23. Damien
Damien
“ M s. Crystal is here,” Johnathon said, speaking through our intercom.
Before I could remind him that she didn’t need to be announced or tell him to send her in, the door to my office opened. Pushing back on my desk chair, I scanned from Ella’s beautiful hair to her shiny shoes, pausing on all the curves in between.
“You’re doing it again,” she said, coming around my desk and leaning down for a kiss.
After our kiss, I reached for her shoulders. “Don’t stand up. I like the view of your gorgeous breasts.”
“Inappropriate.” Despite my command, she stood and leaned her round ass against my desk.
“What am I doing?”
“Looking at me as if I’m not wearing clothes.”
I chuckled. “I’m seeing the clothes and imagining them falling to the floor.” Standing, I leaned close and whispered in her ear, purposely blowing warm air onto her slender neck. “Did you lock the door?”
“No.”
“It’s a shame.” I ran my hands down her arms with a ghostly touch, watching her reaction. The way the small hairs stood to attention and how her grip of the desk’s edge tightened. My words came out breathy. “I guess I can’t bend you over this desk, flip up that sexy skirt, and bury myself deep inside your wet pussy.”
Ella’s cheeks filled with a rosy hue. “How do you know I’m wet?”
“Because I can smell you. And you smell sensational.” I leaned back, scanning the front of her blouse. “And your nipples are hard. They’re giving you away.”
She crossed her arms over her breasts. “Maybe I’m cold.”
“Are you…cold?”
“No,” she said with a grin as she lifted her arms to my shoulders. “I need to do work today, but I wanted to thank you.”
“Lock the door and you can thank me properly.”
Ella shook her head. “This is me thanking you.”
Falling back into my chair, I sighed. “I’d prefer a blow job.”
More shaking of her head.
“What did I do?” I asked.
“You spoke with Julia.”
“I did.”
“She called Millie,” Ella said. “And the campaign is still a go. I offered to step down as campaign manager.”
Furrowing my brow, I pressed my lips together.
Ella went on, “Millie said she wants me to continue as we are.”
I reached for her left hand. “Even though we’re engaged.”
Ella nodded. “She wants me to keep the entire coalition happy with the fraternity. No preferential treatment.”
“Does having you naked under my desk for an early-afternoon blow job qualify as preferential treatment?”
The color in her cheeks was creeping down her neck. “Since I’m supposed to be working for Beta Kappa Phi, I think the answer is yes. What did you learn from Timothy Evans?”
I inhaled. “Gloria was in on it. The presiding officiant happens to have been her gardener, a talented man from Colombia who took an online test to become a clergy.”
“You were married by a gardener?”
“He gardens for money. He’s also a music prodigy—maybe, I don’t know. He’s working on his doctorate at IU in music. I’ve heard it’s not easy to be accepted into the program. The assumption is that he needed help staying in the US and money. Gloria stepped in and quid pro quo.”
Ella shook her head. “A gardener-slash-music prodigy and a hospital chaplain. Planning our wedding is getting more difficult. It will be hard to beat your track record of marriages.”
Reaching for her hand, I closed my eyes and sighed. Opening them, I smiled. “Thank you for believing me, and for even joking about this fucking mess.” I lifted her knuckles to my lips. “For being here now.”
“Maybe I should be the one getting oral.”
I patted the desk. “Anytime, anyplace.” When she didn’t abide, I continued, “Seriously, Timothy says I have grounds for an annulment as well as a lawsuit.”
“Because suing Gloria Wilmott and her daughter will be so helpful when the executive board reconvenes.”
“She should be removed from the board,” I said.
“That’s it, Damien. She should be removed. Or she could resign if you promise not to sue, not to make this mess public.”
I sat straighter, thinking about Ella’s suggestion.
Ella went on, “What they did to you was illegal and immoral. If they want their actions public, then don’t resign.”
“I think I love you for more than your forgiving spirit and sexy body.”
Ella grinned.
“I love your devious ways, too.”
“Talk to Timothy. I don’t consider it devious. Showing up at my door as soon as you left, that’s devious. Take her down.”
“I’m getting hard.”
Ella’s laugh rang throughout my office. “I’m going to do some work. By the way, Deidra is nice. She sat near Niles and I during lunch. You know, there but not intrusive.”
“How is Niles?”
“He’s good. Oh, and he thinks I’m crazy, but that seems to be the general consensus. I’m beginning to think it’s a requirement for being with you.”
“That’s why we’re perfect together.”
“I’m not looking forward to my call with my mom, sharing the change in plans.”
“I can tell you I’m sorry again.”
Ella laid her finger over my lips. “Maybe it’s good. Mom can plan a wedding.”
“Let me know how it goes.” After Ella offered me a chaste kiss, I said, “We’ll drive home together.”
“Come to my office when you’re ready to leave.” She winked. “You know the way.”
Once she was gone, I put a call out to Timothy.
I told him the idea, asking Gloria to resign from the board in exchange for keeping the marriage fraud silent. We’d get the marriage annulled, and no one would be the wiser. Timothy seemed to ponder the idea.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “Declaring the marriage would cause the addendum to go into effect.”
“Gloria and Amber are the problems. If she’s off the executive board, problem is solved.”
“I was at the meeting, Damien. Grace Haas and Rachel Stokes voted against tabling the no-confidence vote.”
“Those are only two votes with four in my favor. Five if we pick the right board member.”
“There will need to be an election. Hell, the seat could remain open until the probation is complete. Talk to me about your parents. Ejecting the vice-chair shouldn’t be done by proxy.”
“Dad is still recovering and will be for a while. Mom is busy. And the idea isn’t to eject Gloria but to convince her to resign.”
“In my opinion,” Timothy said, “we need to be prepared to take this a step further if she refuses the offer.”
The door to my office opened and Johnathon rushed inside.
I covered the receiver of the phone and looked at my assistant. “What’s happening?”
“Darius Sinclair is out front. He’s live streaming on X, you know, Twitter.”
“What the fuck?” I spoke into the phone. “Timothy, I’ll call you back.”
Johnathon turned up the volume and handed me his phone.
There was Darius, bruised face and all, standing in front of the fountain at Sinclair Corporate. Taking the phone in hand, I rushed across the room to the windows. There he was, standing on the pavers.
Red seeped into my vision as I turned my attention to the small screen in my hand.
“…address the rumors about what’s happening at Sinclair Pharmaceuticals. It’s true, my father, Derek Sinclair, the chairman of our board, suffered a health setback. While I’d willingly accept your thoughts and prayers, the reality is that my family—I use that term loosely—has chosen this time to further oust me from the company my father successfully ran for decades.”
The stream was viral. And comments were adding up exponentially. From a quick scan, it seemed most were calling out Darius for being a whiny poor little rich man. However, there were also comments in support of his plight.
I turned to Johnathon. “Call security and get him off the property.”
“Sir, do you think that’s something you want live streamed?”
“Fuck, how long can he keep talking?”
“There’s no limit on Twitter.”
I was the CEO and a decision needed to be made. “Have him removed from the property. I’ll call Dani.” Currently, she was the chairwoman of the executive board.
Johnathon left as I called my sister on my cell phone. As soon as she answered, I asked, “Have you heard? Darius is airing family laundry on Twitter as we speak. He’s live streaming from in front of this building.”
“Fucking dick move,” she mumbled. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ve sent security to remove him from the property.”
“I have an idea. Meet me in ten minutes in the press room on one.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“Our brother is mentally unstable. It’s time the world is aware.”