I Want You Back | Completed |

Negotiations

Sean yawned. He tried to hide it by keeping his mouth closed but he could feel his eyes water and jaw creak. Jenny from Accounting apparently loved the sound of her own voice. She had droned on and on until even her colleagues from the accounts department had started falling asleep in their palms.

Luke frowned down at the figures in the presentation booklet she had handed out at the beginning of the meeting. Though he knew every nook of the business Mr. Parris invested, the math of probability and statistics was not his forte. He was pulled from boredom by the silent vibration of his sleek phone in the pocket of his trouser.

Janice.

He declined the call but sent her a message explaining why he couldn't speak to her immediately and slid his phone back and resigned himself to the boredom again.

The phone vibrated again, this time the line set aside for emergency beeped and furiously vibrated. He scrambled for it.
Janice again.
Sean took the call and walked out. "Janice. What's wrong?"

He went back into the conference room and whispered in Luke's ear and gave him the phone. Sean began to collect Mr. Parris' things and prepared to postpone the undoubtedly riveting climax Jenny had planned for her drawn-out mind-numbing speech.

To his surprise, however, Luke walked back in. His skin was grey beneath his tan and his eyes... Something wrong skittered behind the cold, green chips.

"Janice is in the Newfoundland Hospital. See that she's taken care of."
"Aren't you going to see what's going on?"
Luke leveled that cold green gaze at Sean. He held them, reading the shock. Whatever had happened was bad. Very bad.
"Now Jenny. Where were we?" Luke asked, turning back to her. Sean had been dismissed.

Luke tore off his jacket when he got to the penthouse. He wanted to call, comfort her, hold her. But he couldn't. Not yet.
The message from Sean when it came said simply 'You're a piece of shit.'
He knew. He set it down unanswered and poured a drink that would be the first of many many drinks tonight.
********

When Janice woke up the following morning, she had gained a six-foot-plus shadow. Luke trailed after her, crowding her, sucking up all the extra space in the rooms. Suffocating her with the waves of masculinity pouring off of him. And he looked at her. Steadily. Unwaveringly. Like a lion eyes a gazelle. Like a Roman centurion eyeing his next conquest. He didn't say anything but those eyes. Those eyes.

When they finally sat down to a late breakfast, she couldn't take it anymore. She looked up from her bowl of granola to find him considering her above his cup of coffee.
"Enough Luke! Just say what you want to say!"
He put his coffee down and took her hand from across the table of the sun-drenched breakfast nook.
"You know I can't let you go."
She gave an aggrieved huff. "Why the heck not? You have barely talked to me in a year and a half. You don't even touch me anymore! We might as well not be married. Our time has passed. We need to move on...I need to move on."

"We can't divorce. I love you and despite everything, I know that you love me too."
"That isn't enough Luke. Not anymore. Not after everything that has happened." She stood up and wrenched her hand from his.
"I'm sorry. I'll try to be around a lot more."
Janice huffed again in exasperation. "Sorry is not enough. Not by a long shot." She turned to stomp from the room, but Luke grabbed her arm before she could leave.