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“I know her plenty, and we have the rest of our lives to get to know each other. So, what are my options?”
Jeremy laid out several financial options for Memphis while he took notes and made lists for Rylee to look over. He had no idea how Rylee was going to react to him wanting to take care of her this way, but he would make sure she accepted it in the end.
“I’ll talk to her and see what appeals to her most. If she refuses to discuss it, I’ll just pick something. I aim to be married to her within a month.”
Jeremy just shook his head and gave him a sad look. “I want to be happy for you, man. But you’re being reckless, and I can’t support it. But you’re paying for my services, so I’ll give them to you.”
Memphis stood and walked to the window. Phoenix wasn’t the most beautiful city in the world, but it had been good to him. He was ready to start his life with Rylee though, and he had a lot of work to do to move his headquarters.
“Where are we on the paperwork to move me to Vegas?” he asked as he propped an arm up on the window and rested his head against it. “I would like to have the house on the market and be out of Phoenix in the next six weeks max.”
“House on the market won’t be a problem. Business stuff may require a few more trips back, but you already have offices in Vegas, so most of it will just be about transferring day-to-day operations. Of course, you could always leave those here and let someone else be in charge.”
Memphis turned and stared at Jeremy. “Seriously? It was not paying close enough attention to the day-to-day operations of the company that landed me in this mess to begin with. No, I’ve already told you I’m tightening my circle, not expanding it.”
Jeremy held up both hands. “Hey. I’m just laying out the options. You want to tighten your circle and micromanage your team, be my guest. But you’re going to put yourself in an early grave if you don’t prioritize a little differently.”
Memphis hated that the lawyer was right, and he wanted to make a life with Rylee that was more than just his company. The best way to do that was to make sure his business circle was tight until this blew over and he could rebuild his reputation.
“I appreciate your concern and all your hard work. Trust me when I say I’m not just thinking with my dick. Please work with me on this, Jeremy. Let’s get a plan together that doesn’t involve leaving the day-to-day operations in Phoenix. That doesn’t work for me. I’ll take the executive staff with me who are willing to relocate, and others can work remotely from the Phoenix office. Get HR and other appropriate departments involved as soon as polygraphs are finished.”
Jeremy nodded. “It will take a lot of time to get through all the polygraphs. You have to let your people schedule them.”
Memphis dropped into his chair and picked up his phone. He needed to deal with Rylee. She was angry with him, and she had a right to be. But he’d hoped their brief session on the phone at lunch time would have calmed her anger a little more. Something had happened to flair it back up but having that conversation with her while she was drunk didn’t seem fair. Instead of calling her, he messaged her security detail to make sure she was safe. She was, so he turned his attention back to his work. He would talk to Rylee tonight before she went to sleep.
Chapter 10
Ryleedrainedabottleof water as the SUV pulled into the parking garage at the convention center where the tournament would take place. Like an idiot, she’d let irritation with Memphis cloud her judgment and Carla had gotten her more than a little drunk on the strip yesterday.
Now she faced a tournament with a hangover. Though, thanks to Memphis, it wasn’t as bad as it might have been. When she’d finally arrived home last night, a nurse with an IV of vitamins and fluids had been waiting for her along with a note from Memphis telling her not to argue.
“Miss Colton, I see a crowd at the entrance, and there may be reporters among them. Stay close, please and let us get you through it.”
Rylee nodded as she tossed the empty bottle onto the seat beside her.
One member of the security team stepped out and opened her door while the other waited at the back of the vehicle. She knew for a fact there was another SUV of men behind them, but she wasn’t sure if they would follow her in or not.
As they approached the entrance, three people who were clearly reporters emerged from the crowd.
“Miss Colton, is it true Memphis Foster paid to have the poker tournament moved so you could play in it while he took his mistress back to Arizona?”
She rolled her eyes and did her best not to smack the mini recorder out of the reporter’s hand.
“Miss Colton has no comment,” one of the men beside her said as he pushed past the reporters and led her into the stream of tourists pouring into the building.
“How the fuck did they guess which entrance I would use?”
“They likely have people at each of the main entrances ma’am,” the nameless man on her right said.
Once they were fully inside the lobby of the convention center, she took a deep breath. She could do this. It was just like any other tournament. She’d done this dozens of times.
After checking in, she found a chair in a corner and put in her earbuds. Her mind worked overtime, but she got through a round of deep breathing exercises before she opened her eyes again and looked around the room. There were several people missing from this tournament that she viewed as the heavy competition, so that should make it easy to get to the final table. As Rylee sat examining the other competitors roaming the room and socializing, someone dropped into the empty chair next to her.
“Hey, Colton. Rumor has it you’re leaving the circuit to marry a rich guy.”
She frowned at Jeff Harris, a player she’d faced at the final table several times over the years. “Where the hell did you hear that?”
Jeff shrugged. “Just telling you what the gossip is. Apparently, your mystery man paid to make sure this tournament happened so you could play in it before the wedding and it’s going to be your last one.”
