Heavyweight - Chapter 11
A/N: tw: violence
Start at the beginning here. Chapter 10
Thursday started out fine and dandy for Billie. She got through most of the reviews and all went pretty much how Billie thought they would. Everyone had something to work on, something they could improve. She’d paid special attention to their answers when she asked them all what she could do better for them, how she could help them achieve their goals. Most had nothing to add, a couple wanted a bit more time with her, to learn from her, and one wanted to go back to school. He was bright and had a promising future, so she asked him to put a proposal together of what he’d need and she’d review it. She’d told him to think not just of finances but also of scheduling and workload and she wanted him to include what he expected the organization would get out of it. Be creative, she told him, think about the indirect ways, too. She had some latitude as to how she spent the department’s continuing education budget (one of the main reasons she’d wanted to work for Bob – he was generous in how he supported his staff) and wanted to spend the money wisely. She was sure the he’d come back with an interesting proposal.
She then had back to back calls with two of their most important clients. She’d been part of the team that had sold them on their services and she’d put her reputation on the line with them, telling them they could count on her team. So when they’d each contacted her, needing to speak with her, most urgently, and on the same day (and Billie never liked coincidences), everything pretty much came to a grinding halt once she learned what had been going on.
Matt, the person who’d thought he should have her job, had been sloppy in his handling of both clients. They’d first tried to address their concerns with him, but when he’d begun to hint at issues he was facing, and he was trying to lay blame squarely at Billie’s feet, that’s when they each called her. And that was when things got, for lack of a better word, interesting.
The rumors that he’d been spreading at the office, about her and how she’d ‘qualified’ for the job, the ones that did more than hint about her trading sexual favors for her job, those rumors were now getting to the clients. Not that either of the clients asked her about it, but it was the way things were asked, particular words were used. She reassured the clients that the situation would be handled, that their accounts would get back on track, even if she had to take them over herself. This had to be addressed but first, she’d had to calm down and get control of her emotions.
Once she got off the phone with the clients, she went upstairs and changed. She had to work off the rage that was building up inside of her before it consumed her. She knew a run wasn’t going to do what she needed. When she was back in the gym, she approached Chris.
“Hey, do you have anyone you could spare for a while?”
“What do you need, how long?”
“I’m going to warm up on the treadmill first, but I’m going to need someone to wrap my hands, I’m really out of practice, then the heavy bag. It’s been a while, so I’m thinking maybe 15, 30 minutes?”
“I don’t know if that long-”
“No, I’m not using it like a boxer would. I’ll be doing more kickboxing than anything else. I need to get rid of this negative energy I’ve got.”
He thought about asking her what was up, but the high color on her face, quick breath, and shaky hands and he knew she needed the workout, to get the adrenaline out of her system more than questions.
“I’ll make sure you’ve got someone. Go do your run, and no arguing, but I’m going to want you to do a warm-up before I let you on the bag.”
It wasn’t quite a laugh that Billie huffed.
“Dave’s trained you well.”
“Yeah, he has. Now go.”
Billie did her run and went through the shadow boxing that Dave preferred. She hadn’t landed a punch or a kick in years, opting instead for running and yoga, so she knew she needed to listen to Chris. He checked in on her, thinking that the warm-up might be enough for her, might bleed off whatever she had going on inside. When he realized she was intent on her workout, he dismissed the fighter she’d been working with. Dave would have his head if he put anyone else with Billie.
He checked her hands before he put gloves on her. He got her warmed up, first with punches, and needing to make only minor corrections to her form, her muscle memory clearly intact, before moving to some combinations.
“Do you have a routine, or do you need me to call out combinations for you?”
“I’ve got it from here. Thanks.”
Billie slowly introduced kicks into her workout until she got her rhythm down and then she let loose. After about 10 minutes, Chris couldn’t help himself.
“You’ve got really good form, but you’re favoring your right side. You’d do better to try to keep it even.”
She answered between punches.
“Thanks.”
Another 10 minutes went by and she showed no signs of tiring. The sweat, running in rivers down her body, told the tale of how hard she was working.
“Don’t forget, before you finish up you need at least five minutes of a warm down, so don’t completely drain yourself.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Billie kept it up for another 10 minutes, completely soaking through her clothes during that time. It wasn’t until she felt a familiar ache in her shoulders that she slowed, lessening the strength of her blows. She needed only five more minutes before she knew she was at the end of what she could handle.
Everyone in the gym knew she was wrestling with something big.
She headed to the treadmill and ran full out for five minutes before walking the last five, taking the gloves off as she finished up her workout. Her breathing was still labored when she handed the gloves to Chris. She turned to walk back up the stairs to take a shower, but his hand on her shoulder stopped her progress.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
Knowing that she’d only get herself worked up and need more time working her energy off if she talked about it, she shook her head.
“Okay, Billie. I’m not going to push. I’m here if you need me, though.”
“Thanks. I need to get back to work.”
Chris didn’t delay her any longer.
She headed upstairs and took a quick shower before finding herself back in the office. She called Nancy, the woman in charge of HR. Their conversation lasted about half an hour, Billie taking her normal methodical approach and covering everything she could think of, before Nancy insisted on bringing Bob into the conversation. Billie hated that they had to do it, but his reputation was on the line as well.
They covered the review that she hadn’t yet given. Everyone agreed it was a fair assessment as it had related to his performance. The problem was what she’d found out that day. The question now was: what should they do? Could they do anything?
Deep down, Billie wanted him gone, but she never liked letting someone go. The problem was that things weren’t just starting to get out of control, they were already there. She felt like she’d failed Bob and wouldn’t have been surprised if he decided to ax her as well.
The situation was egregious enough that they could take decisive action immediately. Matt was called into the conference room and once he understood what was going on, things went from bad to worse.
“You can’t do this to me! I’ve got proof!”
Billie had insisted on being on Skype; she didn’t want to be some anonymous voice over the phone. She did her best to hide her growing anger. She knew rolling her eyes wouldn’t be advisable.
“What proof could you possibly have?”
“I filmed you.”
“You filmed me? Why do you think it was me?”
“I don’t think it was you, I know it was you. I followed you from your house. It’s all recorded. It’s all there.”
“My house? You were at my house? When?”
“Saturday.”
“As in five days ago Saturday?”
“Yes. Five days ago.”
“I think I-” Billie had to stop Nancy. She’d had it with Matt and wanted him to dig his own grave.
“No, Nancy, I think we should let Matt have his say. So, you followed me from my house…?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, let me make sure I’m perfectly clear. Five days ago, you sat outside my house, waiting for me to leave…”
“You do this every Saturday.”
“Every Saturday?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know this?”
“I told you, I followed you.”
“And you say you recorded me.”
“Yes.”
“Every time?”
“No, just this past Saturday.”
“When did you start following me?”
“When you stopped coming to the office. I knew you were slacking off work. I needed proof if I was going to go to Bob.”
“You followed me from my house?”
“It doesn’t matter how many times you ask that question, the answer is yes.”
“You saw me leave my house?”
“Yes!”
“You filmed it. Nancy, isn’t he going to need to give it to you, as proof?”
“You want me to actually show Nancy? What are you, an exhibitionist?”
“Whether I am or not is none of your concern. I’m interested to see your… evidence.”
“You know what it’s going to show.”
“No, actually I don’t. It’s not me, whoever it is that you have on that recording is not me.”
“Prove it.”
“Prove that the person you have on the recording is not me. Is there a timestamp on the recording?”
“Of course.”
“Do me a favor, show it to Nancy.”
Matt dug his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the video. He handed the phone to Nancy.
“Yep, timestamp gives 7:42 last Saturday night.”
“Can you see my face?”
“No, it’s just the back of some woman’s head.”
“You know it’s you. Stop denying it. I saw you!”
“Okay. All I have to do is leave this office where I’m working and head out to the gym. There are at least two men out there who can vouch for my whereabouts last Saturday. Do you care to change your story?”
“Two men? I can’t believe you’re admitting-”
“Matt, you misunderstand me. They can place me here, where I currently am, as early as, I think 8 in the morning, certainly no later than 9, and as late as 1 the following morning. So, I’ll repeat myself: do you care to change your story?”
“I don’t see how that makes any difference. Were they with you the whole time?”
“No, they weren’t.”
“Well see, there you go.”
“Matt, I’m not in Los Angeles. I’m in Louisville. Kentucky.”
She was greeted with silence. Matt didn’t say anything. His eyes, getting bigger and bigger, gave away his growing panic.
“So, Matt, do you care to change your story.”
“It may not have been this last weekend, but you’ve been screwing the boss.”
“Matt, I haven’t been. You were adamant that you’ve been following me since I haven’t been in the office. I haven’t been there because I’ve been in Louisville the whole time, and that means that it is absolutely impossible for you to have followed me. You’ve been claiming I’ve been trading sexual favors for a job, and you’ve been including clients in on your speculations, which means you’ve been harming the reputation of the company. You have another problem, Matt. You haven’t been doing your own job. I had to clean up your mess earlier today. You haven’t been listening to your clients and you’ve been late. We talked about this last month and you assured me you were on top of things. You haven’t been. Your reports have been late and your deliveries have been late, and you’ve been feeding gossip and lies to them. You have given us no choice, we have to let you go. We’ll say we are restructuring and your job is being eliminated effective immediately. We’ll pay you through the end of this month. Per company policy, with your years of service we’re giving you three months of severance and I’ve asked Nancy to increase it to a total of six.”
“You can’t do this to me! You have my job! I’m going to Robert-”
Nancy spoke up. She had wanted to speak for some time.
“Go ahead and go to Robert. He is well aware of what is going on and about what you’ve been saying about him. I’m sure that he’ll appreciate that you’re saying that he’s sleeping with an employee and that you filmed him having sex.”
It only escalated from there. Matt called Billie every foul name he could think of and Bob, who’d been listening in on speakerphone the whole time, finally spoke up.
“Matt, you have maligned my character. You have hurt the reputation of my company. Billie has been putting up with a tremendous amount from you and, given the display you’ve put on here, I am revoking your resignation and firing you for poor work performance, misconduct, and insubordination. Your exit package is now gone. Billie was more than generous and you don’t deserve her generosity. You’re out, Matt. Nancy, please have security escort him from the building.”
“But what about my things?”
“Your things will be boxed and shipped to you. I’ll see to it.” No one missed the smile on Nancy’s face.
“I’m going to sue you.”
Bob had clearly had enough.
“Try it, see how far you get.
“You won’t get away with this! Billie, you think it’s bad now, just you wait. I’m not done with you yet, not by a long shot!”
It only got worse after that, with Matt shouting his accusations as he was escorted out by building security. Bob wanted to have a heart to heart with Billie, but she knew she had to do damage control. As they’d been putting together all the paperwork for Matt’s leaving, Billie had been working on how to divvy up his workload.
“Nancy, would you do me a favor and go gather the troops? I’d like to talk to them, let them know about this and that we’ll need to pull together for a little while until things have smoothed out and I have his replacement.
Billie’s team was gathered together and, without divulging the specifics, she explained what was going on, including quashing the rumors that were swirling about how she’d earned her job. She finally let the team know where she was and how long she’d been there and, from what Nancy told her later, the rumors stopped. At least that was done.
Everyone on the team offered to help, and that put a smile on her face. Her plan was passed out to everyone so there would be no cause for grumbling. She gave her reasoning for all assignments and asked if there were any other suggestions. She was happy to hear one person offer to switch clients with another, given some prior relationships of which she’d been unaware. She had everyone begin contacting their new clients and the transition was underway. At least that was done.
Bob and Billie finally had their chat. He was a real sweetheart, offering Billie a couple of days to collect herself.
“You know what Bob, I don’t have the luxury of time. I’m going to need to get back on the phone with those clients and let them know that I’m going to oversee their accounts. Don’t worry, I won’t be the only one working with them, but I want to give them a little extra attention for the next few weeks.”
While they continued talking, Billie headed upstairs and grabbed some cold coffee, needing something familiar, some activity that she could do without thinking. They continued strategizing about how to ensure that Matt wouldn’t be able to harm the company. Bob was also concerned about Billie’s reputation, but she set him straight.
“Look, Bob, I appreciate it, but people are going to believe what they want to believe, especially about a woman. Does it suck? Yeah. But my work should speak for itself. I just don’t want Matt to harm the company or your marriage.”
“Well, my wife knows exactly where I was last Saturday since I was with her all day, so it shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, she knows where you are, so if somehow those rumors got back to her, she’d know they weren’t true.”
“If I were you, I’d tell her about it. With as mad as he was, I wouldn’t put it past him to try to stir something up.”
“Well, if he did get me last Saturday, he got me with my wife and she will not be pleased with that. I think you’re right, though. I think I need to let Marla know.”
“I hate that this is happening.”
“You don’t need to worry about me, Billie. I just don’t want to lose you over this.”
“You won’t.” She wasn’t sure if she was lying to him or to herself.
They talked a little while longer, and they reassured each other that everything would be alright. With dinner in the oven, Billie headed back to the office. She had phone calls and more phone calls to make.
It was a couple of hours later when she emerged looking like something had run her over. It was how she felt, too. She was drained and didn’t want to head upstairs yet. She didn’t want to be alone. She hoped Henry was in the gym and that she could convince him to take her out, distract her.
He wasn’t there.
Billie texted him, asked him if he had some time. She heard back from him that he was out with friends. At first, she was disappointed. She’d hoped that he would make her forget, take her mind off things. She knew she had absolutely no right to be jealous and she wasn’t, not really. She was only looking for a distraction. She texted him back to have fun.
Chris saw the look on her face when she turned to head in the direction of her office (it had changed from Dave’s to hers after his vision of their future together). He waited a few minutes and when he didn’t see the light, he knew she’d gone upstairs. He had a quick look around and locked the doors before heading up to have a chat. Before he made it to the top of the stairs, though, Cece called. He didn’t want to delay talking to Billie, but he realized he might be able to finally set a date so he could break things off with Cece.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Chris. How have you been?”
“Good. What’s up, Cece?”
“I was wondering if maybe we could spend some time together tomorrow night. You know, we haven’t gone out in a while.”
“Cece, you pretty much have all my money right now. I can’t do Friday. How about you come over Saturday? You can watch the fight with me.”
“Chris, you know how my father is…”
“Yeah, you’ve told me, but we won’t be alone. There’ll be someone else here, and you know you can trust me. Besides, I think we need to talk.”
“I know I can trust you, Chris. But my father has this thing planned and I have to go. You can’t do Friday?”
“Nope. You can’t even come over for a little while Saturday? We need to talk.”
“I’m sorry, Chris. Forgive me?”
“Of course. I need to get going. We’ll talk soon.”
“I love you.”
“We’ll talk later, Cece. Bye.”
Chris felt like a heel. He knew he was leading Cece on and he hated it. Sure, she’d told him before that she loved him, but he’d always assumed it was what she thought he wanted to hear. Today, he heard it in her voice: she meant it. He had to break it off with her the next time they saw each other.
He shook it off as he continued to the kitchen.
“Hey, Billie, is everything okay?”
“Mmhmm.”
“That doesn’t sound very convincing. What’s wrong?”
“I just wonder why I bother.” She was talking more to herself than to Chris. He had to strain a bit to hear her.
“Is this about Dave?”
“No.” Her sigh was drawn out. Chris almost spoke up when she continued. “I just, I don’t get it.”
“What don’t you get?”
She peered over her shoulder at him before turning back to the vegetables in front of her. She set the knife down and leaned against the counter.
“Why are men such assholes?”
“Well, I can’t speak for-”
Billie spun quickly, interrupting him.
“No, no, you’re not even close to being an asshole.”
“I don’t know that I’d agree with that.”
“Trust me on that.”
“Well, I’m not always happy with who I am or what I do.”
“Is anyone ever? No.” She turned back and picked up the knife, resuming the chopping. “I’d really like to, well, to forget about today.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I am. I had to fire someone today and he said some really awful things and I, well, it’s just really disturbing.”
“Okay, so, I’m not trying to defend him, but, he did just lose his job.”
“Oh, I get that. I do.” Billie got quieter as she continued. “It wasn’t easy, though. I’ve had to let people go before, but this, well, I don’t want to go into it, but he was a real jerk.”
“Okay, no more talk about this.” Chris reached out, stroking her head, and was pleased when he saw her shoulders drop a few inches. “We’ll have dinner and then watch a movie.”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe a comedy would help.”
“Maybe.”
“Besides, you know you want more of my popcorn.”
“Fine, twist my arm.” He heard a smile in her answer.
“Perfect. Let me go lock up and shower. You don’t need some smelly guy sitting across from you at dinner.”
“That would, in fact, ruin my appetite. Thank you.”
She heard him head down and a few minutes later, run up the stairs. Billie was putting the vegetables in the steamer and taking the plates out of the cupboard when she heard Chris in the doorway.
“Ah, perfect timing. Would you mind setting the table?”
She turned to hand him the china and silverware and froze.
It wasn’t Chris. It was a man, broad in the shoulders and tall, in a ski mask. And he had a knife.
He hesitated before he took a couple steps into the kitchen and Billie’s instincts kicked in. She tossed everything in her hands his way, the clattering silver and breaking dishes creating a din that traveled throughout the building. She screamed. She wound up and kicked him in the side and she was satisfied to hear his “oof” and a groan, but he had quick reflexes and grabbed her foot, knocking her off balance. She was able to grab the kitchen table to keep from falling over and her scream took on a life of its own as they heard Chris running down the hall upstairs.
He shoved her foot, sending her sailing across the room as he scrambled for the stairs, making a racket as he descended, intent on getting the hell out of there. Chris showed up in the doorway a few seconds later.
“What the fuck!”
“Go, he’s getting away!”
“Are you okay?”
Billie frantically gestured to the stairs.
“Go!”
By the time he got to the bottom of the stairs, the guy was out the front door. He heard tires screeching and a car door and knew he’d never catch him in time. Chris turned to head back upstairs when a distinct odor caught his attention. He whipped around.
“Fire!”
Chris ran to the source of the blaze on the other side of the ring to see how bad it was. It hadn’t really caught yet, so Chris turned to grab the extinguisher that should have been on the wall.
“Damn it! Billie! I need an extinguisher!”
Chris watched the flames grow higher as he waited for Billie to show. It was less than a minute, but it felt like it took forever.
Whoever it was had taken a bunch of the towels and piled then next to the ring and lit them. Chris ran to the locker room and grabbed the bin of used towels next to the door and ran back, hoping to smother and contain the fire. He got there right as Billie came flying down the stairs with the extinguisher from the kitchen. The odor from the towels only registered as he tossed them onto the pile on the floor and he just had enough of a warning to stumble back when a pillar of fire erupted.
“Jesus! Billie, stay over there!” He ran around the ring and grabbed the extinguisher from her. It didn’t take long for him to extinguish the fire.
When it was finally out, Billie approached Chris, her touch gentle on his forearm.
“Are you okay? Did you get burned?”
“I’m fine, did he hurt you?”
“He bruised my ego. Probably my butt, too. We should call the cops.”
“Before we do that, we need to call Dave.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Billie, he gave me strict instructions.”
“Well, he can’t know about what happened upstairs.”
“I have to tell him, Billie.”
“No, you don’t.”
“He won’t ever trust me if I don’t. He needs to know.”
“This is going to sidetrack him.”
“Today and tomorrow are light days. All they’re doing is keeping Michael warmed up and limber. Dave is as strong as they come. Of course he can deal with this.”
Dave was not a happy man.
They recounted everything. How the man had simply shown up, how Billie defended herself it was the racket from those plates being thrown that caught my attention so quickly, and how the man had gotten away. There was speculation that there were two people, because who would set the fire and then willingly go farther in, and the car took off entirely too quickly, and he wouldn’t have had time to rip the extinguisher off the wall and you know that’s part of my lock up routine Dave, I check on it, make sure it’s there and it was, but not when I tried to put out the fire.
He wouldn’t let them call the cops – they’ll bring in the firefighters or investigator or whoever and they’ll inspect the place and I’ll get cited for the lack of extinguishers even though they were there and that’ll be the reason they get into my building for an inspection and they’ll cite me for bogus shit and I’m done.
“Dave, do you think this is tied to Frankie?” Chris had been thinking about it ever since he found out about the problems Dave had been having. He’d wondered if the man at the center of his problems, the one who had denied his points when he went up in weight class, might have been the one gunning for Dave.
“Who’s Frankie?”
Chris whispered as Dave answered.
“Francis McDonald, Frankie.”
“It might be, but I cannot imagine that he’d risk hurting Billie.”
“I don’t know the guy, why would he care about me?”
“He knows you, and you know his son.”
“Wait, he’s Damian’s father?”
“Yes.”
She turned to Chris.
“That would be a better explanation as to why he came by than what he gave me.”
“Wait, when did Damian come by?”
“It was before you left.” Billie gave Chris the evil eye for telling Dave.
“Why am I just now hearing about this?”
“Because you neglected to tell me about the connection between Damian and the man I’m guessing you suspect of all these shenanigans.”
“Let’s not get into that now. How about you tell me what happened?”
“How about instead of that you go back to concentrating on Michael and when you get back, we’ll both come clean. You’ve already decided we’re not gonna call the cops, and I think you’re right. All we’ll be doing right now is being a distraction before Michael’s fight.
“Okay. Oh, and Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“I hate to do this, but I want you to close up until I’m back. Except for you, and, well, Henry, except for you two training, I don’t want anyone else in there until I get back. You can tell him what’s going on. If this is really what’s happening, if it’s Frankie, they might come after him so he needs to know.”
“Okay.”
Billie and Chris didn’t know what to expect next when they heard Dave sigh.
“I hate to say it, but I’ve got a feeling they were the ones who set fire to your building.”
“Fuck!”
Even 2,000 miles wouldn’t stop Dave.
“Hey! Language!”
“Uncle Dave, cut the man some slack. He’s the one who chased the intruder out of here, he’s the one who put out the fire. I think he’s allowed one expletive!”
Neither of them would have understood the smile on Dave’s face.
“Fine, whatever. Look, I want you two to be careful. I want you to call me if anything else happens. Chris, I’m counting on you to make sure my baby stays unharmed.”
Billie knew Dave was talking about his gym.
Chris knew Dave was talking about Billie. He also knew that if he didn’t get Dave off the phone, they’d be on it for hours, and that wouldn’t be good for Saturday.
“You can count on me. We’ll talk later.”
“Billie, I want you to be extra careful and listen to Chris. Will you do that for me?
Billie was glad he couldn’t see her eye-roll. She also knew how to get him off the phone.
“Of course, Dave. Whatever you want. Love you, we’ll talk soon. Bye.”
Billie lay her head on the kitchen table, closing her eyes, once Chris hung up the phone. Dots were starting to be connected, but there were still entirely too many holes.
“Hey, are you okay?” Chris stroked her head, finger-combing her hair.
She opened her eyes and glanced up at him, noting the concern etched on his face.
“I’m glad you were here. I don’t want to think about what could have happened if you weren’t.”
“Yeah, the place could have burned to the ground, with me in it.” He knew what she’d meant, but didn’t want to give voice to what could have been.
“I think… I think you and I need to skip the movie tonight and have a chat. You know some things, I know some things, Dave knows just about everything. I think we can piece most of this together. I can’t wait until Monday when he gets home.”
“Guarantee he’ll be home Sunday.”
“I hope so. Dinner, then we talk?”
“First thing’s first: I’ll deal with the fire if you deal with the broken dishes.”
“Good plan.”
Billie watched as Chris walked downstairs. It was only then that she felt the tremors start and her thoughts turned to what could have happened.