Patrick
I should have said no when Charles called, and I should have known exactly what Jon’s reaction was going to be when I talked to Lydia. I don’t know why I said yes but as I approached the office, I knew it was something I wanted to do. Jon’s voice echoed in my head while I pulled up to the curb and got out, pausing to look up at the building.
Jon stood in front of my desk; hands braced on the lacquered wood. “Don’t you want to make something of yourself instead of just following in their footsteps?” he demanded. “Come on, Patrick, I know you don’t want to be a paper-pusher – you’ve got so many better options.”
I looked down at my new Rolex. Vintage, my third or fourth now and the first thing I bought with my trust fund. “I don’t even know if mum would go for it,” I replied finally.
“I can talk to Lucy; you know how much she likes me.”
I sighed and slouched back in my executive chair. “And where would we even go? Buildings back in New York aren’t easy to find for the type of office you want, and you haven’t even told me what position I’d have.”
“Chief financial officer. You’d be in charge of managing the assets instead of just being a figure head. All I need is your name, a check, and I can get us an office space by Monday.” He held out his hand and smiled at me, his glacial eyes were unnerving. “What do you say, Pat?”
I couldn’t believe it had been nearly fifteen years; the glass and steel building looked just as new and shiny now as it did then. I half-owned a company before I was even a practicing lawyer in New York, I’d lost it before I turned forty, and now I was about to walk through the lobby again for god only knew what reason.
Jogging to the steps, I pushed my sunglasses up and reached for the handle. The mirrored door swung open and a blast from the heater greeted me. I stood just inside the doorway, watching the receptionist at the circular desk and listening to the people talking. It was hard to believe that until about two weeks ago I was barred from even entering the building.
I assessed the people walking around and slipped my sunglasses into my jacket pocket as I approached the desk. “Hey, Jessa,” I greeted casually. “Am I allowed to just go on up or should I wait for Charles down here?”
She hit a button on her phone and I heard her headset beep. “You can go on up, Mr. Rosing, Charles and Ms. Bower are waiting for.”
Ms. Bower. Christine? What was she doing here? I thanked Jessa and continued on to the elevator. One younger man looked at me, paled and immediately stepped back, leaving me alone in the small lift. I smirked to myself and tipped my head back, looking up at the mirrored ceiling in amusement. I’d forgotten how good it felt to be powerful, to watch other people go out of their way to do things for me. I knew it made me sound like a prick, but everyone liked that feeling once in a while and I wasn’t an exception.
The elevator climbed to the top floor and felt like I was stepping back in time when I crossed the threshold to the foyer. Jon’s floor was special; the elevator opened up to several conference rooms and down the hallway there was a large, glassed in area – Lydia’s old office, it served as a second reception area. The glass was frosted, and I restrained myself from touching it reverently, thinking about how it felt to see her sitting behind the desk with her face contorted into a mask of ecstasy from the vibrators we made her use.
There was no one sitting in her black leather chair now, no cute bubbly blonde to jump up in her too-short skirt and offer to get me coffee while I waited. It was always going to be my fault that we had been outed; I knew when I took her on our first date that I should have stopped her from telling whoever she wanted, but I didn’t because it felt good – like waving a big flag that said ‘she chose me!’ embroidered on it in big red letters. We moved so fast…
Three weeks fucking around had me chasing after her like a lovesick boy, it sent our relationship into overdrive, we became a couple on our first date, we said the big three words the next day… I pushed her into saying it too soon. There were things we couldn’t take back, and I knew then that Lydia saying ‘I love you’ was more to do with her emotional distress, with her dependence on me, and it hurt so badly when she could only say later that she was infatuated. But she loves me now, and that’s what matters. We could slow down now; take our time with the wedding, with building a family, that would be good for us.
I ran my hand over the glass surface of her desk, remembering the way she would trap her tongue between her teeth as she typed and watching her tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. There were so many women that had worked for Jon, so many of them that flirted shamelessly with either of us, but there had always been something different about the way Lydia did it that caught my attention.
“Patrick, it’s good to see you here again.”
I turned on my heel and came face to face with Christine, she wore a tight black dress that had long sleeves and a high neckline that came up just under her chin, knee height boots, and a long silver chain with a heavy pendent on the end. It didn’t matter what she wore, her figure always made it look more risqué than it actually was.
“I don’t think she’s pretty,” Lydia said with a shrug. “But she’s…something.”
I didn’t know if I agreed with Lydia’s assessment that Christine wasn’t pretty, but she was certainly something else. Intimidating definitely, but jaw-dropping worked as well.
“Chris, it’s good to see you. How was California?” I asked, striving to sound casual.
“Mm, would have been better if I wasn’t coming back to get divorced.” She smiled and it made my stomach turn. “How have you been enjoying your time off? I heard you met your father.”
How…? “Yeah, I met Aleksy a few weeks ago, Jon came with me, I’m sure you knew that though.” Fuck, that was probably who told her.
“I did, I also heard that she went with you…”
I smirked and leaned back against the desk. “You know, you could be more subtle about not liking my fiancée. It’s not like she’s done anything to you.”
Her eyes widened fractionally. “Fiancée?”
I nodded. “As of a week ago now, I’m surprised Jon didn’t tell you.” Well, not that surprised, I guess.
“Jon and I haven’t spoken since the judgement. What happened between them?”
There was a sort of urgency in her voice, a tone I’d never heard from her before. “Nothing,” I lied smoothly. “Lydia and I are getting married, that’s the end of it.” Jon was willing to take a private role in our relationship, and I figured that if anything it would only benefit him to not tell Christine that Lydia was with both him and I.
Her perfectly manicured eyebrows rose. “Nothing happened between them?”
“Not that I know of,” I replied, trying to seem offended. It would be easier if Christine thought Jon wasn’t involved with Lydia for now – it kept her from trying to meddle in our affairs.
She pursed her lips and nodded slowly, still regarding me shrewdly. A moment later, and the double doors to Jon’s office opened. I stepped back, letting several people leave before I followed in behind Christine.
The office was exactly the same; a small black loveseat was situated next to the doors, facing Jon’s desk, the left side of the room had another couch with two additional chairs along with a glass and oak coffee table between them. The entire back wall was floor to ceiling windows that wrapped most of the way down the right side as well. Meanwhile, Jon’s desk sat a bit off to the side, close to the back, with two large swivel chairs.
The desk and the bar had been outfitted with toys when he still worked here, because at the time we had girls visit us at the office. Jon more so than me since I preferred going to D.C. for a weekend instead of having them on my lunchbreaks. Though, I knew the girls that came to see him were here for a lot more than just a lunchbreak quickie.
Instead of seeing Jon slouched at the desk with a cigarette in hand and Lydia with his cock in her mouth, Charles sat behind the desk. He leaned forward against the desk, one hand in his hair and a stack of files beside him. His white-blond hair was looking more silver lately, he had already not been in the best shape and I could see now that he was even less so. It must be stressful, I hope he’s okay…
He glanced up and smiled broadly at as. “Patrick, how have you been? I saw the post online, congratulations.”
I beamed and dropped down into the seat across from him. “Thanks, been on cloud nine lately, especially after that. We’re hoping for something in the spring, but nothing’s set in stone.”
He chuckled. “Oh god, I remember what that was like. You couldn’t pay me to go through that again, I just hope you and Lydia have fun with it at least.” He shook his head, a lost look on his face that told me he was remembering what it was like. “Anyway, Christine, did you have any trouble finding Morgan?”
“He’ll be up in a moment,” she promised, crossing her legs. “Do you want something to drink, Patrick? Jon left the bar fully stocked.”
“No thank you,” I answered curtly. Morgan. Why was he joining us? What the fuck could he be bringing to the table. More than me, since he still has a job, a snide little voice in my head pointed out.
“Well, I want one,” Charles said, pushing himself up. “Christine?”
“Yes, just bring me a glass of whatever you’re having, thank you.”
I pretended to be fiddling with my suit jacket for a moment, fussing with the buttons as I mulled over what the hell was going on. Why was Charles acting so cavalier and was Christine completely unphased? The two of them made small talk that I just nodded along to, laughing and agreeing when it seemed fit but not really interacting. My hackles were up, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be here anymore.
I hadn’t spoken to Morgan since he told me he was working with the board of directors and they wanted to ship me off. He’d worked extensively with a man named Jared, a slimy asshole that Lydia charmingly referred to as Nameless Douche Bag. He was the companies go to man for digging up information and had ties to several large conglomerates that helped seal deals for Bower & Rosing’s. Lydia didn’t know the extent of his involvement with us, and she certainly hadn’t known Morgan’s – it was above her paygrade at the time. I regretted letting Morgan touch her, I regretted sharing her at such a vulnerable time with the lowlife, but I trusted that he was on my side at the time. Now I knew better.
It felt like an eternity passed before the door opened again and Morgan strode in confidently. He looked the same; still the blond haired, blue eyed model type. His hair was shorter now, I noticed, but that was all that had changed.
He grinned at me and held out his hand. Pettiness won over professionalism and I kept my hands on the armrests, staring him down as he pulled up another chair.
“Oh, come now, Pat, don’t be so hostile,” he said as he leaned back. “It was better for everyone; you could have gotten us in a lot more hot water if I hadn’t tried to help.”
“What the fuck is this?” I demanded, turning my attention to Charles. “What games are you three playing that you needed me to join in too?” I made to stand up and Christine grabbed my arm.
“Patrick,” she said soothingly. “Sit. We just want to talk; Morgan will be on his best behaviour.” She cut him a sharp look and he sighed before agreeing.
“There’s nothing to talk about here that couldn’t be discussed over the phone.”
She laughed. “Please, this is private, you know as well as us that a conversation over the phone could be heard or recorded by anyone. Everything in this room is confidential.”
“Speaking of confidential…” Charles trailed off and rifled through the papers before pulling one out with a little ‘ah ha’. “Here we go, look this over and I have a pen if you need it.”
He slid the paper across the desk, and I regarded it impassively. A non-disclosure agreement. I wasn’t allowed to mention any of the ‘theoretical’ conversations that went on between the three of us in this building. The final clause stated that the NDA was void if or when I signed the final documentation, but it didn’t explicitly say what that documentation was.
I waved my hand dismissively. “What is this for?”
“Sign the papers and we’ll talk more about it,” Christine instructed.
Whatever. I would tell Lydia anyway, I wasn’t making that mistake a second time, and I knew she wasn’t going to go blabbing about it to people. I took the heavy black fountain pen out of my pocket and quickly scribbled my name. The signature stood out like a beacon on the page and I watched wearily as Charles tucked it back into a blue folio.
“How have you taken retirement?” he asked suddenly, lacing his fingers together as he leaned back in his chair.
I shrugged. “My dad died, I’ve been blacklisted across the country and the entire business world was speculating on my sex life three months ago. So, let’s go with mediocre.”
“Nora died?” Christine demanded, her hand over her heart.
I scoffed and cut her a sharp look. “No, Christine, and talk about fucking rude, she’s my mother. My father, Aleksy, died.”
She sputtered and Morgan laid a hand on her knee before he spoke, “Look, we know it’s been difficult and that’s why we wanted to meet you.”
“The company is doing a large amount of restructuring,” Charles interjected. “We’ve watched this blow over and it amounted to nothing really in the end, but Norm Bower has agreed to lift your blacklisted status if you decide to come back and work with us again.”
“As the new CEO,” Morgan finished.
My jaw dropped and I looked between the three of them, trying to figure out where the fuck this was coming from. “You wanted me out,” I said incredulously.
“You were fraternizing with underlings, it jeopardized the company,” Charles replied.
“You fucking outed me and everything I had done, things the company already knew about and supported.”
“They were wrong to do that to you,” Christine said finally. “We want to make things right; we have the opportunity to do that now.”
No! “You outed my goddamn relationship, and you got a two-for-one deal on it by getting Jon out too, there is not a single universe where the board would want me and that type of story surround me back in this office. None.”
“Papa thought about things, he decided it was only fair to bring someone with so much experience back, especially since your name is part of the company. You know that he has that kind of pull.”
He had that kind of pull because he had money, because he was Christine’s father and had given Jon this position as well. Norm could sway the votes however he wanted. Jon had used his power for good; he turned Bower & Sons into a multi-billion-dollar company, he helped me find myself instead of being lost in the rubble of my own family’s legacy. I couldn’t do that to him…
“You’ve always been ambitious, Pat. Now it’s your turn to make the company thrive, I know this is the right choice,” Christine continued, reaching out to touch my arm.
I glanced up at her, at the unwavering confidence in her eyes and slowly looked to the other men; they smiled at me, ready to take me on if I wanted. I could be the boss, I could provide for all of us, I could have a purpose to my day again if I wanted. All I had to do was betray the two people that were waiting for me at home.