24. Chapter 24 - Callum
The visit to Cinder and Malt had been… illuminating, to say the least. The more we’d seen, the more uneasy I’d felt.
Maybe Joe was happy with what he’d helped create, I didn’t know.
He didn’t seem unhappy. He just seemed… corporate.
And that wasn’t Paxton. Not in the least. The brewery had been so…
big. Celestial Cask felt intimate by comparison.
But that wasn’t the real issue. It was the authenticity.
Cinder and Malt was massive. Impersonal.
Bill was raking in profit, sure, but at what cost? The heart of his brewery was gone.
As we headed upstairs to the offices, two distinct possibilities flitted through my mind.
The first was the future where Paxton took the offer.
Celestial Cask became a corporate powerhouse, the country’s first widely distributed experimental meadery.
Big, shiny, wide open. On the other side was the future where Paxton declined the investment opportunity.
We might need to spend more time searching for grants, convincing the county planning commission to let us buy the property next door, but it stayed manageable.
Paxton kept control. It continued to be small, personal, intimate. Ours.
My stomach ached and roiled when that word went through my mind.
Ours. Who was I kidding? This was Paxton’s.
I had nothing to do with it. Nothing except writing the article that kicked all of this in motion, of course.
And the more I thought about that, the more uneasy and guilty I felt.
I was responsible for making his life complicated.
Too complicated. All Paxton had wanted was to expand a little.
Here he was now, grappling with the decision of a lifetime, and in my daydreams, I kept inserting myself in—permanently.
This is all your fault.
Once we were back in the conference room, Paxton and I sat in the same chairs we’d taken previously. He sat with his hands folded in front of him and waited for Seth and Bill to appear. Jade had assured us they’d be in soon, and we were left sitting quietly to wait.
“Hey,” I whispered. He looked at me, eyebrows raised, and I kept talking, my voice low. “What are you thinking?”
He smirked slightly. “Right now?” When I nodded, his smirk grew. “I’m thinking about last night.”
My stomach fluttered and somersaulted, my cheeks heating. I looked at my hands instead of Paxton’s glittering brown eyes, trying not to get hard while we were in a conference room waiting to make decisions about our future. No. His future. “That’s not what I meant,” I muttered.
He reached under the table, placing a hand on my thigh and giving me a light squeeze. “I know.”
My throat tightened and my mouth went dry. I suddenly desperately hoped this meeting would be quick so we could get back to the hotel room.
Before we could say anything else, the conference room door opened and Bill and Seth entered. We both sat up straighter, placing our hands on the table. I cleared my throat and smiled at the investors.
“Gentlemen,” Bill said in a tone that was meant to be warm but just sounded slimy to me. “How was your visit to Cinder and Malt?”
“Great,” Pax said immediately. “We really want to thank you for taking the time to meet with us and to arrange everything. The visit, the tour of Cinder and Malt, the meeting with Joe. It’s been a really… illuminating experience.”
Seth nodded along. “We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed your time with us.”
The unspoken question hung in the air, a massive elephant in the room. Nobody spoke for a long moment until Bill finally said something. “Do you have any questions for us, or should we have Jade bring in the paperwork for you to sign, so we can get the finalities out of the way?”
Paxton took a long, slow breath and nodded.
When he spoke, it was slow, deliberate. and careful.
“As I said, we really appreciate everything you’ve done for us.
This visit has been incredibly educational and informative.
That said, I think…” He glanced at me for reassurance.
I nodded, my heart swelling as I suspected I saw where he was going with this. “We’re going to pass at this time.”
The two investors looked at us, both of them blinking and nodding slowly with smiles fixed on their faces. It felt like an eternity stretching out between the moment Pax said he was going to pass and the moment Seth finally spoke.
“Let’s not be hasty,” he said eventually. “Tell us, what led you to this decision?”
“Well,” Paxton started. “Celestial Cask has existed here in the US for almost a hundred years, at least at its core. My Uncle Paul turned it into the commercial operation that I took over a decade ago. I always wanted to honor him by growing and expanding.”
“Which is where we come in,” Bill interjected.
Paxton nodded, a tight smile on his face.
“Yes, of course. But after this morning’s pitch and our visit to Cinder and Malt, I see our visions for the future are simply too different to reconcile.
There’s no way we can get from where we are now to where the Group wants to take us, not without giving up a lot of our soul on the way. ”
Seth’s eyes narrowed just slightly. “We can certainly revisit the plans from this morning’s pitch, if that helps you feel more at ease.”
Pax shook his head. “I don't think it would. Unless you’re comfortable scaling way back and letting me retain controlling interest in the meadery, I think we’re just too far apart to find a middle ground.
I’m just not sure what the Group is hoping for is close enough to what Callum and I are aiming for. ”
What we’re aiming for? His inclusion of me in that statement didn’t go unnoticed, and my heart felt like it might burst. I felt so honored to be included in his speech, though I couldn’t help but wonder if he meant it or if he was just including me because I was a part of this whole debacle.
He hesitated a moment and glanced at me with a small smile on his face before turning back to the investors. “Bill, Seth, I want to thank you for your time and energy. You certainly have given us a lot to think about. But as I said, we’re going to have to pass.”
Bill opened his mouth to speak, but I held up a hand to stop him and stood, Pax taking the cue and standing beside me. “We appreciate the kind words you’ve said about our work, but I have to agree with Paxton. Thank you so much for the trip. We can see ourselves out.”
With that, Paxton and I left the conference room and made our way to the elevators and back to the lobby. It didn’t take long until our rideshare came to pick us up, and as we climbed into the car, we both let out soft, giddy laughs.
“Wow,” I said. “I’m so proud of you.”
Paxton’s cheeks colored. “I couldn’t have done that without you beside me.”
His words made my stomach ache. I had to tell him how I felt. I had to. The need to connect with him was almost painful. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from doing anything dramatic in a rideshare car in the middle of Santa Clara on a random Thursday afternoon.
We were quiet the rest of the ride back to the hotel, but the second the room door closed behind us, I turned to him. “That was incredible.”
“What? Me turning down life-changing money?” He chuckled softly.
I laughed and shook my head. “You standing up for Celestial Cask. Sticking by your values and refusing to back down even in the face of a lot of money and power.”
He gave me a small smile and shy nod. “Thanks.”
I stepped close to him and put a hand on his waist, pulling him to me. “I know I already said this, but I’m really proud of you.”
He blinked at me a few times as if he were fighting off tears. “Thanks,” he repeated, this time, barely a whisper.
I put my free hand on the back of his neck and pulled him in for a tender, slow kiss.
He let out a soft, pleased hum and wrapped his arms around me.
We kissed for several long moments, neither of us seeming to be in a hurry to escalate things.
When we parted, I ran my fingers through the soft, short hair at the nape of his neck.
“Now what?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we have the hotel room for another night. We weren’t planning to drive back until tomorrow morning. We could head home early, if you wanted.”
Paxton’s hand dropped to my hip and clutched at the waistband of my dress pants. “I have a better idea,” he whispered.
I leaned back to admire his body. “Did I tell you how sexy you look in these clothes?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think you did.”
“Well,” I murmured. “You do. You look so powerful and polished.”
He smirked. “As opposed to my usual messy look?”
“Don’t argue. You look hot and this,” I gestured to his clothes, “is really doing it for me.” Between us, I rocked my hips forward to prove it, my thickening cock rubbing against his pelvis.
Pax released me then and stepped away. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
“Right?” I frowned.
“Maybe we should just drive home tonight.” He raised his eyebrows playfully.
“Oh, absolutely not.” I closed the gap between us one more time, my hands making their way to his shirt buttons and beginning to work them open. “We’re definitely staying tonight.”