by R. R. Banks
He held her hand softly, gazing into her eyes as she relaxed a bit more, finally regaining her normal stature and demeanor. “So, you’re a man then?” she asked playfully. “Can’t seem to know when to stop and ask for help.”
“Hey, sometimes it’s about knowing what your limitations are and praying you have a woman in your life to fix it,” he replied, gazing into her eyes as he caressed her hand gently. “Maybe there’s a chance I found that.”
“Maybe,” she replied. “Just maybe.”
Chapter 9
Hannah rolled around the couch, shuffling her body a bit as she tried to get comfortable. As someone who normally falls asleep on the couch, Hannah relied on her best friend to drag her to the bed as soon as the television show and news were finished. Her back stiffened up as she shuffled her body, opening her eyes slowly to see the rays of the sun shining through the small openings of the curtains. “Why am I still here?” she asked aloud, wondering if Alexis was somewhere in the apartment. Walking through, half asleep and somewhat frustrated over the slight discomfort in her body, Hannah walked down the small hallway of their apartment. Though only consisting of two bedrooms, the apartment was still large and very ornately furnished. Silk drapes outlined the frames of the windows in every room, matching the warm pastel colors of the wall and the dark hardwood floors. The windows were large and facing the east, allowing in plenty of natural sunlight during the mornings but dimming the home in the evening.
She opened the door to Alexis’s room to find her best friend not in her bed, with the room still very neatly organized and kept up. Her bed was still made with the covers perfectly tucked around the edges of the mattress and the pillow still neatly placed underneath the purple comforter. Hannah walked in and looked behind the door, checking the clothesbasket for the tan dress Alexis wore the night before, seeing if she came home and changed at some point, opting to leave her drooling on the couch, which was not the case. “I guess she didn’t come home last night,” she said to herself as she stepped out of Alexis’s room and closed the door behind her, turning and going through the door adjacent to it.
In her room, she opted to prepare for her Saturday, which was filled with plans of doing absolutely nothing. She stepped around the piles of clothes in the floor, walking over to her suitcase that she was still living out of, choosing not to unpack her clothes into the drawers as Alexis did. She pulled off her shirt and tossed it into a pile as she reached into her suitcase and pulled out a blue t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. She pulled the t-shirt over her head and slipped into the shorts quickly before walking over to the vanity in her room to grab a hair brush. Her blonde hair was disheveled and a mess, causing Hannah to look in the mirror and shudder. She picked up the brush with her right hand and immediately ran it through her hair, straightening it out before reaching for an elastic hair band and restraining her hair in a ponytail.
As she placed the brush back on the table and looked at her appearance in the mirror, the door to their shared apartment opened. “Is it time for the walk of shame?” shouted Hannah as she pushed herself away from the vanity and walked out of her room, turning immediately to look down the hallway to see her best friend looking incredibly well. Though still wearing her tan dress from the night before, Alexis didn’t look as if she had a rough night, actually seeming very awake and put together. “This was not what I was expecting,” announced Hannah as she walked toward Alexis. “You look just like you did when you left last night.”
“Some of us don’t like to just roll out of bed and face the world,” she replied as she walked through the doorway and into the living room, looking at the couch where Hannah left her blanket from the night before. “I take it you didn’t move to the bedroom.”
“I did not,” said Hannah as she walked into the kitchen with Alexis following her, opening the refrigerator door and removing a bottle of water and a protein shake. “Under normal circumstances, my roommate drags me to bed once the morning news back home is over.” She explained, opening her cold shake and turning it up, drinking the entire contents of it before grimacing and tossing the carton into the garbage can. “Without the proper turn down service, or at least the ability to be tucked in, I was not able to complete my normal routine.”
Alexis chuckled as she reached into the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of water and closing it, twisting the top of the bottle and sipping from it while looking at Hannah grimace from her breakfast. “Why do you drink those if you constantly look like your miserable afterwards?”
“Because this body takes work,” groaned Hannah as she washed the taste down with the bottle of water. “It’s either wake up and cook to get the protein I need for breakfast, or opt to suffer through one of these and sleep an extra thirty minutes, and as you’re well aware, I always choose sleep.”
“But it’s Saturday and you have nowhere to be, well at least not yet,” said Alexis.
“Yet?” asked Hannah as she placed the bottle of water on the counter while placing her hands on her sides. “What do you mean by that?”
Alexis smiled softly as she turned her head, trying to look a bit innocent but afraid to talk to her best friend. “Hannah, there’s something that I need to talk to you about,” she said softly, almost with a hint of reluctance.
Hannah tilted her head a bit as she squinted her eyes and glared at Alexis. “Why don’t you tell me about your night first, and then you can talk to me about whatever is on your mind,” Hannah suggested, noticing that Alexis was struggling with words and knowing how she needed to relax before having a serious conversation.
“That’s probably a good idea,” confirmed Alexis, still sipping on her water as she turned and walked into the living room with Hannah following her. She sat on one end of the couch, leaning against the arm as Hannah took the other side, both facing each other with the rays of sunlight shining into the living room. “So, what all do you want to know?”
Hannah smiled. “Why don’t you start with dinner and I’ll let you know when I want more details.”
“Right, well, first off, Nathanial was everything that you and I thought he would be,” Alexis began, talking about her overall feelings before going into the details of the evening. “He was charming, smart, sophisticated, but the thing that we didn’t see coming, is that he was incredibly humble and aware of his shortcomings, even though he did sometimes come off as boastful. However, as the two of us know, anyone who is remotely successful and happens to have a lot of money tends to come as boastful to those of us who earn it for them, but that is honestly irrelevant. Before getting into the details of the night, I want to personally thank you for assisting him in his execution.”
“Hey, what are friends for,” replied Hannah. “When he called me, I honestly thought it was someone from the office back home because he had a Chicago area code, but then when he introduced himself, and then explained how he got my number, I knew immediately what was up,” continued Hannah as she relaxed against the side of the couch. “I’m not going to lie, when he called and I didn’t recognize him, I was a bit freaked out, but I honestly think that both of you operate on a similar level of weird.”
Alexis laughed as she sipped on her bottle of water. “Dinner started off kind of awkward, but only because he was running late and I was given illicit instructions on how to behave in the restaurant by the maître d′.”
“I guess after the last incident involving one of his dates, they decided it best to inform you how the decorum of the restaurant was before you made a fool of yourself and ended up in a tabloid,” stated Hannah. “I suppose his instructions were meant more for your protection than anything.”
“Well, after a few minutes of me talking to the young hostess at the table, who mind you, was wearing a dress that I think you would look incredible in, Nathanial walked up and received a warm embrace from the young girl,” continued Alexis. “He was loved by everyone in the restaurant, though our waiter and his assistant didn’t seem too pleasa
nt. Anyways, we talked a lot about the things most people talk about on a date before he brought up the deal the two of us brokered, and at first, he seemed a bit upset and made it appear as if we overstepped, but once I explained to him what my motivation was, he was incredibly appreciative.”
“He should’ve been; we saved him millions and gave him the opportunity to make everything he lost back,” quipped Hannah, almost seeming as if she took offense to his perceived objection. “With that, by the way, Richard was somewhat reluctant, but after spending a few minutes outlining the profit that we’d make, though not as great as they normally prefer, he gave in and accepted that having a strong ally in the Australians could prove to be incredibly beneficial in the long run.”
“Yeah, we’re going to have to talk about that after this story,” stated Alexis as she looked away. “Just, let me get through all of this like you requested and then we can talk about the conversation Richard and I had when I woke up.”
Hannah looked at Alexis with a frightened sense wonder, pondering what her boss, who she believed was pleased with the brokered deal, could have possibly wanted to know further. “Alexis, is the deal still on?” she asked, wondering if Richard changed his mind before the paperwork and contracts could be signed.
Alexis nodded. “Yes, the deal is on, but upon requesting the guarantee from the consortium, an additional amendment was made,” she answered plainly. “In terms of our careers, we are in the best spot of our lives.”
“Oh, good,” said Hannah as she breathed a sigh of relief. “Continue your story and then you can talk to me more about it.”
It was around eleven when Nathanial and I left the restaurant, to take a walk on the beach underneath the stars instead of parting our separate ways for the evening. We walked over to the valet and they delivered his Rolls Royce Wraith almost immediately. He opened the door for me like a gentleman and I stepped in, noticing how incredibly fancy and custom built his car was. He got in on the driver’s side and we took off through the streets of Dubai, noticing how, on a Friday night, incredibly busy the city was, especially around all the clubs and bars. “Do you want to go to a nightclub tonight?” he asked me as we drove through the city, still thinking about taking a walk on the beach and honestly preferring that over going back to a club, since we did that the night before.
“No, I’d rather spend some more time getting to know you without the sounds of bass thumping in the background,” I replied, looking out the window to see the ocean with the moon and stars reflecting off the deep blue water. The radiance of it was amazing as we pulled into the public parking lot next to the coast. I took off my heels and stepped out of the car with my bare feet, thinking that walking with heels in the sand was not the best decision I could have ever made. Nathanial was a bit slow getting out of the car, as he was doing the same, untying and removing his shoes and socks to walk barefoot through the sand.
We walked down a small, wooden walkway and reached the beach, placing our toes in the sand and standing there for a bit to look out at the splendor of the ocean. We both turned and started walking down the shoreline, looking out into the distance as the waves washed over our feet with our toes digging into the wet sand. “I’ve never liked the beach,” stated Nathanial as he cringed, feeling the soft, wet sand squirm in between his toes. “I’m not someone who is really in to awkward feelings between my toes.”
I laughed at him, especially since his face resembled how yours looked after the protein shake. “So, you never told me about your life in Chicago,” I said, changing the subject to something more relevant to getting to know him, instead of focusing on his toes.
“I was fortunate to have parents and grandparents who were well equipped with the finances to make my dreams happen,” he explained. “I went to college and majored in international business, though my focus there was more gender studies. I graduated and immediately took my trust fund and invested it in the smaller companies of the consortium, as well as a couple of the larger ones to protect and diversify my investments. My parents were distributors for gasoline and oil in the United States, owning several refineries that were eventually sold to your company, so it only made sense for me to get into the oil business. With their expertise in distribution and some of their contacts, I was able to get my foot in the door and here I am now, living in Dubai.”
“So, you were blessed by your family’s money and connections?” I asked bluntly, though trying not to come off as rude.
“Absolutely,” he replied. “I’m not naïve enough to think that I could be where I’m at if it weren’t for them,” he paused as we continued to walk through the sand. “Dubai has been very good to me, but like I told you during dinner, I’m not married to the concept of living here forever. I’m in a position where I can be mobile enough to run my business and control my investments without having to actually be present to do it. Unfortunately, one of the issues that I’m facing is that I don’t have a lot of people that I can trust. While I’m a minority owner in several companies, I am the majority owner of the Australian company that tanked, trusting its finances to a man who was not only inept, but incredibly corrupt. He skimmed so much money out of the company by entering into acquisition deals with shadow companies. Unfortunately, because of his incredible connections outside of Australia, he took the money and moved to an island in the Caribbean that doesn’t extradite. He took about one hundred million from the company over four years, funneling it into a Cayman Islands bank where it couldn’t be followed, and then ran as soon as the authorities got wind of it.”
I was amazed at his candor and shocked how someone could do such a thing, opting to ruin the professional life of someone who enabled him to further his career. “Greed is a powerful motivator,” I said, trying to comfort Nathanial as he confided in me. “Have you found someone else to run the company yet?”
“I honestly do not know, but without the assistance of you and your friend, we’d be filing for bankruptcy in the coming months and essentially allowing the other companies in Australia to pick up the pieces from our fallen empire,” he continued. “I think the thing that frustrates me the most is that I trusted him and he blatantly defiled it. I have had an incredibly difficult time finding someone to help me since then.”
We turned around as we reached a few rocks, opting to stay in the soft sand instead of trekking through the jagged rocks. “Well I really hope that your company is able to thrive again,” I said, reaching over and grabbing him by the hand, stroking the top of it with my thumb to comfort him. “It’s got an incredible infrastructure and means, so perhaps with the right people helping you, the company will flourish again.”
“I really hope so,” he replied, clasping his hand with mine and interlocking our fingers. “So how do you like Dubai?”
“It’s been different, though I’m starting to get comfortable here,” I answered, immediately shifting into my professional mind without much of a transition. “While operating near the fields is a bit different, handling the logistics is still the same. The ports all have rules and the countries all have laws, so no matter what happens or where I’m working, it’s still the same job. Working in Dubai for the past few days has allowed me to work a bit closer with representatives from the other countries in the consortium, exchanging stories and contacts with each other as we strengthen our logistical and administrative skills.”
He smirked a bit as we continued to walk down the coast, talking about our hopes and dreams, plans for the future, and what we wanted to get out of life. While he was already successful, Nathanial was going through the first set of professional hardships he had ever dealt with. The strife of having to repair a company from near ashes was weighing on him and frustrating him. Success is addictive, and to suddenly lose it can be devastating. As we continued to talk, I started noticing how Nathanial was struggling to cope with the near death of his largest company, though he was incredibly thankful and relieved that we were able to put it on life support.
We made it back to the car and sat against the hood, looking out at the water as it was closing in on one in the morning. “So, do you want me to drive you back to your apartment or do you want to crash in one of my guest rooms?” he asked politely. “I live two blocks from here, so if you’re pretty sleepy, you can stay with me tonight and I can get you home tomorrow morning.”
I thought about his offer for a few seconds, and to be honest, I was tired, but also curious about his house. “Sure, I could use some sleep,” I answered, accepting his offer for me to stay with him that night.
“Wait, he offered you the guest room?” asked Hannah. “Surely he had something else in mind.”
Alexis smiled. “Possibly, but we’ll never know.”
Anyways, we made it to his incredibly large house, finding that it was something out of a dream. We pulled up to a massive black gate that had his initials on it in gold, N on the left gate and J on the right. A long path lined with trees finally lead to a house that sat at the edge of the ocean. It was two stories with large marble columns on the front porch and incredibly large windows facing the ocean. He opened the tall, wooden door for me and I entered the atrium, looking up to see a skylight in the roof that the moon was fortunate enough to creep through, lighting up the room. The floor was a marbled tile with several Persian rugs and a beautiful grand piano in the corner. Directly in front of the door, a gorgeous staircase was positioned at the end of the atrium, leading up to the bedrooms. I followed him up the stairs and then down a hallway, where he opened the door to one of the guest bedrooms. A king size bed sat in the center of the room with matching end tables on each side and a dresser against the wall. The sheets were made of silk and the comforter was filled with Egyptian cotton.
