Chapter 9
Pepper awoke and looked at the clock and sat up in a panic when she saw it was 8:00 a.m. and then she remembered she was on vacation. She picked up her phone and saw that there was no text from Tony. Yesterday was Sunday and Tony always seemed to manage ok on Sundays by himself but it was the next three days that she was worrying about. She wondered if he made it to his meeting. She grabbed her phone to text him and then put it down. This was her vacation. She laid back down on the bed and rolled over. She was trying to decide what to do today. She already felt better having woke up three hours later than normal. She decided on a pedicure and a Netflix binge watching session but not until she wasted at least another hour just laying there.
Tony was in a meeting with the board of directors and he was bored. Normally about this time he’d be texting with and ogling with Pepper. He thought about texting her but he didn’t want to bother her.
“Mr. Stark?” someone asked.
“Yes” he said as he looked.
“Do you have that information for us?”he asked.
Tony was frazzled. He flipped through the folder Pepper had made and looked at all the color coated post it notes. He was rustling through the papers and everyone was staring at him.
How does Pepper do this? I don’t even know what I’m looking at.
“These are the plans right here” he said handing a copy to everyone.
He was surviving by some sort of miracle. This was making him appreciate what Pepper does more and more. He looked at the clock and he couldn’t wait for this to be over. The meeting only had about fifteen minutes left when he received a text and his heart jumped a bit hoping it was from Pepper.
He saw that it was from Tiffany and he opened it.
It read:
I got my period in school. The nurse gave me a pad and Pepper’s supply is empty. Can you get me some?
Tony read it again and scratched his head.
Pepper kept tampons in his house. How did he not know that?
He opened the bar and into the text box he typed:
Sure thing. I will take care of it.
How hard can it be? He thought.
Tony got to the drugstore and found the feminine aisle and he was extremely overwhelmed. He had know idea how many different types there were.
I need Pepper. No don’t call her she’s on vacation. But would she really be mad at this one little thing.
Pepper was enjoying her pedicure immensely and she had her eyes closed while her nail tech scrubbed her feet with the body scrub. The exfoliation felt amazing after wearing high heels day after day. She was so blissed out and she heard her phone ringing. She looked at it and it was a FaceTime request from Tony. She hit ignore and closed her eyes again but the ringing didn’t stop. She finally hit accept.
“Why are you FaceTiming me and not calling me?”she asked.
Tony flipped the camera and all Pepper could see was boxes of tampons.
“Tony why are you showing me tampons?”she said not putting it all together.
“Tiffany text me that she had her period. I thought I was just going to come in here and grab a box and go but there are hundreds of them. Thin, overnight, wings, jumbo etc” he said. Pepper loved this.
“So basically you’re at my mercy” she said staring into those eyes that make her melt.
“I wasn’t going to bother you I swear but this is an emergency” he said.
“Put the phone by the tampons” Pepper said and she watched as a whole shelf of them came into view.
“Grab the multi-pack” she said and he grabbed it.
“Now show me the pads” she said. Once they came into view she gave him a bunch of instructions and he grabbed everything Pepper told him to including Motrin and some chocolate and heating pads.
“Thank you so much Pepper. I had no idea it was this involved” Tony said.
“Who tied your tie for you?” Pepper asked changing the subject. It was hard for Tony to lie when he was caught off guard.
“I did it myself” he said as he grabbed at it.
“Really? So it appears that you do know how to do it” Pepper said.
“I like the way you do it better” he said.
“Ok Tony I’ve already given you ten minutes. I have to go” Pepper said.
“Why? Where are you?”he asked.
“I’m getting a pedicure” she said.
“I want to see. Show me” he said.
“No that’s weird ”she said.
“Come on show me” he said.
“What do you have some sort of foot fetish?”she asked suddenly remembering all the times when she’d kick her heels off at work and he insisted on giving her a foot massage.
“Pep you’re breaking up. I can’t hear you. Bad connection” he said and then he hung up.
Pepper laid back and closed her eyes again. She was proud of Tony for not calling her for every little thing. She was going to give him a pass on this one. Most guys would be confused buying those items.
Tiffany got home from school and according to his text he would be caught up in meetings for the next couple of hours. She opened her phone and text Wade the cute boy she met at school. When he text back that he was on his way she got even more excited. She went upstairs to change into something a little more sexy. She chose cut off shorts a tight midriff top. And then he was here. Tiffany opened the door and smiled at him.
“I brought what you asked for” he said handing her a bag. She opened it and there bags of weed and her fake I.d.
“Here”’she said handing him a wad of cash. She used the money her father had given her and soon she would need more.
“So you wanna chill for a bit?” she asked as she let him in.
“Tiffany I do not recommend that” Jarvis said.
“What’s that?” Wade asked.
“Just Jarvis. He’s the AI that runs the house. Don’t worry about him” Tiffany said leading him inside onto the couch.
“Whoa” he said as he looked around.
“Wanna smoke some?”she asked as she took the bag out.
“I highly advise against it” Jarvis said again.
“Mute” she said. Wade laughed.
“We should do it outside though. I don’t want my father to smell it” she said.
“Sure” he said following her outside.
Tiffany lit up and started to relax a bit. She hoped that her hair and clothes wouldn’t smell like weed. She was going to have to change and spray some perfume so Tony wouldn’t find out.
Tony was elbow deep in papers at a client meeting when the alert went off on his phone that someone the house didn’t recognize was there.
“Excuse me a moment. It’s my daughter” he said breaking away from his meeting.
Tony dialed Tiffany’s number and she just hit ignore. He was terrified that someone had found her.
“I’m sorry there’s an emergency. I have to get back to my house. My assistant will return to work on Thursday and we can reschedule this then” he said as he grabbed his folder and bolted at the door.
Tony drove like 85 miles the whole way home and bust through the door.
“Tiffany” he called.
“What’s up Tony?”she asked coming out of the other room.
“Are you ok? I was so worried” he said.
“I’m fine. Did you get my stuff?”she asked.
“Who was here?”he asked as he handed her the bag from the local drugstore.
“No one” she said.
“I get alerts when someone the house doesn’t recognize is here. Don’t lie to me” he said.
“Tony chill. It was just a friend from school” she said.
“Chill? There are people out there that I don’t know trying to kill you. I left a very important meeting because I got the alert and I thought they were here. I thought they found you and hurt you. Do you have any idea how scared I was?”he said raising his voice.
“It was just a friend from school” she said with a shrug.
“You can have friends here but you need to ask me first” he said as he pulled her into him for a hug. As Tony hugged her he recognized the faint smell of marijuana coming off of her hair.
“Were you smoking?”he asked as he realized her bloodshot eyes.
“I told you I smoke weed” she said.
“Give it to me, all of it” he said.
“It’s gone. I already smoked it all” she said.
“You’re grounded and if I catch you with weed again there is going to be severe consequences” he said.
“Whatever you say Tony” Tiffany said as she headed up to her room. If he was mad at her today he was going to be even more mad at her tomorrow.
Pepper looked at the clock and it was nine pm and sadly her internal clock was ready for shut down mode. She felt better already. This day of doing whatever she wanted had worked. She shut the light and pulled her blanket up and her phone went off. It was a text from Tony.
It said: Didn’t want to call and wake you if you’re sleeping. I’ve had a very stressful day. I miss you and wanted to chat if that’s ok.
Pepper smiled. She sat there for what ended up being thirty minutes deciding on whether or not to call Tony and finally she gave in and dialed him.
“Hey Pep I’m glad you called. what are you doing?” he asked.
“Nothing. I was just laying in bed when you text me” she said.
“What are you wearing?”he asked as he tried to picture it.
“Nice try” Pepper said.
“I’ll tell you what I’m wearing. Nothing” he said.
I love when Pepper plays with me like this.
“Well thank you for that image” she teased even though she would love to be naked in that bed with him.
Don't think about Tony naked. Don’t do it. Too late. Dammit Pepper.
“Only because you’re not here. I know you hate it so I make sure I sleep with boxer briefs if there’s a chance that you might wake me up” he said.
“Well that’s very noble of you” she said.
“I miss you Pep. I’m a total mess without you” he confessed.
“You’re doing great Tony. You only called me once and honestly I think any single man who's never had kids around would call a woman in that situation” she said.
Tony was beaming. He wanted Pepper to be proud of him.
“I’m not doing as good as you think”
“It’s Tiffany. I was in the middle of the meeting with Bronner and I got an alert that someone unrecognized was in the house. Pep I felt my heart drop. I thought that they had found Tiffany and that something happened to her and I had to leave the meeting and I raced home and she was fine. She had someone over and they smoked weed. So I grounded her. And she laughed. I’m trying to protect her” Tony said angrily.
“Tony she’s a teenager and she just lost her mother. You’re doing everything you should be doing. Just give it some time” Pepper said trying to make her feel better.
“How are you feeling? You looked so happy and healthy when we FaceTimed. I’ve never seen you look so beautiful. It makes me think I should give you a lot more vacation” Tony said imagining Pepper’s stunning blue eyes and her cute little freckles.
“Thank you Tony. I am feeling much better. A couple more days and I’ll be as good as new” she said.
“They will be the longest two days of my life until I can see your beautiful face again” he whispered.
“Ok Tony I’m getting sleepy”she said as she stifled a yawn.
“You’re still not going to tell me what you’re wearing?” he asked.
“I have on silk sleep shorts and a silk camisole” she said.
“Now I’m never going to get to sleep” he said.
“Goodnight Tony” Pepper said as she smiled to herself.
“Goodnight Pepper” he said as he hung up and realized how long it’d been since he had any kind of release.
He wanted to take care of it but he knew if he did he was going to think about Pepper and that felt so wrong but he didn’t care. He decided he was going to do it anyway.