“What? No!” I’m baffled by this man that I call my best friend.
“Okay, then ask him what his address is. I need to at least know which direction to go in.”
“I can’t Ross. I locked myself in his room and don’t want to go ask him. I saw his brother and some other man with him. They ended up seeing me naked, and there is no way in hell I’m facing them after that. We have to figure out another way. Can’t you use the Find My Phone app to find me?”
“Oh, you know what, yes I can. Good thinking.”
Ross takes a few seconds to activate the app on his phone.
“Okay, sweets, I got it. You’re not far at all. I’m on my way. You sit tight. Your knight in shining armor is on the way!”
I smile through my tears and say, “Okay.”
We disconnect the call and there’s a knock on the bedroom door.
“Riley... Riley... open the door. It’s okay.”
I sit quietly on the other side of the door and listen to his plea for me to open it. He tries twisting on the knob a few times, to no avail.
“I understand how embarrassing this may be for you, but I want you to know, I’m not judging you. Just open the door so we can talk about it. I don’t want to talk to you through the door.”
His words seep through the wood and penetrate the soft side of my soul. I want to open the door and accept his explanation, but the embarrassment is too much to bear. And what about William and that other man? The shame of it. Both of my bosses have seen me running around butt naked, like a crazed woman in one of their homes, and God only knows who the other man is.
Nicholas finally gives up and walks away from the door. “Okay, I’ll be here when you’re ready to come out.”
I take a deep breath, plant my face into the palms of my hands, and sob quietly. After a few minutes, I regain my composure and remember that I am still totally naked. I scan the room and see the closet. I open the door and look through the clothes hung up there to find something decent to cover my body with. I choose one of Nicholas’s button-down shirts. I take it down from the hanger, put it on, and gather all of my belongings.
Sitting on the bed, waiting for Ross to call my cell phone, I have time to gather my thoughts, to think about what happened at the party. I have flashbacks—remembering little snippets, the worst one being me throwing up into a plant pot of some sort and clinging onto Nick.
My cell phone vibrates in my hand, and I nearly drop it. Ross’s face appears on the screen. So, I unlock the bedroom door and strut through the house, right out through the front door, without uttering one word to any of the men sitting in the living room.
Nicholas runs to the door and calls after me, but I don’t turn around, nor do I respond to him calling for me. I get into the car with Ross and we set off. From the corner of my eye, I can see all three men standing in the doorway, watching as Ross and I drive away.
Moments go by with no words being spoken between Ross and I. Ross drives while I sit in silence with my window rolled all the way down. Ashamed of my actions, I keep my face turned away from him and towards the open window, with the wind blowing through my hair.
Ross takes small, repeated glances at me while he drives. Tears escape my eyes and trail down my cheeks as I try to reconcile what I’ve done. Ross tries talking to me in a cautious and soft tone.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on? What happened back there? I mean, last time I saw you, you told me to go home and that you would be alright. And now you call me, hysterically crying. Should I be headed to the police department?”
At first, I only gave him non-verbal communication by shaking my head no.
“Okay, well... Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“Oh Ross, I’ve really fucked things up now. I mean, all that I’ve worked for, all of my life, is gone! Just gone!” Panic consumes me. I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this mess.
“Okay, tell me what happened? What do you mean, gone? I don’t want to throw tons of questions at you, so just start at the beginning and explain what happened.”
I turn my head towards him and nod in confirmation. Then I take a couple of deep breaths and wipe the tears from my face with my bare hands.
“Well, first off, I don’t remember much at all. All I know is that you and I were at the party last night. I went outside to get some fresh air and began puking my brains out. Then, Nicholas, I mean, Mr. Brooks, came over to help me. I mean, I don’t even know where he came from. And then the next thing I know, I woke up in this strange place. I had no idea where I was, and I was naked. Apparently, in his bed.”
“Okay, so that’s it?”
“That’s all that I can remember.”
“Okay, soooo, why are you feeling like your life is over? Because so far, I haven’t heard anything that screams ‘you’ve ended your life’s work’, nor your career.”
I hate that I have to spell it out to him, but do so anyway. “Ross, I slept with my boss, again! That is a forbidden act at the company.”
“Okay, slow down. You’re jumping to conclusions and being really irrational right now. Listen to me, I’m going to need you to calm down and pull it together, okay? Because for all you know, he could have brought you there to sober up, get you cleaned up, and get you home safely. Did you ever think of that?”
“Well, no.” I’ve never taken Nicholas to be a bad guy, and I don’t think he would ever hurt me. He had many chances before this encounter to do so if he wanted to.
“All right then. It is a possibility, okay. I mean, you don’t appear to be harmed, beaten, battered, or bruised. It doesn’t appear that you were being held against your will. Were you?”
“Well, no… I don’t think so. Although naked, I was in bed alone. And my vomit-soaked dress was laid across the bathtub with care. It wasn’t carelessly thrown around, and my shoes and purse were neatly sat in a chair. I think he even made a pot of coffee for me.”
“Okay, so maybe you didn’t think this through and overreacted, hmm?” Ross reasons with me.
I respond with a subtle and embarrassed, “Yeah, maybe. But either way, it’s not a good look for my job at Brooks Enterprises, and bad for my career in this industry if word gets out,” I continue.
“Well, somehow I feel like he has more to lose than you. He is the M.I.C. of Brooks Enterprises.”
“M.I.C.?”
“Man In Charge. He is a rich man, sitting at the head of a multi-million-dollar table. He does not want, nor does he need, this type of bad press. What do you think he’s going to do? Go out and spread the word to his office staff that he’s banging the interior designer of the company. No Ma’am, he is not. Besides, you’re the one that has the upper-hand if this goes from sugar to shit.”
“What, how do you figure that?”
“Because, silly, you’re the one that can file a multi-million-dollar sexual harassment lawsuit against him and his company should anything go awry. That will be very bad for him. That would tarnish the image of his family’s dynasty. It would also cause him to lose investors; thereby, losing capital. Trust me, you are not worth all of that to him. The worst he could do to you is fire you. But again, you could sue, and he knows that. Believe me, he will not allow any of this to get out.”