Page 49 of All Your Hate

“He doesn’t have to find out. Do this for me and I’ll help you with whatever you want.” I gesture towards the tortoise and he knows what I’m getting at. He’s clearly obsessing over this girl he thinks he has a relationship with, most likely stalking her knowing him.

And I thought my hobbies were niche.

Seems there’s something in the water here. First Dean, then myself, and now Kai. I wonder who else is hiding a dirty little obsession in this city. Luka? Nah, he’s far too uptight for that.

“Fine.” Kai holds his hand out for me to shake, but seems to think better of it and quickly stuffs both of them into his hoodie pocket.

With our deal secured, I leave him to his tortoise.

In the car, I turn the radio up so I can enjoy some music on the way home to my girl. Fuck, I can’t wait to see her again. Every second I’m out of the house is painful. And not just because my balls are aching to unload. No, she has my chest feeling tight and my stomach in knots. It’s a new feeling. An odd one.

As I make my way through the city, a call comes through from my father.

“For fuck’s sake,” I mumble. All I want to do is ignore him, but I have been avoiding him a lot recently.

“Yep?” I clip out as I put him on speaker.

“You’re late again.” I’m surprised it’s actually him on the phone and not his secretary.

“I’m busy.”

“Too busy to do your job?”

Rolling my eyes, I reply, “That isn’t my job.”

“If you want your inheritance it is. I don’t give you much to do here, so can you please try and show up on time when there’s a meeting?” He sounds exasperated. I know the feeling. Meetings suck the life out of me and not in a good way. They’re one of my few obligations to the family company. As long as I attend one a month and show up to any big events then I get to take over when my father steps down or dies. Knowing his work ethic it’ll be the latter.

He couldn’t do the decent thing and just give his only son his inheritance. No, I have to act like a corporate puppet for him as he drip-feeds it to me.

Little does he know, I don’t need the money. My other job gives me all that I need, but I can’t risk getting kicked out of the company. It’s rightfully mine. My parents built it from scratch and it’s my mother’s name on the front of each hotel. I can’t risk someone else taking over and renaming it, removing that last piece of her from the city.

“Fine. I’ll be there in twenty.”

The main office is only a few blocks over and with minimal traffic, I make it in time.

I ignore everyone as I head straight for the elevator up to the meeting room. I’m hardly dressed for business today. Expecting to only be seeing Kai, I opted for black tactical trousers and a faded band tee under my bomber jacket along with my usual heavy boots.

The elevator takes what feels like hours as it stops on every floor to let people on and off. A few people eye me curiously. The ones who recognize me purse their lips, no doubt eager to gossip about me to the next person they see.

When I reach my floor, Janine, my dad’s secretary, gives me a warm smile. She stands out against the stark white and gray decor with her fuzzy purple cardigan and pink hair. I remember thinking her hair was actual cotton candy when I was a kid. She’s worked for the family for years now. It hit her hard when Mom died, they were close friends, more like sisters.

“Afternoon, darling. You’re looking as sweet as ever. Would you believe I’m late? Me of all people?” I shoot her a grin and she rolls her eyes at me.

“If you checked your emails once in a while you wouldn’t miss anything. I have your father constantly pestering me, asking if I’m even sending them to the right address. He thinks I’m bloody senile or something.”

“I promise I’ll check them more often. Just for you.” I cross my heart and shetsksme, but I see the tiny smile on her lips.

“They’ve not started yet, I’ll let Gregory know you’re here so they’ll be ready for you.”

I let out a heavy sigh and rap my knuckles on the desk, gearing myself up to go in. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll see myself in. Remind me to give you a pay rise when you’re working for me.” I wink at her before heading to the double doors at the other end of the corridor.

All conversation hushes as I enter the room and I feel everyone’s eyes on me, but I ignore them to seek my father out. He’s stood at the head of the table and gives me a brisk nod as I sit down opposite him. We’ve never had the warm embrace kind of relationship so this is nothing new.

“Now that we’re all here…” he starts.

“Finally,” one of the younger guys mumbles to the guy sitting next to him. “Some of us actually have work to do after this.”

This is one of the many reasons I hate these meetings, it’s like high school all over again except I can’t beat the shit out of the bullies here.

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