Davey has gone back to the silent treatment. His shrink is really happy with his progress though. She said that the fact that he spoke a couple of sentences was a huge step in overcoming his communication barrier, and if we continue to take things one step at a time and focus on “positive energy,” he’ll make a full recovery.
It’s really really hard to focus on “positive energy” when Justin is involved.
I figured that after our outing to the zoo, things would get easier. They haven’t. If anything, they’ve gotten harder. Justin has turned back into a raging tyrant. His lists are longer than ever, and he’s been coming home later and later lately. Sometimes he brings friends for dinner, and they’re loud and annoying and drink lots of wine. That guy Trace is always there too, and if he sees me, he sort of stares at me for a couple of minutes before being distracted by another one of his friends, or by Justin. I try to bring the boys out to dinner those nights, but sometimes it’s just not possible. Austin has homework, and so, Lucinda seems to get the hint and give me plates for the boys so we can eat in one of their bedrooms. It’s so horrible and unstable for them, but Justin doesn’t really give a crap.
Others may not notice, because he’s so good at hiding it, but I can tell he’s been a mess since the zoo.
I think I may have triggered something in him that I shouldn’t have.
But I needed to get my point across.
Despite the fact I told Justin I would only sign Austin up for soccer if he agreed to come to the games, I found myself giving in and bringing him down for sign ups Tuesday after he got out of school. I realized that he really did want to play, and I shouldn’t have punished him for Justin’s arrogance. It was the first time I really saw Austin light up since I’ve been watching him, and I was glad I decided to look past my issues with Justin. Part of me agreed with Austin...Justin didn’t really do all that much for him besides the essential things. He didn’t seem to be concerned about what Austin wanted to do in his spare time and he didn’t care about his interests. He put the effort into Davey, and took his anger out on Austin.
I felt bad for the kid.
I’ve decided to step it up and give him as much love as I can. Somebody needs to do it, and I know if I don’t start, something bad will happen. He’s already acting out, and I don’t want to imagine where it will go if he doesn’t get the attention and love he needs and deserves.
“I have something I need you to do for me,” Justin told me this morning as the boys were eating breakfast. I was busy packing Austin’s lunch that Lucinda had prepared the night before, and was hardly in the mood for more tasks from him, since he’d already left me a list for groceries and another for stationary supplies.
“What now,” I grunted.
He snorted out a laugh. “Saturday night, I’m hosting that benefit. You know the one...you had to get the table linens for me from Bloomingdales for it.”
“Yeah, so?” I whirled around and planted Austin’s lunch box in front of him. He didn’t look up from his cereal and continued to chew slowly, like a cow that was chewing grass. “Austin, hurry up,” I whispered, giving his shoulders a gentle rub.
“I need you to come with me.”
I stopped. The whole world seemed to stop, and then I looked up at him. “Why in the world would you want me there?”
I guess I sounded more shocked than anything, because a moment later he was chuckling heartily to himself as he guzzled some kind of protein shake.
“Well my business partner, Trace, and I were discussing it. You’d look really great on my arm, that’s all. You seem very genuine. The donators love that, and if they love it...they’ll give more money. It’s for a good cause. Something I really believe in.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing...” I trailed off and shook my head, the idea of being Justin’s “date” to anything, even if it was a formality, disgusting me to the core. “No, I’m not going. I have to look after the boys.”
“I can leave them with Trace’s sitter. His girlfriend has a daughter, the kids will have a good time. I’ll get some movies that are still in theaters for them to watch.”
“Davey doesn’t talk. It’ll be weird for him,” I grunted.
“The sitter has already been briefed. It’s not a problem.” He straightened his tie and walked closer to me. “You will be there, and you will go out today and buy a dress. Make sure you see Roberta at Saks. She’s the best personal shopper they have. Tell her you need something for a benefit, and that you’ll be going with me. She’ll know what to do from there.”
I crossed my arms and angrily narrowed my eyes at him. He continued to stand before me, an arrogant smirk on his face. “And if I say no, then what?”
“Awe come on Ab,” he reached out and patted my shoulder. “Don’t make me let you go now. I’m really starting to like you, ya know? And the boys, I mean, don’t want to think about what my firing you would do to them. Austin...I mean he’d have to drop soccer and...”
“Fine. Just...fine.” I snapped, not wanting to hear any more of his shit, hating that he was dangling the boys in front of me to get his way.
r32;“Thought so.”
He winked at me and walked away. The door opened and closed. He’d gone to work.
I was fuming. I stood in the middle of the kitchen, fists balled at my sides, teeth gritted. I was ready to throw one of his many priceless statues out the window too. But then...
“Are you going to quit?”
I turned around and Austin was staring at me, so was Davey. Their eyes were filled with sadness and it made my heart break to see them both that way over me. “No, of course not,” I reassured them both with gentle kisses on the tops of their heads. “Come on, we’ll be late.”
I walked faster than normal to Dalton, barely listening to the things Davey was rambling on about. I was too focused on what I had to do, where I would be going. Justin was dragging me into his world for an evening. A world filled with wall street giants, celebrities, and people that just had way too much money on their hands. I’d never been involved with those types of people before. How was I supposed to know how to act? Was Justin going to train me? Give me a class? Knowing him he probably would but I wasn’t about to change who I was to please the stupid idiots that surrounded him. I was so uncomfortable. Everybody would be staring at me. Everybody would think that I was dating him. And the next day? He’d just tell them all that I wasn’t worth it. That he dumped me or something.
My reputation was about to go out the window, and he couldn’t have cared less.
For the first time since I’d been hired, I left Davey with Lucinda after I filled Justin’s lists. I typed out what I needed to go do in the translator, and lamely pronounced the words to her in Spanish. I think she mostly understood. She laughed a little bit, said something I couldn’t understand and took Davey by the hand to somewhere else in the house. I hated leaving him with her. She couldn’t understand him the way I could, but I knew I couldn’t bring him to Saks. He would be bored, and I would be much too nervous to keep an eye on him.
“So...you need something fab-bu-lous.”
Roberta is a middle aged woman, that looks like she could have been a supermodel back in her hay day. She’s tall, has a model perfect body, and a gaudy, overly white smile that I have no doubt she pays for. “Uh...uh huh.” I nod. I tried to call Charlene before I left the house. I was hoping to get some moral support from her about this whole thing, but she wasn’t home. I hate that I’m here alone, and have no clue what I’m even doing.
“Maybe...an evening gown?”
I shrug. “It’s a benefit.”
“Surely. And an evening gown is the perfect thing for a benefit or Gala, darling. Justin’s benefits are known for their class and style, and you must look outstanding if you are going to be on his arm.” She pulls me by the hand and takes me into the next room full of dresses. “Now, I think maybe...we’ll try these, and oh...all of these...”
By the time she’s done choosing dresses, she’s compiled more than twenty. I’m overwhelmed. This event means nothing to me, but yet I’m about to pick an outfit that costs as much as an economy size car. It nauseating. Maybe I can break my leg or my arm and get out of it. The sad thing is, Justin would probably make me go anyway. “Oh it’ll look even better if something is wrong with you.” He’d say.
I really hate him.
We get down to the final two dresses. The other ones were no goes. According to Roberta they either didn’t stand out enough or I simply didn’t look good in them. Way to lower my self esteem, lady. I try the first one on. This is black, strapless. It has a slit in the side that rides all the way up to just below my panty line so you can see my entire right leg. Jesus. I should have shaved today.
This is Justin’s kind of dress though. I know that before I even set foot out of the dressing room. It’s silk. Very clean looking, elegant, classy. Little beaded embellishments across the chest and waist give it a formal look but doesn’t push the thing over the top. I look like one of his statues. Something he’d be proud to display once I’ve been accessorized the proper way. When I head out to Roberta, I can tell she’s thinking exactly what I’ve been too.
“Oh this is the one, darling.”
I step up on the pedestal so I can get a closer look at myself in the three way mirror. The fact that many parts of my body will be revealed to Justin for no good reason at all irks me. “It’s too much skin.” I say, with a shake of my head.
“Nonsense. This is your dress.”
I turn to her. “But I’m not comfortable.”
“Well, Mr. Timberlake left me with specific instructions when he contacted me yesterday,” she smiles. “He said it was my say, because he trusts my expert judgement, and I say this is your dress, unless you’d like to pay for one instead of him.”
I scowl at her. I realize that I’ve been played off as some idiot girl that Justin has instructed her to dress up for him. “I guess I don’t have a choice then do I?”
“Mr. Timberlake’s price range is from five thousand to ten thousand for your dress. This particular dress is eight thousand, so I’d say not, miss.”
I give myself one final long look in the mirror, before sighing and saying, “I’ll take it.”
“Wonderful.” She smiles and clasps her hands together. “I’ll select some accessories for you. Justin said he was taking care of your jewelry, so why don’t you change, and I’ll have the rest for you in a moment.”
I contemplate escaping from this place as I change back into my street clothes. I could just run for it, tell Justin that I never made it to the store. Knowing him though, he’d probably call Roberta to check on my story. I hate this. I’m being forced into this, and it’s not right. Shopping for a dress of this magnitude is supposed to be special. If....if Braeden were around I probably would have been looking for a wedding dress and enjoying myself by this time. Maybe I would have even been married by now.
But he’s not around, and I can’t dwell on that fact because I have too much going on at the moment.
I walk out of the dressing room, my emotions on the brink of cracking, as I hand the dress to Roberta. She smiles happily and leads me over to the check out counter, showing me the shoes, shawl and purse she’s picked out to go along with the dress. I barely look at them. My opinion doesn’t even matter so I don’t know why she’s showing me these things anyway. I wait for her to ring them up, and then she ask me how I’ll be getting back home.
“Subway,” I tell her.
“Oh, of course, darling.” She says it like it disgusts her. “I’ll send these things along to Mr. Timberlake’s estate then. That way they won’t be destroyed.”
“Thanks.”
I rush out of there quickly. I never, ever want to go back in.
I get home just in time for lunch with Davey, which puts my mood a little bit more at ease. The dress has already arrived too, which is also a good thing. I wave Lucinda away as she tries to start fixing us sandwiches, wanting to get a little bit creative with Davey instead. He helps me make peanut butter sandwiches and cheese and cracker towers. We use some fancy plates I find in the cabinet. They are blue and have painted silver swirling patterns all over them. Davey loves them, and we eat our lunch on the large comfortable sofa while watching some cartoons. He enjoys our little afternoons together before Austin comes home, and so do I.
The phone rings after a while, and I reach behind me to pick it up. “Timberlake residence.”
“Did you get the dress?”
“Yes, Justin,” I groan and shove another cheese square into my mouth.
“I want to see it.”
“Well you can see it when you come home. Austin gets out soon.”
“Come here after you pick him up,” he orders me. “Bring the dress.”
“Justin, I’m not doing that.”r32;
“You will,” he says, sounding irritated. “Just get here, Abbey.”
He hangs up on me.
I’m so infuriated I could scream, but Davey is looking up at me with wide eyes, most likely being able to sense my mood and I know I have to remain calm for his sake. The time to pick Austin up from school comes much too soon, and I try the best I can to walk slowly with Davey on the way there, so I can delay myself as much as possible. I feel my shoulders sag in defeat when I see Quincy standing in front of Dalton when we walk up. Apparently Justin wants to make sure I get to him as soon as humanly possible. What the hell is the rush?
r32;“Hi, Quincy,” I say miserably.
“Hello Miss Abbey.” He tips his hat to me and smiles. “Mister Timberlake sent me. He wants me to drop the kids off and take you to his place of business. I stopped by the house, and picked up the garment he wants to see as well.”
Justin doesn’t miss a fucking beat does he? “Thank you,” I sigh.
The school bell rings, and I look up. A flurry of students run out of the school, and Austin is the last one out. He’s being escorted by a teacher. The same one who asked me to get Justin to come down to the school for a conference. This doesn’t look good at all. Austin has a black eye and a bloody lip. Why didn’t they call?
“Austin?” I rush up to them, leaving Davey in Quincy’s care. I look at the teacher. “What the hell happened?”
“There was a fight. The other child is in much worse shape, if you can believe that. We’ll need to have a conference, Miss Feldman. Justin will need to be here for that.”
“Austin.” I crouch down and make him look at me. “What happened?”
He looks down at his shoes.
“Both boys have been suspended,” she explains to me. “For a week.”
I nod. “When do you want to see Justin?”
“As soon as possible,” she grunts. “Please, contact the school and set up an appointment.”
She turns her back on me, and walks away. I’m appalled. This whole situation with Austin is worse than I thought.
“Justin’s gonna send me away,” he whimpers, once the teacher is out of site.
“Hey, no he’s not,” I reassure him gently. “But you did a bad thing. You know that right? There has to be a punishment. Why were you fighting?”
“He...he always makes fun of me. He says I’m a hick, and that I don’t belong here,” he mutters. “Today he said my mom was a piece of southern trash, and then...I hit him. He...he shouldn’t say things like that about my momma.”
He’s sniffling now and I know his pain runs deep inside of him. It’s just wrong for Justin to force him into forgetting about his parents and the way they died. He’s still in mourning. He’s just a little kid still, and he needs somebody he can talk to about this, so he can move on the right way. “I know.” I pull him into my arms and hold him close. “Look, Justin and I will talk about this and figure out the best way to handle it. In the meantime, I don’t want you watching TV, and bedtime is an hour earlier than usual.”
“O-okay, Abbey,” he whimpers into me and clings to me tighter.
Christ, I feel like I’m all this kid has in the world.
I drop the boys off at home, and try my best to tell Lucinda not to let Austin watch TV, before I rush out the door again. Quincy gets me down in front of Goldman Sachs in about a half hour, and I haul the large box that contains the dress and accessories inside the building, riding the elevator to the thirtieth floor. I get off, a million frustrations invading my mind as I make my way down the long, plush hallway. I want to go off on Justin, throw the fucking dress in his face and tell him to get a clue, but I doubt that would go over very well in a place like this, and I have Austin to think about too.
“Oh hello, Abbey,” Cheryl chirps brightly as I push my way into the outer sanctum of Justin’s office. “Justin’s been expecting you. You can just go on in.”
r32;“Thanks,” I barely smile, and feel a little bad because she’s never been anything but nice to me, but can’t dwell on it for long. I push my way into Justin’s suite, and drop the box onto the sofa in the corner. He’s at his desk, looking at his computer screen, and I stand in front of him for a few moments, waiting for him to acknowledge my presence.
“How’d it go?”
He doesn’t look away from his computer. “It’s a dress,” I grunt.
“Well let’s see it.” He says it to the computer screen and it takes him a minute more to finally look at me.
“Austin had a fight at school,” I say, disregarding his request. “They suspended him for a week, and the teacher says you have to attend a conference with her before he goes back.”
He folds his hands and presses his index fingers to his lips. “You can go to the conference. I’ll deal with him on my own, later.”
“We need to talk about this now, Justin,” I mutter, darkly. “You can’t blow it off.”
“I’ll deal with what I want to deal with now,” he snaps.
“Asshole!” I yell, the tears I’ve been holding in all day finally making their way down my face. “You don’t even give a fuck about him! He’s your brother! He’s falling apart Justin, and all you care about is some benefit...some god damn dress!”
He stares at me for a good long time. I don’t think he knows how to react because I’m sure nobody in this building would ever dare raise their voice to him. I just don’t care though. This is my limit, and I’m done holding all of my feelings back.
He gets up from his desk, and glares at me a little bit as he walks over to the couch and opens the box that contains the dress. I look back at him slowly, hating that he’s chosen to ignore me at a time like this. He’s lifting the dress out of the box, and studying it, working his hands all over it, as if it’s a priceless work of art.
“This is nice,” he whispers, placing it back into the box. “She did a good job. Tiffany’s is lending me a diamond necklace, some kind of rare piece. You’ll be wearing that too.”
I cross my arms. “I’m not doing this, Justin. I can’t do this anymore.”
He shrugs. “So quit.”
I stare at him. “You just don’t care do you? You don’t care if those kids are miserable or happy, just as long as you’re getting what you want.”
“Look, are you staying or are you leaving?” He huffs as he makes his way back over to his desk and takes a seat again. “I don’t have time to worry about it, Abbey. Do you want me to tell you that you’re doing a better job at raising my brothers than I am? Fine, you are. I’m not denying that. Why the hell would I have kept you for all this time if you weren’t? I don’t have time to hug them or dry their tears, go to soccer games...worry about a stupid fist fight. They suspended the kid for it? Fine, whatever, let them. Austin will go back, I’ll donate some money to improve the school, and they’ll forget all about it. Do you really want me to go see this teacher? Fine...I’ll go if it’s so damn important to you. It won’t make a difference anyway. I don’t care what she thinks about Austin. I’m paying her to deal with him.”
I scoff. “So you’ll go?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “I said I’d go, didn’t I?”
I nod. “Fine then.”
“Here.” He opens up his desk drawer and pulls out an envelope. “This is for you.”
I give him a skeptical look as I walk forward and take it from him. “What’s this?”
“You know, you could just open it,” he nods.
I roll my eyes and do it. What I find inside, makes my head begin to spin. “This is a check...ten thousand dollars?”
“You’ve earned it. I think so anyway. Now get out. I have shit to do.”
Everything I’ve ever thought about this guy just doesn’t make sense. Why is he giving me a bonus? A bonus that’s ridiculously huge? I just called him an asshole...I constantly put him in his place. “I...I don’t know what to say...”
“Don’t say anything,” he grunts. “Just get out of my office.”
I guess there’s just some things I’ll never understand about him. Unless he’s just giving me the money to shut me up, to make me think I should do the things he wants me to do without a question.
But why should I pass up more money than I’ve ever seen in my lifetime? He’s using me, yeah...but that doesn’t mean I can’t use him too. He’s showing me that. He’s showing me how easy it is to get what you want in your life, if you just comply.
The guy really is a genius, I guess.
Story Tags: triangles justinandtrace executivej
