AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Howard? As in ...
“Howard Ashford?” I croak.
I just hair sprayed the head of the company and spent the morning pissing off his son.
The Suit—Cole—smirks.
Cole fucking Ashford.
I have a feeling that smirk is going to haunt my dreams.
2
COLE
Imake it a full thirteen minutes into my weekly meeting with my dad before I start fantasizing about asking the unhinged blonde to spray him in the face again.
I can’t help it. His plan is so infuriatingly dumb.
And fine, maybe some of that fantasy has to do with seeing the blonde again. Amelia, that’s what her name was.
Amelia, who just laughed when I tried to order her around.
I drum my fingers on the arm of my chair.Why did she laugh?I wonder.What did she see in the morning that I didn’t?
My dad is still talking. And his favorite board member Todd Haversham is still sitting in the corner, nodding along like a worshipping bobblehead.
“Let me get this straight,” I interrupt. “You want to buy up a failing digital marketing agencywe’re already beating,and offload all of our current digital ad production to them?”
My dad leans in, rapt. He’s intense like this. Some might say magnetic.
Me, I just see controlling the man who broke my mother’s heart and almost ran a hundred-year-old company into theground. I was the one who came on board and rescued it. I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me for being a better version of him.
“Market research shows people associate Ashford Marketing withrealmarketing. Unforgettable PR events, iconic billboards, luxury ad placement no one else can get. Not this...” he makes a face of distaste and flicks his hand, “online stuff.”
I can already feel the headache coming on. The online stuff, as my dad calls it, is one of the ways I saved the company after his gambling debt drove it to the brink.
The only thing he couldn’t touch was the trust fund my grandma was smart enough to set up for me, and the properties she passed to my mom.
“If I have to tell you one more time why that is thedumbest fucking thing—”
“It doesn’t matter what you think,” My dad says. “I have the votes. This is happening at the next board meeting, whether you want it to or not.” He leans back, imperious. “Get on board.”
My eyes cut to Todd, trying to tell from his face if my dad is bluffing.
Todd raises a magazine in front of his face.
Which could mean he’s trying not to reveal my dad is bluffing. Or it could just mean he’s bored of our shit.
I don’t blame him.I’mbored of our constant fighting.
Fighting with Amelia wasn’t boring.The thought sneaks into my brain without my permission, along with the image of her flushed cheeks and tense body as she wrestled me for the cab door. The sound of her moaning as she ate her food. Or that husky, bell-like laugh.
I could make her go soft, I think, and then instantly regret it. She’s not some anonymous woman I can fuck in a hotel room to make a long night go faster. She’s working for me. And unlike my dad, I’d never risk hurting our company or the people who work here to satisfy my private vices.
I’d never gamble.
My dad’s talking again. I ignore him.
