Page 27 of Drunk on You

“He’s in the conference room,” she says, “having lunch with Anastasia.”

I stop in my tracks at her words. “In the conference room?”

He hasn’t had lunch in there since …

“Yep, and today’s Wednesday,” she notes, having been here long enough to know what that day symbolizes.

I walk around the corner and stop when I see Samuel and Red sitting together at the table, eating their lunch. She throws her head back in laughter, and even though I can’t hear her, I imagine the melodic sound that comes from her. She smiles softly at her dad, and my heart clenches in my chest. Only a few short days ago, she was smiling at me, laughing with me, kissing me, and I was imagining what it might feel like to settle down.

Now, despite the fact that I’m still attracted to her, she’s the enemy, and regardless of what she told her dad about us not having any hard feelings, I know damn well if I get the CEO position, Anastasia will not take it well.

I watch as she rests her hand on her dad’s arm and her eyes crinkle in happiness. A part of me is happy for them, happy that Samuel finally has his daughter back after all these years. I know how much he missed her. The hurt that would cross over his features when he’d talk about her.

But another part of me—the selfish part—knows this is a problem. It doesn’t matter what I do, what pitches I come up with, how much I prove that I’m clearly the better candidate to take his place as CEO, Anastasia has something I don’t have—his blood running through her veins.

She said it herself—she’s his daughter. He might consider me a son, but she’s his flesh and blood, and there’s no fucking way I can compete with that. It isn’t going to stop me from giving it my all, just like I’ve given this company everything of me for the past twenty years, but if she gets the position I’ve earned because of her last name, I don’t think I could continue to work here.

I shake those thoughts from my head. There’s no point in driving myself crazy with what-ifs. Once Samuel makes his decision, I’ll go from there. The fact is, I’ve worked my ass off over the years, and even though I don’t have a fancy degree, I have the experience, and many companies would jump at the chance to hire me. They’ve tried to recruit me on more than one occasion, but I love working at Kingston, I’m loyal to this company, and I’ve always thought I would stay here until I retired.

Still needing the signatures, I leave them on his desk with a sticky note and then go back to my desk to delve into my idea. I’m not gonna lie. It’s been a while since I’ve been on this side of things. The marketing team usually handles the pitches, and I’m the one to approve them. Which is another reason I’m concerned. I did my research on Anastasia once I found out who she really was, and to say she ran the marketing team at Benson would be putting it mildly. According to a few of her former colleagues I spoke with, she was practically running the company, and now, Victoria Benson is struggling to replace her.

She was clearly an asset there and knows what she’s doing. If I want any chance of beating her out of the position, my idea needs to be better than whatever she comes up with. If Samuel sees I’m the best fit for CEO, he’ll have no choice but to give it to me. He might be on this whole family-man kick, but he’s always been known to be fair.

I’m neck deep in my research when Ryder knocks on my door.

“Hey, we still on for tonight?” he asks, looking at me with hope in his eyes.

Tonight? And then I remember … I agreed to have the guys over to watch the baseball game tonight.

“Yeah,” I tell him, not wanting to bail since this is his weekly break from his controlling fiancée.

Why he stays with her, I’ll never know. It’s obvious he’s so unhappy. They met a few months back, and she bulldozed her way into his life. Even though he seemed into her at first, she quickly showed her true colors, so I was shocked when they announced their engagement and he bought a mansion for them to move into, and I was even more shocked when a wedding invitation arrived, dated for this summer.

“Okay, cool,” he mutters. “I’ll see you later.”

“Wait,” I say. “Is everything okay? If you need to talk …”

He sighs and then comes inside, closing the door behind him.

When he sits in the visitor chair across from me, he swallows thickly and shakes his head. “Nora was pregnant.”

“Was?” I question, making sure I heard him correctly.

“Yeah,” he chokes out. “She didn’t want anyone to know because it would look bad, her being pregnant out of wedlock.” He sighs. “You know our type of families. She didn’t want people to judge her. It’s why I proposed. We were planning to be married before she started to show.”

“And what happened?”

“She miscarried,” he says, his glassy eyes meeting mine. “She wasn’t that far along, but it still sucked.”

“Of course it did,” I tell him, getting up and pouring us each two fingers of scotch.

He takes a sip of his drink and leans back in his seat. “She wanted to wait until she was in her second trimester to tell anyone. I guess that’s the norm.”

“I’m sorry, man,” I tell him, sitting back down.

I might not like Nora, but I care about Ryder, and I hate that he’s been dealing with this on his own. I mean, he has Nora, but she’s so damn selfish that I doubt she gives a shit about his feelings.

“Thanks,” he says. “I should’ve said something, but it’s all just been a mess, and I’m so used to hiding everything because of my family.”

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