"I'll be there. Do I need anything?"
"BYOB," commented Grayson. Alex nodded her head and went back to her desk.
Chapter 11
Alex arrived at Grayson's fashionably late. She
changed her clothes after a quick shower at home
and put on jeans, short boots and a sweater. Alex
had stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle
of Stoli for the party and picked up a bottle of Hi-C
orange to mix with it at the grocers next
door. Alex knocked on the door, but doubted
anyone could hear it over the stereo. She smiled
and hesitated before using the doorbell.
"They can't hear me," she said to herself testing the
doorknob. Surprisingly it gave and she let herself
in.
The door opened easily and allowed her entrance
into the pantry of Gray's house. A flight of stairs leading to the basement was immediately in front
of her and the kitchen was on the right. She heard
the noise coming from the direction of the living
room, divested herself of her shoes and walked into
the house.
"Hello," she called.
"Alex," questioned Grayson coming into the
kitchen.
"Yeah, the door was open. I tried knocking and
ringing the bell. I guess you couldn't hear me."
"Give me a heart attack. That door is supposed to
be locked. Do you need a glass or are you just
going to mix the two together in one giant
container?" Alex smiled and asked for a glass. Grayson
grabbed a tumbler from the cupboard, got some ice
and helped Alex mix a rather strong
screwdriver. After locking the door, he led her
into the living room where everyone was assembled
watching a Red Sox's game.
"Baseball? Why am I not surprised?"
Grayson laughed and introduced her to some
friends of his that were not Hasani
employees. She saw that Morgan and Joey were
there, but there were no other women. "Gray, I'm
the only woman," she said as she leaned close to
him. "You're okay, Alex. These guys won't hurt
you," he reassured her.
Alex relaxed somewhat and sat down on the
loveseat facing the crowd and the rest of the house. Alex had finished her first tumbler and was feeling
good when James came in. He was stunned to see
her car in the driveway and even more stunned to
find her buzzed in the living room.
"Gray, how long has she been here?"
"An hour. She just finished her first glass and I'm
making her her second. She's fine, James. I'm
taking care of her.”
"That makes me feel better," he replied sarcastically
grabbing a beer from the supply he kept in the
fridge.
James pulled up a stool from the bar in the dining
room and perched himself on the edge. Laying his
cigarettes and lighter on the end table, he took a
long swig from his beer and watched as Alex followed the baseball game and made commets to
Joey about the players. "Something else, I don't
know about her," he said to himself.
"Come on," she said, "That guy couldn't catch a ball
with four hands.”
James laughed at her joke and drew her
attention. She looked at him with glazed over
eyes and he realized she was almost too far gone
for her own good. Hopping down off the stool,
James walked over to her and sat down beside her.
"How you doing," he asked.
"Just fine," she smiled.
"Alex, come here," called Grayson from the dining
room. Alex got up from the couch, steadied her legs and
walked into the dining room. Grayson and Morgan
had positioned themselves behind a homemade bar
and were shuffling a deck of cards.
"Where did this thing come from," Alex asked
sitting down on one of the stools.
"Morgan and I made it. It's not fabulous, but it
works for us. Here," handing her a pocketknife,
"carve your name in. It's a guest list too," he
smiled.
Alex took the knife, sat down her drink and carved
her name into the bar. It wasn't the easiest thing
it well, handed back the knife and took a long drink
of her screwdriver. The first glass of the potion had dulled her senses and Gray had deliberately
made this one stronger. Alex couldn't really tell.
Grayson shuffled and explained the rules, while Alex
watched him. She was mildly attracted to him and
felt comfortable around him and his friends. She
believed him when he said that she would be
okay. Alex immediately lost the first
hand. Shaking her head, she laid down the
mismatched cards and Morgan laid down a
straight.
"Good thing we aren't betting for money," she
laughed.
"How about something more interesting?"
"What?"
"Clothes. " "You're going to look funny in this sweater," Alex
joked and then consented to play.
James grew more interested from his position on
the loveseat as to what was happening in the dining
room. He heard Alex laughing and joking with
Grayson and his friends, but couldn't quite divine
what the joke was because Morgan was standing in
his line of vision.
"Jimmy, catch," yelled Morgan half turning and
tossing an article of clothing his way.
James caught the item and looked at it
quizzically. Suddenly the smell of the garment
caught the trigger in his brain and James realized
that it was Alex's. "Shit," he muttered standing up and making his way
into the dining room.
Alex sat there calmly drinking and playing cards
dressed in her camisole and jeans.
Morgan was rubbing Alex's shoulders and she was
growing sleepy from the combination of the
massage, alcohol and heat in the room.
"Alex," James asked as he approached her.
"Hey, join the party. You're sitting over there like
a bump on a log. Live a little," she replied turning
her attention back to the game. This time she won
and had both Morgan and Gray remove their shirts
to put them on a level playing field. Alex lost the
next two hands and removed her camisole to reveal her bra and a sock, arguing that it was a valid piece
of clothing.
"Okay, that's enough of that," she declared when
she lost the next hand and her sock. Her
sensibilities kicked in and made her remove herself
from the game before she lost much more.
"Let's dance," she requested, moving to the stereo
and finding a sultry tune. Swaying to the music,
Alex approached James and pulled him into an
embrace. "Dance with me," she requested
tightening her grip on him.
James resisted the urge to argue with her. She
was still half naked and pressing her barely covered
breasts to his chest. James reeled from the
sensation of her being so close to him. Her
perfume penetrated the fog of the beers he had consumed and he hel
d her tightly to him, trying to
cover her nakedness with his hands and mold her
body to his.
Alex was memorizing the feel of James' hands on
her bare skin. The alcohol had been potent, but
his touch brought her out of her haze and to
reality. Here she was dancing with the man who
invaded her every thought awake and asleep. She
moved with him in perfect rhythm of the music
while his callused hands ran over her bare back and
occasionally, she caught his beard on her
shoulder. Alex was sure she would die from the
heat that he was creating in her. To survive, Alex
pulled away from James and moved to Grayson to
finish the song. Grayson felt Alex's exhaustion creep into her. The
alcohol was having more of an affect than he
expected.
"You still with me," he asked.
"Yeah, I'm here. I need to get dressed though. "
"No you don't. You're fine," he reassured her.
The song on the radio wound down and Grayson
took Alex to the bar for another drink. Alex was
just finishing her gulp when she noticed that James
was no longer there.
"Where did James go," she asked Morgan who had
taken a seat next to her.
"He had to go, said something about the dogs." Alex nodded her head and finished her drink. She
looked around and saw that most of Grayson's
friends had left. In fact, it was just her, Grayson
and Morgan. Still heady from the vodka, Alex
didn't feel the fear she expected she
would. Actually, she was quite intrigued at what
would happen next. The alcohol had loosened
way too much within her and being lonely again
tonight was not on her mind.
"I have to go too. Melissa will be looking for
me. Bye," said Morgan, guzzling his beer and leaving.
Chapter 12
Alex heard the door close in the kitchen and turned
to Grayson. "I guess I should go too, huh," she
said.
"You don't have to. You can, I mean I want you to
stay," he replied taking her face in his hands and
kissing her on the lips.
Alex inhaled sharply at the unexpectedness of the
kiss. Her body reacted eagerly and she found
herself returning the kiss. They moved to the
recently vacated couch where Gray laid her down
and soon joined her. He located the remote for
the stereo and searched for a quiet station for
them. Alex watched as Gray removed his glasses
and laid them down on the table again taking her lips. Alex tasted the beer and whiskey on his
tongue as it penetrated her mouth and searched for
hers. His free hand roamed her body gently
caressing her left breast, shoulder, thigh and
hip. The couch offered very little space and the
pair moved to the first floor bedroom.
Gray and Alex were all hands as the two sought to
undress each other in quickly and urgently. All of
the frustration she felt and loneliness in being here
evaporated in the span it took them to have
sex. Grayson was not an accomplished lover, but
took his task to heart and brought Alex to the
heights she required. Grayson, too, took the
opportunity to relieve his own need and as she
wrapped her legs around his waist feeling passion
rise again as he thrust himself in her. Alex muttered James' name against Grayson's face.
He ignored her mention of James' name basing it on
the fact that she and James had been
dancing. Alex, however, knew why she said it and
was embarrassed for saying it at that moment.
"I'm sorry, Gray," she apologized as he rolled away
from her.
"Don't be. I should be apologizing to you. "
"Why?"
Grayson propped himself up on an elbow and
brushed the hair out of her face,"For taking this so
fast. I never meant this to happen tonight. I
wanted us to get closer first, to get to know each other. You have to know things about me. "
"Grayson, please. I can't handle this right now. "
"Because of your feelings for James?"
Alex looked him in the eye. She thought he hadn't
heard her, but had been wrong. "Mostly.”
"Then why wasn't he here instead of me?"
"Because. "
Grayson threw himself out of bed. He wasn't
satisfied with her answer. "Alex, that ain't an
answer," he spit out gathering his underwear off
the floor. "I know. There are too many complications for
him and me. "
"But not for us? What's the difference? Your fiancée
would understand me and not him?"
"Tad wouldn't understand any of this," sitting up in
the bed holding the sheets to her chest, "Grayson, I
don't want to hurt you," realizing that was what she
was doing she said, "You're right, I shouldn't be
here."
Alex crawled from the bed and put on the clothes
that lay scattered in the bedroom. She walked
quickly to the dining room and finished dressing as
the remaining alcohol seeped out of her system. "Alex, wait, I'm sorry. Look can we please talk
about this.”
“I need to go, Gray. I'll see you Monday," she
muttered and hurried out the door to her car.
“Damn," Grayson yelled as he slammed the door.
Alex drove home in a daze; another screw up,
another mistake. She wondered when or where it
would end. After showering quickly, Alex crawled
into bed just as the sun was breaking the through
the clouds. Her mind was a blank and fortunately
she was exhausted and no visions came to haunt
her. She woke up later that evening feeling ill and
decided it was the flu and stress. Alex never got
hung over and refused to believe her excess
drinking last night caused this illness. She called
off work on Monday and Tuesday prompting James, Grayson and Morgan to be seriously concerned. In
her eight months at Hasani, Alex never took a sick
or vacation day.
James immediately thought she was avoiding them
and was refusing to come to work. Morgan told
him that Alex and Grayson had spent the night
together causing him to be jealous beyond all
boundaries. Why she denied him but not Grayson
was beyond his thinking, unless Grayson forced
himself on her. James shook away the
thought. Alex would never allow that to happen
to herself, although she was really gone on vodka
on Friday night.
James was in the process of questioning Grayson on
Wednesday morning, when they heard Alex's voice
from the center office. "Morning, Allen. Nice mess. Thanks," she said
upon seeing the piles that accumulated in her
absence.
"You're welcome. It's not that bad. Francine
annexed your desk for some of her filing. "
"I'll remove it," she hollered then flounced in and
took a stack of papers.
"Great, now I'm down to two piles," she smiled then
walked through James' office on her way to the
coffee machine.
&n
bsp; "Morning," she said to James and Grayson as she
passed through.
"Morning," they replied in unison.
Alex retrieved her coffee, calmed her nerves and
walked through again. On Saturday, she hated herself and by Sunday she had come to terms with
her actions, unfortunately by Monday she was
completely ill and took Tuesday to recover. She
was determined to carry on business as usual.
"James, don't forget the safety meeting
today. That's the only reason I moved my ass out
of bed this morning," she remarked to him on her
way through.
"Nice talk, Alex," said Grayson to her retreating
back. Alex laughed and went to sort her desk.
Grayson left James' office without ever talking to
him about Alex. If James wanted to know so badly
he could ask the source. Grayson was still upset
about what happened. It wasn't that he didn't
understand her behavior, because he did. What
pissed him off was Alex's casual attitude to him. Grayson wasn't going to tell James about
Alex's whispering his name. It took something
away from his ego. On his way back to the
machine shop, Grayson saw Alex emerge from the
office and saunter into inventory. He watched as
Doug and Dave welcomed her back, and asked how
she was. She laughed off the flu, promised she
wasn't contagious and got down to business.
After lunch, the safety committee was called into
the second floor conference room. Adam
suggested that Hasani form the committee to keep
up on maintenance and safety issues. It had
served as a good tool. Another inspector from
OSHA was scheduled to come through in several
weeks and nothing major appeared to be at issue. Alex climbed the stairs, set her stuff on the
conference table and continued into the R&D
offices.
"Afternoon gentlemen," she said, "who's coming to
the meeting?
"We're toast if the place burns, Alex. Why
bother? The only other safety issue is Harry's
smoking here. "
"That's why we put the chain ladder in, Frank. "
"I'll be jumping down onto Jeff’s Lincoln
Continental, before I use that damn thing. " Alex
laughed at his sarcasm and stayed for a few minutes
while everyone else assembled. When the noise level was right, Alex went into the meeting. "Hi,
sunshine," remarked Dave pulling out her chair.
"Hello again, Dave. How's Claire?"
"Great, we're getting divorced again. "
"You two change your minds more than your