6. Gage
CHAPTER 6
Gage
B annon Overseas is now huge, a Fortune 500 company, and I’m proud of the fact that I’ve not only created and built such a big operation from the ground up on my own but also that, in doing so, I reestablished my family’s name. I’ve been able to give back to both my mom and my grandmother the lifestyle they were accustomed to before my father messed things up and to set up a trust fund for my little brother. It fucked with my head the day we had to dip into what was left of it —which wasn’t much since our father had found a way to funnel money out of it behind our backs the last year he was around– to help pay off the old man’s fuckups. It felt like we were stealing Parker’s future, but we had no choice.
There was no way I could raise all the needed money back then without putting all our savings on the line, including those in his name. So the day I put double the money that had originally been set aside in Parker’s name when he was a child by our grandfather into his new trust fund meant the world to me. It meant we were finally free from the stigma of it all, and the future was once again bright and promising for both of us.
Parker just turned twenty, and he’s a wizard when it comes to numbers and the stock market, just like Gramps. He’s in college now, doing us proud, and he’s been working summers for Bannon Overseas since he turned fifteen.
The little shit asked me if he could have twenty-five percent of his trust fund as play money, and when he came to see me in my office he had a whole video presentation to go with his request for me to watch, alongside spreadsheets and all the research he had done on the subject.
I gave him what he asked out of my own pocket without telling him, and he was able to quintuple the invested amount in a three-month period.
Now he has an account set up just for the purpose of playing the market and making real estate investments –that's another of his pet projects– and he's on his way to being worth one million dollars already and in the past two years, he's also been a great help with managing my investment portfolio. I've got great plans for his ass, and I've already decided he'll start acting as CFO of Bannon Overseas as soon as he's done with his post-graduate masters. I don't see why he wouldn’t be able to become an equal partner in the new family business by the time he turns thirty. Unless he wants to go his own way, in which case I would support him one hundred percent.
I finish dressing up and fix the knot of my tie in front of the mirror, frowning at my beard that could definitely use a trimming.
I’ll get to it tomorrow. Looking well-coiffed and put together has been the last thing on my mind for the last couple of days since just trying to walk around looking half-alive has been challenging enough on its own.
But I’m the boss, and I’ve got to look the part. The beard itself and all the ink I’ve got covering my body don’t help much when I’m in a boardroom and trying to look polished, so adding a scruffy mountain-man aura to my looks has only made things worse since my new execs don’t know me well enough yet and are already terrified enough of my two-hundred pounds per 6’4’’ menacing ass. I’m thinking that the fact that, when I went in, I traded my running attire or my usual uniform of jeans, flannel, and boots for a bespoke suit, starched shirt, and Gucci loafers combo with the inescapable blue power-tie in place, was not enough on its own to push the needle and make me go from scary badass to proper CEO in their eyes, considering they all looked like they were about to run scared from the conference room, so I got to give it another try.
I drop a quick glance at the smartwatch on my wrist and leave the bedroom in a hurry. My mind wandered, and now I don’t even have time to brew a cup of coffee for myself.
Marcus should be already downstairs, and if I don't get a move on things, I'll be late for the meeting with the working crew. From there, the lateness will snowball, and I'll mess up my entire schedule for the day.
I grab my briefcase off the sofa and head out the door and into the nearest elevator, my mind entirely focused on all the items on my list as I quickly go through the names of all the people I am supposed to meet today and the agenda behind each meeting.
I barely wait for the lift doors to swoosh open and rush through the hall, answering the receptionist's 'Good morning, sir' with a nod.
I leave the building and his AC behind, and for a moment, the heat slams into me like a physical thing, making my mouth dry up. This is definitely not the type of climate that goes hand in hand with suits and ties. I'm boiling in my clothes, and the air around me feels heavier. It's like, all of a sudden, I can feel the force of gravity trying to knock me down while all my muscles turn into liquid lead.
Whoa. How do people manage to live in this heat day in and day out?
Seattle's summers are far more pleasant than elsewhere in the United States as it is, but compared to the mild June weather there, this feels like the seventh circle of hell.
Even breathing is troublesome. In fact, I feel more winded standing here looking for Marcus —who most likely got stuck in traffic since I can’t see my town car anywhere— than I did yesterday and again this morning when I went for a run. And it’s not like it wasn’t hot even at six a.m. The temp was around 86 degrees, but there wasn’t this much sun, I guess. A quick look at my smartwatch tells me that temp is sitting just above 104 F right now. No wonder I can barely function!
I’m about to send a voice message to my PA to get his ETA, when I freeze with my wrist half across my face as I catch a glimpse of something —or rather, someone – that makes the heat that up until about thirty seconds ago I couldn’t bear feel like a winter day in Alaska in comparison to the fire that’s making its way through my chest now.
One look at the curvy little doll crossing the street, and all my systems get fucked up. I'm instantly struck by her, so much so that I can't form a single coherent thought as my heart takes flight in my chest and my cock straightens up to pay homage to her beauty faster than it has ever managed in the past in the presence of someone it… approved of.
All my senses are on high alert, and there's this strange awareness coating my very being. I feel all the hairs on my arms, and on the nape of my neck stand as a shiver runs through me.
What the fuck?
I’ve never experienced something like this in my life!
Everything around me just falls away like leaves coming off a tree in the fall and scattering in an invisible wind. There are no longer noises around me, nor can I see other people.
I can only see her as if all the light around us has been sucked by her form.
I stare, bewildered, as she goes by, looking like a dream in slow motion.
She’s so beautiful and tiny that for a moment, I feel like maybe I’m imagining her, like she’s an illusion brought on from standing in the sun too long.
I can’t tell her age for sure. She has a very young, fresh face, but at the very least, I know she’s not a kid; no way she’s not at least in her twenties with a rack like that and such a fierce air about her. And thank God for that!
She can’t be taller than 5’3’’, and she has this China-doll-like face, the skin so fair it’s translucent. A mass of luscious straight white-blonde hair with the ends dyed light purple falls over her back, catching the sun. Her full, plump lips are painted a shiny coral pink, and while she turns this way and that, as if looking for something, I'm bewitched by her big gray eyes glinting behind oversized, rimless, round glasses. She's carrying a heavy-looking blue messenger bag that looks almost as big as she is and has a glittery purple heart stenciled over it.
She’s wearing white linen shorts that cut off just above her knee, beige gladiator sandals, and a sleeveless sand-colored shirt. The ensemble hugs her plentiful curves in all the right places. I'm practically devouring her with my eyes, and everything in me is responding to her in a way I've never known was possible. Is this what they mean when they talk about chemistry or… or is this something else?
Something more ?
I feel such a pull toward her that attraction alone could not justify it. It feels a little bit like I know her or something. There’s this strange agitation in my body and under it a sense of relief, like I just found something that belongs to me that I didn’t know I had lost, something I didn’t know I needed, something I didn’t even know I was searching for.
I’m standing to the side out of sight, so she hasn’t seen me yet. Not to be cocky or anything, but I’m sure that as soon as she looks my way, she’ll feel the same pull I’m feeling, though I can’t explain where this certainty is coming from.
I got to talk to her!
I have no idea what I’m going to say since my brain is fried at this point, but the one thing I know is that I can’t just let her walk away and out of my life like this.
I start moving toward her when I see a black Ford SUV stop before her.
I scramble to reach her, but she gets on it and is gone before I can reach the sidewalk.
My heart feels like someone wrenched a vital part of it out of my chest, and I nearly stumble on my feet.
I quickly scan the license plate and memorize it, but I already know that getting the name of the driver won’t be of much help as I can see a couple of UBER stickers on the SUV bumper. Plus, incredibly enough for this town, there’s no traffic in sight so the car just zooms out of here!
Crap.
Just then, I feel someone touch my shoulder and nearly jump out of my skin as I turn around.
“Boss, what’s wrong with you?” my PA asks.
Shit, I’m so much out of it I didn’t even see him park, let alone walk my way!
“Get your phone, Marcus.”
I wait for him to do that and then give him the Uber driver's license plate.
He makes a note of it, looking quizzically at me, and I give him my patented I’-m-not-fucking-around-look , so he immediately drops it.
I take a deep breath, trying to unlock my body from the sudden tension that's keeping me rooted to the spot.
"There was a woman here just a few minutes ago. Impossible to miss. I'll give you a full description in a bit. I don't know which direction she came from, but she briefly stopped in view of The étoile, so I'm sure there's footage. She drove away in an Uber with the license plate I gave you. I want you to get in touch with Anthony and get him on this pronto. I want a clear picture of her and a name ASAP. Don't get back to me until you get her tracked down."
“Yes, sir.”
I walk toward the parked Lexus just behind us and snap my fingers his way. “Keys. I’ll drive. You sit in the back and get Anthony on the phone.”
He looks even more curious now but does as I say.
We get in the car, and just as I’m about to peel it from the sidewalk, he stops me with his voice.
“Gage? Just a question. What did she do? This woman? Mugged you or something?”
The situation is so ridiculous I have to laugh. “Not quite, Marcus.”
But maybe that's precisely what she did. Only, she didn't steal my phone or my wallet. She went after my heart.