Chapter 24 #2
Cheyenne announced she needed to use the restroom and wanted an escort. I raised my brow at her, since this wasn’t something she did. She was never the type to play down her strength and tenacity.
“Moseley is just so smart and strong. I don’t want to be caught off guard.” She pulled him up out of his chair before he could protest. They disappeared down the hall with the label for the bathrooms.
Once alone, Auden cleared their throat. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” they started.
I tensed. “Yes?”
“It’s just that I noticed some things. You see, my sister is blind. Has been since she was a teenager. In all that time, I was the only one willing to help her, which means I got to see the progression of her loss, as well as how she learned to adapt.”
“And you noticed those same changes with me.”
They raised both hands. “I’m not trying to accuse. I figure if we’re working together, then we should be completely honest. You know all there is to know about me. I’m a fairly open book. All I’m asking is the same. How can I best serve the business and you?”
It was a relief in a sense. There was no hiding. No more pretense.
"I wasn't planning to mention it," I admitted. “The development is fairly new. I had hopes that bringing you on would fill in the gaps where I’m going to need help most. Contracts, for one. And correspondence too. I can still do calls and meetings. I just wanted to be…”
“Prepared. I get it, Grizzly. You haven’t offended me or scared me off. If anything, this feels even more like a meant to be scenario now. My sister is so going to rub this in my face later.”
I chuckled at the way they grumbled about it. While I didn’t have siblings, I had friends who felt like they were. Being annoying came with the territory at times.
“Hopefully I’ll meet her one day. She sounds fun.”
“Oh, she is. And she’s a handful. You’ll love her,” they agreed. "For what it's worth, the stuff you've built here seems solid. Cheyenne alone would make most agencies jealous."
"She knows it, too.”
"She should." Auden dipped his head to the side. "Also, Moseley is going to be completely useless for the rest of this lunch because I made the mistake of asking about the potential football draft lineup earlier today and apparently he has opinions. I plan to bring it up once they’re back."
"He always has opinions. He's right a good bit of the time, which is the annoying part."
Auden's mouth curved into a mischievous smile. "Good to know."
Cheyenne and Moseley tumbled back into their seats a minute later, the former smiling wide and the latter pouting. It wasn’t until I asked what was wrong that he sat up again.
“Auden was just asking about you both.” I winked at them to give the opening for the football conversation.
Sure enough, Moseley took the carrot Auden dangled before him. He chattered about the potential picks, trades, and losses ahead. The cautious version of him fled, his crush forgotten in the way of statistical data.
Auden listened with their chin in their hand and an expression that I was fairly sure they thought they were keeping neutral. It was very not neutral.
I watched the pair closely, noting just how well matched my intern and my new business partner were. It felt a bit inevitable, really.
I’d also, at some point along the way, decided that I liked Auden Keyes considerably more than I anticipated. It wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was very, very good.
Back in the office, I sent Moseley and Cheyenne to get to work on the contract for Auden. They’d both given me puppy dog eyes like it would change my mind.
“You’ll be seeing plenty of me soon. Then you won’t want to chat anymore.” Auden teased them.
I sensed they wanted to argue the point, but a hard look from me sent them on. Leading Auden to my office, I closed the door to give a hint of privacy.
"I'll send the revised version by the end of the week. Have someone you trust look it over. Don’t sign it blindly.”
"No worries there. My best friend’s dad is my guy. He loves me like family. I’ll have it back to you in no time.” Auden stuck out their hand one last time. “I’ve got a flight to catch, sadly. How soon would you want me to get here otherwise?”
“Whenever you can. I won’t tell you to drop the other agency. But I also won’t tell you not to.”
They laughed as I returned the handshake. Then they were telling the others goodbye. As soon as the door closed behind them, Cheyenne and Moseley came to my office.
Cheyenne said to no one in particular, "That went well."
"Very professional," Moseley added.
I coughed to cover the laugh that had slipped free. Meanwhile, Cheyenne rolled her eyes hard enough to make me dizzy.
Moseley grumbled. “I was completely professional!”
Those two could hash it out. I had a Daddy to text.
I wanted to share how the day had been good. Plus, it always relaxed me to see his name pop up on my screen. Sometimes he’d even tell me we could do voice notes, which was the absolute best. Hearing Daddy was de-lish-ous.
Grizzly: Daddy! It was such a good day. Met Auden. They were nice.
Daddy: Yeah? That’s good, baby. I can’t wait to hear all about them.
Grizzly: *smiling GIF*
Daddy: I’m glad you texted. Pops made a ton of food for dinner. You should come hang out with us. You still haven’t been inside the new place.
I looked at the message for a moment.
His pops had already decided I was family because of how I’d handled the draft. It was a quality I found both deeply comfortable and faintly alarming, because I didn’t have a lot of experience with that level of kindness. I kept waiting for it to have a condition attached.
It hadn't, yet.
Grizzly: What did he make?
Daddy: Unknown. He won’t tell me. Said that's the exciting part.
Smiling to myself, I agreed to come. He told me to be there at seven, which wouldn’t be an issue. Not with how excited I would be to tell them both about today.
I put my phone in my pocket and got back to work.