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There was a feeling in my gut that hadn’t been there since my third or fourth takeover. Back when this was all new and the excitement was almost as high as the wealth I was about to achieve. I’d grown accustomed and the thing I loved had become nothing more than a job that I could by then almost do by rote. There hasn’t been much in my life that gave me this feeling of impending joy.
Is that why I’d left? Was it fear? I do remember there was always a bit of fear mixed with the elation back then, but somehow nothing ever felt like this. Still, no one looking would ever guess at what was going on inside me. I had no worries that I was walking into a trap. Once I’d figured out that it was her friend, Simone, whose name I’d finally remembered, I started seeing her text as some sort of puzzle.
Having met her and being subjected to her brand of protective friendship where Emily’s concerned, and since I hadn’t felt anything but genuine interest on behalf of her friend the one time we met, I saw no need for apprehension. Of course I could be totally wrong and this could be someone else altogether, but still I wasn’t too worried about it. If I don’t like what’s on offer I’ll just turn around and leave. No harm done.
I kept myself occupied with pedantic bullshit so that I didn’t have to face the one thing that plagued me, not yet at least. I’d come as far as accepting that I knew even before I left here where this was all leading. It wasn’t the marriage thing that sent me into flight mode; it was her, Emily. I didn’t have to go to fucking Arizona to figure my shit out.
Shit, before I met her I was all over that damn company, it was to be another feather in my cap. Now it didn’t mean shit. For me that was very telling. That I was willing to give up a lucrative investment because it would mean being away from her, was all the proof I needed that she’d caught me. And all it had taken was one evening, when others had spent months without even an ounce of success.
There was obviously something going on here tonight, since there was already a line forming outside on a weeknight. Not that that’s necessarily unusual for this town, but it was noticeable. I left the car and followed the instructions I’d been sent which precluded me having to stand in line.
Inside the place was already packed and the noise level was at maximum. There was a stage highlighted where something was about to go down. I told the hostess exactly what I was told to say and was led to a table front and center. Now I was beginning to get, not nervous, but a little skeptical. I really didn’t know what this was about after all, only my suspicion that it had something to do with Emily.
I’d spent way too much time looking at the photo from the newspaper. Had gone so far as to hunt down the original article. I’d already got one photographer fired, but he was just an asshole. This guy didn’t write this drivel, he just happened to be in the perfect place to take what I have to admit is a very telling picture. No one seeing it could have any doubt as to what was going on there.
I’m not exactly thrilled that the rest of the world had a front row seat to my personal inner feelings, but then again only I knew what I was thinking just then.
17
Jason
The lights in the rest of the room were dimmed as the stage’s came up. I was relaxed back in my seat with the glass of cognac that had been brought over as soon as I sat down. I had no real interest in the drink, or the people around me, some of whom were giving me furtive looks and whispering behind their hands.
I’d already fielded more than a few interested looks from members of the opposite sex, but my only interest was in seeing whatever it was this Simone person wanted me to. How had she penned it? Oh yes, ‘it will be well worth your while’.
If she wasn’t who she is, I would’ve already been at Emily’s place by now. I missed her so fucking much. And strangely that longing only grew more now that I was back home, just a few miles away. I strummed my fingers against the tabletop as I waited for the show to begin, only now wondering what this whole thing could possibly have to do with Emily.
When the first young lady came out on the stage and that familiar ebony beauty took to the microphone, I was still in the dark. It was only when the auction started that I got an inking of what laid ahead. I tensed in my seat and was no longer in my lounging disinterested position.
