Chapter 3 #2
“You know what,” Mandy said, and pushed her chair back.
“I don’t have to explain myself to someone who doesn’t have the basic courtesy of knowing who he’s meeting with.
” She stood, smoothing her blazer. “I have more work than I can handle and I don’t need this deal.
Cleo and Callum, I love you and wish you the absolute best.” She looked at them and looked apologetic. “Call me when you’re back in LA.”
“Mandy, wait,” Cleo started.
“I’m good.” She picked up her bag. “I really am. This just isn’t the right fit.”
And she walked out.
I watched her go. Then I looked at the door for a moment after it closed.
“Well,” Dash said pleasantly. “That was more eventful than I expected.”
I shook my head. “If she can’t handle one question, she’s not what we need. Business is tough. If she’s not willing to answer basic questions, it’s not a business relationship we should pursue.”
“She can handle the question fine,” Cleo said, disgust lining her tone.
“You handled the question badly. That was a choice. A bad one. Callum and I are not signing without Mandy. That’s not a negotiating position.
That’s just the truth. She is the reason this brand works.
Her sense of style is what ties the whole line together.
If you want to go back to Adrian and explain why you tanked a deal he spent months building, that’s your business.
But for now, it seems like we’re done here. ”
She stood and Callum followed her out the door. The conference room was suddenly very quiet and very empty.
Dash waited until the door closed again, then swiveled his chair toward me. He arched one thick brow. “Wow.”
“Don’t,” I said.
“I’m not saying anything but wow.”
I sighed. “You’re thinking it.”
“I’m thinking a lot of things.”
“I do the contracts and the litigation,” I said. “You just focus on whatever it is you do.”
Dash scoffed and narrowed his eyes at me. “You know what I do. Don’t lash out because you fucked up for a change instead of me.”
“Why are you in here anyway?” I asked. “You never come to meetings like this.”
“I came to say hi to the cousins. I didn’t expect a show.
” He smirked. “For the record, I want to be clear that I find this genuinely entertaining. But Adrian is going to be a lot less entertained, so I feel like you’re going to be in trouble for killing this deal.
Adrian was really excited about this. Like, he talked about Mandy Carter specifically more than once.
She’s kind of a big deal in certain circles.
Circles you don’t travel in, apparently, but still.
She’s young and already kicking ass in the LA market.
Another couple of years and she’s the Anna Wintour of wedding planning. You should have done your research.”
I was quiet for a moment. “Adrian could have explained who she was. I’m looking at contracts. Facts.”
“She’s on the internet. You could have looked her up.”
I had looked up the deal documents. I had reviewed the partnership terms and the financial projections and the proposed sublabel structure.
I had not looked up the third partner because it wasn’t important.
She was an event planner. She had her place in the world, but I didn’t see it fitting into our structure.
“I don’t make it a habit to investigate my business partner’s social media presence,” I said.
“Okay.” He stood, straightened his jacket. “For what it’s worth, I think she’s got a point about the brand. If you’d pull your head out of your ass, you would understand her clients are celebrity royalty. People like what she does.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, feeling tired. “I should never have agreed to cover this meeting.”
“Go home,” he said. “I’ll call Cleo. We’ll figure out next steps tomorrow. I’ll see if I can take them out. Wine and dine them.”
“Don’t sleep with that woman,” I said.
He laughed. “I’m not interested in fucking a first cousin.”
“That’s not the woman I’m talking about and you know it.”
He winked. “I would think you’d want me to do whatever it takes to get that woman back on Team Blackwell. In this one case, I might be willing to take one for the team. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.”
“I doubt she’ll appreciate you fucking her and never calling again,” I told him. “But by all means, make it awkward as hell to work with her.”
He laughed on his way out of the room. “You worry too much.”
“And you don’t worry enough!” I called after him.
When he was gone, my shoulders slumped. That was not how I had expected the meeting to go. I certainly didn’t mean to nuke the deal but I did have some concerns. How did that make me the bad guy?
I stood, gathered up the unsigned papers, and walked out. I was going home. The day was fucked.
I didn’t drink much. My tolerance had declined steadily since my late twenties, casualty of too many early mornings and not enough late nights. Two drinks and I was loose. Three and I was in genuinely unfamiliar territory.
Tonight, I was definitely going to have two drinks. I needed them. I knew Adrian was going to be pissed, but I would deal with it tomorrow.
My penthouse was quiet when I walked through the door. I shrugged out of my jacket, tossed it on the couch, and walked straight to the sidebar. I poured two fingers of whiskey, drank it standing at the window, and poured two more.
Thirty minutes later, I was drunk. I felt sloppy, which was why I hated drinking. But it was better than thinking about a green-eyed woman who had made me face my insecurities with a single sentence.