Chapter 4
Sookie was not the only one who'd had a night from hell.
Eric had gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep himself. He was too pissed off to try to sleep even longer.
Sookie Stackhouse – demon spawn. What the fuck? Body of an angel, mind of the devil.
Her email to Victor had caused a small problem with him and Victor. Until Eric informed him that he would take care of it. He wasn't trying to drive her nuts; she just managed to react to him in a way that pissed him off. He wasn't used to this reserved nature she had, she was so cold. 'I bet she is frigid' he thought to himself.
'She's probably a dead lay without an ounce of warmth in that body of hers' even though he was telling himself that, the problem was Eric didn't really believe it.
Eric had gotten up at 4am and was in the office by 4:30. He'd pulled out his black suit and white shirt, throwing his tie and suit jacket over his arm he'd walked next door and started the coffee. He'd watched Sookie make it the day before and it wasn't hard to figure out.
Sitting in his office, he managed to get through some of his 300 emails by the time she walked down the hall at 5. He waited for her to get set up and sit down before he called her.
"Miss Stackhouse?"
He heard her grind her teeth as she grabbed her daytimer and walked to his office.
"Yes Mr. Northman?" she asked as she walked in.
"Why don't you start calling me Eric? We are going to be working together quite a bit" he offered
"I prefer Mr. Northman, if you don't mind. I don't know you enough to give you leave to use my first name" Sookie replied coolly
"I was hoping we could go to lunch today, I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot and I'd like to start over" he said, leaning back in his chair
"I don't think so Mr. Northman, I do not socialize with my co-workers, if there is nothing else you need, I must get my day started" she said rising from the chair she had taken a seat in.
"I am trying to make a peace offering" he said as she got to the door.
"I have no use for anything you have to offer Mr. Northman, if you'll excuse me" she said, walking back out to her desk.
She heard him rise and walk to the door and she saw Sam walk down the hall.
"Hey Sooks" he called smiling as he saw her.
"Hey Sam" she said rising, a smile on her face, she rushed to hug him, "How have you been? How are the kids? I didn't see you yesterday!"
Sam hugged her back and squeezed her hand as she stepped away "It was great Sookie – you were right about taking them to the zoo!" he said sitting in the chair she kept by her desk.
Eric stood just inside his doorway, out of sight as he listened to the conversation. Surprised at the warmth she had displayed when greeting the security guard.
"Did they have fun? Oh did you take pictures" she asked excitedly
"I did! They had a great time! Bethy loved the monkeys, she wants to be one when she grows up, and Tony wants to be a zookeeper" Sam replied laughing, "What are you doing here so early, cher? I know you work late, but you can't be sleeping well if you are getting here before 5 and leaving after 7" he said concern evident in his tone, "that apartment of yours is a good 30 minutes away, are you resting enough?"
"I'm fine Sam, but thank you for caring, its been a rough few weeks, and its only going to get worse as we move forward" she said, her voice barely a whisper, Eric had to struggle to hear it.
"What's wrong? That Bill Compton isn't giving you a hard time again is he? I'll talk to Victor myself if he is. We have no use for that here." Sam said sternly.
"No, no it's nothing like that" Sookie whispered, "tell me though, did the kids like the presents I sent?"
"They did, I have thank you pictures in my office for you, stop by at lunch and I'll give them to ya" he said smiling "You wanna grab chow in the cafeteria today? They are doin' that Taco Salad you like so much, we can catch up then, I think they are looking for me downstairs" Sam said
"It's a date" Sookie promised "I'll stop by your office when I get free" Eric heard, a pang of anger flying through him. She would go to lunch with a damn security guard, but he, Eric Northman CEO, she refused to be seen with in public.
'That's it she is truly demon spawn' he thought to himself.
Watching them hug again as Sam walked off, Eric was quickly losing control on his anger. Stepping out of his office he stood in the doorway.
"You hugged him" he hissed
"That is none of your business Mr. Northman" she replied not turning around. Sookie's cell phone rang then.
"Good Morning Victor" she said answering it as Eric stood in his doorway.
"I understand, I'll let him know….yes…..yes we can talk later, no worries, my love to Sandy, I hope she feels better, let me know if you need anything and I'll keep an eye on email….I did incorporate your changes, did you get them….alright, I'll print out the new copy and make the changes, you know its not a problem at all….I'll attend the 2p for you also….ok ….call if you need me" Sookie closed her phone then.
Without turning her head, she spoke outloud "Victor won't be in today, his wife Sandy is not feeling well and he is staying with her" she said.
"Miss Stackhouse do you make it a habit of being affectionate with your co-workers?" he demanded
"My behavior with people is none of your concern Mr. Northman sir" she said
"Will you at least give me the respect of looking at me when you speak to me?" he demanded
"Respect is earned, not given" she said rising from her chair, locking her pc and walking down the hall.
"Where are you going?"
Sookie stopped, her shoulder squaring in her anger. She turned on her heel walking back to him, looking his square in the eye, her hands on her hips.
"I, Mr. Northman sir, am going down the hall to the ladies room, where I intend to pee in the toilet and flush when I am done. I intend to wash my hands, dry them, walk thru the kitchen, check the coffee and supplies and come back to my desk, Mr. Northman sir, if that is a problem you can damn well shove it up your ass" she said, her voice rising as she spoke each word.
Turning she stomped down the hall ignoring him as he giggled.
Eric was overcome with the absurdity of the situation as he watched her hips swing in anger as she stomped away.
"I stand corrected Sookie, you are not a frigid little woman, you are hot as hell" he whispered, his eyebrow arching as he leaned against the doorway. "Hot as hell, and quite a passionate little minx" he said, his tongue licking his upper lip as he finished his sentence.
Sookie managed to get into the bathroom without screaming the building down. Washing her hands she took a look at herself in the mirror "Maybe I am being too hard on him" she said out loud, a pang of guilt washing over her. "But they warned me not to give an inch, if I forgive him, he will just get worse and what if I like him then?" Sookie was pleading with her image in the mirror hoping for answers that she wasn't going to get.
Opening the door, she walked back down the hall to her desk.
Eric was waiting.
"Miss Stackhouse, we are going to discuss this, we have got to work together and this cannot continue"
"Mr. Northman, I see no reason for us to do anything. I will stand in for your assistant while you are here, but there is no reason for us to socialize. Nothing good can come of it, and I have no desire to further my knowledge of you. Please find some other female to cast your attention on and we will get along just fine." Sookie answered quietly
"My attention?" Eric asked
"Yes Mr. Northman, your attention, I do not desire it, at all. Now if you please, I am sure you will find some other female to be a notch on your bedpost, I have work to do, I am, trying to ensure that Victor's speech is good for his Congressional testimony next week, and I need to focus to get it done" she said, turning her back to dismiss him.
"We will have lunch and discuss this" he said, walking towards his office.
"No thank you, I already have plans with Sam, I need to discuss security with him anyway, we will be having new badges issued as the merger moves forward, we will need to discuss the branding and other details"
"Well then I will join you" he answered
"You weren't invited Mr. Northman, if you would like to meet with Sam, I will inform him so that we can carve out some time on your calendar"
Sookie rose from her desk then, walking into Victor's office she shut the door and began working on his speech.
It was almost 1p before she got a chance to stop. Picking up the phone, she dialed Sam's extension and agreed to meet him in the cafeteria.
Taking the elevator down, she found Sam waiting for her as she exited. Sam could tell by looking at her that she was upset, he just gave her hand a squeeze and they walked thru the line together, making small talk about the weekend and the kids.
Sookie made it thru the line before Sam did, she grabbed silverware for both of them and then turned to look for a table in the dining room and almost dropped her tray.
Eric Northman, CEO, playboy, was sitting at a table, surrounded by women, they were all laughing and carrying on, smiles and giggles everywhere. As he looked up and saw her standing there. His eyes holding her gaze, his eyebrow arching up over one eye as if challenging her.
Sookie squared her shoulders, and moved forward, ignoring the display in front of her. Grabbing a table in a corner, she waved to Sam as he walked out, indicating the silverware she had grabbed for him.
Eric watched Sookie shut the door to Victor's office, and he left her alone.
He went back to his office mumbling about Satan and demon spawn as he sat down in his chair. A thought occurring to him as he did so, she wants to see a notch on a bedpost? Well I will show her a notch on the bedpost.
It was a small voice inside of him that was driving him nuts, 'Why the hell is this woman bugging me? I've already apologized and she had decided to not accept it, case closed, move on. There will be another to fill the space!' he thought happily, 'damnit why doesn't it feel right? That crazy witch is just wearing off on me, 2 days and she is driving me fucking nuts'
Checking out a few more listings online, he decided to go investigate the cafeteria for lunch. When he sat down and the first woman came over, he knew what was going on. It wasn't until he was surrounded that he realized how it must look, but after Sookie treating him like a rag for 2 days, he decided to just enjoy the feelings and go with the flow for a little bit. He had no intention of pursuing anything with any of the women, but Sookie had no way of knowing that when she saw him sitting there, a woman curled up under each of his arms.
The look on her face shocked him. He started to get up, intending on explaining the situation to her, when he realized what he was doing 'I don't owe her an explanation, she didn't even accept my apology' he thought, his eyes meeting hers. 'Watch this Sookie Stackhouse' he thought, his hand trailing over the shoulders of the woman on his right, his gaze never leaving Sookie's as the woman ran her hand across his chest.
He knew he should stop it, he knew it was a bad idea, but the anger Sookie had ignited in him kept him from stopping, in fact it encouraged him, his desire to reject her as she had rejected him, set him on fire.
Sookie sat at the table with Sam unable to focus on the conversation, her eyes kept moving back to Eric. 'I was so right about him' she thought, fighting tears off. She'd wanted to be wrong, she'd wanted to apologize to him, tell him it was all a misunderstanding, she was wrong and had misjudged him, but looking at him across the cafeteria, she realized just how right she had been. Her instincts weren't wrong after all.
Sam watched. He watched Eric stare at Sookie and he watched Sookie stare at Eric. It was like they were in a stare down. Whoever looked away first was going to lose.
Eric's eyebrow kept arching over his eye, as he held Sookie's gaze. His judgment firm in his face, his jaw setting.
Sookie's anger evident in her grinding teeth, and her inability to pick up her silverware and eat her lunch. Her breathing was getting more ragged, and Sam was worried at one point she was going to hyperventilate.
"Sookie?" Sam asked, waiting her to turn her attention to him, "Sookie?" He asked, touching her hand.
"I'm sorry Sam, I'm just distracted today." She said smiling her apology, smoothing her hair as she struggled to maintain her composure.
"Why don't you talk to him?" Sam offered
"To who?" Sookie asked, trying to ignore the man staring at her across the room.
"The man you are trying to ignore, cher, I know you and you aren't succeeding, what's going on?" Sam asked gently.
"I'm not ready to talk about it yet" Sookie said, "I gotta get back, I need to finish the speech" Sookie said quietly, rising from her seat, tossing her untouched salad into the trash.
It was all she could do to walk back to the elevators and not run.
Making it back to Victors office, she packed up for the day, sending an email for Victor letting him know she wasn't feeling well and she was leaving early, she would make herself available to him from home if needed and she would finish his speech changes and email it back to him that evening.
It took her all of 2 minutes to undock, pack her things and run down the stairs, she couldn't bear the thought of facing Eric again. It had just been too much. "I'm tired and I need some sleep" she told herself, "After a good nights sleep things will be better."
Eric watched Sookie all but run from the dining room, and it upset him. The fact that it bothered him managed to piss him off. Rising a few moments later, he bid a good afternoon to the ladies and made his way to the elevators.
Sam was standing there, waiting for an elevator to take him downstairs when he noticed Eric.
"She isn't used to it" Sam said, not looking at the other man
"I beg pardon?" Eric said.
"She isn't used to it, Sookie is used to dealing with certain situations a certain way, and when you break her out of her mold, she freezes and falls back on her formality. She was taught formality and manners will get you thru any situation, what she doesn't understand is that folks perceive her as cold. She isn't cold Mr. Northman, she is a wonderful warm caring person, she was just raised with the rules of a society that doesn't exist anymore."
The elevator opened then, and the down arrow lit up. Sam stepped into it, meeting Eric's gaze for the first time. Nodding her pressed his button and said nothing else.
The other elevator opened then and Eric walked in pressing 6. Sam's words echoing in his head as he made his way down the hall, his surprise evident at the darkened area. Victor's door was closed, his office dark, Sookie's laptop was gone, her desk was dark and all her drawers were shut. Her daytimer was gone also.
Reading his email, he saw a short one from her:
To: Eric Northman
CC: Victor Madden
From: Sookie Stackhouse
Dear Mr. Northman,
I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you in person, but I'm not feeling well and I've gone home for the day. I should be in tomorrow.
Thank you,
Sookie Stackhouse
Well. SHIT.
