Aftermath Book Two Crash Series

Chapter Forty-Four

Mason

            “Miss. Kendrick, I do have to be upfront with you and apologize it seems I’m a bit underprepared for our meeting. My father’s sudden vacation has, as I’m sure you can imagine, filled my schedule quite a bit heavier than I expected.” I move my eyes from the computer to her as I skim the file. My admission pleases her if I’m reading her correctly. She leans forward in her chair but keeps her head high and her shoulders back as she settles her defined chin on her delicate palm.

            If I looked where she wants me to I’m sure I’d know if she’s wearing a bra or not under her dress but I keep my eyes directly on hers or my computer screen. There's information about her company I know off hand but typically in a meeting like this one, I would have had a whole team do intense research on not only the company but Miss. Kendrick herself. It pays to know who you’re working with, I’m certain of that now more than ever.

            Is she a drama queen like Lauren, only in her position because of nepotism or a pretty body? Will she develop selective hearing when it comes to no as she continues to be persistent in her pursuits? A quality typically appreciated when it doesn’t come at the expense of others. From her behavior so far her pursuits are a hard no and have no room in our line of business, to begin with.

            Or is she taking the situation for what it is, feeling me out and trying to see where it gets her? Hoping we can start an affair and have a business relationship, but would she be so out of the loop as to not know I’m seeing someone, engaged. No, not with the coverage we’ve had. Her persistence is nothing more than bothersome, making me question how important having this company as a partner really is?

            My quick conclusion remains the same, I need to nail this meeting. The bigger we grow the company and the sooner we rid it of all bad partnerships and leadership the sooner we can start funneling our insane profits back into the communities that have made us so big. Jaxson and I hope by doing so we’ll inspire some of our partners to do the same.

            We’re not naïve enough to assume they’ll all follow suit but we can find replacements for those who will not, with companies that will. At least until I get my ass in a shiny Senate seat and start making policies that mandate the behavior of every company and individual myself included.

            I don’t intend to be a billionaire forever, I don’t want to be. I have so much money I could retire today and never have to work a day in my life, neither would my children or grandchildren and their grandchildren would still be rich. There’s not a person on this earth who needs the wealth I have but I can’t afford to give it up until I get to where I need to be.

            In the meantime, I do what I can. Donate where I see a need, create new organizations and new companies under different ownership names that only list me as an initial investor. Aria’s business isn’t the first I’ll never see a dime of return from and I’m more than happy with that outcome. I seek it out, doing my part to distribute the wealth as much as I can well ensuring I don’t lose my respect or position among the rich and entitled assholes that will ensure I get voted in.

            It’ll be my policies and actions after that that keep me there and that fight alone will cost billions as I fight against some of my fellow giants who have secretly and quietly funded American and world politics for far too long. If I don’t have the money, independently, I’ll never stand a chance at re-election well-destroying everything big corp stands for. No, they’ll use everything they have to fight against me assuming they’ll win like always.

            But they won’t. A lesson I can thank my father for, one of the few, is to always be prepared. Prepared I am. I intend to shift the dynamics of politics and the world as a whole and there’s no more time to waste. There’s a new statistic every day that has my gut-churning between social injustices to climate change we’re on a timer, it’s now or never.

            I’m sure Miss. Kendrick wouldn’t want me nearly as much if she knew my plans, my end goal. Right now she sees dollar signs and elegance. A partnership or scandal that would get her name out there or benefit her in some way. I can’t wait to pop her bubble.

            “Oh by all means take your time Mason. You’re my last meeting of the day. I do hope you’re father is feeling better?” Her voice is high-pitched and sharp it’s off-putting and does the opposite of what she's hoping for. Oh, she’s definitely giving me Lauren personality-type vibes.

            f**k this is going to be a b***h to maneuver.

            Grabbing my pen that’s carefully and precisely positioned parallel to my black mouse mat and my notebook I keep off to the side I open it to a blank page and start labeling the entry. My notes are as organized as the rest of my life, minus the Aria portion which increasingly becomes more chaotic while ironically being the favorite part of my life.

            “He’s doing just fine, enjoying the warmth with my mother. Tell me how did my father manage to land a meeting with Lightening? We’ve been trying to partner for years.”

            “I’ll tell you as soon as you pour me a drink.” Her chair makes no sound as she pushes it back and stands. I follow suit, if it was anyone else I would have offered her a drink already, or had my research long before she walked through the door knowing what she liked so I could offer her the cup as soon as she entered.

            Sighing I realign the cuff of my sleeves and brush my shirt out, looking at my watch as I walk to the bar, ignoring the way she’s purposefully swinging her hips in an invitation to look. Now time seems to have slowed down, it’s only been three excruciating minutes since she arrived.

            “You have a good selection.” She runs her fingers down the glass top of my office bars along the sides of the crystal bottles the liquors rest in. Underneath the bartop is a cooler filled weekly with fresh lemons, limes, oranges, and mixers galore. Even a bottle of white wine, all for meetings like this one. The scotch alone is good enough for me.

            “Thank you. What will you have I’ll make it, you can have a seat.” The truth is I don’t want her anywhere near me, nor do I want to veer off track.

            Once more she grabs my arm, this time she wraps her hand around my bicep with a purr of satisfaction. That rage I was feeling earlier is quickly becoming more and more aggressive and demanding. I’m starting to think I should call this meeting a loss and the second she walks out the door get on the phone with the CEO or any executive or their secretary I can get ahold of to try and save this deal in any way I can.     

            If not, I’ll know Dixie was better off without them, no matter how many jobs their partnership would create nor the profit. Jaxson and I can make it up somewhere else. It’s not worth whatever issue this is already.

            I’m about to shove her hand away and let her know how I really feel when the woman I want walks through my door looking like she’s on a destructive mission. I couldn’t be happier to see her. I was right too, there's no comparison between the two of them, Aria’s clearly come straight from Shirley’s. Her black leggings are covered in white flour and goopy red s**t dotted in between. She wore her smaller winter coat today, it’s bright yellow and thin but still warm. Her hair is thrown up in a messy bun, the fallen strands are stuck to the edges of her forehead and around her ears.

            Even her wicked blue eyes which are zeroed in on Miss. Kendrick’s hand placement, have her looking far more beautiful than the woman beside me. Maybe this won't be so hard to navigate, after all, Aria can help me with this one, and then I can find out why it is she's here.