Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Darcy
I needed a damn massage after dealing with Sebastian for the past two weeks, the man who was now known to everyone here as the devil. He didn’t merely come here to act like an asshole; it was clear that he arrived here with the deliberate intention to brutalize everyone’s lives.
Steph quit the day after she toured three wine estates with my dad, and I honestly wasn’t too sad about it because she needed to move on. I wasn’t big on judging people—except for Sebastian Aster, of course—but Stephanie Parsons was the kind of person who walked around begging for it because of her ridiculous actions. I mean, she would screw anyone with a pulse who walked into this place—her boyfriends, other people’s boyfriends, and a handful of heavily buzzed patrons of the winery. She was twenty-eight but acted like a horny teenager trying to bang her way out of a small town. It was beyond me why my dad had kept her on for so long—and no, it wasn’t because she was also banging him. Billy Burke just had a huge heart and loved helping people.
The disturbed look on Sebastian’s face when he mentioned her did make me laugh a bit, though. I could only imagine how she greeted him and what she was wearing when they met. Actually, I didn’t need to use too much imagination; the fact that Sebastian had shut the place down for two weeks of field trips and extensive training was proof enough that she was the straw that broke the camel’s back for him.
“You’re just leaving for the night?” my mom asked after telling her I was heading to Los Angeles. I needed to turn in the article I’d written last month on Maxwell Barbison, the elite billionaire who resided in Florida, where he owned a pristine resort.
“I’m not too sure,” I answered her honestly. “This place is under construction now, and it’s hard to get anything done with all of the contractors hammering and using table saws every five minutes.”
“I’m really sorry about this,” she said. I knew she meant it, but she also allowed herself to be at the mercy of Sebastian’s demands.
“I know you’re sorry, Mom,” I answered her after I took a bite of my bagel, “but I’m sorry for you and Dad.”
“How so?” she answered, oblivious that she’d altered much of her personality to meet Sebastian’s expectations.
“Mom,” I said with sympathy, “you’ve practically aged ten years by having him here. You are worried about everything now, and you’ve never worried about anything a day in your life. Until Sebastian showed up, I didn’t think you knew what anxiety felt like.”
“It’s just the pressure of having to do things to keep the business afloat. I didn’t know how bad things were until Sebastian dug into the depths of it. We were failing miserably, honey,” she said, swirling her tea bag around in circles while staring at the steaming hot lavender tea she was drinking.
“It was failing, I agree with that,” I reached over and ran a reassuring hand over her back, “but it wasn’t as bad as this man has made it out to be. You and Dad are extremely outgoing and very charitable people. All that kindness eventually sneaked up and bit you both and this winery in the ass?—”
“Yeah, I know.” She ran her hand over her forehead, showing the defeat and failure she was feeling inside.
“It’s not something to beat yourself up over, Mom. Don’t be ashamed that you lead from the heart. That is nothing to apologize for, and it doesn’t make you a failure. Maybe it doesn’t make you great businesspeople , though,” I smiled when her sad blue eyes met mine. “I’m just glad Sebastian could tell you what I’ve been saying for at least three years.”
“And that is?”
“That you’re going to lose it all if you keep giving it away and not looking to expand your marketing into other areas. That’s why I thought it was a great idea when Mr. Mitchell and the Aster Family were interested in investing in this estate.”
“Really?” she eyed me as if she’d caught me in a lie, sat up, and offered me her undivided attention. “Is that why you’ve met Sebastian with arguments every time I’ve seen you in conversation with him?”
“Okay, I said the help with marketing and expansion was a good thing. I never imagined they’d come into this place and remodel our residence. That’s where Mr. Aster and I have gotten off on the wrong foot,” I softly laughed.
She sighed and narrowed her eyes at me, “Is it just that?”
“What’s that look for?” I questioned, trying to follow her.
“I think this is some strange power exchange between a very attractive young man and my gorgeous, spirited daughter. I believe you’re attracted to him as well.”
My eyes widened in shock. “Oh, no, Mom. You’re going to have to stop with that,” I informed her. “The man might be devastatingly handsome, but he’s got the personality of a boar’s asshole. He and I are worlds apart in our views about everything, and I mean every damn thing, down to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You know me, and you imagining that I would dare to attract someone like that into my life is absolutely nuts.”
“You’re spirited,” she said with a smile, “but with a wild heart that cannot be tamed.”
“And you believe I would entertain a man like that, a man who has successfully broken my parents’ wild spirits with his incessant critiques? A man who, if I were foolish enough to be attracted to only looks and money, would succeed in breaking your daughter’s lively spirit as well?”
Unexpectedly, she smiled, “I see you’ve already given much thought about what it would be like to?—”
“No, I haven’t given it any thought at all. The only time I’m forced to think about anything like this with that wretched asshole is when you approach me like I’m an eighteen-year-old girl who is lusting after the wrong man. I’m almost thirty, and I’ve been through enough failed relationships to know a disaster waiting to happen.”
“Love happens when you least expect it, my darling,” she said, blasting me with her hippie vibes.
“Let’s stop talking about this,” I said, smiling but getting creeped out that my mom saw some love story potential between Sebastian and me.
“I’m only saying that I see a spark in both of you when you get going. It’s like you both love to hate each other,” she chuckled. “It’s kind of cute.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “I don’t actually hate the man. I just find him completely off-putting. He’s attractive, and I would be lying if I said otherwise, but like I said before, we are from two different worlds. We don’t see eye-to-eye, and we never will. I honestly don’t see myself unexpectedly falling in love with him, and I can guarantee you that it’s the furthest thing from his mind with me. So, get your hopes of that nonsense out of the clouds, and just be excited that I finished my assignment for Maxwell Barbison.”
“If that name is never mentioned in my presence again, it will be too soon,” Sebastian’s thunderous voice announced as he casually walked into the kitchen where Mom and I were.
He made his way over to the twelve-thousand-dollar espresso machine he had delivered last week. (Not a joke. Twelve thousand damn dollars for an espresso machine that, in my humble opinion, does the same thing a thirty-dollar one could do).
This was the first morning we’d had a run-in in over a week. I knew his morning routine and had learned how to avoid him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t walking in here at six-thirty in the morning, as usual, when I took my morning runs. Instead, he was here at seven-thirty, half an hour after his diabolical presence typically left the house and went to the tasting rooms to make the people still willing to work here miserable.
The fun fact that he hated the billionaire I’d just written an article about was no surprise to me. Sebastian didn’t seem the type to view anyone as a peer, let alone an equal. I could only imagine the petty jealousies that ran wild within those groups of one-percenters.
“May I ask how you know the man?” Sebastian asked after I remained quiet.
“No,” I answered him. “Perhaps I should ask you how you know him since you seem to have a harsh opinion.”
“My family has grown to loathe him in our circles in New York. He’s a flashy upstart who flaunts his money like he’s been given charge of the generational wealth he could never be so fortunate to inherit.”
“Well, shit,” I said with wide eyes, ignoring the fact that my mother was most likely doing some hippy bullshit in her head about how cute this love-to-hate exchange was going down. “Those really are some harsh opinions. Is that how people with old money view people with visions who become extremely successful after pursuing their dreams?”
“Anyone foolish and flashy with their money is someone I judge harshly. Mark my words: the man’s wealth and days of being an arrogant tycoon are numbered.”
“Oh? You are certain of that?”
He took a sip of espresso, his dark eyes matching mine in yet another stare down, “I am. I’ve seen men like him rise and fall more times than I can count. They have no idea what they’re doing, and it shows by how they flash their wealth. Money changes people into utter fools who spend beyond their means, thinking it will always be there. Once they lose their vision, blinded by their newfound fortune, it is only a matter of time before they are swallowed up in a life they could not have prepared for.”
“And how exactly are they swallowed up?” I questioned. Honestly, I agreed with what he said about the money running the show and people losing their way in life because of it.
“It usually starts with addictions of various kinds, substance abuse being the most prevalent. Although, if they have a penchant for gambling, you can all but guarantee that will be the root of their demise. They wind up in rehab centers, divorced, and in the end, all they’re left with is a failing business that is slipping away as quickly as it manifested.”
“He’s not married,” I said, challenging him.
“Not yet,” Sebastian arched a sexy eyebrow at me while taking another sip of his espresso. “He will be, though, and I would venture to guess he goes through five wives before he looks for a coping mechanism, all while his business falls and people like me come in and bail it out.”
“If I had to guess,” I said, knowing that Maxwell was an attractive young thirty-year-old man, “I’d say you are enemies with him because of an ex-girlfriend from…Cambridge?”
To my surprise, he grinned, “I attended Oxford; however, I am surprised that you know Mr. Barbison attended Cambridge.”
Shit. I did not need this man to know that I wrote the Billionaire Gossip column, not because I was still on the fence about doing an article on his bastard ass, but because I was smartly aware that he would be even more of a horrible dick to me for writing it. I was in no mood to be insulted by him, and the man seemed to survive these days by insulting everyone. I would not be the source of what gave him life in his dark world.
“Everyone knows that,” I said dismissively. “Google the guy, and you’ll get all the dirty details you want.” I sipped my now cold coffee, “But you didn’t answer my question. I think you dislike him because of an ex-girlfriend.”
“No, far from that,” he answered. “The man is just an idiot. I find it odd that you know anything about him.”
Keep turning this back to him, Darcy.
“I find it odd that you hate someone so much. You’re smiling at the thought of buying up his failing empire after his tenth wife divorces him, and he develops a heroin addiction that rehab can’t even help,” I said, prompting him to grin again.
Damn this asshole. His wolf grin was sexier than he was intolerable. I kept a straight face and severe expression, holding firm against the man’s stupidly good looks. I had to pat myself on the back for this later, though, because I hadn’t seen this daring smile before. It was a smile that made a girl want to…
Oh, no, you don’t, cupcake. No thinking about sex with this Ebeneezer Scrooge-ass son of a bitch.
“Not ten wives. My prediction was five,” he answered before finally looking over at my mom, who was silently watching us spar over a man I was sure had stolen Sebastian’s one true love. “Good morning, Martina,” he greeted her. “I trust William is excited about our journey to the fermentation tanks today?”
Mom chuckled while I studied him, trying to charm her for the first time since he arrived. “Anything that allows him to taste wine before nine in the morning will always excite him,” she laughed again.
Sebastian’s lips pursed in humor, “And thank God for that because it will be yet another long day. I went there last evening to find out the tanks must be updated. At least seven fail to ferment properly, costing this winery time and money.”
“He mentioned that last night after you returned here at midnight.”
“It was extremely late,” he answered while I looked at my mom in shock that Dad would ever work so late. “However, we got to the source of the problem. An element is going out, but it is good to know we can stop it. I’m excited that we will begin replacing them with more state-of-the-art machines and then move toward the other tanks that I’m sure are about to fail soon. They are as old as this place itself, and until we can get that area up to par, we may be outsourcing where the grapes are sent for fermentation until ours is up and running the way it should be.”
“Well, you two enjoy your morning,” I said, bored with the conversation. I was much more excited about meeting with Avery and Ashley Mitchell tonight. Ashley’s husband, Jake, was having a party on their yacht, and Avery had invited me last week when she called to chat. She asked me after I’d vented about what it was like to have Sebastian here with us for most of the call, so she probably felt sorry for me and thought I could use a break. I sure as hell wasn’t about to turn down a party on a fucking yacht with a bunch of cool billionaires, so I was ready to go.
“You’ll be back in a few days?” my mom asked with a smile.
“I should be, but if I’m not, don’t worry.” I looked at Sebastian’s curious expression, “I’ll be back before Sebastian makes plans to repave driveways and change anything else he thinks isn’t up to par.”
“I mean no offense by stating that the fermenting?—”
“No offense taken,” I flashed a fake smile. “It’s just that every time I’ve heard you in conversation with my parents, you’re telling them that something must be replaced. While I’m gone, I’m curious about what else you’ll find. Until then, have a good day, and I’ll see you all later.”
“Don’t mind her…” I heard my mom’s voice fade in the distance as I pranced out of the kitchen.
I was not about to continue with any more business talk. Sebastian was sure to find more issues with this place, and I wasn’t lying when I said he’d repave the driveways next because, my God, there were cracks in them, and we can’t have that!