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“Let’s just say I intend to take her to the heights of ecstasy and then drop her ass back down to the ground like she did me. Give her a taste of her own medicine.”
“I don’t know, dude. You sure you won’t end up holding the short end of the stick again? Any idiot can see that you’re not over her. I just don’t want her in there fucking with your head and shit. We do have a little multi-billion-dollar company to run.”
“Now who’s all about the Benjamins?”
“Hey, you’re the software engineer, I’m the business and marketing wizard.” He laughs. “That’s how this thing works.”
“Business managers come a dime a dozen. The talent, now that’s the truly the integral piece,” I shoot back, knowing he can hear the smile in my tone.
“Yeah, loser, but who can put a price on a best friend? The buddy who’s been there for you since your freshman year in college?”
“I hear ya. I’m not letting Rachel back in my head, you can count on it,” I say, not sure which one of us I’m really trying to convince. “I make her suffer and then I’m out. End of discussion.”
“Give me a timeframe,” Parker insists. “You talking a few days, weeks, months? What are we talking here?”
I think about that for a moment, considering the way Rachel’s eyes seemed to devour me like they did when she claimed to love me. The heat in her office was palpable—we could’ve gone at each other right there on her desk. The energy was alive, electric. This wouldn’t take me long. “I’d say four weeks, tops.”
“Okay, four weeks and then you pull the plug on all this revenge crap, right?”
“Yep, four weeks and I’m out.” My phone beeps, and my mother’s cosmetically enhanced face appears on the screen. “Parker, I gotta go. See you in the office, all right?” I hang up before he can reply. I take a deep breath, fortifying myself for whatever fresh bullshit Mom’s calling about. It’s always something with her.
“Francis, pumpkin,” she says even though I hate it when she calls me by my given name.
“Mom,” I reply evenly. “How are you doing?”
“Just fine, baby, just fine,” she squints into her phone. “Are you all right? You look tired.”
“I’m fine, Mom, just working hard.”
“I keep telling you to take some time off. Go somewhere nice and sunny. Lord knows you deserve a break,” she says, from a newly wrinkle-free face. She looks at least fifteen years younger than her actual forty-seven. That and the expensive salon-dyed blond hair has changed her so much that I’d barely recognize her on the street. If she gets a boob job, I swear, I’ll lose it.
“You do enough vacationing for the two of us.” I can’t resist the jab. I don’t think she’s stayed at the house I bought her for more than one month at a time. Suddenly, she’s a world traveler.
Her pale blue eyes widen. “Is that some sort of wisecrack? Do you know what all I gave up to raise you? Do you know what hopes and dreams I sacrificed to give you a decent life?”
“Mom, forget it, I’m sorry,” I say. I don’t need the guilt trip right now. “Is there something you need? Anything I can help you with?” I just want to cut to the chase, find out the exact amount of cash she needs transferred to her bank account.
“Why do you always think I’m calling for money?” she complains. “Can’t a mother call to check in on her son?”
“My apologies, Mom,” I say, calling her bluff. “But I’ve got a meeting that I need to attend, so if there’s nothing else…”
“Hold on, Francis.” Her voice rises. “Why do you always have to make this so hard? What difference could a few thousand dollars make to you? To me, it means the world.”
“How much, Mom?”
“You know I’ll pay you back as soon as Rick’s business picks up again.”
“How much?”
“Jesus, Francis. Fifty thousand and then that’s it, I swear.”
“It’ll be transferred to your account by the morning.”
She clasps her hands together. “Thank you, baby. I love you so much!” She makes kissy faces at the screen.
I ignore the memories of her going apeshit on me when she found out that I was dating Rachel. Back then, Mom and I were living in a rundown trailer park, surviving off government assistance while my dad served yet another prison term for possession with intent to distribute. Yet, somehow, she was more concerned that the neighbors would look down on us because I was dating a well-to-do biracial girl on her way to Harvard.
It was the first and only time I called my mom a fucking idiot.
