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Title:LOVERS Inc.
Author:boertjie
E-mail:ladav@mweb.com.na
Rating:18
DISCLAIMERS:Bad Girls and all it's characters are property of Shed Productions. The author implies no ownership of these characters, and they are used in the stories without permission solely for entertainment and not for profit.
COPYRIGHT:This story belongs to the author, please do not reproduce this story in any format without prior permission from the author.

Part 1

“You told them what?”
Helen was glad she and Claire weren’t in the same room right now; she might just be tempted to strangle her.

“Well, when I told them you were my best friend they just kind of assumed.”

Helen rubbed at her temple, “How the hell can one just kind of assume things like these?” Helen took a deep breath, “Let me get this straight. You recommended me to this prestigious law firm as a financial advisor and somewhere along the line they made the assumption that I’m gay, is that about right?”

Claire wanted to nod, but realize it would do little good when Helen was on the other end of the line in Scotland.
“I told them you were my best friend. I guess they thought with me being gay…”

Helen sighed, “I can’t do this Claire. I will have to clear this up before I take the job.”

Claire sat upright in her chair, “Sorry Helen, but there might be a bit of a problem with that.”

Helen had an idea her headache was going to get worst, “And what would that be.”

“My senior partner already told the others about your appointment and your sexual preferences. You see, one of our biggest clients insist that we make some changes in the company and she’s been pretty adamant about it.”

Helen sighed in defeat, “Hence my appointment. Not only am I suddenly gay but you’re telling me I have the job because of that.”

Claire shrugged, “You’re 110% qualified for the job Helen. It doesn’t matter whether you’re gay or not. They’re just pleasantly surprised that you are”

“But I’m not!” Helen tried to calm herself, “Look Claire, I can’t accept the job under these terms. Not only am I straight, I have a fiancée to prove it.
What the hell do you think he’s going to say about this?”
Helen rummaged through her drawer for the aspirin bottle, “I guess I should explain this mess to them personally. I’m flying in tomorrow as planned.”

Claire nodded, “Fine, but don’t make too big a deal of it. As I said, you’re more than qualified to do the job.”

09:00, Monday morning
Helen and Claire walked into the offices of Weinard and Goldstein; both of them ready for their meeting with the senior management. Claire made a quick detour to her office and gathered the necessary papers on her desk. She glanced at Helen who looked all prim and proper in a grey business suit and a white shirt.
“You’re absolutely sure you want to do this? This is one hell of a job you’re saying no to.”

Helen nodded, “There’s no way I’m accepting this job under false pretences.”
She followed Claire to the conference room,
“Now, let’s get this over with. I still have a flight to catch back home.”

Part 2

The room fell silent when Claire walked in with Helen close behind. The speaker, a man Helen estimated to be in his forties gave Helen the once over and indicated to an empty chair, “Helen Stewart I presume?”
Helen nodded and sat in the vacant chair.
The man pushed his hands into the pockets of his too small pants, “Welcome to Weinard and Goldstein ms. Stewart, I presume Claire misunderstood the time the meeting was suppose to start?”

Helen was about to reply when a voice at the other end of the table interjected,
“Stop being such a prick Jim and let Helen find her feet first.”

The voice belonged to a very well groomed grey-headed woman and Helen found an instant liking to her.
Helen nodded, “Thank you, and yes, I just arrived. My flight was delayed and Claire waited for me at the airport.” Helen looked Jim directly in the eye, “Sorry if I caused any inconvenience.”

Again the older woman replied, “Oh nonsense child, Claire called from the airport, don’t you feel bad about anything.” She looked at Jim; “In fact I think it should be Jim who’s apologizing, no doubts that he had another ‘encounter’ with Marilyn this morning, it should explain the way he’s been acting.”
Jim looked like a blow up doll about to pop but he was dismissed with a wave of the hand, “but how rude of me. My name is Jocelyn Weinard, one of the senior partners, and Jim Fenner there is married to my daughter. He is also heading our finance department at the moment. If there’s anything wrong with your salary you’ll know who to blame.”
Jim sat down with a puff and Jocelyn continued, “Claire here told us a great deal about you Helen…”
Helen looked at Claire’s guilty expression, “…but let’s just say I prefer the information from the horses mouth, so to speak.”

Helen nodded, “Thank you Mrs Weinard, but it seems there’s a misunderstanding somewhere. Claire tells me you had some-one particular in mind when you wanted to fill this position…”
Helen hesitated, not sure how to continue. “…anyway, I’m not sure I’m the right person for this job.” Helen looked around the table at the faces and her gaze lingered on one face in particular, it belonged to a woman about her own age, dark haired, dark eyed, intense looking…Helen could swear she knew her from somewhere, the woman met her stare and held it for a second…Jocelyn snorted, “I’m sorry Helen, but I think you’re perfect for the job. And now that I’ve seen you I’m even more convinced.”

Helen looked at Claire for help and Claire gave an audible sigh, “What Helen is trying to say Mrs. Weinard is that she’s as straight as an arrow. Somewhere along the line a misunderstanding seemed to have slipped in, Helen isn’t gay…and I’m sorry if I was in any way responsible for the misconception that exist about her sexuality.”

Helen heard a snort coming from across the table and again met the dark haired woman’s eyes.
It also caught Mrs. Weinard’s attention, “Is there something wrong Nikki?”
Helen frowned, Nikki?
Now why did that name send bells through her head?

Nikki took a drink of water,
“Sorry Mrs. Weinard, there seem to be something in my throat.”

Jocelyn nodded before continuing,
“Well that certainly puts a spanner in the works but nothing that can’t be dealt with. You see Helen we have a very important client, but she's also very…how shall I put this…eccentric?” The faces around the table nodded in agreement, eccentric seemed to be the right word. “She’s been our client for years, but now all of a sudden she insist that she only wants lesbians on the team we send there to work for her.” Jocelyn waved her hand, “I know, bizarre. I heard her daughter got out of the closet recently, maybe that’s got something to do with it.”

Helen nodded; she could understand Weinard and Goldstein’s concern about loosing such an important client, but to go to such lengths?
“I see your problem, but then I’m deffinatly not the person you’re looking for.”

Jocelyn nodded,
“Maybe, maybe not. How good are you at acting Helen?”

Helen laughed,
“Oh no! I know what you’re thinking and absolutely not.”

Jocelyn shrugged,
“Why not? I’ll be sending you, Nikki and Claire as a team. They’ll never suspect a thing. I want you for this job Helen, you’re brilliant at what you do.”

Jim snorted from the other end of the table,
“Exactly what we need, two lezbos and one pretending to be.”

Jocelyn silenced him with a dirty look and turned towards Helen,
“Come on. I refuse to look for somebody else. Say yes.”

Helen looked at Claire for support but Claire also shrugged, “We could say you and Nikki are an item. That way she can cover for you if you let the cat out of the bag.”

Nikki seemed to have a problem with her throat again,
“Now wait a second! I’m not a bloody actress, besides, I’m not going to pretend to be her girlfriend.”

Jocelyn looked Helen up and down with a devilish glint,
“Well, I don’t know Nikki. I think if I was that way inclined I might have found Helen as somewhat of a dish myself.”

Helen could feel the colour rising to her cheeks as she looked at Nikki…suddenly she had no problem remembering exactly from where she knew Nikki Wade.

Part 3

Claire took Helen through the rest of the set-up right after the meeting; a cosy office at the end of a hall was their last stop. Claire stepped inside and waited for Helen,
“So, this will be your little corner of the world. Your personnel assistant is waiting to meet you, I worked with her before and efficiency is her middle name.”

Helen looked around and nodded in approval, a large black leather sofa covered most of the wall opposite her desk and an African painting hung on the wall above it. A coffee table and large comfy chairs did the rest. A plant or two and it can be called home.

Claire plopped down on the couch,
“I will have to talk to Jocelyn, my office isn’t half as nice as this.”

Helen took the seat next to her, “You could have had the office if you didn’t get me into this mess in the first place.”

“What? And miss your sunny personality in my life. No way!”
She patted Helen’s leg, “What’s with you and Nikki, do you know her by any chance?”

Helen stood and walked to the large open windows,
“Do you remember Caroline Lewis?”

Claire nodded, “Sure, I still do business with her. We all used to hang out together when we were at uni.”

Helen nodded, “She was also my roommate and still is a very close friend, anyway, she and Nikki Wade had a thing back then.”

Claire frowned, “This Nikki Wade? I didn’t know she went to the same school as we did.” Claire frowned, “You know Helen, for someone that isn’t gay you sure had a lot of gay friends.”

Helen smiled, “That was most probably because you guys felt sorry for the poor girl that came from the backwoods and had an upbringing that would turn the devil into a saint.”

Claire grinned, “Ya, I bet you’re dad loved the idea that his virginal untouched daughter got involved with the condemned filth of the earth.”
Helen turned away from the window and sat back down,
“Hardly, and he isn’t all that bad. He just believes that everyone should feel the way he does about certain things.” She touched Claire’s shoulder, “And thank the Lord I didn’t listen to him. Today I have the best friends in the world.”

Claire smiled self-consciously, “I believe we were talking about Nikki Wade a minute ago. I don’t think I would have forgotten her under any circumstances if we ever met.”

“I don’t think you did. She was working to earn her keep and rarely had time to go out. Caroline brought her over once or twice and I guess that’s why I remember her.”

A knock sounded on the door and Claire stood up, “I have to leave to get some work done, but I want to hear the rest of this.”

Helen shrugged, “What do you mean?”

Claire opened the door and a woman entered with a stack of files clutched under her arms. Claire patted her on the back, “Nice to see you again Barbara. I would love to chat but I’ve got to run.”
She looked at Helen, “Fact is I know you…and I know there’s more to this story.”
She closed the door and walked away with a whistle.

Nikki looked at the clock for the umpteenth time since the end of the meeting this morning. She threw her pen down in frustration.
Well this is great, Helen Stewart was working here for exactly five hours and she was already in a mess.
Good Lord the woman didn’t even recognise her!
Nikki slammed her fist on the desk and winced.
Damn! I’ve been through this before, she wasn’t worth it then and she sure as hell isn’t worth it now.
Nikki rubbed her sore hand, be damned if the woman didn’t look so bloody gorgeous.
Her hair was shorter back then and she might have lost a bit of weight, but she looked amazing, better than I remember.
Nikki finally gave up and pushed her chair back, might as well get this over with or I’ll never get any work done.

Part 4

Nikki came to a halt in the doorway that lead to Barbara’s office, she waited until Barbara got off the phone before walking up to her desk,
“Hey Barbs, is your new boss in by any chance?”

Barbara nodded, “You’re in luck miss Wade, and she just received the files on the Stockard-case you’re working on. I think she’ll be glad to see you.”

Nikki walked to Helen’s closed office door and knocked, she looked back at Barbara.
“Somehow I doubt that very much Barbara.”
Barbara frowned in confusion when Nikki opened the door and walked in.

Helen was elbow deep into the files when Nikki walked in, she frowned when she saw who her visitor was and Nikki felt her own hackles rise in defence.
“So I see miss perfect is trying to impress already?”
Nikki sat on the edge of Helen’s desk, “And you’re wearing the wrong colour shirt for whatever you’re doing.”

Helen looked at the dust smudges on her crisp white shirt, she blew a strand of hair from her face and looked at Nikki who seemed to have found an extremely comfortable spot on her desk. Helen got up from the couch and dusted her skirt.
“I presume you don’t have a spare shirt lying around the office, do you?”

Nikki shook her head, “Nothing that would go with your outfit no, but it will be home time soon. You can wash W&G dirt off your body in an hour or so.”

Helen grimaced, “I’m still flying home tonight. I’ll have to buy something at the airport. Was there something I could do for you in the meantime?”

Nikki shrugged, “I just wanted to welcome you to the company, we need someone with your expertise around here.”

Helen nodded, still a bit unsure of Nikki’s real motives.
“Thank you. I look forward to working with you too.”

Nikki rolled her eyes, “Ya sure, anyway I’ll see you around.”

Helen walked to the open door and closed it in Nikki’s face,
“Now wait a minute if you have something to say I would like to hear it.”

Nikki took a deep breath before facing Helen,
“Why? Seven years ago you acted like I had a contagious disease; now you want to talk?
You bloody well had trouble recognising me this morning, what is there to talk about if you don’t even remember?”

Helen lifted her chin and opened the door,
“Fine. Go!”
She watched as Nikki left the office to stride past a stunned Barbara. She yelled at Nikki’s back, “And you know what…maybe I don’t want to remember any of it!”

Part 5

Claire tossed the file on the coffee table and looked at Nikki and Helen,
“Okay guys, this is what we’ve got to work with. Old girl Stockard wants answers for her company and personal financial troubles and we have to provide them.
She wants changes all around. She owns an airline that’s going bust because of terrorist threats and life threatening diseases. She has two children than she suspects is only after her money and then there’s the management or rather mismanagement of her personal fortune that she’s stressed about.”
Claire took a swig from her glass, “And it’s up to us to give her an answer to each and every troubling aspect of her complicated life. All in a days work”

Nikki flipped through the file on her lap, “Bloody Hell! This lot is worst than the bloody Adams-family.
Her son has been involved in fraud, accused of manslaughter and convicted of smuggling. Twice!”

Helen laughed, “That’s not the worst of it. Florence, her daughter owns several very shady businesses that provide certain services for businessman in town. Several of her ‘escorts’ have been busted for prostitution, and get this…Florence herself was arrested four months ago, that’s when she decided it would be a good idea to get out of the closet in court, to a very embarrassed judge I might add.”

Claire poured some more wine into each glass,
“And guess who comes to the rescue each and every time? Mrs Stockard coughed up over three million pounds over the last two years in legal fees for these brats.
No wonder she’s such a valued client to W&G, she keeps us in business with her familie's court cases alone.”

Nikki nodded, “We have a meeting with Jocelyn tomorrow morning to discuss our plan of action, any ideas so far?”

Helen picked her briefcase up from the floor and took a rather thick binder from it,
“I’ve done some preliminary work, but from what I’ve seen huge changes will have to come about if she wants to survive, not only in the business but in the management of her personal fortune. Something very fishy is going on there.”

Claire nodded in the direction of the binder, “When in all goods name did you get the time to work on that? You’ve been spending half of your time on a plane back and forth.”

Helen smiled, “You’d be surprised what you can accomplish on an aircraft, they have everything from the internet to fax machines on these new babies, and then I had some time at home too off course.”

Nikki made herself more comfortable on Claire’s couch, “Didn’t you say you got engaged recently?”

Helen nodded, “So? What’s that got to do with anything?”

Nikki shook her head, “Nothing really, it’s just odd that you spend the time you do have at home working on a case.”

Helen shifted a bit uncomfortably, “Well I’ll let you know that Thomas is a very understanding man. He knows how important this job is to me.”

Nikki smirked, “Ya right! He and a good bottle of lubrication I bet. Isn’t that the name of the guy you dated back when…?”

Helen almost spilled her wine, “Yes! And don’t you even go there.”

Claire watched the little drama before her and had to smile, these two people were like fire and petrol. One wrong or suggestive word and BANG!
She would bet her one and only gold tooth that these two had a serious history that still bugs the hell out of them. She drank the last of her wine and decided to mollify things a bit by changing the topic of conversation,
“So Helen, did you find a place to live in the meantime?”

Helen broke eye contact with Nikki, “Sort of, W&G owns a few company houses and Jocelyn offered one. Problem is the current tenant’s lease expires at the end of next month, so until then…”

Claire looked a bit guilty, “I’m sorry you can’t stay here, but between me and Randy there isn’t much space, unless you want to crash on the couch?”

Helen shook her head, “No, I’ll have to make due until then. There’s still a hell of a lot of packing for us to do until Thomas can relocate his practise down here, I’ll rent a room or something for me to use London in the meantime.”

Nikki smiled sarcastically, “I could offer you a bedroom in my house, but I doubt that you’d be willing to take it.”

Helen never was one to let a challenge go by, “Oh really? I think it might be a really good idea actually. That is if you were serious.”

Nikki held her glass up in a toast, “Oh miss Stewart I’m not one to do or say something that I don’t mean. You’ll be welcome to stay with me until your problems are sorted.”

Part 6 >>