“What?” I ask curiously, a small smile playing at my lips.
She shakes her head. “Nothing. It’s just… well, thank you.”
“My pleasure,” I say and then turn to Monica. “Now… if we could get it set up before Thursday as she’s flying out of state.”
And it was my absolute pleasure. In fact, I can’t quite figure out why I feel so fucking accomplished and satisfied I could do that for Regan, but I do know I like the feeling.I set the tray of food on the bedside table, not really keen on the fact it’s in the guest room where Regan had originally been put when she moved in. I had thought the fact she slept in my bed the last two nights would have meant something to her, but when we got back from the meeting with her case manager this morning and she said she wanted to take a nap, I didn’t think much about it then.
I went and worked out, stopped by Legend’s house to visit Pepper who is recovering nicely from her run-in with a bullet at the hands of a madwoman, and then came home.
It was just after lunch, so I whipped up some canned vegetable soup and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Regan. I’m not the best cook in the world, but I’d put it on a tray and carried it to my room for her.
Only to not find her not there, but instead asleep in her own room.
I was hesitant to wake her but realizing she needed to eat and could go right back to sleep if she needed spurred me to rouse her.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I put my hand on her shoulder and give her a tiny shake. She’s beautiful in her sleep, and the peacefulness on her face is something I relish.
Eyes fluttering open, she focuses on me. “Hey,” she says, her voice all groggy and husky. Kind of sexy. “What time is it?”
“About one,” I say. “I figured you should try to eat something.”
Regan pushes up in bed to lean against the headboard, wiping her eyes with her fingers. She gives a long yawn before glancing at the food on the table. “You made that for me?”
“Yup,” I say with a smile. “Impressed?”
“Incredibly,” she says, and I note her eyes are a lot brighter and more focused.
“You feel better?”
“I do, and I’m kind of hungry,” she replies.
This is my cue. I reach over, grab the tray, and carefully lay it over her stretched-out legs. She grabs the spoon and leans over, pulling some soup to her mouth with a sigh of contentment. I watch her eat for a few moments, satisfied knowing she feels better.
Also in knowing it’s not a chore taking care of her. I always thought commitment and relationships were a drain on my own time and energy, but not so much.
At least not with Regan.
She pauses the soup slurping to reach for the sandwich. I had cut it in half, on the diagonal to be fancy, but I left the crust on. She takes a bite, chews, then after swallowing, she says, “I totally forgot to ask you… but how did your meeting go yesterday morning regarding that lawsuit?”
I had forgotten about it, too, as it was resolved to my satisfaction. The team’s attorney had met with me, Erik, Sebastian Parr—our director of merchandising who was also named in the suit—along with Christian Rutherford, the team’s general manager. Word had come down from the head honcho—that would be Dominik Carlson—that he didn’t intend to pay a dime to the woman since her claims were bogus and generated only to try to squeeze some money out of lucrative pockets.
The risk was in if we refused to pay, she could continue with the lawsuit and it would be a long, arduous process to go through. However, we all agreed we’d rather stick to our guns since we were in the right and she was in the wrong. We were all in agreement with the decision to not offer a single penny at the mediation that was coming up in a few weeks.
I relate all of this to Regan while she steadily eats—alternating between her soup and sandwich, sometimes even dipping the latter into the aforementioned.
“So why would she even make such a claim against so many different people in the organization? I mean… how could she even think it’s credible when you guys weren’t even involved with her?”
“I guess that’s all relative to what you mean by involved with her?” I say dryly, thinking of the lengths this woman went to set things up for her “lawsuit”. “She had a job interview with Sebastian, then claimed he told her he’d give her the job if she gave him a blow job.”
“Eww,” Regan says, wrinkling her nose. “What did she make up about you and Erik?”