Chapter 44
Troy
M y father’s boisterous presence was felt before he even stepped foot in my office. I wasn’t expecting him to come by, but I never was. He liked to show up unannounced, like he was trying to find me doing something or catch me off guard. Kathy’s forced laughs and clicks of her heels followed my father down the marble floors toward me.
I looked at Monica, who was already looking at me somewhat warily. I gave her a reassuring smile that it was probably nothing. She nodded and went back to typing on her computer, but I could tell her guard was up. Mine was, too.
A moment later, my father stepped into my office without a knock and with Kathy following in behind him. Just the sight of her annoyed me, with her pinched face from too many injections and her pursed lips. I didn’t know if she was just really committed to this job or if she had a thing for men twice her age. I was starting to suspect that something else was going on between them, and it pissed me off. My poor mother. I wondered if she knew.
“Hello, Dad, this is a surprise,” I greeted, standing from my desk and shaking his hand.
“Troy, my boy!” He smiled.
He was in a surprisingly good mood.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked, partly about his visit and partly about his mood.
“I’m geared up for tomorrow’s trip, of course! Aren’t you?”
“Uhh…”
I racked my brain, trying to figure out what he was talking about without him knowing I was clueless. When I checked my calendar this morning, I saw nothing about a trip, especially one for tomorrow. It was February, which was when we usually went on our company retreat, but I had heard nothing about it. I thought maybe he wasn’t doing it this year. I had hoped he wasn’t.
“The company retreat, of course!”
My heart sank.
“The one we do every year,” said my father, his smile faltering slightly with annoyance.
Why the hell wasn’t it on my calendar? This was something that was planned months in advance. There could only be one reason, and she was standing next to my father, expressionless.
“I asked Kathy to put it in your calendar.” My father looked at Kathy.
“I did.” She nodded assuredly.
I rounded my desk and looked at my calendar. Sure enough, there was a five-day block starting tomorrow that wasn’t there this morning. She must have added it within the hour, but why didn’t she tell me? And why did she wait until the last minute?
I almost chewed her out for it, but I knew it would be pointless. My father would side with her and blame me for not being responsible enough. I plastered on a tight-lipped smile and nodded at the glare of my computer screen and the new blue block of my calendar.
“Ah, yes. Of course. It’s right here,” I said, tapping the screen.
“I trust you got the itinerary?” my father asked.
I was sure it was fresh in my inbox, courtesy of Kathy. I swore she pulled things like this just to get under my skin and make me look bad in front of my father. But I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of seeing me sweat with that slight sneer on her face.
“Yes, of course.”
“Good. So, Atlantic City. Five days of meetings and a little debauchery.” His voice lowered on the last words of his sentence before he chuckled.
Atlantic City. We had never taken the company there, or had such a long retreat before. Our company retreats were really just days of endless conferences, followed by nights out at the best restaurants and high-class strip clubs. I was sure that sounded like a good time to some, and it used to be for me. But now, I was dreading it.
“Remember…” started my father. “No guests. No women in your rooms.”
“I know, Dad.”
“Good.” He nodded.
“Meet at the airport at noon tomorrow. It’s all on the—”
“Itinerary,” I finished his sentence. “I know. See you then.”
He and Kathy strode out of my office without greeting Monica, who was sitting just a few feet away. He could be such a pompous ass. I suddenly felt embarrassed by his rudeness. He was probably still licking his wounds from when they talked at the conference. He wasn’t used to a woman speaking her mind, especially when it came to the defense of his son.
Once I was sure he and his sidekick were gone, I called Monica into my office. She stood from her desk and walked over, looking delicious as ever in the same black pencil skirt I had helped her into this morning, and a white button-down. Her hair was wrapped up into a bun held by a pencil, probably still damp from our shower this morning. I drank her in like a warm cup of coffee.
“You needed me?” she asked.
“Always,” I answered.
She shook her head and bit back a smile. I tried to ignore the sensation in my groin as she sat down across from me.
“Sorry about my father,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Oh, it’s okay.” She shrugged.
“He can be such an ass…”
“What did he want?”
“To remind me of tomorrow’s company retreat…in Atlantic City.”
“Oh! I didn’t even see it on your calendar.”
“Neither did I, until just now. Kathy must have conveniently forgotten to mention it to me.”
“She does that, doesn’t she?” Monica rolled her eyes.
I laughed.
“How long will you be gone for?” she asked.
“Five days.”
I could see her smile falter a little.
“Oh, wow,” she said, looking down at her feet.
I could tell she wasn’t happy about it either. I realized we hadn’t been apart that long in months. Even when we weren’t together, we still saw each other at work. I was starting to dread getting on that plane tomorrow.
“You gonna miss me?” I asked with a sly smile.
She looked up and saw my face, shaking her head.
“You’re insufferable.” She laughed.
“Admit it.”
She sighed. “Yes, of course I am.”
“Then come over tonight. We can have a proper goodbye.”
“What did you have in mind?” she asked, her eyes narrowed, leaning in to where I could see the white lace of her bra just under the buttons of her shirt.
“Keep looking at me like that and I might give you a preview right now.”
The door was open to my office. Talking like this was dangerous ground, but I couldn’t help it. I was hungry for her. Practically insatiable. I didn’t know how I was going to make it five days without her.
“Down, boy,” she said, standing from her chair. “I’ll be there.”
She walked out of my office, taking her time as her hips slowly swished in that skirt that hugged her ass. She knew exactly what she was doing. I sat back in my seat and enjoyed the view.
After work, I headed home to pack for the retreat. Monica planned to come over for dinner later, one that I was not cooking. As I entered my building, I made sure to confirm with security that Veronica was banned from the premises. They assured me she was, and I felt better as I rode up the elevator to my place. I didn’t want any more unexpected surprises tonight, or ever. I knew I still had to talk to my mother about my boundaries, and how I didn’t want Veronica in our lives anymore.
I also knew I had to talk to my father eventually. The more time I spent running the hedge fund, even with Monica by my side, I realized how little interest I had in my job. I had little interest in anything my father ran, and I was tired of being micro-managed, knowing I would never live up to his expectations no matter the effort I put in. Which was probably why I hadn’t put much effort in during recent months.
I wanted to find something that I was interested in, passionate about. Monica helped me see that. Even though she had lost her way in writing, I knew she loved it. Missed it. I knew she would find her way back to it, especially now with Erica getting her a gig at the newspaper. I wanted to feel that same passion for my work. My own work. I didn’t want to be in my father’s shadow anymore.
It was going to piss him off. I knew that. More than it had when my sister chose to go her own way. My father always figured I, being his only son, would take over the company. It was never in the cards for my sister, so her choosing to be a journalist and not a corporate employee only ticked him off slightly. But me. It would be his demise. Probably mine, too.
It didn’t take long to pack. All I needed were a few suits and a few pairs of Oxfords. I wished I were packing for the Bahamas again. I fully intended on taking Monica back there. Without my sister of course. I wanted to take her a lot of places. It felt like we had all the time in the world. Or we would soon.
It came down to who was leaving first. Me or her. I knew she had sent her résumé to a few other executives in Manhattan. Some had even already called me to follow up. I hated the idea of her leaving, especially working for another man who would probably ogle over her. But I knew we couldn’t carry on the way we had been. I didn’t want to. I was tired of hiding, and it was getting more difficult to turn off my feelings in front of the others in the office, especially Kathy.
After I packed, I took a quick shower and changed into some black sweats and a crewneck. I liked being like this with Monica. Comfortable and simply me. Not the man in designer, custom-made suits. When she showed up an hour later in her own pair of sweats, I smiled and pulled her in to give her a kiss. She looked beautiful with her bare face and hair pulled into a messy bun high on her head.
“Looks like we were on the same wavelength,” she said as she looked me up and down.
“I like it.” I grabbed her hand and twirled her around so I could take her in.
Perfect. Just perfect. In suits. In sweats. In nothing.
She looked up at me for a moment, her brown eyes dark with something I couldn’t quite read. She wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me close to her. The warmth of her body eased all of my thoughts and to-dos with my family. It was just me and her. This could very well be all I needed.
“I’m going to miss you,” she whispered. It had been longing in her eyes.
“I’m going to miss you, too.” I kissed the top of her head.
We stayed like that for a moment before I bent down and scooped her up by the back of her knees. She let out a little scream as I tossed her over my shoulder.
“Troy! What are you doing?” She laughed as she gently swatted at my back.
“Making up for lost time now.”
I carried her down the hallway to my bedroom. We made up for all five days for the next several hours. It was so late by the time we finished that we were ravenous and our only option for food was pizza from the same spot as last night. I wasn’t complaining. The pizza tasted even better in bed.