5. Tristan
FIVE
TRISTAN
I clutched the glass between my fingers, then slid it in front of me as the two cubes of ice in the rum clinked. I could almost taste the dark brown liquid only by the smell of it, its sweet flavor sliding down my throat with a dry swallow.
A sip will be enough until I can go home and drink the whole bottle.
That’s a lie. All I needed to do was wet my lips with the liquid and I was going to walk out of here swaying from wall to wall, not able to stand on my own feet.
Being drunk at work was off-limits. When I started drinking, I promised myself I’d only do it at night, in the safety of my bedroom. It’s been six months and until now, I held onto that promise, so now wasn’t the time to break it.
My head dropped back on the edge of my chair and I took a deep breath, my hand still holding the rum glass.
When Haelyn Ross showed up this morning for an interview, my head ached as if a sword sliced through my brain. I was still recovering from last night after I fell asleep in the shower before I could even turn the water on. Every bone in my body hurt and it’s safe to say I wasn’t in the mood for the usual long interview.
Of course, I could’ve asked Sara, my assistant, or Hunter, from the recruiting department to take care of it for me, but that meant admitting I had a problem that was getting in the way of me being a functional boss.
So instead of sucking up my pride, I came to the office and dismissed the woman as if I was never interested. I wasn’t saying that normally I would’ve been a more pleasant presence because that would be a lie, but I would’ve asked some proper questions.
My phone vibrated on my desk and I straightened in my seat, finally letting go of the glass and giving the device all of my attention.
Kai
How’s Ryker holding up?
I clenched my jaw and started typing ‘I’m fine too, thanks for asking,’ but deleted it as fast as I wrote it. I didn’t blame my brother for not checking up on me, after all, I was a grown man and Ryker was just a boy who’s going through difficult times.
Yet I found myself wishing someone would take care of me as well.
Stupid.
Me
He’s fine.
Even if Ryker, my younger brother, turned into a rebellious kid, he’s a priority for me. Just because I became some sort of an alcoholic, that didn’t mean I wasn’t looking after him to make sure he wasn’t walking on the wrong path.
The only thing I wanted, even if it might be selfish, was to be a priority for someone else.
Me
How are you and Esmeray doing?
My brother and his wife, Esmeray, have been through a lot since the beginning of their relationship. She had a dark past, and it followed her until Kai ended up searching every corner of the world after Esmeray had been kidnapped. He was a mess back then, so I was glad they were safe now that the fucker is in prison.
Kai
We’re doing good. Esmeray has a tough time, but we’ve been through worse.
A knock distracted me from the conversation with my brother. I immediately took the rum glass and stuffed it in one of my drawers before talking.
“Come in,” I locked my phone, placing it on my desk.
Sara walked in and even though I’d caught a glimpse of her provocative outfit, I kept my eyes on the unsure expression on her face. She had worked for me for a couple of months already, right before I decided I won’t mix pleasure with work ever again.
To make it clearer, I had a reputation for sleeping with all of my assistants and now I was trying to put that behind me.
She’s good at her job, but the only reason I kept her after she tried several times to hit on me was because she knew how to read my mood as soon as she entered the room.
“Is now a good time, Mr. Graves?”
I relaxed in my chair, scraping away the instinct to say, ‘It’s never a good time’ and instead nodded my head.
Sara lifted the A4 envelope tucked between her arms with a low smile. “I have the papers ready to sign.” She puffed her chest out, pride gleaming in her eyes.
What could I say, the woman knew how to persuade people. Over time, she got me a few important contracts, but it’s nothing my previous assistants couldn’t do.
Her heels clacked on the floor as she approached me. She took the documents out and laid the papers in front of me, pointing at where my signature was needed. I opened the drawer to take a pen out and her eyes zeroed on my glass. I acted like I didn’t see it and slid the ink on the documents, which she gathered as soon as I was done.
“Next time, bring me a pen,” I murmured, disturbed that she saw something she shouldn’t have.
She nodded. “Noted.” Sara hugged the envelope as she stuffed the papers back and she lingered more than usual. I waited for her to speak. “What should we tell Haelyn Ross?”
I fought back an annoyed sigh.
At the interview, I didn’t get a chance to find out much about her and what she could do, but that was on me. After seeing her previous jobs, it didn’t take me long to understand what this post would mean for her.
I was this tempted to ask Sara to reschedule another interview, but I decided against it.
The woman didn’t do anything wrong.
“Offer her two weeks of paid trial employment. If she agrees, she can start on Monday,” I said, and Sara didn’t wait for further instructions. She left my office, closing the door after her.
As soon as she was gone, I took the glass from the drawer and dumped it into the trash, the liquid spilling all over the crushed papers inside.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Ryker, wanting to check up on him. When my eyes swept over to the clock, I almost hung up thinking he was supposed to be in class right now.
However, he picked up the call.
“Are you in class?” I asked, curious to see if he’d lie to me.
“No.”
I massaged the back of my head with my fingers. “Ryker, we talked about this. You can’t skip classes whenever you feel like it unless you want to be expelled.”
Ryker was silent on the phone, not uttering any word at my pleading. I didn’t know when he changed into the uncaring guy he was nowadays, but throwing his education away wasn’t going to make what happened disappear.
“Go back to class. Now,” I uttered, trying to imitate the voice Dad used to do on me. It always worked.
“Right.” He hung up as soon as the word passed his mouth.
Not on this guy it seems.