15. Oliver
CHAPTER 15
Oliver
B eing back at the office felt like coming home from a long trip, or waking from an extended dream. Everything was the same in many ways. But the company was in danger, and the tension could be felt in the words that didn’t get spoken, the things people didn’t ask. Those words would come—but everyone was walking softly around me at first, probably waiting to see if I’d bolt.
Rob avoided me for that first week I was back, finally coming by on Friday. “Slumming?” he asked, pushing through my office door and seating himself across from me. His face was tight, and there were dark circles under his eyes. “Just dropping through on your way to the liquor store, or are you planning to stay awhile?”
I fixed him with a glare, biting back the words that tumbled over each other to jump out at him. I wasn’t going to be that guy. Not anymore.
I could still remember the smell of Holland on my skin, the cling of her citrus scent reminding me that everything had changed. I had changed.
“I’m back,” I told Rob. “And I’m sorry I left you to handle things alone for so long. For too long.”
Rob widened his eyes and pressed his lips together in a mocking expression. I couldn’t blame him for being skeptical. He’d figure it out, though. Once I’d been here regularly, he’d start to trust me again, see that I wasn’t going anywhere.
“What do I need to know?” I asked him. I’d already sat down with Pamela, who turned out to be a fucking sponge, soaking up every bit of information that passed over any of the desks on the executive floor. She knew what had transpired at board meetings, who was on edge (Rob, mostly), and who was looking to leave (our corporate counsel, mostly, but I’d already handled that.) Things at Cody were not good, and it was my fault. I had a lot of work to do.
“Fuck, Ollie. This place is sinking. It might already be too late.”
I shook my head and stood, coming around to lean against the edge of my desk. “It’s not. I had a meeting with MLB Monday.”
His eyebrows shot up. “About . . . ?”
“We have a crackerjack analyst working down in sales. She came up with a new application for StrokeStat that is gonna breathe new life into Cody. We pitched it Monday.”
He shook his head, running a hand through his short dark hair. “You pitched it? I didn’t even know this was happening!” His face darkened, the eyebrows knitting together. “Look, man, you don’t get to just walk back in and take over. There are things you don’t know . . .”
I waited while Rob ranted. He deserved it. He’d been doing both our jobs for almost a year, it made sense that he felt ownership of the company and wanted to know what was happening. When he’d finished pacing around, he sat back down.
“You’re right. It happened quickly. I won’t take any more meetings without you knowing about them.”
“You think they’re gonna buy?” he asked, finally looking hopeful.
I nodded. “Holland is a genius. She got right to the heart of things. They almost don’t have a choice.”
“Holland . . .” Rob waved his hand absently and shook his head, trying to place the name.
“Holland O’Dell. Our new director of analytic application.”
“Director of . . . what?” Rob frowned. “Oliver. You’ve been back for like a day, you can’t just walk in and start handing out . . .” His voice slowed and then trailed off. “Shit, Oliver. Are you fucking this girl?”
I felt my lips press into a thin line. I wasn’t going to lie. Not to Rob, not to anyone. Adam and Sonja had lied to me my whole life, and as far as I was concerned, discovering the truth about being adopted had cast doubt on everything else they’d ever told me. Lies were poison and I wasn’t spreading any. But I didn’t want to out Holland, either. So I didn’t answer.
“Got it.” Rob stood again. He was full of some kind of nervous energy that made him move like an animated puppet, despite the clear exhaustion on his face.
“Hey,” I said. “It’s fine. Everything is gonna be fine now, man. And when we get things balanced again in a week or two, I want you to get out of here for a while. Take a break.”
“Yeah, I hear eight or nine months is the standard vacation around here now.”
I took the shot and shrugged. He was going to be angry with me for a while. I could handle it. “When’s the next board meeting?”
“Next month.”
“By then we’ll have MLB signed. That should quiet them down.”
“If half of them don’t sell first.” Rob shook his head. “There are investors from SonicCom breathing down their necks, ready to acquire whatever stock they’re willing to part with. We’ve already lost ten percent.”
“Hey. We’ve got fifty-one percent between us—you, me, and Tony,” I reminded him.
“You fired Tony.”
“So we get the shares back?”
Rob shrugged. “Not quite that simple. I’ll figure it out. We’ll get some of them.”
“Let’s get together this afternoon. I’ll lay out the MLB plan for you, get you feeling comfortable with it . . .”
Rob nodded and went to the door. He was halfway out before he turned back and actually smiled. “It’s good to have you back, man.”
It was good to be back. Even without Adam, maybe especially without Adam, I knew this was where I belonged now. I was still figuring out everything else in my life, but at Cody Technology I knew what needed to be done. Adam’s absence was painful, but maybe it was actually a good thing. I missed something that had never been true, a man who lied to me my entire life and made me feel worthless enough that I’d had to run to the other side of the world to find my own value.
“Pamela.” I buzzed the desk outside through the intercom.
“Yes, sir?” Her voice was professional and brisk, and I couldn’t help the smile that lifted my lips when I heard it. I stood and walked around the desk, opening my office door.
“It feels weird to talk through the intercom when you’re right here,” I said.
Pamela smiled, but Rob’s secretary stared with wide eyes and practically cringed when I walked out of my office.
“Get all the photos of Adam Cody taken out of the lobbies of the buildings, please.”
Her eyes widened and her eyebrows rose. Then her features cleared and she rose from her desk. “A word?” she suggested, pointing back into my office.
I raised an eyebrow at her but waved her into my office, where she stood and faced me behind the closed door.
“I won’t do that, sir.”
“Call me Oliver.”
“Oliver. I won’t take the pictures down.”
“I think you will.” I liked Pamela, but I didn’t like this, and my voice was icier than I’d meant it to be.
“Adam Cody cofounded this company. In honor of his memory, the least we can do is keep his picture up as a reminder of his contributions and his legacy.”
“Adam Cody was a fraud.”
She crossed her arms. “I won’t do it without a valid reason.”
“I could fire you,” I reminded her, though she knew I had no intention of doing so. “I could ask someone else. Rob’s secretary would just follow orders. Maybe I need a new secretary.”
“You told me you wanted a right hand. And here I am. Your father?—”
“He was not my father,” I interrupted, my mood darkening considerably.
She took a step forward and looked up at me, her eyes blazing. “Adam Cody raised you. He fed you, he clothed you, he sent you to school every day and paid your medical bills. I didn’t live in your house, so I don’t know, but I’m going to take a wild guess that maybe he and Sonja held you when you cried, told you stories at bedtime and kissed you good night. They probably calmed you when you were scared and taught you how to be a strong, capable leader. They instilled enough confidence in you—arrogance, maybe—to stand here today and order me to erase their memories. And I’m not going to do it.” Then in a softer voice she added, “I knew him, too, Oliver. For a long time.”
“It isn’t your call,” I said in a whisper, trying to push down the memories her words had brought surging back. My mother bending over me to kiss my forehead, my father teaching me to swim .
“Adam Cody was good to people here,” she said, her voice even and low. “You were not the only one to whom he acted as a father.”
I felt my eyes widen slightly as I wondered what the hell she was talking about. Her eyes had welled up and her face had reddened. There was something she wasn’t telling me.
“Fine. I’ll take care of it later,” I told her.
With a curt nod, she spun on her heel and left my office. And I sat down to think about what kind of man Adam Cody really was, the fury inside me draining until all I felt was the simmering sadness that had lived in me for the last few months. I still hated him.
But God, I missed him.
That afternoon I had just sat down with Rob when Pamela buzzed. “Holland O’Dell is hoping to speak with you?”
I tried to stop the wild grin from dashing across my face, and turned my head from the table so Rob wouldn’t see it. I’d asked Holland to pop up, but hadn’t expected her yet. I’d hoped to lay the groundwork first. “Send her in. Thanks, Pamela.”
A moment later, Holland walked through the door, and I stood up from the small round table where I’d been sitting across from Rob. I wished I knew what exactly it was about that girl, but the second I saw her, it was like every cell in my body vibrated. My dick twitched and my blood heated, and now—after what had transpired on her desk earlier this week or the stolen kisses I’d managed in the days that followed—I couldn’t stop the images that flitted through my mind. And those did nothing to help me regain control of myself. I waved Holland in and introduced her to Rob, but what I wanted to do was wave him out and nail her against the office door.
She wore a slim black pencil skirt and a soft blue blouse that showed her curves but still managed to be completely professional. Her hair was hanging in loose waves around her face, over her shoulders, just brushing the tops of her breasts. And those bright blue eyes were sharp and clear, and focused on my face as her perfect pink lips moved.
“Earth to Oliver,” she said, in a voice that told me she’d probably said something else that I’d completely missed because I’d been busy letting my mind wander over her generous curves.
“Right,” I said quickly, straightening my tie and gesturing to a chair next to Rob. “Let’s give Rob a quick rundown of the presentation we made to MLB, get him up to speed.”
Holland nodded, her eyes on my face. “I brought my laptop. I can pull up the presentation.”
“Sure,” I agreed.
Rob’s eyes hadn’t left Holland since she’d walked into the room, and I began to feel my blood heat for a totally different reason. Rob’s focus on her was complete. Whatever Holland had that pulled me to her, Rob felt it, too. And I didn’t like that at all.
“Do you mind if I stand?” Holland asked. “It’s easier for me to focus if I can walk a little.”
“By all means,” Rob said, his smile just a touch too wide .
Holland began her presentation, just hitting the high points this time, not getting into the weeds as we’d done before. To my surprise, she didn’t stop and signal me to discuss the tech application. She repeated the presentation I’d given, almost word for word. There wasn’t a single point where I needed to correct or clarify. If I had thought Holland O’Dell was amazing before, now I was floored. The woman was incredible, and I felt a surge of something that felt oddly like pride. As if she was mine to be proud of.
Rob asked a few questions, and when Holland finished, they were discussing the application in glowing tones, but I couldn’t focus on the words. My eyes were on Holland, but my thoughts were swirling around the revelation I’d had while she spoke. I wanted her. But not just in my bed. I wanted her to be mine, and that was a completely new sensation. I’d had relationships before—mostly because I had felt like being exclusive was the next natural step along the dating and fucking continuum. But I’d never been too serious about anyone, even Celia. She’d been part of the package I’d been handed—never something I’d decided I wanted.
And after everything that had happened in the last year, I had told myself I would never let anyone close. Loving people . . . well, that just set you up, didn’t it? If you loved someone enough, you gave them all the power. The power to control you, to own you . . . the power to hurt you. I had thought I was too smart for that. I’d been wrong. I had chosen Holland; I just hadn’t realized how much I’d meant it when I said it to her in the bar.
I sat there, watching Holland’s face light up as she discussed the applications of her idea, as she told Rob about the people at MLB, how they’d received our presentation. I sat there and realized I’d already lost the power and given it all to her, in only a week. If anyone had told me it would happen this way, I probably would have walked away, muttering curses under my breath about the impossibility of the idea.
The way I saw it now, I had two choices: go all in, or get all the way out. As I watched the way Holland’s perfect pink tongue darted out to lick her lips as she glanced at me, I realized I’d never be strong enough for the latter. I was in.