Page 9 of The Passion

Growing up, Forrest was always the benchmark of how I should live my life.

Smart, good-looking, and successful. Working hard toward being the shrewd businessman with a perfect job, nice home, and the only thing he was lacking was the token wife. My parents’ favorite line when I was in my late teens was,“Why can’t you be more like Forrest? He knows where he is headed in life.”

It drove me insane, so I packed my bag and took a plane to the other side of the world. Walked into a chef’s job in Australia and met Nic Weston, AKA now boss man, Nicholas Darby. Best move I ever made in my life, and the funny thing is, now Forrest also works for Nic in his perfect job, and that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the friendship with his little brother, the wild and reckless Flynn.

I love my brother, and pissing him off on a daily basis gives me the greatest joy, but deep down I have always felt the pressure to live up to his expectations, along with my parents’ hopes of a stable life for me. They don’t mean it in a nasty way, they just want what’s best for me, and I know Forrest would be upset if he knew the pressure I feel. That’s why I keep it to myself.

Time to change the course of the conversation.

“Do you have the figures we need for the meeting? I want to know whose head I need to tear off at the budget blowout on the refit for Rome,” I ask while already scanning my emails because I know before he says it what his answer will be.

“Sent them through last night.” He waits for me to open the spreadsheet, run my eye over it, and get to the part that makes me mad.

“Fucking Luigi, I knew we couldn’t trust him to run a tight ship with his crew. Hope he is ready for this video chat.” I stand and walk to the coffee machine in the corner of my office.

One thing I learned when I was living in Australia was how to be a coffee snob. They do good coffee in that country, and now I know what I like and made sure I had a top-rate machine so I can make it to perfection every time.

“You love playing Nic’s bad cop, don’t you?” He puts his hand out to indicate he wants a coffee too. This is usually why he is in my office waiting for me in the morning.

“Make your own, you’re not useless. Or so I’ve been told.” But while I’m giving him my spiel that seems to be on repeat, I’m already stupidly making his coffee just the way he likes it.

“And to answer your question, yeah, I do. It’s what he pays me for. To be the guy who comes in and sorts the shit out for him. Or gets everyone pissed off and agitated while he sits back, then he can come in when he’s ready, lay down the answer to the problem or the direction we are taking, and everyone loves him for it. I’m happy to be the dick of the organization.”

I hand him his coffee. He’s lucky it’s in his hands before he answers, otherwise, I might’ve poured it in his lap.

“Well, you play it well. What’s your official title, Chief Dick? Mr. Penis Head? I know, just plain Big Prick!” He laughs at his own joke, thinking he is hilarious, and I have to give it to him, it was a good effort.

“That will be King of the Cocks to you, thank you.”

Forrest’s groan is mixed with one from Nic as he walks into my office, and Rem is not far behind him.

“I seriously don’t want to know what the fuck that was about.” Nic walks straight to my coffee machine and makes his own mug too.

“Seriously, you have all the money in the world, and you are in here using my machine. Get Lucy the wonder secretary to order you one. Better still, allow me.” I lean back against the cabinet the machine sits on, also where my small bar with my favorite alcohol for those late nights in the office is hidden.

“Waste of money when I can use yours, buddy. Plus, you probably bought it with my money anyway, so technically I can use it whenever I want.” Nic is pleased with himself and takes a seat next to Forrest who is looking satisfied that once again the conversation has turned back around to me.

“Well, I can’t argue with that. Love my black credit card that you pay the bill for.” Nic rolls his eyes at me, but I know he doesn’t care what I use it for. The trust we have between us means never second-guessing what I do. Not that I would ever abuse that undying trust, because it goes both ways.

Spending years together in Australia as chefs, we grew up learning how to survive on no money but still laughing our way through every day. We both come from families who taught us early on that hard work gets you places, and it got both of us to the top of our game in the restaurant world in Sydney. They are memories I will always treasure.

But then the whole world turned upside down when Nic discovered the truth about his father and family, and now we are living a life of pure luxury, never wanting for anything.

But it hasn’t changed our work ethic. We both now have more wealth than we could have ever dreamed of as a kid, but it doesn’t stop us from the hard work it takes to keep this business as successful as it is. It’s who we are, and luckily, the four of us make the perfect team.

We each have our roles. Remington is head of security and IT, Forrest is head of finance, with my expertise being Nic’s righthand man and overseeing the operation of the hotels, while Nic is the head honcho, owner and CEO of Darby Hotels. While I’m running the hotel operations, he concentrates on the running of the overall business. Of course, that’s how it’s been for the last four years, and now we have the spitfire Tori, Nic’s fiancée, working with us too. I could say she has brought a feminine touch to the office, but that would be a lie. She is anequal in the boardroom with all of us, and we happily treat her as such. And that has nothing to do with her relationship with Nic. She earned our respect in her role as the head of marketing and branding for the business, with her skill and hard work.

When Nic met her, I wondered what he was doing, falling for a woman who is so strong-willed. Two control freaks I wouldn’t have thought were ever going to work, but it’s the opposite. They argue like crazy, but it seems to bring out the best in each of them. And to be honest, I’ve never seen Nic happier in his life. He was always missing that piece of his puzzle to make him feel like he belonged in this life. Tori is that piece.

For the first time, I had a niggle in the back of my mind that maybe one day, I might want what they have.

The confusing thing is that when Tori came into the picture, along came her best friend Elouise, or Lou as we all call her. She’s good-looking, calm, and the total opposite of Tori’s personality. A teacher of little ones and just a sweet woman.

I like her a lot and stupidly thought I might like to get to know her better between the sheets, but the moment I tried to get anywhere near her, Nic laid down the law that she is off limits to any of us. I didn’t want to marry the girl, I just wanted to sleep with her. But the more I’ve gotten to know her—or maybe it’s just because she is the prohibited friend—I have been trying to get her to just give me a chance.

She’s not like any of the women I’ve fucked, and that’s what fascinates me and has me wanting to date her. She might be the quiet influence I need in my life. Someone to finally make me give up my man-whoring ways. She would be everything my mother could ask for me in a wife, and as much as I hate that, maybe that’s why I’m attracted to her, because she ticks all the boxes I’m constantly being told I need.

Not that she has given me the time of day and has, in fact, told me quite plainly that friendship is all that’s on offer. Soof course, that is like throwing down the biggest challenge in front of me. I might play it off as a joke most of the time, but I do fancy her, and I just wish she would let me explore if it’s anything more than just a fascination of trying to get what I can’t have. Now it’s even harder to ignore my thoughts, with her being around a lot more. Once Rem’s surprise son Blaise turned up on his doorstop, he needed a nanny, and Elouise was the perfect answer. Rem moved her in with him, so now not only is she with Tori sometimes, but she’s become part of the group in more ways than one.

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