Over the next week, things seemed to go from bad to worse. Devon seemed to be working overtime to undermine anything even remotely related to Craig and his position on planet. It was like he was trying to frustrate my husband enough so that he would give in or leave.1
His subtle tricks weren’t reserved only for Craig. 2
I had just concluded a vid-phone conversation that had me completely confused. Apparently I had applied to have my Performing Arts proposal cancelled, and the funding that had been secured was doled out to another project.3
The only thing wrong with that was that I never cancelled anything. I decided to look into this further, and called a few places to find out who had signed off on the cancellation.4
All calls I made lead to the same conclusion…’someone’ from the System Administration Office had approved my cancellation. Someone? I growled to myself as I walked out the back door and stared at the person sitting in one of the chairs.5
He must have known what I was there for because he glanced up from the thin notebook in his hand. "Yes, I put a hold on your funding for that…arts center."6
"Why?" I asked as I closed my hand into a fist, allowing my fingernails to dig into my palm.7
"Because I felt it unwise to continue with expansion in light of recent activities." He finished reading and put the notebook into his breast pocket.8
"Uh-huh," I said slowly. "I see." 9
"No problems then," he replied and walked away.10
I watched as he walked through the door leading to his room on the upper floor and shot visual daggers at his back the whole way. Falling into a chair, I ran my hands over my face, as I tried to work this out in my head. Part of me wanted to go to Craig and get him to beat the hell out of his old friend, but I decided against it(as nice as it would have been, it would have solved nothing).11
"Okay," I said to the back yard. "Minor setback." I worked hard on that plan, and no twit was going to take it away from me. Mess with me, will he? I’ll fund the damn thing myself….HA! That’ll show him! I let out a tired sigh. Who was I kidding? Regulations didn’t allow for full funding on projects because of ownership conflicts.12
~~~~~~~~~~13
I was still sitting outside when the door opened again. I glanced up, surprised to see that it was well after dusk. Craig walked over and crouched by the chair. 14
"What’s up?" he asked.15
"Seems as if I have a lot more free time," I said flippantly. 16
"Yeah?"17
I nodded. "Apparently my little project caught the attention of Devon, and he thought it best that it not continue."18
"I know."19
I looked at him for the first time since he came out of the house. "You know?"20
"He told me yesterday," Craig said as he ran a hand over his mouth. "I’ve been trying to get the application for funding through other resources, but…"21
I stared for a few moments, alternating between being completely annoyed, and totally pissed. "Uh-huh."22
He sucked in his breath slightly, knowing that ‘uh-huh’ was a precursor for me about to explode. "Darlin’," he said, "I know I should have told you, and I know you’re probably angry at me for it, but I was hoping to get the funding back by today. Seems that every person I contacted couldn’t do a thing because the application is marked as System Admin only."23
Darn it! I had a damn good anger worked up, and he goes and ruins it by being sweet. "This is getting beyond ridiculous," I said instead. "That guy waltzes in here, gets to stay in the building, and gets to call the shots for anything and everything that strikes his fancy."24
~~~~~~~~~~25
Over the next few days, there seemed to be a constant stream of system and military officials coming in and out of the Agro-office area. Plans were looked over for future expansion to make sure that the area would not approach the area where the book had been found. The farming was allowed to continue, since any altering would tip the system off that there might be something wrong with the planet, and that could mean drastic economic repercussions. If something was deemed wrong with one planet, then there may well be things wrong with other previously classified DNT planets.26
Samples were taken from the previous dig site, as well as from various other locations from all over the planet. Both Craig and I had been interviewed multiple times about the book, each official asking the same questions, over and over again.27
The interviews, in addition with his work and Devon’s constant presence seemed to wear Craig down bit by bit. His mood was alternating between sullen and angry, which only succeeded in annoying me, and that only heightened his attitude. It was turning into a vicious cycle that had to stop.28
~~~~~~~~~~29
I jumped slightly as Mark came bursting through the door from the office. "Cali?!" he yelled out. "Come on."30
Fear grabbed at me as I ran through the door and found I couldn’t breathe as we went to Craig’s office. A Military Police Officer stepped in my way as I tried to enter. My mind whirled as I looked past him and sighed in relief when I saw Craig sitting at his desk. He looked unimpressed as another M.P. talked to him, then walked to behind the desk. Craig sighed, stood, and put his hands behind his back. I watched, transfixed as the M.P. applied handcuffs then led Craig to the door.31
Craig looked at me as he was led out, smiled briefly, then they were gone. Devon walked out of his office, stopping when he saw me.32
"Sorry it had to come down to this," he said. "Just taking him for some questions…"33
"So you arrest him?!"34
"His idea," Devon said and started to walk away. "Said if I wanted him at my office to answer some questions, then I’d have to arrest him." He turned back. "He’ll be fine."35
"I’ll drive you there," Mark said.36
~~~~~~~~~~37
"We’ve invoked protocol thirty seven, Craig." 38
"You don’t have the authorization to do that," Craig said as he rubbed his wrists where the handcuffs had been.39
"Your head office argued it too, but…" He shrugged. "Ultimately, we convinced the Miradnes government that it would be in their best interest to do things our way."40
"And I bet you told them the whole truth." Sarcasm dripped off of Craig’s words.41
"You got two choices, Craig." Devon turned the computer screen around so we could see it. "You continue to fight me over this and you will be relieved of your job, and sent back…in disgrace." He paused. "Unless I decide to go through military channels, and you’ll be lucky to get off with just a dishonorable."42
"I’m already discharged, Deeb…try again."43
"Or…you ask to be reassigned next week when your tenure here is up."44
Craig wet his lips and stared at the computer screen again. He closed his eyes and defeat seemed to settle around him as he acknowledged reality…he had lost. He fought hard, employing every tactic he knew, but in the end it wasn’t enough.45
He opened his eyes and stared at the computer again. His eyes went to the bottom of the page, then he looked across the desk at his former friend. "You used me."46
Devon leaned back. "No."47
Craig laughed bitterly and shook his head. "You get promoted to Assistant System Director before or after you screwed me over?" He motioned to Devon’s signature and title at the bottom of the screen. "Well, congrats…buddy." Devon winced at the sarcasm and hatred Craig put into that word.48
"What’s it going to be, Craig?" Devon asked.49
Craig looked at me sadly, then looked at the ceiling. "I’m…" he paused and swallowed hard. "Reassigned," he finally whispered. I took his hand and squeezed it. He stood and gently pulled me to my feet. "That it?" he asked and turned away. "Be proud of yourself, man…you’ve become pure company."50
"Don’t fuckin’ act like you’re so innocent there, bud," Devon spat. "You did what you had to do to succeed…and so did I."51
"Whatever," Craig said and continued walking. One of the guards reached over to open the door for us. "Fuckin’ jerk."52
"You play the innocent well, but I bet there’s tones of things you haven’t told Cali," Devon goaded. "Like…bet you never told her how many times you cheated on your first wife."53
Craig went perfectly still at those words. He had never told me he had cheated…then again he never told me he hadn’t. Craig slowly turned to Devon, his eyes darker than I had ever seen. He walked to the desk, leaned against it and stared. 54
"Guess that means you haven’t," Devon smirked. "See, man…don’t think you can take me on and win. I’ve got a long memory…and you’ve fucked up quite a few times in the past…Major."55
Craig had launched himself over the desk, knocking Devon to the floor, and delivered three solid punches to his head before anyone could react. The guards pushed past me and tried to grab Craig off of Devon. One grabbed Craig’s arm, and was effortlessly tossed to the side before he got up and tackled Craig, taking him off of Devon with a body check. 56
Craig was dragged to his feet but had managed to get in a few kicks as the guards dragged him to the other side of the desk. They slammed him to the floor, one putting his knee on Craig’s neck and shoulders to keep him from moving.57
Devon grabbed a cloth from his desk and placed it against his battered nose. "Let him up," he ordered. He glanced at me as I stood by the door, staring at the whole thing in shock. He walked around the desk and regarded Craig coolly. "Feel better?" he asked, then nodded to the guards. "It’s okay."58
Craig went to pull away, but the guards held tight to his arms. "Get off me!" Craig yelled as he shook the guards off. He glared at Devon for a brief moment, then stormed past me and out the door.59
"You want to press charges?" a guard asked.60
Devon shook his head. "No…let him go." He glanced at me, and stood straight at the hatred in my eyes. "What?!" I held the stare until he turned away, then I spun on my heels and walked out of the room.61
~~~~~~~~~~62
I finally found Craig in our bedroom, tearing things out of his sketchpads, dropping the crumpled up paper into a trash can. He opened another pad, looked at the picture, and closed it before tossing it gently on my pillow. He grabbed another one, tearing out images from his past.63
I sat on the opposite side of the bed, picking up the sketchpad he had placed on my pillow and looked at it…smiling when I saw it was the ones he had drawn of me. "Craig?"64
He paused, but didn’t look at me. I noticed that his hands were shaking slightly, either from anger or from the adrenaline rush he must have experienced when he attacked Devon.65
"I cheated on Zeiana twice during the first two years of our marriage. I told her about both times, and we worked together to…get past them." He still didn’t look at me as he started tearing the drawings out again. 66
Oddly enough, I didn’t really care about my husband’s previous indiscretions. It was the past and I had long ago refused to allow the past to hurt me. "Devon’s not going to press charges."67
"Whatever." He pushed the pictures down to make room for more. I watched as he methodically destroyed memories that had meant so much to him. He reached for another book, but came up empty and grabbed another box, this time taking out pictures I had never seen before. He looked through the box, smiling slightly at a few of the images until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out an image and tossed the picture in the basket along with a few others. 68
The picture slipped to the side, and I had a nearly perfect view of two young men standing in front of a tattoo parlor, showing off newly acquired tattoos. It had been taken nearly thirteen years before, but there was no mistaking Craig as the younger looking of the two…his amazing blue eyes would be hard to miss anywhere. The other man…without the mustache and trim beard…looked like a younger Devon. 69
"What’s protocol thirty seven?"70
"Military presence on a Non-Military outpost." Craig finished tossing things into wastebasket, picked it up and walked out of the bedroom. I heard the back door open, then close, and got up to see what he was doing. I looked out the window in time to see Craig light a piece of paper with a lighter, then drop it in the wastebasket. He stepped back as the flames began to get higher, and put his hands in his pockets as he stared at the fire.71
He walked around the small fire slowly, his head tilting as though he was studying it, or seeing fire for the first time. He stayed outside, staring long after the flames died into red embers, then went out completely.72
I walked out of the house and approached quietly. I took his hand in mine, and gently pulled him towards the door. "Come on," I whispered.73
He stayed where he was, but pulled me to him, enveloping me in his arms. "I really messed up this time," he whispered. "Put friendship before fact…damn it." He fell silent, but I could feel his heart beating hard through his shirt. "Hell…I’ll be lucky if I still have a job next week."74
"Let’s go in," I said quietly and looked up at him. "It’ll be okay…We’ll go back home…and if they’re stupid enough to let you go, then…I don’t know…but it’ll be okay." I hugged him tightly. "I don’t care…I love you."75
He hugged me tighter, and I could feel his body shake slightly. "Fuck, I’m tired," he whispered. "I wanna sleep for a week." He looked around in the dark. "I liked it here," he whispered. "But I guess that doesn’t matter now."76
I hugged him tighter, pulling back in concern when he grunted slightly. "You okay?"77
He moved his shoulder around briefly. "Yeah. Damn, haven’t been put down that hard by the M.P.’s in years." 78
~~~~~~~~~~79
Craig slept soundly through the night…while I lay there, staring at his face. This was happening far too fast for me, and over the past two weeks I had to lock down on the urge to cry. I knew it would do no good, and I didn’t need to break down over some stupid thing when I needed to be strong. Tonight I had allowed myself the small luxury of crying while taking a shower.80
Although we had yet to discuss what was going to happen when Craig’s official set up tenure was over, I think it was a silent agreement that we were going to stay for a while longer. We both liked it here. Craig loved his job, and I grew to love the open spaces and freedom that came with it.81
If only I hadn’t agreed to that stupid dig…if only I hadn’t found that book…if only I hadn’t been so curious and tried to read it…if only I had catalogued it with the rest of the artifacts, then it would have been years before someone bothered to look at it…if only…if only…82
I blinked my eyes, banishing those damned doubts back to the farthest corners of my mind. I wished Craig would wake up and give me one of those incredibly sexy smiles. He hadn’t smiled lately and I missed it. Sure, a brief smile would appear, but it looked artificial…like it was for show only.83
I clenched my eyes shut as the tears threatened to come again. In two weeks we would be celebrating our first wedding anniversary…on some transport in deep space…on the way back to our home planet. Well, damn it…I would do everything in my power to make sure it was a wonderful day, something to remember. I brought my hand to my mouth, kissed the rings he had given me, and then placed the hand on his bare chest.84
~~~~~~~~~~85
We had been dating for a little over two years, and I didn’t ever remember being so happy. He was everything I ever wanted; kind, sweet, loving, and just a nice guy. Sure, sometimes his arrogance peeked through, but even that had a certain charm to it. He worked hard, refusing to, as he put it once, live off me. In recent weeks, long hours kept us apart, and soon he would be leaving for two weeks on a business trip.86
I was sitting in the chair behind my desk at the magazine office, spinning around while trying to think of something to write about. Just when I thought I better stop spinning before I got sick, the phone rang. I reached out and hit the button as I swirled by it, and stopped on the next turn to see who it was.87
Craig’s face smiled at me. "Dizzy…uh, busy, I see."88
I laughed as the room continued to spin past my eyes. "Yep. Aren’t you suppose to be in the air by now?"89
"Booked a later flight."90
I put my hand out to stop my spinning and squinted my eyes as I tried to focus on him. "Why? Everything all right?"91
He nodded. "Takin’ a later flight because…" He paused. "Since I’m gonna be gone for two weeks," he smiled slightly, "how about meeting me at the airport for dinner." His smile changed. "Maybe a little tongue action…cop a feel or two…"92
"You pervert," I teased. I looked at my watch. "I can be there in an hour."93
I arrived fifty-five minutes later and walked up to the matre de. "Greybourne," I said, then followed as he led me to a waiting Craig.94
Craig stood, gave me a kiss, ignoring the looks we were getting from a few of the tables. "Glad you could make it," he said as he finally sat down. He looked nervous, but I chalked that up to this being his first meeting with perspective clients. If all went well, then it would mean big business for the company he worked for.95
"Do me a favor," he said. "I’ve only got two hours…order something light…I wanna go to the lounge…get a quiet corner and stare at you until I my flight leaves."96
I smiled. Damn, but that man knew what to say to get my thighs to ache for him. "I’m not really hungry," I casually said. He smiled, put his menu down and stood. I accepted his outstretched hand, and we walked towards the lounge area of the restaurant.97
Luckily the lounge was only half full this time of the day, and we found a semi-secluded booth near one corner. I moved to the back of the padded half circle bench, and Craig entered from the other side, meeting me in the middle. He ordered a bottle of expensive wine from the waiter, then told him to leave us alone for the next two hours, tipping him more than enough to ensure privacy.98
I smiled as I took a sip, and noticed that Craig was already staring at me. I smiled to myself as I put one elbow on the table, rested my head on my hand, letting my hair fall across the back of my arm and onto the table. Craig watched, transfixed…then I tossed in the ‘cherry on top’…I slowly licked my lips.99
Craig closed his eyes with a small moan. "To hell with staring," he said as his eyes opened. I giggled as he moved closer and took me in his arms. He leaned me back slightly as his lips fell onto mine, and I was lost in the heat that rushed over me. His hands traveled over my front, and I was glad we were in a semi-secluded booth. He left my lips, switching to my neck, then his lips were back on mine…pressing, wanting, as he leaned closer, pushing me further back.100
He pulled back slightly and looked into my eyes. "I have to stop…before I can’t," he whispered in a choked voice then kissed me again lightly. I nodded, too flustered to talk, and wanted nothing more than to ‘do him’ right there in that booth.101
He took a large drink from his wineglass while staring at me, and as he put in down, he exhaled slightly. "God, you’re beautiful," he said, taking in my now mussed hair, and rumpled clothes. 102
I poured myself another glass, still to turned on to say anything but "do me", and saw the last motions of him taking his hand from an inside coat pocket. I cleared my throat, inhaled deeply to clear my mind, then exhaled. "I love you."103
He smiled that incredibly sexy smile and my mind automatically fell back into the ‘do me’ mode. I don’t think he knew what that smile did to me! I blushed as he took my hand in his, then looked as he remained silent.104
He was staring at me with a mixture of curious intensity, and then said the last thing I expected to hear.105
"Calinda…will you marry me?" He opened his hand to display the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen.106
My eyes went from his, to the ring, then back again. I realized my mouth was open and I shut it. He licked his lips nervously as doubt began to creep into his expression. Before I knew it, I was leaning against him, my lips covering his, my arms wrapped around his shoulders and neck. I pulled away a few inches until I could see his eyes. 107
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" I told him. I got up slightly, leaned over and undid the clasps around the small curtains at the end of each booth that could be closed for privacy. I pulled the curtain shut, then leaned back towards my now fiancé. I moved up onto his lap and started kissing him again. 108
~~~~~~~~~~109
I laughed lightly to myself at the memory. We didn’t get caught, but the looks we received from the waiters as we walked out made us aware that they had some idea to what we had been doing behind closed curtain.110
Craig moaned softly in his sleep as he rolled over and snuggled closer to me. His eyes opened and he looked at me sleepily. "It’ll be okay," he mumbled, "go to sleep." He kissed my lips, and then went back to sleep.111
He was right…it was going to be okay. In the rare instance I thought about it, I was rather wealthy…so money was really not going to be a problem. I had a good job, so that was fine. Craig, if he lost his job over this, would probably be snatched up by one of the competing companies. It was going to be okay.112
So why did I still feel like crying?113
114
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What did you think? Please comment!
Comments
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Thank you for being so loyal to this story. I know it took a long time to write and I appreciate your support and comments
I hope the next few chapters entertain you, and once you're done....I'll e-mail you the alternate ending that I have written
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It's been a while since I've read the last installments, but it sure all came back to me as I read this. As always, a lot of suspense towards the end of each piece, enticing the reader to the next chapter........so off I go ...great to be reading these again
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Yeaaahhhh! You finally wrote some more!
Well done! Excellent fight and aftermath description.
(one question "Said if I wanted him at my office to answer some questions" --- what office )
(Craig was dragged to his feet but had managed -- the word 'had' seems like extra...like it doesn't need to be there)
(but came up empty and grabbed another box, ---confusing!)
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