Pieces of Me by LaShawn Vasser

problem with one of their major accounts and Davis wanted to be present to work through those issues. It took them well into the evening before they got a handle on the problem. He’d made sure that he called Nicole to let her know he would be working late. She was disappointed but seemed to understand. It was nice coming home to her. Nicole seemed genuinely eager to hear about his day and for as different as they were, they had a lot in common. As much as he enjoyed getting to know her, he enjoyed their nights just that much more. Nicole was so passionate and not afraid to show him just how much she wanted him. They hadn’t been able to keep their hands off of one another. Davis smiled just thinking about her. He hadn’t been this at peace in a long time.
     
    Everyone else had left for the night and Davis was ready to call it a night too until he got a call from the security in the building.
     
    “Mr. Chatham, Ms. Mathews is here to see you.”
     
    Davis paused “Um, send her up.” He had no idea what Anne could possibly want. Davis hadn’t spoken to her since they’d broken things off.
     
    She rapped on the door “Davis are you busy?”
     
    He stood up from behind his desk and waved her inside. He was surprised that when she walked into his office his heart still beat a little faster “Come on in Anne.”
     
    “Thanks for letting me up.”
     
    “Of course, please have a seat. How are you?”
     
    Anne sat down slowly but spoke softly “I’m still pretty heartbroken but that’s neither here nor that at this point. I probably shouldn’t even be here but I had to come. Davis what’s going on at Chatham Industries?”
     
    Davis didn’t like the sound of this “What do you mean?”
     
    Anne reached into her purse and pulled out a document. She handed it to him. Davis took it from her and began reading it.
     
    “ Dammit . Have you gone to the police?”
     
    “No! I can’t you read the letter. I wanted to talk to you first. The letter said if you didn’t back off and let ‘sleeping dogs sleep’ they’d hurt me or worse my family. Who are these people, what do they want, and why did they bring me into this?”
     
    Tears started falling down her face “I’m scared and don’t know what to do.” The more Anne spoke the more hysterical she became. She jumped out of her chair and ran into his body. Automatically, Davis wrapped his arms around her. He hated to see her like this especially when this problem really had nothing to do with her. She’d been pulled into this madness because of him. Well, he would make sure no harm came to her. “You know I’ll do everything I can to protect you Anne. I’ll always care about what happens you.”
     
    Nicole decided to surprise Davis and bring him dinner. She’d asked the security guard not to alert him that she was coming up because she wanted it to be a surprise. When Nicole arrived at the door it was slightly ajar. She thought she’d heard the sound of Anne’s voice. She’d never forget the sound of her voice from that night in the garden when she’d heard Davis tell her ‘he’d always love her’. Nicole froze. Then Davis declared “You know I’ll do everything I can to protect you Anne. I’ll always care about what happens to you.”
     
    Nicole thought her heart was going to break into a million little pieces. She didn’t know if she should burst into the office and confront him or just go home. Before she could do anything Davis looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. He immediately dropped his arms from around Anne.
     
    “Nicole what are you doing here?”
     
    She straightened her back and refused to let them see how badly she was hurt “I thought I’d bring my husband dinner but I can see I came at a bad time.” Nicole turned to leave and starting walking back towards the elevator.
     
    Davis bolted after her “Nicole wait.”
     
    She kept walking until she made it to the elevators. Nicole stabbed the down button and