50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Fifty-Eight

    Zorica reported that the office was going crazy without the Destiny and Brian. As soon as Destiny walked in the office the following morning, Zorica was at her, asking questions about Jeremiah.

    "Out of everyone, I never would have suspecting him of anything," Zorica said with a shake of her head. "He was always falling asleep in meetings, but I mean...he seemed harmless."

    "That's what I thought," Destiny said, but the last thing she wanted to talk about was Jeremiah. Naturally, everyone was curious since an attack had taken place in the office they all worked in, but having lived through it, Destiny was trying her best to forget it.

When Brian overheard another co-worker questioning Destiny, he came out of his office and shut down all interrogation. "I understand that you all have questions about what happened, but Destiny and I have both been through a lot. Every time you ask us about this, we have to relive it. So...for now, can we stop with the questions?" He glanced around the office.

All of the employees within hearing distance murmured their agreements.

"I hope you all saw the e-mail that was sent out regarding workplace safety. Report anything suspicious that you witness. If you stay to work late, make sure that someone else is in the building with you, someone who can walk you to your car." Brian looked around again, his gaze landing on Destiny last. He offered her a sad smile, then turned and went back into his office.

Over the next few weeks, Destiny developed a routine and formed a new sense of normalcy. There was a definite void in her life, a void left by Aubrey's absence. While she had feared that his absence would render her useless at the company, the opposite wound up being true. She threw herself into her work; it was a good way to distract herself from the feeling of rejection his text message had caused.

Brian went above and beyond during those few weeks. At the office, he did what he could to make sure that Aubrey's affairs stayed in order. He also held the board of directors at bay in regards to providing an impending date for Aubrey's return. Since he was doing so much to help Aubrey, Destiny and Zorica teamed up together to make sure that their department was covered in terms of management and supervision.

At home, even when Brian and Destiny were both exhausted, he was there cooking for her, or volunteering to when she didn't beat him to it. He was there offering to talk to her if she needed, but when she needed space he would back off without having to be told.

She was becoming used to him, and started to note some of his tics and mannerisms. In the mornings, they moved around each other in the kitchen like a married couple who could predict each others' movements. They were supposed to drive to work separately for the sake of discretion but ever since the Jeremiah debacle, he squashed that and drove her to and from work every day. He explained that he still felt guilty for allowing the Jeremiah situation to happen in the first place.

With each day that passed, Aubrey's absence stung just a little bit less. The pain was still there, but it morphed into more of a dull ache over time. No matter how tolerable her day was, she would still stand at her bedroom window, peering out into the night wondering where Aubrey was, wondering if he would ever change his mind and come back...

~~~~~~~~~~~

Weeks with very little food, and only enough water to keep him alive. After one week had passed, Aubrey began to lose track of the days. He didn't know what day it was anymore. He used to know the names of all of the guards who watched over him, but those names were starting to slip from his mind. He was beginning to lose sense of the real world. Dreams blended in with reality and merged in a way that made it tough for his mind to sort out.

He even started to forget facts about himself. One minute, he was very conscious that he was Aubrey Graham, founder and CEO of Graham Enterprises. The next, he would forget that he ever walked away from the entertainment industry, thought that he was still making music and performing.

And then there was Destiny. Amidst all of his jumbled thoughts and hallucinations and confusion, she was at the center of it all. Several times, he would have sworn that she came down the basement stairs and touched his face, or talked to him while he was sleeping. He would wake up and hear an echo of her voice, or he would smell traces of her perfume. The mind was tricky that way.

He couldn't remember the last time he took a shower. As a neat freak, just knowing the level of filth he was stewing in should disgust him...but he was too malnourished to feel the right level of disgust for his current predicament. He was too worried about Destiny, too focused on trying to get back to her. Even through all of his confusion, that one mission remained crystal clear. Even when he believed that he was still Drake, the rapping/singing sensation, he was still very aware of who Destiny was and how important she was to him.

The first week, he spent looking for chances to get at Palmer. But as always, Palmer was smart - one step ahead of the game. He rarely appeared and when he did, it was just so he could talk shit and try to get under Aubrey's skin. He usually sent one of the guards to do his bidding. If it wasn't the Jamaican named Royce, or the Caucasian bodyguard, whose name was Ethan, then it was Zara that delivered Aubrey's meager meals.

She seemed tickled to see Aubrey in such a state of distress.

I probably shouldn't have shoved her away from me quite so hard the day of the flight, he thought.

That was then. Now, his second week away from Toronto, away from Destiny, he barely recognized who Zara even was. It seemed that his body was in conservation mode, saving its focus for information that was far more important than people Aubrey intended to escape from in the near future. That is, if escape were at all possible.

The weaker he became, the weaker his chances of escaping became. He had to hand it to Palmer. Keeping Aubrey weak was a smart move; it prevented the chances of another attack happening. I had that once chance the day they brought me here, Aubrey thought sadly, during one of his lucid moments. I had that once chance and I blew it. I almost had him. If he didn't have his own evil Secret Service protecting him, I would have ended him, and I'd be back in Toronto, now. Back to Destiny.

For now, the dreams he had about her were going to have to suffice...