Chapter 4
So, Dave wasn’t just a plumber. Why then did he show up to fix her pipes?
“Are you going to stand there all day?” Dave asked, not looking up, his tone slightly different from the last time.
Wondering what his deal really was, Ashley took her seat on the leather office chair opposite his, her gaze flickering around the room.
“If you’re here, that means you’ve decided to accept my proposal,” he said without looking up from the stash of paper in his grasp.
“I might be here to complain about your work,” she countered. “How about that?”
Dave lifted his head.
“Ashley,” he gently called, “I’m a hundred per cent certain that’s not why you’re here.”
Ashley felt some discomfort at how well he had read her.
“You’re quite predictable, Ashley.”
“I don’t think I like being called predictable.”
“I strongly believe you are.”
She scoffed as though she had not heard the same from other people. “You hardly know me, so you don’t have the right to make that kind of statement.”
“Fair point.” He returned his focus to the paperwork.
“Why did you show up at my door as a worker?” she probed.
“I sometimes like to leave my expensive and torturous seat to enjoy the bliss of being a simple labourer.”
“You hate being CEO?”
He lifted his head again. This time, his lips were drawn up in a smirk.
“Why?” he seemed to tease. “Don’t you like the premise of Dave being an ordinary plumber?”
“I… T-That’s not what I’m saying. I-”
His deep laughter interrupted her flustered explanation.
“You don’t have to explain yourself.” Gently, he slammed the document on the desk. Leaping to his feet, he said, “I hope you’re ready.”
Caution in her voice, she asked, “Ready for what?”
“For the ride ahead, of course.”
His smile at the end of that statement distracted her.
“Uh…
“Good.” Within a second, he was next to her, his scent engulfing her. “Let’s go.”
Eyeing his outstretched hand before taking it, she asked, “Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out. But! I hope you are fine with me taking you wherever I want.”
“Uh…”
Wherever he wants?
Second thoughts began to pile up in her mind again.
What the heck was she doing with this charismatic stranger? What if he planned to harm her?
But, on the other side, she discovered she was quite excited about the idea of something thrilling, something different happening in her pathetic life.
Seconds after a not-so-deep deliberation, she pointed a warning finger at Dave. “If I end up dead in some random bush, I will haunt you even after you die.”
Dave chuckled, grabbing her hand gently. “I will always keep that in mind.”
Ashley wasn’t sure why, but as he led them out of his office, something that felt like joy sparked within her. She became like that bubbly teenager, unable to look away from the way their hands were joined.
But that bubble of quiet excitement was broken by a fairly distant cough.
Ashley looked up to see Dave’s secretary glaring at her with a sneer.
~~~
“Okay…” Ashley faked a smile. “This is getting creepy. I think…”
“Ashley, please,” he pleaded, his focus glued to the barely smooth road ahead. “I get distracted easily when driving. I’ll answer all your questions when we reach our destination. Okay?”
“At this point, I doubt there’ll be any destination.”
She looked around at the surrounding trees, unsure of what to think anymore.
It had been past an hour since they left his company, and Dave hadn’t said a word about where they were headed.
“We’re here,” Dave announced about ten minutes later to Ashley’s relief.
But as she opened her eyes wide, her relief turned sour.
Mouth pried apart in utter shock, Ashley slowly turned her head towards the smiling man.
“Are you… freaking kidding me right now?”
“Does it look like I am?”
She gasped. “Dave, this…” She had to look at the incredulous sight ahead again. “This is a cemetery, for God’s sake!” Her heart dropped a bit. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you? I knew I should have said no. What was I-”
“That’s right.”
She stilled. “What?”
“I plan to take care of your pain right here.”
“Eh?”
He burst out a hearty chuckle. “Ashley, please calm down. And please, trust me when I say that I didn’t bring you here to hurt you.”
“The cemetery is the surest way to hide a body, Dave,” she spat, her body almost leaving a print against the door. “Why should I trust you?”
“I believe a part of you sort of does. Why else would you be here?”
She gulped, hating how easily he called her out. “So, what exactly are we doing here?”
“We’re here to kill your anger.”
“Uh?”
His soft smile never vanishing, he leaned towards the back seat, the glimpse of his lower abdomen straining against his T-shirt a view for sore eyes.
She looked away before she could get caught.
She didn’t face his side until she felt a gentle pat on her shoulder.
She looked down at the object he extended to her, asking, “What’s with the paper?”
“Just have it. I’ll explain soon.”
Reluctantly, she accepted the pure white paper, as well as the pen that came along with it.
“So, you just got divorced.”
“No shit, Sherlock Holmes.”
Dave smiled. “You are hurting because of it. And I think that’s enough to tell that you’re not the reason for the divorce. It’s usually the victims that are left with the brunt of the pain.”
She nearly winced at being referred to as a victim.
But she remained quiet, wondering where Dave Scott was headed with this.
“That pain has turned into anger. I see that anger in your eyes and even hear it in the way you speak. I’d like…” He briefly flicked his gaze to the paper. “I’d like us to tackle that anger today. We must get rid of that first if my plan is going to work.”
“How will you do that?” Ashley asked.
“I need you to pen down every emotion you’re feeling right now. Don’t stress about it so much. Just picture how you’ve felt in the past few weeks and put it in writing.”
“Just like that?”
Dave gave a short nod. “Just like that.”
“After I do that, what happens?”
“Write down your emotions first.”
“This is rather silly, don’t you think?”
“Do as I say, Miss Steve. Please.”
“Okay,” she mumbled, feeling how smooth the paper was beneath her thumb.
He unlocked the door on his side. “When you’re done, meet me inside the cemetery.”
There were a lot of things wrong with his last statement, but she ignored it and nodded in understanding.