Chapter 2 Everett Jaymes
Everett Jaymes
Max
“Nonna, how do I look?” Hope spins around in her work uniform, which includes a pair of her own black slacks and a Sweet Dreams Bakery t-shirt.
“You look cute.” Mom flips her special pancakes.
That’s the problem. Hope is going to flip out when she finds out I plan on sitting at the bakery all day today to protect her…mostly to keep an eye on those boys. “Why don’t you go put a sweater on before we go?”
Hope turns to glare at me. “We go?”
“Yes, I’m taking you to work today.”
“Dad.”
“Hope.” There’s no way she’s talking me out of this. “It isn’t safe for you to wander around without me.”
“Dad, I’m almost eighteen.”
“I don’t care if you’re almost eighty. My job is to protect you. You’re not wandering around Urbium alone.” Mom’s pancakes lay heavy in my stomach.
“Nonna?” Hope gives Mom a pleading look.
“Don’t look at me, young lady. You know I support your father’s decision.”
“What happened to feminism? A woman being able to make her own decisions?” Hope stomps over to the island next to me. “We aren’t in the eighteen hundreds.”
Mom raises an eyebrow at her. “You’ve tried that argument before.”
Hope flounces down on the stool next to me. “The other kids will make fun of me.”
I can’t hold back a snort. My little girl couldn't care in the least what people think of her.
“Dad.”
“Hope Vincenti, there isn’t an argument that you can make where I will let you wander around Urbium alone. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. End of discussion.”
Hope’s eyes sparkle.
That little imp has an argument that she thinks is going to work.
“Don’t you have an appointment this morning?”
Everett Jaymes…that boy is a thorn in my side. I’m going to make him regret it. “He can wait.”
“Being late for a business meeting is unprofessional.” She grins with glee.
Why did I have to teach her that?
“I’ll take Hope, so you don’t miss your meeting,” Dad chimes in.
“Nonno,” Hope starts to whine, but stops as Dad raises an eyebrow at her. “I’ll go get my sweater.”
As soon as she walks out of the room, Dad says, “Are you sure about this job on Willow Street?”
I set my fork down as the pancakes turn into rocks in my gut. “It’s the worst idea ever. Do you know how many teenage boys live there?”
Mom reaches across the island and sets a hand on mine. “You don’t have to worry about Hope. You didn’t raise a frivolous little girl that’s going to let any boy distract her. She’s made of sterner stuff than that. You need to trust that you raised an intelligent, independent woman.”
“She’s not the problem.”
“It’s the boys,” Dad finishes my thoughts.
Mom shakes her head. “What meeting do you have today?” She eyes my outfit, which doesn’t exactly shout high-powered businessman.
“I’m mentoring a kid for Maddox.”
“That’s wonderful…isn’t it?” Mom turns off the burner.
“If he doesn’t rob me or try to take over the company, it might be.”
Dad chuckles. “So, you’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Kinda. I shrug.
Hope hops into the room. “I’m ready, Nonno. Wait until you see this place. The food is amazing.” She runs over to her nonno and threads her arm through his. “You can have my first cup of coffee.”
The fact that Dad can hold back a groan of fear is only slightly surprising.
He’ll probably even choke it down with a smile.
It’s not that Hope can’t cook when she sets her mind to it.
It’s just that she rarely sets her mind to cooking with as spoiled as we’ve made her…
I’ve made her. But how can I not spoil my baby girl?
“Let me get a picture.” Mom runs up with her camera, and we follow Hope to the door.
It’s like her first day of school, except Mila isn’t here crying and begging to go to school with Hope. That was a long year for Mom and my sister. Will this be a long one for me?
***
It’s not often that I get grumpy. My family is healthy and happy…and there aren’t any mafia wars happening at the moment. But pulling the door open to face Everett Jaymes definitely makes me irritable. “Come.” I turn and walk away. He can follow me or walk away. That’ll tell me about his character.
For a tall kid, he’s a bit on the skinny side. Is that just his age, or is it a sign of his time on the streets? Either way, it can be fixed. My mom and Nonna both know how to keep us fed, and the kid can start working out here and at the gym on Willow Street.
That is if he’s everything Maddox says he is.
“You’re not dressed like a butler.”
He’s not timid around adults. That’s a good sign. “Nope.” A high school t-shirt and a pair of sweats wouldn’t be the traditional outfit of any paid employee. Though comfort is a priority at my company. Only upper management even wears a suit, and they usually only do it for big meetings.
“Which either makes you security—”
As big as I am, that’s a fair assumption.
“—or you’re Vincenti’s kid.”
Also true, but not in the way he means. I stop inside Dad’s office.
Everett hasn’t reached a level of trust to enter my office.
He might never reach that level, considering my office is a few rooms down from my daughter’s bedroom, and just the idea of him anywhere near it makes me want to kill him.
The sheer intimidation factor of Dad’s desk is the reason it’s the perfect spot for this meeting. “Sit.”
“So, what’s it like to work for your dad?”
“Terrifying.” The truth of that statement won’t be explained today or ever.
“What? Maddox said the internship was arranged. I knew this was a waste of time. Some billionaire tech mogul isn’t going to hire a kid off the street and mentor him.” Everett moves to get up.
“Stay.”
“I’m not a dog.”
But you’re just as irritating as an untrained one. “There are three rules.”
“Don’t do rules.”
“Then leave if you’re too afraid to even try.”
“I’m not afraid.” He puffs up.
Oh yes, you are. And you’re going to be terrified by the time you walk out of this room. “Then do you want to hear the rules?”
“Fine, tell me.” Everett folds his arms across his scrawny chest.
He’s so not ready to understand the rules. “When I was eight years old, my father explained these rules to me—”
“Don’t care about your daddy issues.”
I laugh. “A man never disrespects a woman.”
“Oh, I’m always ‘respectful’ to women.” There’s a leer in his voice that only a foolish teenage boy could manage.
“You never steal from family.” He’s definitely going to attempt to break that rule. It might actually be fun thwarting him.
“Not a problem. I don’t have any family.” A hollow pain runs across his face as he forces a false bravado into his tone.
You do. You just don’t understand what it means when Maddox welcomes you onto Willow Street. Whether you can count the Vincentis as family is yet to be determined.
“So, what’s the third? Because I ain’t taking a vow of chastity or something stupid like that.”
If only that could be part of our business contract. “Family lives and dies for each other.”
“Those are stupid rules.”
Probably for a person without a family. “Yet they’re ones you need to follow. If you can’t, walk out the door now.”
“Is this some sort of cult initiation or something? I can’t see Massimo Vincenti asking this of all his employees.”
“No, it’s not. But this mentorship isn’t standard.
Maddox said you were on a different level.
If you want a standard internship, show up at the local office after lunch.
If you want to be challenged, learn more than you ever thought possible, and play with all the latest tech before anyone else in the world, those are the terms.” Now it sounds like I’m training this kid to be my replacement.
Am I? Hope certainly doesn’t want to run this monstrosity that I’ve built.
Is he really good enough that I could hand my company and thousands of people’s livelihoods to him?
Everett doesn’t move. “And if I break the rules, what are the consequences? Do I get put on probation?”
“No warnings. No trying again.” The first one you die for, but that rule should go unsaid for any man in the world.
“You people are nuts.”
Probably. “For you, I have one other rule.”
Everett rolls his eyes.
“You don’t ever touch my daughter.” And that’s probably like waving a red flag in front of a raging bull, but I don’t care. Now I can kill him without guilt…Though I really wouldn’t have had much before the warning.
“Your daughter?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Dad—” Mila rushes into the office. “—oh sorry, I didn’t know you had company over.” She turns to give Everett a smile.
The smarmy little idiot gives her a slow, toothy grin.
Maybe I should shove them down his throat.
Mila barely pauses. “Do you know where Dad is? Daire wants to go hike Dragon’s Ridge, but I told Dad I’d be home for lunch.”
“He should be back in a few minutes. He took Hope to work today.”
“OH. I forgot about that. Maybe Daire could take me to her job first, and then we could go for a hike.” She taps her foot on the ground. Mila never stops moving, even in her sleep. She made Hope look like a calm baby. “I’ll go talk to Mom.” She turns on her heel.
Everett steps in front of her. “It was nice to meet you.”
“Um, you too. Thanks, Max.” She waves as she walks off.
I really need to whap that smile off his face. “You can’t touch my sister either.”
“She might be worth giving it all up for.” Everett stares in the direction she left.
Spare me the theatrics of young fools.
“Wait.” He slowly turns his head towards me. “She said Max. You’re not—You’re the—You’re my new boss.”
“Not yet.” I chuck a phone over to him. “The interview is only starting. Maddox said you like phones. See what you can do with that. I’ll be in the kitchen.” Finding cookies and trying to figure out how I’m going to spy on my own daughter for the next few months. Why did she have to grow up?