Page 59 of Voice to Raise
—What if we picket Member of Parliament’s constituency offices? —
I bit my lip.—No. Not very effective as they’re never there and we’d irritate the staff. —
—Are you a stick-in-the-mud? —
—No. My floor is pristine. There is no mud. —
—Are you mad at me? —
That comment gave me pause. When he’d been inside me? No. Right now? Sort of.—Yes. —
A long silence.
My phone buzzed with an incoming call.
Malik.
Again, my heart rate kicked up. I swiped and casually said, “Hello?”
“You’re such a spoilsport.”
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. I’m practical and—”
“What are you doing?”
I blinked. “What?”
“Right now. What are you doing?”
“I’m finishing off month-end paperwork for our accountant. Then I’m working on my presentation to my local Member of Parliament. She says she’s pro-environmentalism. I want to takeher at her word, but I also think it’s important for her to know what her constituents think. I have a petition—”
“And you think that blasting a presentation to your MP is going to stop them?”
I wasn’t certain I liked his tone of disbelief. “Yes. Now go away.”
“Where are you?”
I sighed. “At my office. Where else would I be?”
“The nice house in Strathcona?”
“Well…yes. You were here on Tuesday.”When you fucked me on the sofa I’m seriously thinking about replacing because of all the memories.
He chuckled. “Yeah, I remember. So you’re there now?”
“I’m no longer standing behind that statement because I don’t like your tone.” Teasing? Lascivious? Promising a repeat? Making fun of me? I just couldn’t be certain. Then I noticed the silence was far too long. “Malik? Malik? Malik?” Each time I said his voice, I injected urgency—because that reflected my growing panic. “Shit. What are you doing? I can feel in my bones that you’re about to do something stupid.” I drew air into my lungs. “Answer me.”
Another chuckle. “I’m out front. Can you come here? I need to show you something.”
I eyed my paperwork, decided Monday morning was just fine, swept it into a folder to put in my desk, locked the desk, locked the laptop in the safe, and then hotfooted it out of the office. I set the alarm, closed and locked the front door, then headed down the walkway to Malik.
Who leaned against his SUV as if he didn’t have a care in the world. His clear nonchalance caught me off guard. “What do you want?”
“Can you get into the car? I need to show you something. Just around the corner. It’ll take, like, two minutes.”
With some trepidation—as well as intense curiosity—I got into his SUV.
He shut my door, winked, then rounded the hood and hopped in his side. After securing his seatbelt, we took off.
