My father grunted again, followed by a chorus of other grunts from the men around him. “Yes, well, make it fast. It’s the beginning of the new quarter and we want to see the next quarterly report put our stockholders at ease.”
It seriously felt like I was not the CEO of the company, at least not in board meetings. My father had a habit of taking over all the time. It drove me nuts, but I couldn’t say anything. He was the whole reason my board was so high profile to begin with. They were on board if he was on board, and he was, not because I was his son, but because he did, deep down, believe in my business plan. Nonetheless, he stifled me in the board room.
I looked up at the clock, my father’s eyes following. He got my drift. It had been hours and everything we needed to talk about was done. He took a deep breath and leaned back. “I don’t know about you gentlemen but I’m ready to hit the course.”
There was a chorus of agreeing grumbles. They all looked over at me and I nodded. “Yep, I have plenty of work to do, that’s for sure. I call this board meeting to a close. The notes will be sent to all of you as usual.”
They wasted no time shaking each other’s hands and patting me on the shoulder as they filed out. It was the same pat I got when I used to go to my father’s office as a kid. The he’s-a-good-kid pat. Something else that irritated the hell out of me.
I stood up and buttoned my jacket, reaching out and shaking my father’s hand. He was the last of them to leave, as always. He nodded and looked around proudly. “You’re doing good. Just follow our lead and you’ll have that stability you’re looking for. Trust me.”
My grin was forced. “I trust you, dad. Just a lot to get going on.”
“Then that is my cue,” he smiled. “Your mother is waiting for me anyway. She has some godawful charity thing planned tonight.”
I chuckled, not really amused. That had been their life for the last twenty years. “You’ll get free Scotch. Just be happy for that.”
He leaned toward me, his hand on my back. “I’ve come to learn the richer you are, the less free anything is.”
Just then, my best friend, and head of marketing, Connor, walked in. He shook my father’s hand as he walked out of the room, and we stood there in the conference room waiting until we heard the elevator down the hall shut and my father’s grumbling cease. When it was finally over, I let out a deep breath and grabbed the stack of papers.
Connor chuckled. “That go good?”
I glared at him and rolled my eyes. “Sure, if I was a twelve-year-old boy with a lemonade stand. I have to get one of these clients on board and fast.”
Connor took the paper from me. “Hmm, they seem…complicated. Why such a rush? I thought the company was doing amazing.”
I nodded as we walked toward my office. “Maybe a little too good. The shareholders want to see stability and gradual increase now. In order to make sure we have a stable line of sales, we need one big client for this next quarter. Everything else will keep the stabilization and create a steady increase. They’re afraid we’ll peak and then fall.”
Connor shook his head, getting it. That’s what I liked about Connor, he was smart. I didn’t have to explain every little detail to him, and he was my best friend, had been since college. We wandered slowly down to my office at the end of the hall. Tossing the file on my desk, my ass hit the leather chair and my feet immediately lifted to my desk. I stared out the huge windows, overlooking the entire city.
“It can’t be that bad,” Connor said. “Besides, you want the investors happy. I know you hate this side of the business, but unfortunately that is the nature of the beast when you’re the owner and CEO. You do have your father to help you out, even if he is annoying.”
My palms rubbed up my stubbled cheeks. “Yeah, at least when he’s here he isn’t stumbling around lost like he has been at home.”
Connor wrinkled his nose. “How long has that been going on?”
I chuckled. “Since the lawsuit years ago. He swears it was just the stress of it all that brought it on, but I really think its because he was such good friends with Robert Cuthbert. He never saw the lawsuit coming.”
With a pen twirling in his fingers, Connor shrugged. “Yeah, well, it’s not every day you try to pull one over on your friend like he tried to do to Cuthbert. Seeing as they were both sharks, it doesn’t shock me at all that Cuthbert sued him. Just sucks it had to turn into such a battle. At least your father won.”
“But what did it cost him?” I asked. “And I don’t mean financially. I remember as a kid, we used to throw cookouts and parties, and my father was a social man. After the Cuthbert incident, I can’t really remember him having parties anymore. Half his friends took Cuthbert’s side, the other stayed, but you know rich people, they’re rarely genuine in friendships.”
Connor raised an eyebrow, smirking at me. “I’ll have to remember that.”
I let my head turn lazily toward him, giving him a look. “You know what I mean. Those old bogies trying to keep up appearances. The battle with the Cuthberts was a turning point for the old man. I think with this he feels that old sense of excitement but knows it doesn’t fall on his shoulders.”
Leaning back in his chair, Connor took in a long lazy breath. “You know what helps with that type of stress, right?”
“A bullet?” I asked sarcastically.
Connor rolled his eyes. “No man. A night out. We can hit up Delaney’s on 3rd, and get crazy with it. I haven’t seen you take home a girl in quite some time and I’m pretty sure a hot night fueled by vodka and blond girls will take some of that stress right off your shoulders.”
I didn’t answer him at first, focusing back out of the windows. “I don’t know man. With all this work, I really need to be here. Whether I’m working late or coming in early this kind of thing needs to be rocking and rolling within a couple of days.”
“And what better way to start it then with a clear head,” Connor pointed out.
I knew he wasn’t going to stop pressuring me. We always went out together. We always chased the girls, had a good time, and flaunted our eligibility. But lately it seemed that my mind steered me back toward work. Maybe I was growing up, or maybe I was just tired of the parties, something I’d been doing since before college. Whatever the reason, I didn’t feel like going out that night.
Connor waited a few seconds, tapping his fingers on the desk. “Seriously dude. You are starting to act like you’re sixty. Next thing I know, I’ll find you in your condo in loafers and a smoking jacket, listening to classical music, eating olives, and acting like your staff are your only friends.”
This made me crack a smile. “That actually doesn’t sound bad.”
Connor threw his hands up in the air.
Putting my feet back down, I swiveled toward him and let out a sigh of defeat. “Alright, fine. We’ll go. But I’ll meet you there so I can get a workout in and change my clothes.”
Connor jumped up and clapped his hands together. “Yes. That’s what I’m saying. You sir, will not regret this.”
I watched him walk out of the office. I really hoped he was right because the file in front of me could end up being the future of my company.
3
Mia
“Did you see the ceilings in the bedrooms?” Lily asked sticking her head out of her doorway. “How do I even get that high to clean them?”
I unpacked a couple of groceries and set them on the counter with a chuckle. “You don’t. That’s what the cleaning staff takes care of.”
Lily shook her head, walking gingerly down the hallway. “Seriously, this is why poor people are stuck in tiny little box houses. Because we can’t afford to hire someone to clean giant, tall ceilings. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.”
A laugh bubbled up from my chest and I tossed the ice cream we just bought into the freezer. Lily stood in front of the cabinets and threw them open dramatically, skimming over all of the food that had been stocked in the place before we got there. It only took a second
for her to realize my father was kind of a health nut. She dropped her arms and grabbed a box out of the cabinet.
“Seriously?” she said, squinting her eyes at the box. “Low carb, high protein, vitamin-infused waffle mix? I really feel like I’ll get more out of it eating the powder.”
I took the box and closed up the cabinet. “Oh, I thought you believed my father was perfect?”
“Your father did this?” she asked, shocked.
My shoulders shrugged. “Kind of. He gave a list of foods to put in here and then hired someone to do it, but it’s pretty close.”
She picked up a box of monk fruit sweetener and sneered at it. “Maybe he just didn’t know that this person stocked it full of nature’s valley.”
I nodded my head toward the sunken living room that was lined with windowsfacing toward Lake Michigan and the skyline of Chicago, gorgeous and way lower down than our condo sat. Leave it to my father to find the one place in the city that hadn’t sold their penthouse yet. Lily put her chin in her hands and sighed. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Your father sure knows how to pick a place.”
I glanced at her and gripped her chin, turning her head to the right where the two identical elliptical machines sat in front of a row of weights. “I meant that. If you live here, eat my father’s food, and use the equipment, you’ll be a supermodel in no time.”
Lily sneered, looking me up and down. “What happened to you?”
I gasped playfully and threw a peach at her, watching her catch it. “I had no interest in my father’s health routine. I was too busy trying to be perfect, remember?”
Lily giggled, tossing the peach back at me and bouncing down the living room steps and over to the window. “I came to Chicago when I was twelve and I went to the Sears Towers and stood up there looking out over everything. It was amazing. I don’t even think they were this high.”
My head nodded as I chewed the giant bite of juicy peach. “Mm, this one is one foot shorter. They didn’t get the okay from the city to go higher. It was right around 9/11 so everyone was terrified, you know? In fact, that was the only time I had gone out in the city and for a week after, I didn’t see a single sailor, Navy Sailor. They were all on lockdown on base.”
She rubbed her hands together. “Oh yeah, I forgot about the sailors. Cute little things and not around long enough to get attached to me. I like it.”
I snorted and took another bite, wiping the juice from my chin. “They are wild, let me tell you that.”
Lily flounced over to the catch and threw herself down. “So, what was it like growing up here? I mean, I know what NYC is like but this place is like a wealthier, cleaner version of it.”
I laughed, wiping my face with a paper towel and tossing the peach pit in the bin. I moved around the granite island and hopped up one of the breakfast bar stools. “It’s not all clean, trust me. I don’t know, there was always something to do, always some way to entertain ourselves. I tried to get away from the loudness but that’s hard to do in the city. When we finally moved out in the suburbs was when I was able to really focus. But Chicago is cool. Cold, really cold in the winter, but awesome.”
“And your father’s building is out there somewhere?”
I nodded, hopping down and moving to the window. I scanned the buildings and streets below, squinting and pointing across the tiny map in front of us. “You see that building with the green and blue lights lit up across the top? That’s my father’s building. His helicopter lands in the center of the roof. But he wasn’t always there.”
Lily was staring out the building, her lip curled. “One day I’m gonna own a building you can see from the top of a condo twenty miles away. It’s crazy. Crazy. I mean, I can’t imagine what it was like growing up like that. Growing up in a household where your family was worth more than Oprah.”
With a smile on my face, I sat down on the couch. “It was like I was a kid and had no concept of money. My dad was a good father, spent time with me, made sure I was happy and loved. It wasn’t until he had to sue the LaGrange empire that everything went crazy. My mom and dad got divorced, but really that wasn’t nuts. I can’t ever remember doing anything as a family. And then he almost lost his company. Everything he had worked for. And while I know my father isn’t the most moral businessman, he was my best friend as a child. But then I got older, his business boomed again, and my parents lived apart. He was the rich dad then.”
Lily’s face was comforting now, like she could see talking about it was hard. “And he didn’t come around a lot?”
I shrugged, looking down at my hands. “Not really. He sent stuff. I had tons of stuff. But not a single thing in that room, house, or estate replaced wanting to see him up front and in person. So, I turned my focus to school, to studying everything I could get my hands on. I made myself a plan. I didn’t want to just know what I didn’t want to do, I wanted to know what I would do. So, I took the lessons learned, mixed it with my research and created my life on a piece of paper.”
“And?” Lily smirked.
“And, it’s right on track so far. Right on track,” I replied, smiling big.
Lily nodded her head astutely. “Good. Then I think it’s time you start letting loose a bit. I’m getting ready to revamp my whole dating life. New City, new men, new chances for Mr. Right Now. You should do the same. Might take some of that stress out of those premature worry wrinkles on your forehead.”
I reached up with a furled brow and felt my forehead. Glancing over I knew what she wanted. She wanted to go out, get drinks, get crazy, and then whatever happened after that, happened. Of course, that usually entailed me going home slightly drunk and her coming back the next morning.
Lily dropped to her knees and scooted across the floor. She put her palms together like she was praying and began to beg. “Please. Come on girl. You know you need to do it. It’s our first night in Chicago and our last night as free college students. We need to commemorate it.”
Staring at her for a moment everything in me wanted to fight back, but I knew it was futile. “Fine.”
“Yay!” she squeaked, jumping up and grabbing my wrists. “Come on, I’ll get you all sorts of hot and sexy. Look out Chi Town, we are coming for you.”
The bar was loud and obnoxious, too many people jam-packed into one small stale-smelling building. Lily had done my hair, giving me a puff on the top of my head and letting the rest curl down over my shoulders. She started me out in a tank top, tiny skirt, heels, and red lipstick, but I managed to talk her down to a cardigan over the tank, the same skirt, and Chuck Taylors. Oh, and red exchanged for a bit less vibrant shade of lipstick.
“I’ll get us two drinks,” Lily yelled over the music and the voice. “Go grab that table over there.”
I nodded, following her stare over at a table in the middle of the room. Holding my arms up in the air, I sucked it in, scooting between the packed patrons and finally onto the stool. I flung my hand, trying to get whatever it was I slid my hand through off. Probably just condensation from the last beer sat there, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.
A few minutes later, Lily slid in, handing me a beer and smiling big as she looked around. “Wow. There are a ton of people here!”
Sipping my beer, I nodded. “Yep. That tends to be the Chicago way. I think we practice for when it’s cold and windy. Keep a pack together instead of letting one of us blow off down the street.”
Lily laughed and continued to look around, her shoulders and head bobbing to the sound of the music. I just sat there, watching the girls and guys coming in and out of the front door, wondering what everyone did when they weren’t scoping out their next partner in a dirty bar in downtown Chicago. It was the game I played every time I got stuck out somewhere with Lily and she was off in her own world. I made up stories for people, sometimes their entire lives, all in one narrative in my head.
This time though, Lily’s gasp brought me back. “That guy, over there at the bar. He is so hot. And his friend is p
retty hot too. The guy with the dark teal button up, silver tie, sleeves rolled quarter length. Like he just got done prosecuting some bad guy in court.”
I lifted my brow and looked over, shrugging. “I think his friend is way hotter.”
Lily shimmied her eyebrows. “Come on, lets go over and say hi. You don’t have to talk, I’ll do all the introductions.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned. “We just got here. And there is no way a guy like that is going to be into me.”
Lily slapped my hand. “No, he won’t if you keep having a terrible attitude like that. He’ll never want to be around you. But, if you walk over with personality and self-assurance, he’ll be all over you.”
She put her hand out and I sighed, throwing mine into hers. I had to admit, the guy sitting with her interest was really sexy. His hair was thick and wild, his eyes this crazy ice blue color, and his smile was to die for, not that he was smiling very much. He looked exhausted. She was probably right, he was probably some big shot financial attorney. My father had several of those and they were all douchebags.
But there I was, being propelled toward him by my best friend, hoping that I could at least talk without completely making a fool of myself. Let’s just say, talking to guys wasn’t always the easiest thing for me to do. Then again, nothing social ever was.
4
Evan
As usual, the bar was jam packed with people. Some of them I recognized, most of them not. That was the only good thing about the downtown bars, you usually only saw the same person once or twice. Everyone from businessmen to out-of-towners went to those bars, looking for a good time, and something to pass the time. Or a warm body during the cold windy winter months. In that moment though, I really wasn’t feeling either one of those things. I was feeling going home and working on the company, before my father kicked me in the teeth for procrastinating.
Hating Him Wanting Him : A Contemporary Romance Collection Page 2
