Making Her Mine

by Mia Mills

  I laugh and look into her teal eyes, “My parents own the company. The only reason I have it is because I’m their son.”

  “They probably wouldn’t give it if they didn’t see potential in you.” She’s watching me. Suddenly I feel too self-conscious. I feel like she’s studying how I’m processing the things she says.

  What a dangerous woman. I think to myself.

  “You think so?” I rub my hand on the back of my head, “Do you see potential in me?”

  She leans closer and seemingly searches my face, her eyes finally settling on my caramel-hued eyes, “Yeah. I do. You know how stocks work and you’re using how people view you to your advantage. They think you’re naïve and reckless, but in truth the risks you take are small with big impact. You know where to place your money and when to hold back. An important asset, but at some point you might want to venture out into deeper waters.”

  I straighten my back and can’t help but smile, “That’s impressive! You know a lot about me, some of those I didn’t even realize until they left your lips.”

  “It’s my job to watch how the market flows, and your name has come up several times during my research. So I took a peek at your record.” She gives me a knowing smile, “You’re a lot sneakier than the others, if I have to say.”

  She seems like an easy person to work with, and I feel much more at ease now that I know she knows my flaws as well as my good attributes.

  “You caught me.” I shake my head, “I really wanted to talk to you about this. Listen, our current market analyst takes me too lightly, they’re afraid that if they make a mistake while I’m new to the game that it’ll ruin whatever chances I have in the future. But I know I need to take bigger risks. So what do you say you take over from now?”

  She blinks then licks her lips, her eyes watching me again, “Are you offering me a job?”

  “Not just any job. I want you in board meetings and in an office close to mine. I want you to help us make gigantic decisions that’ll change Wall Street. You’re already the best market analyst, why not be in the best company for it. The company with the most potential can show just how good you are when it comes to developing their brand.” I bite my lower lip to contain my excitement, “What do you say? Does it seem like something that’d interest you?”

  She shakes her head and raises a brow, “I’d have to decline.”

  My shoulders sag, I can’t hide my disappointment, she looked like she was about to take it. When she sees how puzzled I am by her decision, she laughs.

  “I have to decline because I’m working for your cousin, Delilah Goldberg.” She looks at me, waiting for a response, “I work at Goldwing Corporation. I’m the lead stock market analyst.”

  I exhale through my nose. Figures that she wouldn’t leave a company for another. She’s content with the clients she currently handles, if she leaves for my company then she’s letting most of those clients go to tend to mine. My eyes look over her shoulder again and I see the three of them watching us. It seems like they understood from my body language that I failed to persuade her as they’re making their way towards us.

  I guess if anything, it’d be fun to see their expressions when she rejects them too.

  Ryder

  It doesn’t take long for Gavin and Jonah to begin picking on Wyatt for making Zoey uncomfortable. I decide to sit things out and observe Zoey’s reaction to them. As expected, she’s putting on an air of not knowing what to do. When in truth she probably anticipated that we’d be all over her like this.

  You don’t make a speech like that unless you want to catch people’s attention. Maybe she didn’t think that it would affect people to this degree.

  There’s a huge gap between our group and the other people in the room. They all look like they’re minding their own businesses and chatting away, but I know that they’re watching us. Trying to see who gets to get Zoey Foster on their team.

  And truth be told, I thought for sure she’d go with Jonah, I mean, she’s already working for the Goldberg’s sister company, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if she swapped her current position for what he’s offering.

  My guess is that he showed his cards too early in the game. She’s not someone you can get by throwing yourself a pity party. I can tell she likes to choose who she deems worthy of her time. I don’t blame her.

  Half the people you meet in business are idiots and the other half of people you meet think they’re idiots. Both are bad, but if I had to choose, I’d side with the idiots. Because you can always teach someone how to do something, but if they don’t think they can do it then nothing’s going to work out for them.

  Besides, some idiots have luck and great hunches.

  I rest my chin on my hand and watch the three bicker in front of Zoey. They’re not aware of it, but she’s studying them. Everything they say to each other, every insult, can be a clue to what they’re up to in their companies. I find it amazing that she has the patience to wait out until a scene unfolds.

  My free hand reaches for a spoon and I look at my reflection through it, I run a hand through my chocolate brown hair and pretend I don’t see Zoey glancing towards me. She hasn’t forgotten about me. I wanted to see how long it would take before I could blend in the surroundings but it seems like she’s too sharp for that.

  I hold back a smile. She’s pretty cool.

  Beyond the three of them trying to topple each other’s egos, a nervous looking guy in his early twenties breaks through the crowd. He comes near our table. I can feel the people surrounding us hold their breaths. It’s as if a new challenger has approached. But judging from the Press ID he has, I’m assuming he’s one of this year’s Journal interns. Always trying to get their big scoop.

  And what’s bigger than the four key players of Wall Street fighting over the top analyst of the year?

  He’s caught the attention of Gavin, the latter throwing him a glare with his jade eyes. If the boy needs anyone to translate the body language, Gavin’s telling him to get things over with and not waste their time.

  The kid takes a deep breath and I almost laugh. He should have done that before he walked into the lion’s den. Whatever he’s having, he should triple it or he won’t last a conversation with these guys.

  “Good evening, my name’s Adam Lawrence, I’m an intern for the Wall Street Journal.” Adam reaches a hand out to no one in particular.

  Gavin takes the boy’s hand with a firm grip, his expression has softened, “It’s good to meet you, Adam. What can we do for you?”

  Adam raises the camera hanging over his neck, “I was thinking maybe we could take a commemorative photo and if possible, a few statements as well? It’s not always that we get to see the big guys together at one table.”

  The three exchange glances and nod to each other, they proceed to take a seat around the table, Jonah and Gavin take the seats beside Zoey. Adam’s eyes land on me, I can sense his hesitation.

  “Mr. Henderson, if it’s alright, could you move a bit closer to the rest? Just so that there isn’t a wide gap between you guys.” He gestures for me to move towards the front.

  I nod once, “Sure.”

  Pulling my chair forward, I make sure that I don’t get too close to Jonah’s chair. We all pause for a few photos. And then Adam begins with his interview.

  “Of course, I’m starting with Mr. Hughes.” He clicks record on his phone and starts, “So, this year has been a progressive year for you. What with the rise of crypto currency usage, investments and stocks. Not to mention, the experimental projects you started last year have become booming businesses that no one expected. What measures do you take before engaging in something as risky as crypto currency and why do you keep creating new experimental business ideas instead of focusing on the ones you currently have?”

  “Thanks for the question, Adam. You see, crypto currency was something that I found fascinating. It’s not a tangible object, you get no promise of return or of profit. But, that’s the type of bu
siness that would prove to be worth it if it were to work. I thought about it like this, every day the world changes little by little. The market accommodates those changes, and we have to keep an eye out for what the market does to accommodate so that we can adapt to survive.” Gavin eyes Adam and when he’s sure that the kid knows what he’s talking about, he continues.

  “The next logical step to having tangible cash is to have a form of currency you can access at any time through any means. Crypto currency doesn’t scare people as much as banks do. And that’s why I thought it would be a worthwhile investment. But I will say that before you throw away a ton of money, you have to test the waters. I didn’t just give out half my savings and hope that crypto currency would work. I tried it out, waited for a very long time, and when I saw that there was going to be fruit in the labor, I invested more. That’s all there is to it. New experimental business ideas are more or less the same. I have teams working on the old ones, so I make new ones. And I hire new teams for the new ones. Nothing goes to waste. Things keep going up.”

  Adam smiles, I’m not sure if he completely understood what Gavin was trying to point out but if he didn’t he made sure he hid it well.

  Next, he asks Wyatt about why he chose hedge funds instead of other forms of businesses. Adam tries to make sure that Wyatt stays on track, he’s a bit tipsy, so he keeps trying to segue into talking about the women he’s currently interested in. Several times his eyes gaze towards Zoey, making for plenty of awkward silences to drive Adam nuts. When he turns to Jonah, he asks him about how it feels being the CEO of his parents’ company, how much of a pressure is it and what he’s doing to prove himself worthy of the title. It’s really all that people care about. I get why Jonah’s sick of it and why he’s itching to show them what he can do without his parents doting on him.

  Adam turns to face me, I already feel like I know where this is headed.

  “And of course, last but not the least. The underdog of Wall Street who came up from little to nothing and is now one of the biggest shareholders of the stock market, Ryder Henderson. How are you doing today?” He holds the phone close to me.

  I lean forward a bit, “I’m doing great, thanks for asking.”

  “So tell me about how it feels being new to Wall Street, what challenges did you have to face to get to where you are now? How are you staying on the top of your game?”

  “I think I faced obstacles that everyone else in Wall Street has faced. There’s not a lot of difference in the competitive nature of the company we keep when we get into this world of business. There are a lot of scams you have to watch out for and a lot of people you have to remember not to piss off, but that’s really just how the world works. You just try to read your way through what everyone else is thinking and try to make it past today. Then do it all over again every day after.” I shrug, I’ve been asked these questions so many times it feels like I’ve almost memorized my answer, “If I have to answer, I’m not staying at the top of my game. There are good days and bad days, but sometimes we lose things and learn from those losses. What’s important isn’t staying at the top but remembering your place. When you’re grounded in the reality that there’s a long way down, it’s easier to find your footing.”

  Adam thanks us for our answers and shakes our hands before leaving. I shake my head.

  All these people care about is how to destroy the ones at the top, that’s the only thing I dislike about interviews. They give them something to go on.

  They forget that we at the top have gotten this far by overpowering those who try to crush us. And we haven’t forgotten how to do just that when we need to.

  Zoey

  The intern from the Journal moves back into the crowd, soon he can’t even be seen anymore. I found his questions boring.

  Most of them have been asked by other magazines and other interviewers already. Some of them aren’t even hard-hitting questions. But the questions that make no sense to me are the questions towards Ryder and Jonah. They keep being treated as babies and amateurs, I can tell from Ryder’s demeanor that he’s heard the question one too many times.

  “Aren’t you tired of giving the same speech over and over again to those interviewers, Ryder?” Jonah leans in closer to him, trying to speak in whispers and failing. I’m not sure he knows though.

  Ryder’s response is to shrug, “Are you?”

  Jonah runs a hand through his coffee brown hair, “Not really. It’s not like I have any big news to share. But you do.”

  “Jonah has a point, Henderson. The media has been downplaying your efforts. I don’t know why you’re being passive-aggressive about it.” Gavin cuts in.

  Wyatt nods in agreement, his cheeks a lot less red than earlier.

  Ryder brushes his thumb over his bottom lip, “It’s not like being aggressive about being asked stupid questions is going to do anything to my business. In the end, people don’t care about what I have to say, they care about what my business is capable of.”

  “It would help your business if you maybe tried to share input.” Jonah looks alternately from Gavin to Ryder. This is probably important for him, they are his business rivals, after all. He probably thinks it’s a good way to measure his own worth against theirs.

  “It won’t.” Ryder says it with a matter-of-fact tone. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to discuss it any further.

  Before Jonah can argue back, Gavin puts a hand on his chest and shoots him a look. The former manages to understand what he means by it and I’m relieved that I’m not the only one who pays any notice to the tension in the air.

  Shifting to a more comfortable position in my seat, I continue to watch the four men’s interactions with each other. They’re all extremely attractive, young bachelors who have hold over the market. There are speculations about Gavin, Jonah and Ryder saying that they must be gay since they don’t seem to have any sort of romantic relationships. Wyatt, on the other hand, has been the playboy representative of the whole of Wall Street. He has enough side chicks to share with his partners, I actually doubt he hasn’t done that before.

  Gavin puts his hand on top of mine, “Sorry if we’re being unbearable right now. We’re not usually like this.”

  I give him my most reassuring smile, “It’s alright. It’s nice to see how human you guys are behind all the glamorous photos and the serious articles.”

  Even I’m surprised by my words, it’s one of those things that you realize to be true only after you say it. I might have been uncomfortable when the four of them approached me all of a sudden, but I’ve gotten used to the attention they’ve garnered around me. As a matter of fact, I’m actually enjoying it.

  I made that speech in the hopes that I’d get more clients, more alliances, but I hadn’t expected such powerful influences to suddenly be on my side. And I certainly didn’t expect them to be clamoring for my attention.

  My focus shifts from my thoughts back to Gavin when he says, “If it’s alright with you, we could go to the private lounge, it’s a lot more private than this function hall.”

  “That would be great.” I hide the disappointment in my voice and expression, now’s not the time to let them see that I like the spotlight, I should be using this time to try and learn more things about them, “Can you lead the way?”

  “Sure.” He smiles and nods towards the other three, it seems like they discussed this while I was thinking of other things.

  We get up to leave, I take my red Hermès clutch bag and allow them to escort me to the private lounge. Outside, my eyes adjust to the shift in brightness. Gone were the neon blue glow on the walls, instead, in its place are walls in the shade of cream. Warm lights lit up the wide halls, making the surroundings look even more extravagant than they already are.

  My mind travels back to just a few minutes ago where hundreds of pairs of eyes were on me. The previous awardees hadn’t been given this sort of attention by such key players.

  It was the first time they even paid any sort of
genuine attention to other people outside their circle of contacts. They didn’t need to go out of their way to shake hands, people approached them.

  But this time they were the ones who went to me. My cheeks flush red when I try to think about what this all means. The opportunities that this kind of affair attracts are countless, I can already tell that it’s going to play a big part in my life.

  The private lounge is a large red velvet room with a television, three white sofas surrounding a glass coffee table topped with a floral arrangement. Before sitting down, I watch where the boys will be sitting. I’ve talked with Jonah and Ryder seems to be the type to observe others instead of doing the talking. Wyatt’s currently trying to get as sober as he can.

  So my eyes turn gravitate towards Gavin Hughes. I haven’t had the chance to talk to him, sure, I’ve exchanged a few words with him. But I haven’t actually sat down and tried to get to know his intentions.

  It’s obvious that not all of them want to offer me a job and that they’re more attracted to me as a woman than me as a market analyst.

  Making my way towards the space next to Gavin, the other three watch me subtly, they try to make conversation with each other but I can sense that their eyes are looking my direction. When I reach Gavin, I take a seat next to him and plan out my words.

  “The event wasn’t as much of a waste of time as I thought it’d be.” His expression is that of someone who’s genuinely surprised, in a good way.

  “Was the food that good this year?” I joke.

  He chuckles and turns to me, “Aside from the food, there’s you.”

  It feels like the calm before the storm and I feel like the other three have held their breaths. I didn’t expect him to be so blunt.

  “Me? I was here last year too.” My phone vibrates in my bag and I ignore it. Whatever it is can’t be as important as whatever’s happening in this room.