Her brows knitted together as she struggled to get a sense of rationality into her brain. “Breht?”
The handsome orc was nodding at her with a wide smile plastered behind his sharp tusks. Clearly overjoyed that he’d been recognised.
“It’s good to see you again,” she said.
She could barely acknowledge that the man before her was the young kid from high school, always getting himself into scraps. There was no mistaking him, though. Rather than the scrawny, bruise-covered kid from the year below, there was a broad, well-built businessman. Brierley was at a loss for words for the rapid change in the lad who had been on the outskirts of her friend clique at school.
“And you,” he replied, “I didn’t make the connection.”
“What do you mean?” Brierley asked, not understanding what the orc was talking about.
She watched as he dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card. His suit had been made by the hand of an experienced tailor, and it radiated nothing but pure affluence. He was an orc of good taste, for the grey suit fitted his muscular frame perfectly. The sparkle of cufflinks at his wrists captured her attention, and she had the brisk thought of trying to sell him the pair of abalone-covered links that were displayed behind her.
The gesture for her to take his card was reissued. She took it eagerly from his hands and saw the dreaded embossed columns of the logo Merloft in the top corner. “I’m here from Merloft Corp.”
“Of course,” she said, tapping the card on her fingers. Talking with gestures of her hands as she always did when she started to become agitated.
She should have known that the orc hadn’t just come into her shop dressed to the nines to sweep her off her feet. Fixing all her problems and making life instantly work out for the better! But, in that fleeting moment, where she’d recognised him, somehow she had wanted to believe he was here to do just that.
He paused, clearing his throat. "I—" He smiled, self-conscious. "I had this whole speech planned on the drive over." He shook his head slightly. "It's completely gone."
He took a breath, collecting himself. Mouthing a few words before he started.
"As you know, we've recently acquired this block of buildings. Which means increasing demands."
"Rent," Brierley interjected. All thought of endearment towards him vanished the instant he started speaking corporate at her.
"On your business, and I'm here to offer my assistance in bolstering your profit margins and, ultimately, helping you survive the storm ahead."
In terms of pitches, it wasn’t much to go on and, in truth, came across as a bit arrogant. But Brierley had been distracted when Tori had come up behind the broad-shouldered orc and made inappropriate gestures with her hand and mouth towards him. She tried her absolute best to keep a straight face in light of her friend's foolishness, regardless of her agreement.
“What if I say, ‘No, thank you?” Brierley asked. “Will I be kicked out?”
“I can’t say what the future of these buildings will be, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Surely, the chance of making more than two hundred a month net profit would be beneficial?”
Brierley felt her face fall. Clearly, the little scamp from school was still in there, pushing for a fight, and he wouldn’t back down just because she’d insinuated she wasn’t interested. She felt her defensive walls rise and say, “How about I give you a call?” She indicated the card in her hand.
“I’d like that very much.”
She could taste the emphasis in his words, and the purr with which they were delivered, and a sudden flush came over her. She laughed, a childish, nervous giggle that she hadn’t meant. She held the business card a little tighter in her fingers as he waved with a flick of the hand as he exited the door. To say that she was intrigued by the return of her old friend was an understatement. The confidence with which he spoke attracted her, despite the circumstances. Underneath the pressing matters of her business, there was something else. The sweet, inappropriate lure of attraction.
Brierley stood there long after he had gone. Lost in a swirling sea of her own thoughts. Somehow, the atrocious state of her business wasn’t at the forefront. It was only when Tori came at her with a slide across the wooden floor the word, “Sooooo,” was dragged out across her mouth. “What do you think?”
Brierley looked at the card still in her hands, “I don’t know. Do we really need additional help? It feels so invasive. What if he tries to change everything? My heart and soul are in this place, I’d hate for it to become all corporate and impersonal,” she answered her friend’s inquiry. Believing she meant to ask what she thought about his business proposition.
Tori quirked a grin and added, “I was thinking he had a mighty fine ass, but that’s just me!”
Brierley flicked the card at her friend and sounded a non-committal agreement. But, she wasn’t going to argue. Every girl was crazy about a sharp-dressed man! Especially one that radiated confidence. Even if they dished out the dirty secrets she’d been trying to hide about her store.
“Are you seriously only making two hundred a month from this place?” Tori said, reclining against the edge of one of the tables.
“Yeah, and that’s on a good month,” Brierley admitted. There was no point in denying the take-home anymore. Not now that the truth was out of the bag. After all the expenses, rent and lack of customers willing to part with their money, Ohpaua was in dire straits and, if she admitted it, needed some sort of divine intervention in getting it back on its own two feet again.
“Then you have got to give him a call. I don’t get all that business pitch talk, but if he’s saying he could help you, then you grab that guy with both hands and don’t let go, you hear me?”
Her fingers took the card as it was offered to her once again, and she rapped it on her knuckles. “I’ll think about it,” she gave the same answer to her friend as she had to the businessman. Sure, he looked good. But, she couldn’t get the image of the young scamp out of her head. Could she trust someone who’d been so wild in school to have all the answers now? She shook her head, he wouldn’t be dressed so fine and hold such a prestigious position in a company like Merloft Corp on good faith alone. So, what was it that was really making her reluctant to jump in and make changes? The attachments she had to her business and the fear that she could lose everything she had ever built up. She’d worked so hard, put everything she had into the jewellery business, and if it faltered and lost its way now, she’d be crushed. But she couldn’t survive on the low income for muchlonger. Her savings were dwindling due to the everyday cost of living.
The touch of Tori’s hand rubbing her shoulder came on the wave of welcome comfort. Brierley placed her own fingers across her friends in gratitude.
