chapter seven
camilo
I’d been feeling pretty good about my ability to get through this first meeting with Thomas Hughes,until I saw his name like a beacon in my inbox.
Hours away from our first meeting I was sitting at my desk squinting at my computer monitor, a hesitant finger hovering over the keyboard like I was about to disable a ticking bomb.
I assumed it was just a confirmation the meeting was happening, but given my current emotional state, you’d think my computer was going to blow up the moment I opened the fucking thing.
After spending Sunday with my mother, I’d arrived at the office on Monday feeling like I could handle being around Tom without putting myself in a precarious position. That lasted a total of three hours, until Melissa asked me to read over the other philanthropic efforts Tom had been a part of over the last ten years.
Thomas Hughes, on paper at least, was not only ridiculously wealthy, gorgeous, and smart; he was agoodman. Which was why opening the email where he had probably typed perfectly charming and lovely words about our meeting today was going to blast the last of my already very vulnerable defenses.
“There you are!” I almost fell out of my chair when I heard Melissa’s voice. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Hi, Melissa,” I said with a lot less enthusiasm than she seemed to have today. The extra pep in her step could only mean she was here to talk about the renovation project, namely my meeting with Tom.
“Are you ready for this afternoon?” The inflection in her tone made it clear that she was well aware I was dreading this meeting. She had no clue it was because I’d had Mr. Hughes’s dick in my mouth nary a week ago. But she knew me well enough to know a welfare check was in order.
“Yes, I just got an email from him. I think it’s just confirming the time and place.”
“Oh great!” She grinned, her eyes lasered in on the back of my monitor. “Check to see what he said.” I reluctantly clicked on the message and quickly read the few lines he’d sent under Melissa’s scrutiny. As I suspected, it was a perfectly worded message. I took a deep breath and tightened my leg muscles as I stared blankly at the screen, trying, but failing, to not get taken in by the giddiness I felt about seeing him again.
I glanced at Melissa and almost laughed at her expectant expression.
“We’re on for three o’clock today. He said he’ll let me know where soon, because he’s got stuff going this morning and not sure where he’ll be, but that it’ll be around here.”
I tried not to sound annoyed with the whole “mystery location” drama.
Melissa didn’t seem too perturbed by the fact I might be lured into some seedy situation though; she just smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.
“Excellent. I’m sure he’ll come up with something convenient. He is such a considerate man.” She legit sighed. Tom’s juju had gotten to Melissa, too.
“So, I wanted to check in with you, because I just heard about a couple of potential developments that could put us on track to start this renovation even faster than we thought.”
“Oh?”
She leaned in before answering and she was smiling wide, so I expected this was more good news. “Sounds like Suarez Construction is available after all.”
I perked up at that. They’d worked for us in the past and had been incredibly professional, going out of their way to make sure our clients felt safe around their staff.
“That’s great, I thought they were working on that big health and wellness center for trauma survivors in Brooklyn though. Are they done already?” I asked handing Melissa the small bowl of candy on my desk she’d been eyeing. After she popped a Jolly Rancher into her mouth, she leaned in closer.
“Bueno, apparently there was someescandalo.”
The gossipy tone in her voice almost made me laugh. I knew it was going to be some good chisme if Melissa was speaking in Spanish. Melissa was a self-proclaimed Jersey Girl, but her wife, Rita, was a gorgeous Puerto Rican woman. They’d been together for like twenty years and married for ten. At this point Melissa could roll into any Latinx cookout and own the tíos in a Dominoes game without breaking a sweat.
“This gossip must be good, boss. You pulled that chair so close, you’re almost on my side of the desk.” She waved my shade off as she got to it.
“Well sounds like the project is not happening, at least not for now.” It was adorable how she whispered even though it was just the two of us in the office,andthe door was closed.
It was interesting news though. That wellness center had been the talk of the NYC nonprofit crowd all of last year. A wealthy family had offered to fund the project completely in partnership with an agency in Brooklyn.
“So what happened?”
Melissa got even closer. This shit must be real scandalous, because she was now practically sitting on my desk.
“Apparently the donor pulled out. It was a woman who used the services from the agency decades ago. She’s from a very wealthy family and through the years has been a big funder.” Melissa’s face hardened before she went on. “The word is that she found out one of the agency people working closely with the family started seeing the woman’s granddaughter. Who apparently isveryyoung, like barely eighteen.”
