Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended. ©2024
A few of the reviews questioned how Aaron was able to get on a military base so easily… it's not a military base, although they do manufacture guns for the military. Hence, the reason for armed/trained security. Some retired/inactive military employees work for Durand Martin.
Hoped that clears up your question.
This story is un-beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 5
Aaron
When I saw that bastard Robert pull Bella closer to him, everything went red.
I never liked the guy or how close they were.
I knew he was married to Cathy, Carmen, Cynthia, whatever the hell her name was, but their relationship never sat right with me.
"Bella!" I yelled out, trying to pull away from the tight grip the huge bear had on me.
"Sir?" A police officer leaned down
. "I'm going to ask you one time" –he held up his index finger— "and one time only, stop yelling and squirming or I will be forced to pull out my teaser."
"Fuck you!" I bucked against that Walker guy. "That's my wife I've been trying to have a conversation with before these assholes barged in. There's no fuckn law against a husband talking to his wife."
Officer whoever the fuck looked at Walker as he and his lackey pulled me up off the floor. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"Sure." Walker nodded. "He started yelling at Lieutenant Swan, an actual employee, we approached and asked if there was a problem."
"No—" I was able to see his nametag. "—Officer Easton, that's not what happened. I was speaking to my wife—"
"Sir." Officer Easton gave me a stern look. "I am not talking to you right now." He turned back to Walker.
"Anyway, as I was saying, when he raised his voice at her, my partner, Steward, and I asked her if everything was okay. She stated she was okay, but the gentlemen could
be—"
"Her husband you mean." I snapped.
"Is he her husband?" Officer Easton asked Walker.
"She didn't confirm or deny." Walker shrugged his shoulder. "But he was becoming aggressive toward her and asked us to escort him out of the building. She also told me that he asked to see her earlier and Officer Paige, another employee, told him Lieutenant Swan did not want to see him and dismissed him. She had no knowledge he hung around."
"So, you were trespassing on top of trying to assault a woman?" Officer Easton raised his eyebrows.
"How can I assault my own goddamn wife?"
"Men do it every day, sir." He tilted his head to the side. "We don't know if that's your wife or not."
"Why the hell would I lie about something like that?"
All of them were idiots dressed up in uniforms.
"I'm not sure but we'll get to the bottom of everything once we get you down to the precinct."
"Precin—I don't have time for this bullshit. I need to find my wife."
"Why would you need to find her—" he paused waiting for me to tell him my name.
"Aaron Smith—attorney at law," I smirked.
He looked at me unfazed. "I don't care what your job title is, according to witnesses you were trespassing and attempted to assault a female employee that asked you to leave."
The stupidity grated my nerves.
"Fuck off! That can and will easily be lowered to a simple assault, which is a misdemeanor. I'll be out quicker than you can say your own damn name and then I'm going to come after you and your whole damn department." I scoffed. "My suit probably cost more than six months of your goddamn salary. Here I am an upstanding citizen trying to talk to my wife and you dumb fucks rather harass me, wasting my tax dollars, instead of chasing the real scumbags."
Officer Easton barred his teeth and glared at me. "Mr. Smith, shut your motherfucking mouth and don't speak again unless you are spoken to, understand?"
Two other officers who came in with him stepped on both sides of me.
I didn't bother to reply to the asshole, I turned my head.
"Did Lieutenant Swan say if she wanted to press charges against him or not?" Officer Dumb Fuck asked Walker.
"She didn't say before she left, and she was too rattled to hang around. I think he scared her."
"Oh, come the hell on," I sneered. "How the hell do you know that? Stop standing here acting like you know my wife." I went to step closer to Walker but one of the goons grabbed me by the elbow.
He chuckled and shook his head at me.
I wanted to punch that smile right off of his face.
It didn't matter that they were policemen, they were preventing me from getting to Bella.
I needed to talk some sense into her.
She needed to come home—today.
I figured a week or two would have been long enough for her to calm down, but three weeks are unreasonable.
Then to make matters worse she changed her phone number.
"I'll leave my card with you, Walker but be sure to let her know she needs to give me a call, or better yet, she can come down to the station." Officer Easton said.
This was a fuckn joke.
I started to laugh, loudly. Easton and Walker both stopped talking and turned toward me. "You all are dumber than you look." I shook my head. "She won't even come down to the station much less press charges against me. Besides that shit won't stick anyway. I'm a partner for one of the top firms in the city of Chicago. I'm going to wipe the floor with your asses as soon as I get out of these handcuffs and back to my office." I tried to jerk out of the hold one of the other cops had on my arm.
"You're the kind of cocky motherfucker I love to lock up, even if it's just a couple of hours," Easton smirked. "I'm sure I could convince that fine-ass Lieutenant Swan to press charges against you."
"You motherfuck—" I roared and lunged for him before I knew it.
The next thing I heard was a muffled sound and felt an excruciating pain that shot through me as if bees were crawling through my skin, with shocks of bursts, rendering me helpless, until I finally fell to the floor. My mind told me to get up and get the hell out of there, but my muscles protested against me unable to move at all.
I lay on my side and looked out the window trying to regain my strength back. I felt like a bowl of fuckn jello. But before I could recover two cops grabbed me by both arms supporting me on both sides.
Officer Easton chuckled as he stepped closer to me. "That settled your pompous ass down, didn't it? And since you're an attorney, I'm sure you know what's next, right?" He winked his eye. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you."
Just then I realized there were groups of bystanders watching and whispering to each other like I was some type of exhibit at a zoo.
"All right boys get him out of here," Easton said to the officers who stood next to me.
As they walked me out, I noticed the clock on the wall read eleven-thirty. Damnit! I had an eleven o'clock meeting with an important client. It took me weeks to get the appointment with him and now I fucked it up. I'm positive his office won't reschedule because now I've offended him by not showing up. No doubt the managing partners will have my ass for this.
I should've left when that blonde chic came out and said Bella wasn't available. But for some reason, I felt dismissed—unimportant when she said it, which added more fuel to the blazing fire.
If she had only left with me when I told her to, I would not have been sitting in the back of an SUV headed to jail.
TWP
The partner's conference room was one of the most elaborate rooms in the office. We often gathered behind closed doors to discuss sensitive matters or brainstorm ideas. Not just anyone could enter, you had to have a keycard—you had to be a partner.
The walls of windows allowed us to easily see the spectacular Lake Shore Drive view from the twentieth floor.
Every time I stepped into the room the bold, woodsy, fragrance permeated from the handcrafted teak wood table, along with the midnight crocodile leather chairs that accented so well.
Aside from my own office which was classily decorated, this was my other favorite place to be when I was in the office. However, that same sentiment was not held for this particular meeting.
"Please forgive my redundancy but I want to make sure I am understanding this correctly." James Freeborns, one of the other managing partners said. "You went to Isabella's job to speak with her?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"That's the confusing part. Didn't you see her before you left for work or it could've waited until later today?"
There was a reason James was a managing partner, he was damn good at it. He paid attention to the smallest of details and he was aggressive as hell when it came to getting his questions answered.
He wasn't the only one that had been probing for answers. Myles Barnes, Carlisle Cullen, and Edward Cullen all sat across from me like sharks.
Garrett sat at the opposite end of me with a smug expression since he was the one who had to bail me out. My attorney, Mike Newton quit, and I hadn't had the time to find another one, so I had no other alternative but to call Garrett.
I knew why Garrett was a part of the meeting, but I wasn't completely sure why Edward's presence was needed.
"I apologize for my cryptic responses sir, but this is a private matter between Isabella and me." I sipped on my bottled water. "As I am sure your martial affairs between you and Victoria are private."
I respected the partners but what happened in my marriage was not their business.
"While that is true, it became our business when you had to be bailed out of jail for" –he ruffed through the paperwork— "aggravated battery against a police officer, attempted assault, and resisting arrest."
"Not to mention if it wasn't for my close friendship with Judge Abbott you would still be sitting in jail right now with that new law that just passed on no cash bails before the trial." Carlisle leaned forward. "So, no we don't give a fuck about personal matters in your goddamn marriage when you are costing us money and embarrassing this firm."
My body tensed.
I drew in slow, steady breaths before I spoke. "There was just a miscommunication between Bella and I and the security guards thought it was something more than what it was."
"Why didn't she explain that to the security guards before it escalated to them calling the police and then you assaulting a police officer? And why were you attempting to assault your wife?" Edward challenged.
I clenched and unclenched my fist.
I didn't feel like I owed him an explanation.
"Excuse me but I'm not clear on why he is allowed to ask me any questions since he's a partner just as I am." Frustration kicked in.
"He's the new managing partner." Myles nonchalantly replied.
I clenched my jaw and grinded my teeth.
I shifted in my chair trying to compose myself.
Resentment clouded my thoughts.
"Had you been here this morning like you were supposed to be you would have been made aware of our decision." James' expression was cold. "It appears we made the right decision in choosing Edward. Especially based on your actions today. Carlisle had to smooth things over with Judge Abbott, but we still paid a five thousand dollar fine that you will pay us back."
"I apologize for that sir. I'll write the check out today before I leave the office." My Adam's apple bobbed.
"That's minor compared to you missing the appointment with Baxley Financial Corporation." Myles sneered. "Do you know how long we've been trying to attract their business and today of all goddamn days you chose to have an argument with your wife at her job and get arrested." He pounded the table with his fist.
I froze momentarily, speechless.
I expected that type of behavior from James but not Myles.
"I, um—" I stammered over my words.
"Save it, Aaron." Myles cut me off with a gruff tone. "Thankfully Edward didn't have an appointment scheduled and he was able to step in and did a phenomenal job."
I quickly glanced at him and noticed his fevered stare.
As much as I hated it, I had to show him respect since I had to report to him now.
Talking about shitty days.
"I'll be sure to follow up with them today and explain that I had a family emergency. Edward, I'm sure you have enough on your plate, I'll be happy to review the notes you have and take over the account."
I was the one that played phone tag with the Vice President, Nicholas Baxley. That account was mine to manage.
"That won't be necessary, Aaron." Edward folded his hands in front of him on the table. "Nick asked if I would personally handle all of the accounts and I graciously accepted."
You lowdown bastard.
"That's not fair," I growled.
"Fair?" James cocked his head to the side. "What's not fair is you almost fucked up a three-hundred-and twenty-billion-dollar contract over bull shit you should have been able to handle at home." He leaned forward and pointed his index finger. "What would be fair is if we ended your goddamn contract."
Are you fuckn kidding me, I've brought too much business in here for him to say some shit like that to me? I'm not some low-level associate.
I bite the inside of my jaw to keep my frustration in check.
"James, you have every right to be upset with me, but I believe that's stretching it too far, especially with the type of clientele I've acquired." I met his angry gaze.
"So, let me get this straight." Carlisle crossed his arms. "You think just because you've brought in some clients you have the right to miss important meetings and then go out there and get yourself arrested, at our expense, acting like a damn maniac, according to the report, and we'd be okay with that—you'd merely get a slap on the hand?" He laughed without humor. "No, sir. Behavior like that will not be tolerated in this firm. Perhaps if we allow you to remain with us, maybe we need to rethink demoting you to an associate until you can prove your worth here."
My entire body felt like it was on fire.
"This is bull shit, and you know it!" I jumped up and the chair flew back.
"Aaron, do you realize Carlisle saved your ass?" Edward's tone was calm as he played with his pen. "Just with the aggravated battery charge alone you could spend up to one year in prison, pay some hefty fines, and have a permanent felony conviction on your record." He paused and looked at me. "Then the resisting arrest is another year in prison with another fine and another permanent conviction on your record that could not be expunged. Judge Abbott decided not to let any of what happened today go on your record because he knows the high standards we represent." He chuckled. "But you dare to come in here and talk about what's not fair and your line of clientele."
That's great and all but that still doesn't compare to the asset I've been to this firm—the millions of dollars I've worked my ass off for.
"I appreciate what you—" Edward cut me off when he raised his hand in the air.
"I'm sure you appreciate not having to go to prison, but I'm not done." He sighed sounding annoyed.
I swallowed down my anger.
"The management team has decided, effective immediately, that you will take a two-week unpaid vacation. Any important accounts you need to handle this week I expect you to give them to Garrett and bring him up to speed." He quickly glanced at Garrett. "When you return after your two weeks, we will convene in this room again to decide your relationship with this office." He shifted in the chair. "Garrett there is no need to remind you everything that has been said in this room remains in this room, right?"
"That's correct, sir." Garrett agreed.
Ass kisser.
"Good." Edward nodded. "We appreciate your assistance today and your stepping in to handle Aaron's accounts." He pushed back from the table and the other partners did too.
I pressed my lips together in disbelief as I watched them gather their things.
"So, that's it?" I narrowed my eyes. "All of the sweat and tears I've poured into this place; I step out of line one time and you disregard me like an old dish rag?" I gave an expected look to each one of them but kept my gaze on Myles. "Myles, you know me. You were the one who offered me the position here. How can you let them do this to me?"
"You did this to yourself." Myles set the palms of his hands on the table and leaned in. "Instead of handling whatever issues you and Isabella are having behind closed doors, you choose to deal with them in public. I believe I can honestly say we manage fairly and have always kept your growth and professional development in the forefront. But when we see you maliciously taking advantage of it," –he shook his head, trailing off.
"See you in two weeks," James said before he walked out of the door and the other wordlessly followed behind him.
Shit.
What the fuck just happened?
A/N: So, there you have it. What are your thoughts? I can't wait to read them.
RECS
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This Is Where It Ends, by Hotteaforme WIP
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The Love of the Game, by DrivingEdward WIP
Solace, by FanFicsrForNerds WIP
Bewitched, by 2brown-eyes WIP
Swan Dive, by samviolawrites WIP
OZ, by drotuno WIP
There Goes My Life, by TheStrong1 WIP
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