31. Got It Bad
GOT IT BAD
“ W hat’s going on?” Foster asked him hours later.
The flight had been loud but not horribly.
Phoebe met all the family on the jet and was able to talk with them well. Not that he expected any differently.
Nor the fact that his mother had warned everyone he was bringing his girlfriend with him.
They landed at JFK, got into one of the several cars that West had set up for the family, and arrived at their hotel in Manhattan.
Foster and Charlotte had come into the city earlier than he expected. Mainly because he’d texted his brother they had to meet.
“I didn’t want to tell you too much via text and couldn’t talk. Did you look over the camera footage?”
Foster moved his laptop over for Elias to see it. “I don’t see much,” Foster said. “But again, you’re not telling me what to look for. It’s just staff moving around and working.”
He scrolled in closer, but the cameras weren’t aimed at the gauge or the container they were doing the mash in, nor the vat that had a leak.
“I figured as much,” he said. He explained what happened today along with the other problems.
“Everything broken up wouldn’t alert me to anything,” Foster said. “But when you put it together and the timing, I don’t like it either. Have you talked to West?”
“I’d rather not,” he said.
“Why?” Foster asked.
He lifted his eyebrow. “You know why. This is my thing. He gave me the seed money and that was it. I appreciate it, but it’s mine. I don’t need anyone to think I can’t handle it. Do you run to West every time you’ve got issues?”
“No,” Foster said. “Never.”
“Exactly. This isn’t anything that I can’t handle. Phoebe told me how Fierce does things. It never occurred to me to do it. Not sure if it’s something you can.”
“Tell me what they do or do you have to check in with Mason?”
“I will talk to Mason if I have to, but I’ll let you know what she told me via Ben.”
Thankfully Charlotte and Phoebe had gone shopping, so he had time to tell his brother everything.
“I like what they do,” Foster said. “But not sure who we use can do it.”
“I was thinking of talking to Travis, but that most likely would mean a whole new system and cost,” he said.
He’d pay it once the numbers were run. West didn’t need to know everything.
“That might be the way to go,” Foster said. “We can loop it into our system. I’m sure you’d want it no other way.”
“I’m positive it’s set up to be that way and not something that Travis monitors, but I could be wrong.”
“Let me know what you find out,” Foster said. “Until then, what are you going to do?”
“I’ve got a couple of days to think about it. Everything is under control there now. Nothing is going to affect the collaboration beer.”
“Which was smart of you to do it the way you are,” Foster said.
“Phoebe got me thinking. Guess her grandfather was a real dick. Mom would have loved to have had some words with him,” he said, laughing. “But one thing he always did was set people up. Like he was trying to catch them in lies. To set traps.”
“Seriously?” Foster asked. “Who the hell can live looking over their shoulder like that all the time?”
“That is what she said. She’s the one who suggested this. I’m glad she did.”
“Me too,” Foster said. “But just not so glad that it came to her so quickly.”
He frowned. “Why is that?”
“Do you think she’s playing you?”
He felt his face fill with heat. “No,” he said firmly. “Never.”
Foster leaned back and laughed. “Normally I’m the one that blows up like that, not you. Damn. You’ve got it bad.”
“It seems it, doesn’t it?” he asked.
“Have you told her?” Foster asked.
“It’s not that easy,” he said.
“I know that,” Foster said. “And you all know I learned the hard way. Take it from me, don’t wait to say something.”
“No one wants to be shot down,” he said.
“Do you think she doesn’t feel the same way?” Foster asked. “She’s here with you after two months. She survived Mom dropping in on your Valentine's Day together and even went back for another meal with her.”
He laughed. “Good point.”
“Do you think she doesn’t love you?” Foster asked. “Because if you look at her, you can see what she’s feeling.”
“What are you doing looking at my girlfriend that closely?” he asked, giving his brother a playful shove.
“Trying to see what you’re too blind to,” Foster said, smirking. “I found it. Why can’t you?”
“Maybe because I am blind,” he said.
Which Elias tried to remember when they were getting dressed for dinner at five. West had drivers picking everyone up again to bring them to a location for a private dinner secured in a back room.
It was easy in a city like this to move around and not be seen.
“I know you’re used to living in Charlotte. You’re probably more at ease here than Southern Pines,” he said.
Phoebe turned after she stepped into her black dress. “Can you zip me please?”
He pulled the zipper up on the dress that fit her as if she was the model for the designer.
It was sleeveless with a thick white band under her breasts to her waist showing how tiny she was.
The dress stopped at her knees and she slipped her feet into a pair of black sexy pumps. All he could think of was getting this outfit off of her.
“You look stunning,” he said. “But you didn’t answer my question.”
“Don’t pick on me about avoiding. I just needed you to zip me,” she said. “And look at you. No jeans.”
“I don’t need my mother to ream my ass, but I’m not putting a suit on two days in a row.”
Not that this called for one.
He had on blue tailored pants, and a cream shirt with faint blue stripes in it tucked in. No belt, as it was not something he liked wearing.
Definitely not a tie!
“This is much sexier than a suit in my eyes,” she said.
He sat on the bed and put his brown shoes on. More like sneakers in his mind. The only way to get shoes on his feet.
“Then we can be sexy together,” he said, “because that dress is by far much better than any work wear you’ve got.”
“Lawyers are boring in their attire most times,” she said.
“Especially in the courtroom. At least I am. I don’t want the jury focusing on me the wrong way.
And before you complain again about me redirecting your question, New York City is still much livelier than Charlotte, but I felt somewhat comfortable here. ”
“Somewhat?” she asked.
“More than Southern Pines for the fact when I was walking around no one stopped to talk to us. No one knew who we were. I’m sure West doesn’t have that luxury.”
“He has it more than you realize. Jamie is more recognized than us all and Laken had to get used to it.”
“Like me getting used to Southern Pines. I will admit I miss the quiet there. I hadn’t realized it until we were walking around. In Charlotte, the noise and action were just background to everything else going on in my life. But the quiet in Southern Pines has you focusing more on the real things.”
He thought about what Foster had said to him earlier. “Real things like what?” he asked pulling her close. “Like us?”
“Most definitely us,” she said. “Maybe not having the noise is what makes it so hard to filter out what is going on. At least for me.”
Which made a lot of sense.
More so when he realized it was as if that revelation just dawned on her.
“I’m used to filtering out the important things to see them better,” he said softly, his hand sliding down the side of her face.
She leaned into his palm.
“I’m glad one of us is. Maybe I can learn from you.”
He opened his mouth to confess his love for her, but Foster was knocking at the door telling him that West’s car just arrived.
Maybe it was for the best that he didn’t get to say it.