Alex
It was announced this morning—the FBI, SEC, and FTC have all begun investigations into the money laundering. Convictions will take weeks at a minimum.
This kind of thing doesn’t move quickly, but there’s nothing left for me to do.
The problem now is that the idea of going back to standard business bores me. I don’t want to hop on a plane to Rio or Botswana and shake hands with bureaucrats. Drafting contracts and expanding this corporation one mine at a time has lost its luster for the time being.
Work has been my religion, but now I’m feeling like what I really need is some solace. Time away from screens and emails and a hundred people knocking on my office door to get an opinion on this or that.
This Wednesday in particular feels like I’m in limbo, and I decide I’m heading to my cottage up the coast for an early and long weekend.
It’s around lunchtime, and I’m in my office when Lucas calls me on my personal phone. I’m a bit nervous to take it. I’m picturing him calling me out for the tabloid shots of him and his sister, but we’ve already texted about it. He knows it’s nothing.
“Lucas. How’s the Paris of the West?” I ask jokingly.
“It’s no City of Light. Did you know the weather here can suck? It’s still summer technically, and this cold front rolled in. It’s all wet fog and freezing wind. It’s like London. It’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe San Fran just doesn’t like you.”
“It’s mutual. The sushi is keeping me alive, but that’s it.”
“Any word on how long you’re stuck there?”
“No clue. The suite they gave me is no bigger than your average hotel room.”
“That’s because Chester Ford Senior is a cheap son of a bitch,” I say. “How about you switch teams before their bank gets in any more trouble. J.P Morgan would hire you in a heartbeat.”
“There’s less upward mobility at a place like that. Are we really going to have this argument now? I called about Hailee.”
I sit straighter in my chair. I’ve been feeling a little guilty for ignoring her. I should’ve at least taken her up on that nightcap on Saturday night. I realized too late that she probably thought I was judging her for having dated Chester Junior and not understanding that I had simply had a very long day.
I haven’t had the chance to see her since. At least that’s what I tell myself.
“What about Hailee?” I ask Lucas.
“How’s it going? She won’t give me much. She says it’s a big place and you hardly see each other. How about things on the security front? Anything to report?”
“Nothing at all. Just enjoy the sushi, Lucas. She’s safe here.”
“I know, man. It just sucks having no control. Work sucks, too. I take it it’s not much different for you?”
“It’s about as bad as it gets, yeah. I was going to go up the coast. Get away from the city for an early weekend.”
“That sounds like a dream. They’re holding me to eighty-hour work weeks here. It’s fucking awful.”
I want to insist more that he should quit, but if that didn’t work three months ago before any of this news broke, it isn’t happening now. Lucas is stubborn, and I can see the same streak of it in his sister.
“I’ll think of you when the salt spray hits my face.”
“Great. Hailee’s coming up with you then, right?”
I pause. That wasn’t part of the plan. I don’t take dates up the coast. Ever. Maybe to the mansion Upstate, but the water is where I relax.
Alone.
Then I remind myself Hailee’s not a date.
“She’s got enough security at the house, Lucas.”
“Come on, man. That wasn’t the deal. Can you afford to split security?”
The answer to that is not really.
But that isn’t the right response. Does Lucas want me to sleep with his sister? Or does he truly trust me this much? Unfortunately, I know it’s the latter.
“I haven’t even run it by her. I’m not going to drag her over my shoulder anywhere.”
“She’s working this week, right?”
“Yes.”
“I doubt it would be much of a tough sell to take a long weekend at the beach.”
Stumped again. Usually, I could argue myself out of this, but I let it slide. “Alright. She comes.”
“Thanks, .”
“No problem. We’ll talk again soon.”
I end the call and stare at the glass wall of my office. There will be no getting away from this girl. I leave to the fifty-fifth floor to try to find her, but I forgot it’s lunch and the media war room is empty. I catch Melissa on her way back in.
“Where’s Hailee Barnes?”
“I think she’s having lunch down in the lobby. She said she’d be back at one.” Melissa and the board are all aware of Hailee’s current living situation because of the attempted assassinations, but from the wry look Melissa is trying to hide, I don’t think everyone believes we’re just roomies.
I leave the room without a word. Melissa loves to please, so that should leave her worrying about her career for the rest of the week. She should learn to hide her emotions better.
I’m not about to wait around twenty minutes for Hailee to show up here. I should’ve just texted her. Why didn’t I? I like to understand my own motives, so I don’t bury the thought. I think it’s because I want to see her.
And I want to see her because I desire her. I need to get rid of that desire. If I have sex with her once, I’ll get bored with the idea of Hailee Barnes. But that means breaking an unspoken oath with Lucas. That is not my style. I built this business on a firm fucking handshake in a world of backstabbers.
I do know I don’t want to go back to my office today. The idea of leaving has gotten into my head and can’t be shaken out. I don’t even need to go back upstairs to grab my laptop. I have three that are all always synced.
I go down to the lobby to look for Hailee. I’m going to have to try to not come across as manic.
First, I don’t see her for a few days, and now I’m asking her to skip the rest of the work week. We’ll be staying in a cottage this time, not a mansion, and contact will be unavoidable. Still, it’s bigger than a broom closet.
I see the back of her head. I wouldn’t have recognized her this way even a week ago, but now I can point her out just from the way she walks.
She’s dining with a friend who watches me and says something to Hailee as I approach.
Hailee turns.
“How much work do you have left today?” I ask, catching her off guard.
“Um… it never really ends. Enough to keep me busy until five. Why?”
“I’m taking off for the rest of the week and working remotely. I’m going up the coast to my place on the shore. Splitting security will be hard. Not impossible, but it would be easier if you come with.” I grin at how spontaneous this is.
I don’t mind feeling almost two decades younger. I’m reminded of being a high school senior and asking my girl to ditch class with me. What good is being the boss if I never take advantage of it?
Hailee has a hard time hiding her shock. Her mouth hangs open a little. “And you want to leave today?”
“We’d stop by the house first, but yes.”
“I’ll still be getting paid, right?”
“Yes, you’ll still be getting paid.” I look at her friend and extend my hand. “ Blackwell, by the way.”
“I know who you are. Sophia Simms.”
“Pleasure.”
We shake hands warmly.
“Sounds like a no brainer, Hailee,” Sophia says. “I’d kill to be at the beach this week. Might be our last nice weather for it.”
I don’t know who this girl is, but she acts like a natural wingman. I don’t want to give Hailee the ultimatum that she doesn’t have a choice. This will all be so much easier if she thinks she does.
“I’ll come. Sounds fun. Where is it exactly?”
“It’s not far from the Vineyard. It’s on its own beach.”
I catch Sophia widening her eyes as if I’m suggesting something by mentioning the privacy.
I look at their empty plates to see they’ve finished lunch. “I’ll call the car around.”
“Okay,” Hailee says matter-of-factly, like we’ve just come to a business agreement.
I take a step back from the table and pull out my phone.
This truly is some kind of high school moment, because when I look back to them, they’re both leaning across the table, so their faces are close together, and giggling.
When I’m actually old, I’ll probably kill to be thirty-six again. I’m not going to ruin this by being a salty bastard about their happiness. I’m getting out of the office. And for the next four days, I plan to forget about this place… entirely .