CHAPTER FIVE
NATHAN
It’s funny, the woman standing across from me right now, is a woman I’ve thought about a lot over the past year. Although maybe thought about is too strong? She’s crossed my mind a few times would more accurate. I haven’t spent a year obsessing over her. But I have thought about her face,
But her face is a face a person remembers. The kind that sticks with you. Her big brown eyes, her arched brows, smooth tawny skin. There’s no doubt that she’s a stunning woman. My eyes trail down to her body for a second, taking in the way the white dress she’s wearing clings to her soft curves. Her hair is in a long ponytail that swings behind her with every movement.
She’s shorter than before, wearing sandals today instead of those heels from the wedding.
She holds my gaze, deep brown eyes staring straight at me. Or should I say glaring? She’s pissed. Understandable. Our first encounter wasn’t exactly pleasant. It also probably wasn’t my finest moment.
“Nika’s what’s going on?” Carson questions.
Her brother’s visibly confused, his gaze swinging from me to his sister. I stay quiet because I’ve really got nothing to say. It’s not like I’m going to tell the guy I called his sister pathetic over a year ago at their other sister’s wedding. In the year since that meeting, I’ve learned a lot about the Camerons.
Especially Anika.
“Nothing, Carson,” she replies. “I was just in shock that’s all.”
“Shock? Have you met him before? Why were you in shock to see him?”
“Because he has a very punchable face,” she mutters.
Her brother’s eyes widen. I smirk imperceptibly.
“Carson, I’m going to leave okay?” she says, gaze shifting to her brothers, although the tension in her body remains. She walks rigidly towards him to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later, bye.”
She’s out the door before Carson can speak again, brushing past me with a glare that amuses me. Her soft scent lingers in the room. Lilies.
An intoxicating and annoying package rolled into one.
“Well, that was weird,” Carson says once his sister’s gone.
Not really.
“I came in here to tell you I already sent over the initial draft for the opening to your email. Check it out and get back to me,” I inform him.
He blinks, “You’re not going to comment on that? How do you know my sister, man?”
“I don’t know her,” I reply easily.
“I don’t believe you. Her reaction says otherwise. She seemed pissed. Did you do something to her?”
Carson Cameron might act like a goofball half the time, but he’s more perceptive than I give him credit for. He’s also incredibly smart and a hard worker. I did my research on him before agreeing to work on this project. I know he’s the best possible person I could have chosen as my business partner.
“I did nothing to your sister. Cameron. Can we stay on topic here?”
His eyes narrow, “Listen, I didn’t think we’d have any reason to have this conversation. But it seems I was wrong. My sister’s off limits. Stay away from her.”
“I think she can speak for herself, don’t you? She’s not a child.”
That only serves to grate on his nerves, “You and I have got a pretty nice business relationship going on here. Don’t ruin it.”
“I could say the same to you. The tough overprotective brother act isn’t going to fly with me. You can’t intimidate me, Cameron so don’t even try. I haven’t done anything with your sister and I have no plans to. Are we clear?”
He stares at me for a beat before muttering something indiscernible under his breath.
“Fine. How long is this document you sent me?” he questions, walking over to the laptop on his desk.
He takes a seat, turning on the device in the process.
“About 50 pages,” I reply.
Carson’s eyes bulge, “Fifty pages? What the hell, dude? I thought you said it was a draft.”
I frown, “It is a draft. This community center’s multifaceted. The opening will be a week filled with different events. There’ll be performances from artists, workshops during the day. Evenings filled with theatrical performances, musicals, plays. We could invite some local bands and artists who would be interested in showcasing their work. Perhaps there’ll be a gala or some sort. I’m still not sure on that,” I mutter. Parties aren’t my thing, a gala would mean I’d have to be the center of attention and I’m not sure I’m down for that.
“Anyway, there’ll be invitations sent to influential people who’d have an interest in any of the events and what the center will stand for. Board members at Wolfe Wealth Group will want to be involved. I imagine an event like this will draw in a lot of people. Then there’s of course, the art exhibition.”
“I don’t see anything about the art exhibition on here,” Carson notes, eyes peering at the screen as he scrolls through the files.
“Yes, I’ll be handling that unilaterally.”
He looks a little hesitant, “No offense man and trust me, and this isn’t me trying to argue about you doing this on your own. I’ve already got enough on my plate. But do you even know anything about art?
My jaw tightens, “I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”
“Okay,” Carson shrugs. “I guess we have to get cracking then. Figure out a timeline for when we want this place to open. I spoke to the head worker earlier and he said they’re looking to be done with everything in about two months.”
“Tell him they need to finish in one.”
“What?” Carson asks, staring at me like I’m crazy.
“You heard me, Cameron. I’m only going to be here in Edenton for three months. This place needs to open by then.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s not enough time. There’s still like a million things we’d need to do once constructions over. We need to do a lot to put this place in order. Interior designing, installing the necessary effects, final inspections and then we’ll have to work on organizing the grand opening which will apparently last a week,” he says gesturing at the laptop. “There’s not enough time.”
“There will be,” I say confidently. “I’ll hire a team of people to help with each event. Contrary to what you may believe, Cameron, you don’t have to do everything yourself. You’re working yourself to the ground trying to be here for every step of the construction process when you could have simply hired someone to oversee it for you.”
“I prefer a hands on approach,” he replies dryly.
“Whatever works for you. Just look over the draft and get back to me on what you think. Talk to the construction workers, see if we’ll need to hire more people in order to get this done as quickly as possible. One month to finish construction, another month to get the center in order, another month to plan the grand opening. It’s perfectly doable.”
“Must be nice to have unlimited money to throw about and get shit done,” Carson mutters.
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing, man,” he says rubbing a hand over his face. “I understand what you said and I’m on it.”
“Alright then. I’ll let you get to it. Call me if there’s any problems here.”
I exit the makeshift office without another word, navigating my way through the bustle of the construction going on until I get to my car. Josh’s inside, waiting for me.
“Hey boss. How’d did it go?” he questions as I get in the backseat.
“Eventful,” I reply in a low tone, crossing my arms over my chest and shutting my eyes.
The image of Anika Cameron’s shocked face flashes in my mind. I knew it would be highly likely I’d run into her when I moved into town. I’m working with her brother, a meeting was inevitable. A part of me had been anticipating it in fact. I’m not sure why. The look of contempt on her face wasn’t exactly nice to behold.
“Are you going to tell me what you mean by eventful?”
“No. Drive us home, Josh.”
“Yes, sir.”
He starts the car immediately, pulling out from the gravel lot that’ll end up being used for parking once construction’s complete. The buildings’ plan has an underground parking lot as well as, much larger than this. We’re expecting that the center will host shows and events weekly that’ll draw in people from all over the country. It should be pretty successful.
We arrive at the house in fifteen minutes. The mansion is in a pretty secluded area of town. There’s not a lot here but quiet woods and trees. The Harrington estate is a couple miles from our place. We’re allowed a lot of privacy since no one ever really comes around here.
One of the staff recently hired opens the door for me once Josh pulls up to the front of the house. I step out after asking Josh to meet me in my office once he’s parked the car. I immediately know Kara’s asleep, the minute I step into the house.
It wouldn’t be so quiet if it wasn’t. She’d be down here, bugging one of the staff to play with her or she would be in the living room blasting some music video she likes. Since she expels so much energy when she’s awake, she takes her naps very seriously.
“Welcome sir,” a female staff member says approaching me. “Would you like to have lunch?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you. When did Kara fall asleep?”
“An hour ago. She spent most of her afternoon exploring the grounds of the house. She was accompanied by one of the guards so she was safe. She fell asleep after having lunch.”
I nod. “Okay. I’ll have dinner with her later. Tell her to come find me in my office once she’s awake.”
“Yes, sir.”
Josh catches up to me and we head up to my office together. I climb up the stairs taking in the house that looks extremely different from the one I grew up in. Which was exactly what I wanted. It’s been repainted, a muted gray color and most of the portraits have been taken down by my directives. They’ve been placed somewhere safe.
I don’t know if it’s enough though. Hiding it all. These stairs are still the same ones I walked up a million times when I was a boy. The floors are still the same. The office we walk into is the same one my father used to spend all his time with. It’s all the same despite my best attempts to pretend it all away.
“Construction at the center will wrap up in a month,” I inform Josh, practically falling into my chair.
I was up all night working on drafting the plans for the opening. Cameron was right. It’ll be a lot but I’m sure we can do it.
“I want you to start looking into potential employees. People that’ll work on the opening and then there’s permanent staff as well. I’ll vet every single one of them personally. Interviews will be held here, since the center is still under construction. Put out an online ad for people interested but it’ll be preferable to source locally. People that already live in Edenton and neighboring towns.”
“Yes sir. How many people are we thinking?”
“I’m not sure yet. We’ll need to create teams, a layout of each person’s position and job description. I’ll work on that tonight and send it to you so you can know what you’re looking for.”
“Tonight?” Josh questions, blue eyes shifting uneasily.
“Yes,” I drawl. “Any problem with that?”
“Nothing sir. It’s just… you were up all night yesterday working on the initial draft.”
“I don’t need your worry, Josh,” I say gruffly. “We’ve got limited time to make this work.”
“It’ll work out.” he tells me, assurance in his gaze. “You’re doing a good thing, Mr. Wolfe.”
I’m doing a very selfish thing. But no one needs to know that.
“What’s my schedule for tomorrow?”
“You have an online call with the board at Wolfe Group. They’ve requested a briefing on the significance of the community center to the company.”
The wolves are circling.
“There’s no significance. This has nothing to do with the company,” I grit out.
“They don’t seem to think so,” Josh says timidly.
I sigh, “Fine. I’ll talk to them by 10am. Will my father be a part of this call?”
“Yes, sir.”
Great. The leader of the pack’s going to be there as well. It doesn’t matter though. There’s nothing they can do to stop me. At this point, their best option is to simply provide support and figure out a way to make this beneficial for the company.
“That’ll be after you’re back from the gym?”
I glance up at him, “Have I ever gone to the gym after 10am?”
He swallows, “No, sir.”
“Then what kind of question is that?”
He knows better than anyone that I stick to a routine. I leave for the gym at 7am, my work out lasts for about an hour, thirty minutes and then I return home, take a shower, and have breakfast with Lana before starting work for the day.
“I’m sorry, sir.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, “We’re going to be working and living together for the next three months, Josh. Let’s try not to piss each other off?”
“You never piss me off, Mr. Wolfe,” he says, lying through his teeth.
I roll my eyes, “Yeah, yeah, get out of here. Dinner’s at 8pm.”
He leaves and I’m about to get to work when my mind once again strays to my encounter earlier today with Anika Cameron. She’s interesting. To say the least. I think about the way she pinned me with her brown eyes. The kind of eyes that make you wonder what’s going on in her head.
There is nothing ordinary about that woman. I clear my throat, banishing the image of her eyes from my mind. I need to focus on the opening of the center, I have no time for distractions.
And I’m pretty sure Anika Cameron’s a huge distraction and trouble waiting to happen. Unfortunately I’ve managed to piss her off and I don’t imagine she’s the type of person to let that go. The next few months are going to be interesting, to say the least.
I’m under no false impressions that I’ll be able to avoid her. Edenton’s a small town. We’ll run into each other eventually.
***
There’s a lot of different ways to work through your emotions. People don’t always deal with them in the healthiest of ways. I’m not sure anyone’s really capable of doing that. Emotions are tricky, they eat at you, make you do and feel things you wouldn’t usually do. Human beings cope with these foreign feelings in any way they can.
I choose to expel them by sweating it all out. Nothing like a good workout to cleanse my mind.
I arrive at the gym in the Harrington country club at exactly 7am. Unlike my gym back at Raleigh, this one’s much smaller. It wasn’t built to cater to a lot of people considering the exclusiveness that comes with being a member of this place. Which is really beneficial.
It also has a lot of state of the art equipment I plan to take full advantage of. Soon enough, I’m lost to the familiar rhythm of my fists against the punching bag. Each strike reverberates through the silent space. The bag swings back, and I focus on the precise, measured impact, no distractions, and no unnecessary thoughts.
After a couple of minutes, I move to the treadmill, running for a while. And then I’m moving towards the weights. My routine is methodical, lift, rest, and repeat. The steady clank of metal plates and my own controlled breathing fill the space. As I rack the set, a subtle sensation creeks over me, a prickle of awareness. Like I’m not alone.
I pause, muscles tense before glancing toward the gym’s entrance. Anika Harrington’s standing there, staring at me. I feel a mix of irritation and reluctant intrigue ripple through me. I clear my throat and she startles a little which lets me know she’s been watching me for a while.
After dropping the weights, I rise to my feet, crossing the length of the gym to meet her. Looks like I’m in for another interesting encounter with the raven haired firecracker.