23. Chapter Twenty-Three – Adam
Adam
I hope she’s not going to hate me.
Pacing my office, doubts are starting to creep in. What if I put myself out there but she’s going to say no anyways? God, Asher is never going to let me live that down.
My head whips around when someone knocks on the door.
“Come in.”
“I got that phone number you asked me for,” Barbara says and hands me a piece of paper with a motherly grin. I haven’t told her what exactly is going on but she’s smart. I am one hundred percent convinced she knows about every single thing going on in this company and my private life. She’s got that ‘mom’ stare that sees through my fa?ade and right into my brain. “Good luck.”
“Thanks,” I mumble, but she’s already out the door again. I draw in a deep breath and dial the number, making the call before I can talk myself out of it .
“Hello?”
“Hi is this Lucy?” My heart is beating into my throat. Fuck, this was a bad idea.
“Yes? Who is this?” She sounds confused and I can’t blame here. I wonder what kind of strings Barbara had to pull in order to find her contacts, based off just her first name and relation to Lily. Then again, it’s not the first time she’s performed a miracle like that.
“This is Adam, I’m-“
“I know who you are,” she interrupts me and breaks into a chuckle. “How can I help you?”
“On a scale of one to ten-“ The corners of my mouth tug into a smile. “With one being ‘she’ll pout but let it slide’ to ten ‘she’ll never talk to me again’ – how angry do you think Lily will be with my plan?”
While I explain to her what I’m up to, all my doubts begin to slowly dissipate.
“She’ll be alright,” Lucy finally says, sounding giddy. “She might pretend to pout but really, I think she’ll appreciate it. Lily is way too used to doing everything herself, I think what you’re planning might just be exactly what she needs.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I do.” She clears her throat before she continues. “And this is also the part where, as her best friend, I am nicely asking you to not fuck it up. Somehow, I have no doubts about that but just for the record.”
“Of course. ”
“Good. I gotta go, but best of luck, Adam.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you all for coming,” I say with a sheepish grin as I walk into the meeting room with Chris, greeted warmly by Millie, Kayla, and Felix.
“Of course,” Millie says, rising to give me a hug, her version of a proper greeting, with Kayla following suit.
Felix, who’s seated a bit off to the side, looks a touch out of place, his eyes darting around the room nervously. I walk over and extend my hand to him.
“Thank you so much for taking the time,” I say, genuinely appreciative.
“Of course,” he replies, taking it and shaking with a firm grip. I sit down at my desk, opposite the three of them and try to find the proper words about how to start this meeting.
How ridiculous. Negotiating for love.
The things I’d do for her.
“There’s something I need to talk to you three about,” I start and clear my throat. “Actually, mainly you two.” I look at Millie and Kayla, only glancing briefly at Felix, who gives me a reassuring nod.
He got a call from me first thing yesterday morning. I didn’t give him the full context of what I needed his help for – but he’s a smart guy, I’m sure he has figured everything out by now.
“What is it?” Millie asks, her curls bouncing as she looks between me and Felix. “Your call made it sound like an emergency. Where’s the fire?”
“No fires here,” I assure them and lean forward in my seat, leaning my forearms on the table. “Don’t worry. Since you two are the owners and highest-ranking people at Siren’s Talent, there’s something I need to discuss with you. Something like a… proposal.” Felix snorts and quickly hides it as a coughing fit.
“Ooh, intriguing,” Kayla hums, leaning forward with keen interest. “You know, we’re very tough negotiators.” I bite the insides of my cheek. No, they’re not. “What’s up?”
“I want to date your CEO,” I say quickly, the words sputtering out of me.
Instantly, the room falls into a stunned silence. You could hear a pin drop.
“Wait, what?” Millie exclaims, her gaze jumping between Kayla and Felix. “Where did that come from?”
“Is that why you had him pull up her contract?” Kayla asks and nods at Felix, who is full on smiling at the chaos until she says it. Instantly, his eyes grow wide until she waves him off. “Saw you working on it, didn’t think much of it. But was that the reason?” When I nod, she bursts into laughter.
“Fuck, I was scared she was looking for an out.” Kayla clutches her shirt above her chest. Meanwhile, Felix is having the time of his life .
“I fucking knew it,” he says, shaking with laughter and pinching the bridge of his nose. “There was something going on in Tokyo, wasn’t there?”
“Was there?” Kayla asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I mean, that would make the dating question kind of obsolete, don’t you think?” I respond, crossing my arms in front of my chest and giving them a stern look. “I’m asking you now.”
“Well, I’ve combed through her contract you’ll be happy to know there’s nothing in the contract explicitly against it,” Felix says and crosses his arms in front of his chest as well. “But similar to what I assume is in yours, there’s the whole confidentiality clause and all that, right?”
Kayla leans back, but then adds, “Though I doubt there’s anything in our company you could steal right now, if you wanted to. But what about when there eventually is? What if shit goes sideways?”
“Right,” Millie adds. “Break ups bring out the monsters in people.”
And she would know. From what I’ve seen about her before she started dating Luca, she hasn’t had much luck with her exes.
“Oh, come on,” Felix interjects loudly, and both Kayla and Millie slowly turn to look at him. “Sorry, didn’t mean to raise my voice. But have you met Lily? She’s way too competitive to give out any information. She’d probably get a guard dog for her laptop, just in case. ”
“True,” Kayla agrees, and Millie starts nodding. I have to bite the inside of my lip to keep from laughing, because he’s got a point, especially about the guard dog.
“They’re not wrong, though,” I admit. “It can always go sideways. There’s no way to ensure that not happening beforehand, but we can do our best to protect our companies from that possibility.”
“How about you? Is your company going to be fine with it?” Kayla nods at Chris, who’s been quietly observing our conversation.
“We’ll have to set something up, but as of now, there’s nothing against it in the contract,” he confirms and Kayla leans back in her seat, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“So it’s really about whether Millie and I agree?” Kayla asks fixating me with a hard stare. I meet her gaze with equal conviction.
“It really isn’t,” I reply and straighten my back. “This is a courtesy first and foremost. I’m going to ask her out anyway. I just wanted your blessing, so to speak.”
“That’s new,” Felix says amusedly, a wide grin on his face. “So it’s not about asking the family anymore, now it’s about asking the bosses.”
“Trust me.” I roll my eyes at him. “It’s not a position I ever thought I’d be in.”
“Well, obviously we’re going to say yes,” Millie says, nudging Kayla when she opens her mouth to speak. “But you’re going to owe us a favor.” Her voice turns into a taunting sing-song towards the end there and I sigh when Kayla hums in agreement as well.
Not that I think any of them would demand a favor that would harm me, but I really don’t like owing people favors.
“This was a bad idea,” I finally admit with another deep sigh, my shoulders sagging in dejection, causing the two of them to burst into laughter.
“You’re way too honorable, really,” Kayla says with a wide smile and shakes her head at me. “Did you really think we were going to say no?”
“No, of course I didn’t,” I admit, feeling a wave of relief. “Well, that’s a lie. It was something I considered, but I’m very glad you just said yes.”
“One condition though,” Millie says quickly, narrowing her eyes at me. “Don’t fuck it up, please.”
“Then again,” Felix adds, “even if he does, it’s only going to fuel Lily.” I’m torn between wanting to hug and strangle him. “Come on, Lily operates on spite.”
“Just imagine what she could do if he decides to fuck it up,” Millie agrees, her frown turning into a wide grin. “Okay, how about you pick her up at the office today?”
“Maybe I’ll do that,” I say. “When does her workday usually end?”