Twisted (2 page)

“That sounds interesting,” Tina said sarcastically.

“Don’t worry,” Kevin assured her. “You’ll like it.”

“What about dessert?” the waitress asked.

“We’ll decide on that after dinner,” Kevin told her.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“I’ll have a Coke,” Alexis said.

“Me too,” Tina agreed.

“I’ll have iced tea,” Kevin said.

The waitress left to put in their order.

“This place is nice and homey,” Tina said. “They’re bound to do good business.”

“One of these days, I’d like to take you to Thailand,” Kevin told her. “Then you can try the authentic thing.”

Alexis busied herself looking out of the window and trying not to eavesdrop on their conversation. She spotted a familiar looking dark blue BMW in the parking lot, but didn’t comment on it. Moments later, the waitress returned with their drinks, followed by the appetizers.

“This is Mu Pin,” Kevin explained as each one of them picked up a stick. “It is marinated grill pork.”

Alexis heard a familiar-sounding deep laugh. “Would you excuse me for a moment?” she asked. “I need to use the ladies room.” She slid out of the booth and headed in the direction of the laugh. She heard it again. It came from a nearby booth. She looked. Sure enough, the laugh belonged to Erik Masters.

Alexis hurried past before he could spot her. The lying, cheating bastard was seated in a booth all hugged up with some woman. She couldn’t get a good look at the woman’s face because a large flower decoration hid her and obscured the view. But the man was definitely Erik.

Alexis ducked into the ladies room for a few minutes and then made her way back past the booth where Erik and that woman were still sitting and hugging. She headed back to their booth. There was no way Tina would believe her if she told her so she decided to let her see for herself. Erik and the woman had to pass right by their booth since it was the only way out.

Alexis arrived at the booth just in time for the main dishes…Keng Phet Yang, roasted duck in red curry, Tom Yam Kung Nam Khon, prawns in coconut milk, and Khao Phat, chicken and pork fried rice. They finished the delicious meal up with Khanom Tan, a palm flavored cake with shredded coconut on top.

Alexis lifted her dessert spoon. She heard Erik laugh again, but this time, he sounded closer. She looked up. He was headed toward them with the woman.

“Tina,” she said, getting her friend’s attention.

Both Tina and Kevin looked up to where Alexis pointed. Tina’s eyes widened and she gasped loudly.

Erik was holding the young woman’s arm and like a fool. leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

Alexis still couldn’t get a good look at the woman’s face, but she could check out everything else. She was short, about five-feet-four, with rolls and rolls of curves, breasts, and ass squeezed into a yellow mini dress. She teetered on high heels…the kind that looked good but were horrible to walk in. They left the restaurant.

Alexis looked over at Tina, who still watched the door after Erik and the woman left. She didn’t say a word. She just turned her head toward the window.

Alexis peered over, too, just in time to see Erik give the woman an affectionate pat on the rear end while helping her into the front passenger seat of the car.

Tina went back to her dessert.

Alexis looked over at Kevin. Their eyes met. His dark eyebrows knitted together, indicating anger. No one spoke. They just finished up dessert. Kevin signaled for the waitress to bring the bill. Moments later, they were back in his car headed for home.

****

Tina busied herself getting dinner prepared. True, she wasn’t hungry after eating Thai with Kevin and Alexis, but she made it a point to fix Erik a hot meal whenever he came home from work. Hell, she had even fired her cook so that she could do it personally. It didn’t matter that she’d seen him in the same Thai restaurant earlier…tradition was tradition.

She removed the baked chicken from the oven and set the baking pan on a butcher block to cool while she fixed the au-gratin potatoes and green beans. She added the little cocktail onions to the beans just the way Erik liked it. Once both of them were done, she busied herself washing the dishes and setting the table. Erik came home three hours later looking tired, and the food was cold.

Erik carried his jacket over his shoulder and his briefcase in his other hand.

“Hard day?” Tina asked, coming down to greet him.

Erik nodded and kissed her weakly on the cheek. “Sometimes clients are very disagreeable.”

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

“Just a little,” he replied. “What’s for dinner?”

“Baked chicken, potatoes, and green beans.”

He yawned. “Sounds yummy. Warm me some while I go hop in the shower.” He hugged her this time, giving her an affectionate slap on the behind. “I’ll only be a moment.”

“Okay,” Tina said. She liked him when he was like this, playful and romantic. She watched him walk away, sniffing the air. He’d changed his cologne. Tina frowned. She didn’t like it because it smelled too feminine and he was all man.

Erik didn’t talk much during dinner, but Tina didn’t mind because she wasn’t much of a conversationalist either. He went to the den afterwards while she re-cleaned the kitchen and put the remaining leftovers away.

Tina walked upstairs to their bedroom, pulled out a sexy new nightgown, and entered the bathroom for a bath. Erik still hadn’t come up to bed by the time she exited. She glanced over at the clock. Eleven p.m. She had thought to surprise him with the new negligee, a see-through blue alluring thing that he pointed out in a magazine one day, but she didn’t know how long she could stay awake. By midnight, she just gave up and went to sleep.

****

Erik still wasn’t in bed when the alarm sounded at five the next morning. Tina walked down the stairs and headed toward the den. He wasn’t there either. Maybe he had come up later and decided to sleep in the guestroom instead of disturbing her. Tina put on a fresh pot of coffee, put a coffee cake into the oven, and was about to head back upstairs to dress when she decided to go outside to get the morning newspaper so Erik could read it while he ate breakfast. She opened the front door, stepped outside, and immediately noted something amiss. The garage door was open. She walked back into the house and grabbed the telephone just in case she needed to call the police, and walked back through the kitchen and opened the door that led to the attached garage. Erik’s car was gone. Tina pressed the button near the kitchen door and lowered the garage door, walked back into the kitchen, and hung the phone back up. She sighed. He probably had an early meeting and forgot to close the door.

Tina walked back through the kitchen and headed upstairs to dress, thinking she’d just bring the coffee cake to work and share it with the other people in the office.

****

Strange, Erik wasn’t at work when Tina arrived, and no one had seen or heard from him. She gave the coffee cake to Alexis and walked to her office. After putting away her things, Tina reached for her cell phone and dialed Erik’s number. It went straight to voice mail.
Hum
, she thought.
He probably turned it off because he’s in a meeting and can’t be disturbed.

Tina walked back to the administration office by Alexis to get a cup of coffee.

Alexis had already cut the coffee cake into manageable slices and was busy filling the coffee area with disposable cups and condiments. “Have you found him yet?” Alexis asked as she poured a cup of coffee for both of them.

Tina thought Alexis looked cute in the butter yellow and brown skirt set she wore. Alexis had great tastes in clothing and knew how to accessorize. “Not yet,” Tina replied. “The calls go directly to voice mail.”

Alexis added cream and sugar to the coffee, stirred, and handed one of the cups to Tina.

“Thank you.”

“Did you ever find out who that woman was we saw him having dinner with yesterday?”

Tina shook her head. “She was probably a client.”

Alexis frowned at her. “That means you didn’t ask him.”

“No, why should I? I trust Erik.”

Alexis turned up her nose. “Girl, you’re too good. He never would have made it out of that restaurant alive if he was my man.”

Tina nearly choked on the hot coffee. Sometimes, Alexis could be quite humorous.

“So he wasn’t home when you woke up?” Alexis had no problems asking personal questions.

“No.”

“Has that ever happened before?”

“No, so it had to be something important that got him out the house so early,” Tina replied.

“And has his ass late for work,” Alexis added.

Tina peered at her over the coffee cup.

“What? Just because he’s sleeping with the boss doesn’t mean he can break the rules. I’d dock his ass if I were you.”

That thought had crossed Tina’s mind. Alexis was right. She couldn’t show favoritism. “I’ll give him to the top of the hour to show up. If he doesn’t, I’ll dock his ass, like you said.” She reached for a piece of the coffee cake and sampled it.
Delicious
. She’d driven across town to find it, since it was Erik’s favorite, and now he wasn’t even present to enjoy it. Where could he be? Maybe she should check his calendar. He probably told her about the meeting and she just forgot about it.

The office door opened and she and Alexis stopped talking and looked in its direction. Kevin entered carrying a briefcase and dressed in a dark blue business suit, tie and white shirt. Funny, it was the first time she’d seen him in anything so businesslike, and she liked it. He looked very professional with his dark hair combed back from his forehead and wearing his glasses instead of contacts.

He entered, walked over to them, and bowed. “Good morning, ladies.”

Tina bowed back and Alexis just kind of stood there, openly checking him out with a smug expression on her face.

“Welcome to The Design Factory,” Tina said once they ended the greeting. She wanted to make him feel comfortable on his first day. “Would you like some coffee?”

“No, thank you,” he said. “I’m more of a tea person.”

“You have a complete tea set in your office,” Alexis replied. “Tina insisted.”

“Thank you,” he said again.

“We have coffee cake,” Tina said, still trying to get adjusted to his new look.

“I know,” Kevin said, reaching down and retrieving something near her lip. “A crumb.”

“Thank you,” Tina said, blushing as his finger lingered on her cheek. Kevin was such a nice fellow. “Let me show you to your office.”

“It is right next to hers,” Alexis replied with a smile. “So she can keep an eye on you.”

Kevin removed his finger slowly from Tina’s cheek and chuckled at Alexis’ joke. “I’ll try to remember that.”

“Don’t pay Alexis any mind,” Tina said, leading him away from the nosey secretary. “She’s just trying to be funny.”

Tina glanced into Erik’s office as they passed. He still hadn’t arrived. She’d hoped that he might have entered through the other door and would be busy at work when she walked by. Tina sighed. Who was she kidding? Erik never looked busy or productive at any time. The only time he showed any promise was when he was with clients. He felt administrative type duties were beneath him and better left to Alexis.

Alexis, of course, had gotten a big laugh out of this when Erik told her, and she all but told him to kiss her butt. Alexis wasn’t Erik’s personal secretary, just Tina’s, and now Kevin’s. She had no doubt that Alexis would quit if Tina ever suggested she do anything for Erik.

Tina stopped in front of a door. “We’re here,” she told Kevin, who hadn’t said much since they walked away from Alexis. She turned the knob, opened the door, and then she stepped aside, allowing him the first look. She’d had it remodeled weeks ago to fit his needs after he agreed to join her in the business.

“This is wonderful,” Kevin said, stepping inside. He walked over to the window. “And what a spectacular view of Central Park.” From his window, he could see the East Meadow lawns recently restored by the Central Park Conservancy.

“I thought you’d like it. All that greenery promotes harmony.”

Kevin put his briefcase down on the modular desk. There was also a black meshed chair she’d purchased to help his back.

“There is also a private bathroom and another room through that door for you to relax in,” she told him.

She led him over to the two doors on the other side of the room. The bathroom had a private shower, toilet and sink. The second room had a sofa bed, a nightstand, a telephone, and a television. “It’s for those nights when you’re working late on a project and are too tired to drive home.”

“That is very thoughtful you,” Kevin said. “Is your office similar?”

“Yes,” Tina replied. “Almost exactly the same, except my bathroom has a bidet.”

“A what?” Kevin asked.

“Never mind. Come on, let me introduce you around.” She paused. “And can you not mention that I’m one of your students?” Kevin smiled at her and her heart sped up and then skipped a beat.

 “Does it embarrass you?”

“No,” she said, trying to get her heartbeat to calm and return to normal. “It’s personal. Martial arts are what I do for me.”

“I understand,” he said, looking very charming.

That’s what she liked about Kevin. He was easy to please and never made waves. She took him around to the different sections, not missing the look of interest from the other female employees. Less than an hour later, they had completed the tour of the facility and had returned to the administration area. The rest of Alexis’ crew had arrived and were helping themselves to coffee cake.

She looked over toward Erik’s door.

“He hasn’t arrived or called,” Alexis told her before she could ask.

“I hope he hasn’t been involved in an accident,” Tina replied.

“Who?” Kevin asked.

“Erik. He hasn’t shown up for work yet and hasn’t called.”

“Didn’t he tell you his plans before he left home this morning?” Kevin asked.

Tina shook her head. “He was gone by the time I woke up.”