by Wolf, Alex
I shrug. “You pay for the best, you get the best advice. It’s that simple.”
“Okay, so what about products?”
“I’d draw up plans for both. Gym expansion and products. See which have the higher margins. Hell, why don’t you do both? You already have an infrastructure built for selling products. I’ve been in your gyms and you’re basically a store for other brands right now. And I would look and see how much cheaper you could have your own supplements made, versus what you already have. You sell them for a profit already, right?”
“Yeah. It’s not much, but we make a few million each year from the sales.”
“I think when you sit down and crunch the numbers, you’ll find expansion the best option, financially. When you do that, you’ll increase your product sales anyway. More gyms, more product going out the door.”
“I think my reasoning for doing products is more brand related anyway. It gets me in front of more people. More people see Curve, maybe they think about coming to the gym.”
“It’s probably a good idea, but if you go to investors and say, hey, I want you to give me money to invest in these products, but it’s to increase my margins in my other business you don’t own a part of…” I hold out my hands and shrug.
“I see what you’re saying. That makes sense.” He mulls it over for a second. “Fuck, you’re good. I see why they hired you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Dexter glances at his watch. “Well, I think you have some stuff to think about. We can run the numbers. Oh, and here.” He hands over a card. “Harlow wanted me to give you this. She just started a firm here in the city.”
Cole’s eyes light up, just a tiny bit, when he hears the name.
“I actually have a meeting with her when I get back to the office. She’s going to do some work for us. Give her a call. She’s young, smart as fuck, and she can help you with all the marketing and that type of shit while you’re planning. She’s a genius at all the new digital stuff. Get your proposition and everything together. Let me know if you want an associate of ours to help you draft it, but I think your people here can handle all the detail work. We’ll start shopping for the right investors and set up meetings.”
“Sounds awesome, man.”
All of us stand up and we shake hands.
“Thank you, guys, so much. I’m really excited and it’s a serious relief to know you have my back and can provide guidance on this. I mean that.”
“No problem,” says Dexter.
“Yeah, anything at all, just call.” I smile.
We walk back, using the same route as before and head toward the bank of elevators.
Once we’re inside, Dexter turns to me.
Before he can get a word out, I say, “Did I pass?”
He laughs. “Yeah, you passed.”
“Good, I was a little nervous.”
“Oh, like hell you were.” He laughs again. “Great job. You said the exact same things I would’ve told him.”
“It’s no problem. That’s why you hired me.”
He eyes me for a moment, as if assessing everything about me, then nods. “Yeah, I think it’s going to work well.”
It should, if I can avoid your damn brother every day.
* * *
After we Uber back to the office, there’s a younger woman, maybe mid-twenties, waiting for Dexter. She’s gorgeous and intimidating. She’s scowling and looks like she could kick any man’s ass that even looked at her funny, but the second she sees Dexter her eyes light up.
She has on a super-cute, knee-length A-frame cocktail dress. It’s black and sleeveless. She has tattoos down both arms that are gorgeous. Her hair is jet black and she has icy blue eyes.
She looks like a female version of the Collins brothers and she must be the cousin Dexter has a meeting with. It’s confirmed a moment later when she says, “Cousin!” and gives him a huge hug. Then she leans back and says, “Shit, sorry. Not very professional.” She holds out a hand and keeps it there until he finally laughs and shakes it.
“This is Paisley.” He turns to me and makes eye contact. “She’s new at the firm. Just moved back from New York City.”
“Oh man, I love Manhattan.” Harlow shakes my hand.
Holy shit. She damn near crushes my fingers with her grip. She shakes hands like a damn man. I wonder if the Collins brothers made her this way, growing up around all boys. I don’t think they had any sisters, but Donavan rarely talked about his family at law school.
“Yeah, it’s great. I’m from the Chicago area originally, so it’s nice to be home around family.”
“Oh yeah, where’d you grow up?” She says it almost like it’s a test.
What is it with the Collins family and their questions?
“Barrington.”
“North side, right on. Okay, well…”
Dexter jolts a little, like he zoned out for a minute. “Yeah, right. The meeting, let’s do it.”
They start back toward the conference rooms, but I need to walk the same direction. I hang back, about ten feet behind them. I don’t want them to think I’m tagging along for their meeting. I don’t want to seem presumptuous or anything, make things uncomfortable.
Turns out, I don’t have to do anything to make things awkward, because Donavan comes walking toward us and smirks right at me, like he won the pissing contest with his little email.
Shit. I really need to avoid him.
“Hey, Harlow.” He gives her a hug and smiles. His eyes turn to ice the second they land on me, but he recovers quickly. “What’s going on? You having lunch with Dexter and didn’t invite me?”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m actually meeting with him to talk about maybe working with the finance department on some marketing.”
Dexter looks away, like he’s praying Donavan will leave it at that. I get the feeling it’s not the reaction he expects, but the one he wants.
“Is that so?” Donavan’s words are drawn out. He turns to Dexter. “Does Decker know about this?”
Dexter glares and looks like he wants to wail on Donavan but doesn’t want to make Harlow uncomfortable.
Too late, Dexter. We’re already there.
“What are you? In fifth grade? Does Decker know about this?” He gestures with his head toward the conference rooms. “Come on, Harlow. I know you’re busy. Let’s get to it.”
Donavan’s teeth are clenched. I know the look, seen it a million times. He’s doing his best to stay calm, but his hands are fidgety. I can practically feel the tension radiating through his body. A tiny vein pops out on the side of his neck. “Just curious because nobody notified me. I figured you must have spoken with the other managing partner before you’d set a high-level marketing meeting regarding the use of firm resources.” His eyes dart over to mine, then back to Dexter.
Harlow shrinks back a little, something I didn’t expect from her. She looked so stoic and confident before. But she’s young, and I get the feeling it’s because it’s family. Everything is always personal with family.
Dexter stares blankly, looks at Harlow, then right back at Donavan. “Okay, I apologize. It was clearly an oversight on my part. Can we discuss this later when a potential consultant is not present?”
Donavan grits his teeth, but says, “Fine.”
Oh boy.
Harlow turns to Dexter. “Sorry, let’s just do this another time, after you’ve talked to Donavan or whatever.” She heads for the door.
Dexter holds his arm out and stops her, but his eyes never leave Donavan’s. “No. We’re doing the meeting today. I gave you my word, at Thanksgiving. After you gave me the best damn pitch I’ve ever heard and convinced me you could help my department.”
She freezes up, not knowing what to do. I can already tell what happened. Harlow just started a new firm and probably went to Dexter at Thanksgiving, when the family was together. Talked to him about consulting with the firm. I feel bad for her. It probably took a ton of courage to do that and
now Donavan is shitting all over her. Why? I have no idea. Because he’s always pissed off at the world, maybe? Because I’m standing here? Damn it! I should’ve walked away. I didn’t even think maybe he saw me and that’s why he’s doing this.
Dexter hooks his arm around Harlow, like a big brother would do, then leads her over toward the conference room away from Donavan. Seriously, if she didn’t look like she was made of steel, she probably would’ve broken down into tears.
Dexter squeezes Harlow a little more around the shoulders, and once she’s inside the room with the door closed, he storms back over and gets in Donavan’s face. “I’m not running shit by you and you better be gone when we’re done.” He sneers and looks Donavan up and down like he’s disgusted. “Jesus.” Then he walks back to Harlow.
I’m still standing there, because I don’t know where the hell to go. I glance around and all the other employees have their heads popped up from their cubicles or out of their offices, but they’re glancing around, pretending not to pay attention.
Donavan’s eyes roll over and meet mine. I don’t know exactly what he sees, but I’m pretty sure I’m scowling because inside I feel like I could tear his damn head off.
He scoffs, shakes his head, then storms away, down a hallway back toward Tate’s office.
Like an idiot, I stand there for about two seconds, then chase after him.
He rounds a corner and I follow, getting madder with each step I take. Heels are such bullshit too. I’d pay good money to be able to walk around in flats like the men. It’d make running this asshole down ten times easier.
I get to the end of the hall and see the door to the stairs close.
Gotta be fucking kidding me.
I go up two flights of stairs and see an exit door. It’s the only place he could’ve gone. I push it open and it’s a rooftop. It’s gorgeous too.
You can see all of Chicago from here, Lake Michigan to the east, the skyline all around.
Donavan’s eyes meet mine and his face turns even more red. I don’t give a shit. I stomp toward him and he looks like he’s about to lay into me, but I don’t give him the satisfaction.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
He sneers. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me, dickhead.”
He tries to walk past me, right back to the exit door, but I step right in his path. “Don’t, Pais. Don’t fucking do it.”
“Why did you do that? Right in front of her like that?”
“It’s a family matter and none of your goddamn business. Just like you have no business being at my firm.”
“God, you’re an asshole.” I shake my head, then look down at the ground. “Tell me one thing and just be honest. Did you take your frustration out on her because I was standing there?”
He scoffs again, and it’s so annoying and petty when he does it. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
I look up at him, trying to be civil and plead with him for just one second. “Could you not see your cousin’s face? I don’t even know her, and I could tell you destroyed her. And she looks mean, like she could take a punch.”
He tries to say something, and I cut him off again.
I start to put my hand on his chest but stop myself when I realize what I’m doing. “Which means you must be really close with her, like a big brother. From what I could tell, this was a huge moment for her, and you steamrolled right over it. So, my previous question still stands. What the hell is wrong with you?”
He pauses for a second, and gulps. His face pales and becomes a little less red, like he’s finally processing his actions. His voice calms. “I’ll deal with Harlow. But I’m not discussing this with you.” He turns to walk away.
“Do you still hate me that much?” My words hit him right in the back.
He freezes and exhales an audible breath. “I don’t…hate you. I just don’t understand why you’re here. You know there’s shit between us.”
I walk around and get in front of him, forcing him to look at me. “You think I want to be here? I have to be here. For personal reasons.”
“So you say.” His eyebrows pinch together.
“You don’t trust me, but I’m not the one who did anything to ruin the trust between us.”
“No. That’s not what I mean.” He shakes his head. “Why here, at my firm? You could work at a thousand other places in Chicago.”
My jaw clenches. “Why does it bother you so much? Because I beat you at school seven years ago?”
“Please, I’m over that.”
“Sure you are. It’s completely obvious. Why do you always have to be in control of everything? You were like that at Columbia and you’re like that now. You can’t stand anyone being better than you at anything. I was just doing my best at school and I beat you. I will never apologize for that.”
“I said I’m over it.”
“Then what’s the real problem?”
His face screws up tight. Like seven years of resentment just bubbled to the surface. “I’m done discussing this.”
“You owe me an explanation. What, you don’t want me around your family?” Judging by his reaction I just nailed it.
He gets in my face. “You don’t know shit about me and my family.”
“Yeah, and that’s my fault?”
He stands there, shaking his head like he wants to murder someone, completely silent.
“No, you never talked about them, remember?”
“You have no reason for being here.”
I reach for his arm, trying my best to hold back tears that are forming. I told myself I’d never cry again, but I don’t know how much longer I can take this. “Why did you do that to me at graduation? I told myself I didn’t care, even years later, but I was lying to myself. Why did you do that to me?” My voice rises when I ask the last question.
Do not cry. Pull yourself together. Don’t let him know he can still get to you.
He sighs and looks down at me. His face softens, just a hint, but he still doesn’t say anything.
“Tell me, please. I deserve to know.”
His jaw clenches. “I have to go.”
“Donavan please.”
He takes a step toward me. All the anger leaves his face and there’s nothing but regret on it now, like he’s warring with himself not to give in. “I didn’t mean to…”
“Well, you did. Why?”
He stares out at the lake for a long few seconds, refusing to make eye contact. “I can’t do this right now. I need to go. Just…meet me for a drink later. Maybe we can talk about some…”
I shake my head, cutting him off. “No. You don’t get to set the terms.” I turn to start for the exit door.
“I did love you, whether you believe me or not.” His words hit me in the back. “Just have a fucking drink with me later, Jesus. Maybe we can be civil and get along while you’re here.”
I feel the tears still burning at the corners of my eyes and I won’t give him the satisfaction. I shake my head. “You just had a chance to come clean and you didn’t.” I don’t even look back as I say the words.
My feet fly down the stairs, hoping he won’t catch up to me.
When I get back to the office I don’t stop. I head straight for the elevator and ride it to the parking garage. My heels clack on the concrete as I walk to my car. I yank the door open, get in, and shut it behind me.
Everything slams into me at once and I gasp for air.
What the hell are you doing here, Paisley?
The tears start and I can’t hold them back. I cover my face and cry straight into my palms. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way when I came to work here. Now, I can’t breathe and it’s worse than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. I want to curl into the fetal position and never show my face to the world again.
I glance at my face in the rearview mirror. So much for not crying a second time.
Donavan
I walk into The Gage after work
and Penn’s waiting at the bar. He gives me a head nod when I walk in.
What a fucking day.
I can’t believe I froze up like that on the roof. I just couldn’t say the words, couldn’t tell her. Can’t believe I did that to Harlow either. Fuck, I crushed both of them. I’m on a damn roll.
What the hell is wrong with you?
I need a scotch, or four. I rub the back of my neck as I walk over. Could I do what Penn’s doing? Just do nothing and travel for a while? Fuck some women and enjoy life on a beach or something? I have the money for it.
Don’t be stupid. You’d go crazy.
I know my brain is right. I have to be competing, winning in the courtroom. It’s the only thing that makes me happy. That and getting laid, until Paisley blew back into town like a fucking tornado.
I take a seat next to Penn and he already has a Glenlivet neat sitting in front of my stool. I knock it back with one gulp.
“Damn, hell of a day?”
I nod. “The worst.”
“What happened?”
“Had it out with Pais. Shit all over my little cousin. Take your pick.”
He turns and leans in, suddenly interested. “Damn, what happened with Pais?”
I sigh and tell him everything. Well, the important parts anyway.
“Fuck.” He stares up at the ceiling, like he’s reminiscing. “Man, she really did change after law school.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you remember how nice she was at school? She’d do anything for anyone. Always polite. I thought you two would get married and she wouldn’t even use her law degree. Just start making little Donavans. I think that’s all she wanted. You could tell.”
“Yeah, she used to talk about it all the time.”
Penn shakes his head. “Not anymore. She’s a fucking stone-cold killer. You definitely changed her.”
“You’re not helping.”
Penn laughs. “Well fuck, it’s true. You did her a favor anyway. Look how successful she is. She made partner at Cooper. That’s like being a Yankee right out of high school. Youngest person to ever do it.”
“I don’t think she’d see it as doing her a favor. Is she really that ruthless now?”