Page 10 of Too Old for Love

“I-I was asked by Samantha to bring this to you,” he said holding out a large envelope. “It has things in it about your retirement, I think.”

“Why you?” she asked staring at him.

“I live not far from here,” he said shrugging. “Listen, I’m sorry this happened to you but it has nothing to do with me or Jordan.”

“Doesn’t it? I think that you’re Abigail’s current playthings and she was going to make sure there was room for you both.” He frowned, embarrassment filling his face. Now she felt like shit.

“I’m sorry, Colt,” she said shaking her head. “I’m not a mean person. I didn’t intend for that to sound so cruel.”

“You’ve obviously never been broke, Everest. Believe me, I have been. I had a stepmother that sexually abused me from the time I was eleven. She said it was just a game but I knew better. I knew what she was doing but I was too scared to tell anyone.”

Everest swallowed, really feeling like shit now.

“I ran away from home at fifteen and figured out that what she was stealing from me, others would pay for. I’m not proud of it but it kept me alive. I got my GED, I’ve been taking college courses online and I make a shit-ton of money at the club.”

“You still work there?” she frowned. He looked away, then down at his feet.

“I-I have to. Abigail is married. I don’t think anyone knows that. The club is the only place she can, you know, with me and Jordan. Samantha too.”

“They both pay you to..”

“Don’t. Please don’t say it,” he said swallowing what appeared to be tears. “Like I said, I’m not proud of it but they pay me a lot to do what comes naturally for most people.”

“You could report them both to the board,” she said calmly. He shook his head and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “What about Jordan? Does he feel the same way?” Colt laughed.

“Jordan has a ten-inch dick that seems to never be satisfied. He has to jack-off three, four times a day and still can fuck Abigail and Samantha for two hours straight. He enjoys his job. A lot.”

“Leave it Colt,” she said taking a step toward him. “I’ll help you. I’ll help you find another job, far from here.”

He backed up, holding up his hands.

“I appreciate it, really I do. But for now, this is what I need to do.” He started to walk away and then looked back. “I was looking forward to working with you, Everest. You’re a really beautiful, cool lady.”

He said nothing else as he walked toward his car and then sped away.

Feeling the blistering heat of the day coming toward her, she went back inside to read the documents. But for some reason, she couldn’t get the young man out of her mind.

Maybe Mike could give her some advice. Or his friends. Maybe.

CHAPTER SIX

“I’m so sorry, Everest,” said Mike reaching for her hand. “Do you need anything? Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she said smiling at him. She looked down at his large, warm hand covering hers. She wanted to pull away but God help her, she couldn’t. “I’m going to just take some time for me for a while. Then, maybe, I’ll do some consulting or something.”

“I think that’s a great idea. Do you need to sell the house?” She quickly looked up at him. “Sorry. That isn’t any of my business. It’s just that I work with another firefighter who is a real estate agent on his days off.”

“Oh,” she smiled. “I don’t think so. I mean, I like my house. I hope I don’t have to sell. I did want to ask you if you understand what this document means. It was one of them in the envelope from Colt this morning. I consider myself an intelligent woman but this really doesn’t mean anything to me.”

She slid the document across to him and he looked at it a few minutes then back up at her.

“Everest, what does your company do?”

“Did,” she smirked. “I was in development under marketing. But the company itself sells software programs for medical practices, clinics and hospitals. It helps them to track patient records, align them with hospital records, medications, pharmacies, all of it. It’s supposed to make things easy for patients if they move or change doctors. No more paper records.”

“Do you remember my friends you met the other day?” he asked. She smiled, nodding at him.

“The three giants who could have been covers on magazines?”