. Note to self, Sutton thought, as she rode to her floor. Do not sleep with your boss.
Chapter Twenty-two
“I cannot believe you’ve never seen Scarface. It’s one of the best movies ever,” Jarvis fussed, as he sipped his iced tea.
“It’s not my thing. I don’t like gangster movies.”
Sutton loved spending time with Jarvis. Now that Maddox had been on his leave of absence for over a month and a half, Jarvis had been assigned to another partner—one who didn’t monopolize his time, not to mention one who treated him a thousand times better. It also meant that she could have a friendship with Jarvis since she no longer had to adhere to Maddox’s many rules. The casual debates over fast food were the only remains of Sutton’s past she still had—the Sutton she missed, but didn’t know how to ever become.
The month and a half of being away from The Woods had given Sutton time to see her life. Though the money and the sex had been exciting, they were temporary. At some point she knew she would have to give them up, move on with her life. The only problem was she didn’t really know who she was, now that she didn’t have them.
Was she sweet Sutton, who got treated badly by her grandmother? She never wanted that Sutton back. Then there was the Sutton who was Maddox’s plaything: that was a Sutton she refused to return to, especially after hearing he’d tried to destroy her. There was call girl Sutton, who she really had grown to love, because that Sutton was smart and confident—something the other Suttons weren’t. However, being call girl Sutton, much like all the other Suttons, was not an option. So now she was left to piece together a life she’d never really had, before. Make a working life from what she had left from her venture in The Woods.
Luckily for Sutton, she still had a decent paying job with Tavia. Then there was the car that she’d tried to give back, but which Maddox refused to take. She still had Charlotte and, thankfully, her rent-free apartment, and she still had Jarvis—the one and only person who knew what it was like to be her.
She never felt like an ex-call girl when she was with Jarvis. When she was with Jarvis, she was just Sutton. With Jarvis she felt like the sweet college girl she once was. He made her forget her problems and laugh, which was something Sutton loved. So she didn’t mind spending a Friday night eating junk and hanging with the man who had so recently become her best friend.
“So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” Jarvis asked, as he stole a fry.
“Well, Charlotte is going to Aspen, so I guess I’ll just hang around the apartment.” Sutton felt a bit sad. This would be her first holiday without her family. Although, she was glad to have her freedom, the absences of her aunt and even, on some level, her grandmother, were truly felt.
“Why don’t you go home, Sut?”
“No. There is nothing there for me.” Sutton replied shortly.
“Don’t give me that shit. You know you miss your family, and this would be the perfect time for you to go see them.”
“No! This is a closed subject.” Sutton and Jarvis couldn’t help but laugh as Maddox’s angry words escaped her lips. “Jarvis, I’m just not ready, okay.”
“Fine. However, at some point you will have to face them.”
“Change of subject, please,” Sutton said, as she sipped her milkshake.
“Okay, are you going to the Maverick Scholarship gala?”
“Yes. However, it’s not because I want to. It will be work, not fun.”
“Hell, ain’t nothing fun about these fucking things. It’s a bunch of rich people who feel one night of giving makes up for years of selfish greed.”
“I find it funny that your black ass didn’t mind using their money to go to school—where you majored in business and are now applying to law school to become a corporate lawyer, which will let you become one of them.”
“Oh, it’s not lost on me at all. However, until I’m making their kind of money, I can talk all the shit I want,” Jarvis teased. “So, who are you going with?”
“No one. I told you, I’m giving up on men.”
“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. Just because Maddox was a jerk doesn’t mean they all will be.”
Sutton rolled her eyes as she hopped up from the living room floor and strolled into the kitchen. “I just want to get through this last semester and move on with my life. I want to forget The Woods and Maddox.”
Jarvis followed Sutton into the kitchen and hopped onto the counter. “Are you trying to tell me that The Woods won’t be on your resume?” Jarvis teased.
Sutton turned from the refrigerator and glared playfully at Jarvis. “Yeah, under job title I’ll put ‘orgasm facilitator.’”
“Better than head of oral gratification.”
Sutton burst into laughter. “As far as I’m concerned, my foray into that world is dead and gone.”
“Trust me, I feel you. My time at The Woods is numbered in days. Once I have enough to make it through the first year in New York, I’m done.”
“Have you heard from NYU?”
“No, but I’m optimistic. I have a lot of fallback schools, but I really want NYU.”
“Well, I want you to go to Emory and stay here with me,” Sutton whined playfully.
Jarvis hopped off the counter moving in closer to Sutton. “Why? We all know that you’ll have another guy soon and you won’t even think about me,” Jarvis teased.
“Didn’t I tell you I’m done with men for a while? I need time to be by myself. This is the first time in years that I’ve been on my own. No grandma, no Mel, just me making my own decisions. I cared for Maddox, but in the end he just wanted to tie me down.”
“I tried to warn you, but you don’t listen to me.”
“Sorry if I was blinded by love.”
“You were blinded by sex. What you and Maddox had wasn’t love. Well, it wasn’t real love.”
“Don’t tell me what I had. I think I would know if I were in love with someone.”
“Then you should be well aware that you weren’t in love with Maddox. You were in deep like, but love…well, love is a far stretch, and I think we both know that.”
“How would you know? You’ve never been in love.”
“What makes you think that? I’ve been in love. Before The Woods I was a normal person. I had normal relationships. I was in love,” Jarvis said a bit sadly, as he leaned against the counter.
“Who were you in love with?” Sutton asked, a bit skeptically.
“Destiny. We were together before this. Before I lost myself to this world. After that well…let’s just say I lost perspective.”
“Perspective?”
“What really matters in the grand scheme of things? I put this life before her, and for that I will never forgive myself. That’s how I know you weren’t in love. When you’re in love, that person is your everything. You would give your life for them. There is nothing you wouldn’t do for that person. When you’re in love, you feel it from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. When you’re in love you know it without a shadow of a doubt. There are no secrets. No lies. That’s how I know you weren’t in love. With Maddox you were just in deep like. You were happy to have someone who helped you free yourself, but you outgrew Maddox, and in the end that was what really killed your relationship.”
