Twelve Days The Beginning

Chapter Seventeen

The rest of Sunday passed uneventfully although Elise could tell that Dale was struggling without his usual alcoholic crutch. He was unable to settle and kept walking around the house, huffing and puffing.

Nothing further was said following their conversation in the car and they settled into their usual routine with a number of somewhat uneasy silences. As bedtime approached, Elise took herself upstairs for a hot bath and an early night. The last few days had taken their toll and she was relieved to be able to sleep in her own bed without having to keep one eye open for once, as Dale was still sober.

Arriving at the office on Monday morning, the first thing she did was to stop by Cole’s office to see how he was feeling and ask if he fancied having lunch.

Cole wasn’t there so she left him a note, asking him to drop her an e-mail when he got a chance.

Reaching her desk, she was pleased to see both Olivia and Stephen already in which meant they would have sorted the post; her least favourite job. She waved at both of them and then settled down to get on with her work, dropping her bag on the floor and her coat on the hook next to their group of desks.

Stephen was busily concentrating on his computer when she sat down but he turned and smiled at her as she settled in.

“Morning, beautiful – quite a night on Saturday, then?” he said with a knowing wink.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, “just went out clubbing with the girls. Nothing to report.”

“Ermm.... not the story I heard” he said glancing across at Olivia who was watching their exchange with interest. “Seems you were........unwell......although you were seen leaving the car park with a certain boss of ours!”

“Yes Stephen, very funny.” She said dismissively, and then as an afterthought, “By the way, I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Immediately his face hardened and clouded over with an emotion she couldn’t begin to name. Stephen had always been a joker and a flirt around her; this was a side of him she had never seen before. The coldness in his eyes was almost scary.

“I – do – not – talk – about – Natalie – EVER!” he hissed, his voice low to prevent Olivia from overhearing. “Understand?”

Shocked at his outburst, Elise mumbled an apology and turned back to her own work. Jesus Christ! Definitely not a subject up for discussion with him either. Who was this woman and why did she invoke such emotion in both Stephen and Vaughn?



A few minutes later, just as she had managed to lose herself in a particularly boring spreadsheet, her e-mail pinged and she was surprised to see that it was from Stephen.



Mon Dec 17th. 9.15am

Elise,

Sorry for my outburst – it’s not your fault. Just do me a favour, don’t mention her again.

Your question proves one thing though – you were definitely with a certain boss of ours on Saturday night!!

Gotcha there babe! Soooooo busted!


Elise read and then re-read the e-mail. Shit! She had completely given herself away without thinking. She wasn’t particularly concerned about Stephen - he had the morals of an alley cat - but she didn’t want it to be general knowledge that she had spent time alone with Vaughn. Jesus! Why didn’t she ever learn to think before she spoke?

Before she could formulate a reply her computer pinged again.



Mon Dec 17th. 9.20am

Don’t worry babe, your secret’s safe with me.

I promise.

Stephen x x


She looked across at him and he winked – and just like that, the tension was gone and they were back to their usual relationship. She smiled at him and mouthed ‘thank you’ then carried on with her work, keen to put in a full day after the debacle of Friday.

By lunchtime she had finished everything left over from Friday plus most of Monday’s work so she was feeling good and ready for her catch up with Cole. Oddly, he had not e-mailed her, which she found strange and come to think of it, she’d not heard from Vaughn either. Whilst she hadn’t necessarily expected to after how they’d left things on Sunday morning, she couldn’t help being a little disappointed.

Packing up her desk, she decided to head to Cole’s office again and see if she could catch him and entice him out to lunch. When she got there she was surprised to see that his office was still empty although his jacket and briefcase were there so she knew he must be around somewhere.

“Has anyone seen Mr Andrews today?” she asked in the general direction of the outer office. “Er.. I think he’s with Mr Granger – he mentioned he had a meeting with him.” replied Roger, one of the new junior’s assigned to Cole’s tutelage.

“Oh ok...thanks Roger” she said.

She hesitated for a moment trying to decide what to do. The fact that Cole had not e-mailed her slightly worried her and she wondered if he had been in a meeting with Vaughn all morning. That would explain the radio silence from both of them but if it was something important then she didn’t want to interrupt.

She supposed she could just walk round to Vaughn’s office and look through the window and see whether or not they looked like they were about to finish up. She really did want to talk to Cole and didn’t think she could wait another day.

Rounding the corner to the kitchen, she was surprised to see the door of Vaughn’s office open and the room empty of all furniture. As she got closer she saw that the nameplate had also been removed and frowned at it in confusion. Obviously Vaughn was no longer occupying this office but she had no idea where he could be and why - after only a couple of days – why had he arranged to move elsewhere?

Deciding to ask Stephen as she felt sure that he would know the answer, Elise walked back to her desk. He was on the phone so she sat and waited patiently until he had finished.

“Hey,” he said after hanging up “I thought you’d gone to lunch.”

“Yeah, I did,” she said, “but I was hoping to catch Cole and he’s not in his office. Apparently he’s with Vaughn but he doesn’t appear to live in his office anymore, I wondered if you had any idea what was going on?”

“Oh right, yeah” replied Stephen “Vaughn moved upstairs this morning – something about more privacy – you’ll find him in one of the offices at the far end. Are you sure you want to go bursting in though?”

“What do you mean?” she asked “I only want to speak to Cole; Vaughn can think what he likes – it’s not as if it matters to him what I do.”

“Ok, Elise – you tell yourself whatever works.” Stephen laughed and picked up the phone to make another call.

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Elise headed up the stairs to the Directors’ floor. She had only ever been here once before, and as she climbed the stairs she had to fight the urge to run back down again, telling herself she was going to see Cole – that was all.

Taking Stephen’s advice, she headed to the offices at the far end of the floor and was unsurprised to find Vaughn’s nameplate now adorning the room that they had shared their first kiss in on Friday. Figured. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.

She opted for neither emotion and instead decided to focus on Cole and seeing him again. Hesitantly she knocked on the door as she was unable to see in, the blinds being drawn across all the windows. Momentarily, the command to ‘enter’ was issued and she pushed open the door, frowning at her nervousness and trying to quell the shake in her legs. This was utterly ridiculous!

Vaughn was seated at his desk and looked up as she entered, a guarded smile on his face when he realised it was her. Cole was sitting opposite him and swivelled around, his face lighting up when he set eyes on her. Although he looked a lot better, he still bore some of the scars from Friday and she wanted to go over and touch them and kiss them better for him.

“Miss Grayson – what can we do for you?” the voice was its usual deeply sexy rumble and she struggled to maintain her focus. Cole looked across at Vaughn questioningly as if wondering why he used the formal version of her name.

“I......I....” she stuttered – For God’s sake Elise, pull yourself together! She admonished. Taking a deep breath she tried again. “I wanted to see if Cole, I mean Mr Andrews, was free for lunch but I can see that he is busy – I’m sorry to have troubled you.” She started backing out of the door, mentally cursing herself for even putting herself in this position.

“Hey Elise – wait,” it was Cole, “I’m sure we can take a break for a while?” He looked enquiringly at Vaughn.

Vaughn paused and seemed to consider, his eyes raking over her appearance. Today she was wearing her light beige dress suit made of a warm wool mix which was both comfortable and flattering, especially at this time of year. The dress finished just above her knees and she was wearing her usual sheer tights along with beige heels. In respect of office wear she was more than properly dressed; however by the time Vaughn had finished his perusal of her, she had never felt more naked.

Vaughn finally lifted his eyes as if coming to a decision. “What an excellent idea,” he said, “I could do with a break too. Why don’t we all go down to that pizza place? They do a buffet lunch if I remember?”

Elise groaned inwardly – great. How awkward was this going to be? Her self-professed protector, her ridiculously attractive nemesis and her, all in the same place at the same time. Great. This had the potential to be a very long hour.

On the short walk to the pizza restaurant, Elise found herself a couple of paces behind, walking on her own. The two men continued an in-depth conversation taking no notice of her at all and she began to wonder if this thing with Vaughn had all been a figment of her imagination. Whilst she knew that Cole would always be in her life, she decided to re-think Vaughn’s position as he had made no effort whatsoever to secure time alone with her since Sunday morning and now he was blatantly ignoring her. All good in respect of her marriage but she couldn’t believe how hurt she felt at being brushed aside by him and began to berate herself for believing everything that he had said to her. Perhaps Dale was right after all – why would anyone else find her attractive?



Although it was lunchtime, the restaurant was surprisingly quiet and they were seated immediately at a table set for four. Elise hesitated as she pondered the seating arrangements and then decided to just sit down and let the men sort it out. Cole went to take the seat next to her but Vaughn got there first and sat down smoothly on her left leaving Cole to take the seat opposite her.

The waitress arrived to take their drinks order and once she had showed them the buffet and given them plates and cutlery, she left them to it.

“Christ, I’m ravenous,” Cole said, “I can’t believe we’ve been holed up in your office all morning, Granger.”

Vaughn laughed and then turned to Elise.

“I see you found my new office then.” He said with just a tiny hint of sarcasm, “Someone informed me that it had more privacy than the one downstairs plus it holds rather special memories for me. I hope it didn’t inconvenience you too much to have to come upstairs.”

Elise glared at him and said nothing, hoping that the blush she could feel creeping up her cheeks was not visible. Completely oblivious to their exchange, Cole excused himself to go and get some food, leaving the two of them alone. Realising that this was not good, Elise began to get up to follow Cole but Vaughn stopped her with a hand on her leg underneath the table. His fingers started to stroke distracting circles on the sensitive underside of her knee and she had to struggle to keep still.

“I’ve not stopped thinking about you, Elise” he whispered in her ear, “I know we parted on bad terms on Sunday and I was angry with you; angry that you were rubbishing something that for me had been infinitely precious. But when I calmed down, I realised how difficult all this must be for you and reminded myself that you wouldn’t have responded to me the way that you did if Saturday night had meant nothing to you.” he stopped, his voice getting deeper and sexier still. “By the time I went to bed, I was rock hard with needing you and decided that I would have to move my office or I would never be able to walk around the building again - you really have no idea how much you turn me on.”

He leaned back and away from her just as Cole returned to the table, assuming a completely neutral expression that outwardly suggested they had been discussing nothing more than the weather.

Elise had still not managed to get her brain to function and instead was watching Cole hungrily digging into his food, wondering how on earth she was going to fake any kind of appetite. Presently Vaughn left the table too and Elise managed to breathe again, somehow managing to get most of her shaking body under control. OK, focus Elise...you’re here to talk to Cole.

“Cole,” she said, addressing her best friend, “I’m sorry I’ve not been in touch over the last couple of days. I had to go and pick Dale up from hospital yesterday and it was just a bit mad trying to get everything organised. I really wanted to call and see how you were though – especially after Saturday night. I’ve been worried about you.” She added softly “I really want to help you sort all this out; you do know that don’t you?”

“Yes, of course I do sweet-cheeks” he grinned as she raised her eyebrows at his infuriating nickname for her.

“Look,” he said, “I’ve got some thinking to do and lots to try to work through. I need you there to help me but I also need you healthy – you need to take care of yourself. First and foremost. You know what I mean.”

“I know, baby,” she said, “believe me, I know. But since he’s been out of hospital he’s made a real effort and said that he’s going to try to stop drinking. If he could just do that then maybe we’d have a chance to get back on track.”

“That’s bullshit, Elise, and you know it.” said Cole angrily. “He’s only been out of hospital one day - I’d hardly call that making an effort. There is no way in this world that he deserves you to be there to pick up the pieces or take the punches, any longer. You are done, Elise and you need to get out of there.”

She hated when Cole got like this. He made sense - of course he did - but it was very different to be on the outside of a situation doling out advice than it was to be on the inside, trying to sort everything out. She just wished everyone would stop telling her what she needed to do and let her sort it out in her own way in her own time.

Cole hadn’t finished though. “It’s been five years, babe. That’s five years too long for you to be putting up with his shit. You know I would step into the breach for you at any time but Jesus, that beating he gave me was savage. I am struggling to deal with the fact that he lets loose on you like that too.”

Frustrated, Elise laid a pacifying hand on Cole’s arm. “Please, baby,” she pleaded, “please just let it go for now. I’ve got this, I promise you. I know what I’m doing.”

Vaughn chose that exact moment to return to the table and glared at the contact she and Cole shared across the table. Well, tough shit, Vaughn Granger – he’s my best friend and I need him so you can just back right off.

As much as she would have loved to, she didn’t actually say that. Instead she removed her hand and excused herself to go and fill her own plate – leaving the charged macho atmosphere behind. Bloody men!

After her tense conversations with both men the mood lightened considerably and Elise found herself able to eat more than she ever thought possible. Now and again, Elise noticed Cole glancing wistfully at Vaughn but she made no comment and brushed the thought away. That was something for Cole to sort out another day; she only hoped that he managed to come to terms with whatever life held for him so that he could go on to be happy and fulfilled.

When they had finished their meal, Vaughn went off to pay the bill. Both Cole and Elise stood, waiting for him to return. Left alone, she tried again to talk to him again - she really needed him to know that she was there for him one hundred percent, whenever, wherever.



“Baby,” she said and sighed at his beauty as he turned his full attention to her “Please let me help you sort through things. I want to help you like you always help me. Let’s try and spend some quality time together over the next few weeks. I’ll think of something to get out for a while. Please – it’s really important to me.”

Cole sighed and hugged her close to him, “Oh, Elise, you are the most precious person in the world to me but you have no room in your life for my issues. Sort yourself out first. Then we can talk about me. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not about to do anything stupid – I promise you. I love you, babe.”

“I love you too, baby.” she said and buried her head into his neck, seeking warmth and comfort in his familiar fragrance.

A loud coughing sound came from behind her and she knew who she would see as soon as she turned.

“Sorry to break up the love-fest but I’ve paid the bill and we need to get back to the office.” Vaughn said abruptly and began marching out of the door.

Cole and Elise followed, Cole wearing a slightly bemused expression as if he couldn’t understand the sudden change in Vaughn’s demeanour. Elise kept her head down and concentrated on getting back to the office in time for Stephen to go to lunch – she had completely forgotten that he was waiting for her to get back and a quick look at her watch told her that she was already ten minutes late; No doubt he was spitting nails right now!

As they entered Reception, Elise turned to go back through the ground floor door to her desk but was stopped by Vaughn who put a light hand on her arm.

“Andrews,” he said addressing Cole “would you mind if we re-convened in ten? I just need to go through something with Elise regarding the Swindon conference on Friday.”

What Swindon conference on Friday?

“Yeah, no worries,” said Cole, “I need to check my e-mails anyway.” He headed off to his office leaving her and Vaughn alone in Reception with only the eagle eyes of Annabel for company.

“Miss Grayson,” he addressed her formally again, no doubt in deference to Annabel’s presence, “Could you spare me a couple of minutes in my office, please?”

Caught between a rock and hard place, Elise had no option but to accept and followed him out of reception and up the staircase to the first floor. This was now the third time she had climbed these stairs in as many days; if she carried on like this, she was fairly sure she would be able to do it with her eyes closed.

As they entered Vaughn’s office, he immediately closed the door and ensured that the blinds were still drawn. He then locked his gaze onto hers, anger simmering in the depths of his beautiful eyes.



“What precisely is the nature of your relationship with Andrews?” he demanded. “I need you to tell me now.”

“Who are you? My keeper?” she asked sarcastically. “What the hell business is it of yours what my relationship with Cole is?”

“It is my business because I am your boss.” He spat out, “Now just answer the goddamn question!”

He was getting angry but so was she. She and Cole had been friends for years, long before this man had even heard of Andrews & Andrews, and she was damn sure she wasn’t going to be dictated to by him. She had that at home; she didn’t need it here as well.

“No!” she said angrily, “I will not answer the question – it is none of your goddamned business!”

“Be careful, Elise” he warned, “I am a patient man, but you are pushing me to the limit. I need to know the nature of your relationship – either you tell me now or I will haul Cole’s ass up here and serve him with a disciplinary for conducting an inappropriate workplace relationship!”

“You bastard...” she hissed, “an ‘inappropriate workplace relationship’? What the hell was that between us on Saturday night then? Or did you get that sanctioned beforehand? Your twisted morals are way off base and not appreciated around here. I will not be dictated to at work, by you or anybody. And for your information, I do not respond to threats. I think you’ll find five years of domestic abuse has taken care of that!”

And after pouring all of her pent up anger and frustration into that parting shot, she stormed out of his office and slammed the door – hard.