Page 35 of A Man of Power

I look at Alexis. I want to agree with her, but there’s nothing here. It’s just…business. I’ve made a fortune by trusting people who trust their intuition; hell, I’ve made my whole career by doing it. Maybe we are missing something. A part of me wants her to be right because I feel like she needs this win, she needs to solve a mystery. But the politician in me doesn’t want to waste any more time. I take a breath and lean over the arm of my chair toward her.

“What do you think we are missing?”

She taps her cheek while looking at all of the open documents that span across two monitors on my desk. She studies them closely, her nose nearly against the screen.

I wait patiently, I’ll give her tonight. But if we can’t find anything after this, then we’re moving on.

I get up and pour us drinks. It sounds crazy, but sometimes a little bit of alcohol loosens up your mind enough to see clearly. I know, this seems counterintuitive, but it works. Conner taught me this trick in college. When I would be stuck writing a paper or studying for an exam, he’d make me do a shot or drink a beer, just enough to calm me down, and then, I’d always figure it out.

Alexis takes the glass without looking. I watch her as she sips the bourbon. Her lips…I shouldn’t be thinking about fucking her again. Not right now. I haven’t spent so much time fixated by a woman since I was in high school.

I adjust myself and sink back into my seat.

“Bastian?” she asks. A nickname? Few people call me that, but I like how it sounds on her lips.

“What?”

She pulls her face away from the screens. I can see the confusion painted on her features.

“Do Jared Pallin and Adam Blake know each other?”

I shrug. “I’m assuming so. I mean they are both CEOs of pharmaceutical companies.”

“Yeah, but do they ‘know’ each other?” she says, emphasizing the word in question.

I frown. “I don’t know. Why?”

“What if…it’s not about the companies?”

I shake my head. Now, I’m the confused one. “What do you mean?”

“What if this merger…the work they want to do together…what if it’s beyond the companies? I mean, yes, the companies might get benefits from it. But what if there’s more to it than that?”

“What more do you think there is?” I ask.

She sighs and leans back, taking a long sip of her drink before answering. “What do we know about Jared and Adam?”

I grab the mouse and toggle around documents until I find their biographies. She swats my hand away and grabs the mouse, taking control. I let her, pushing back and watching her as she reads. Why do I want her to figure this out so badly? I shake my head, telling myself it’s merely a mentor thing. She is my employee after all.

“I think they were in a fraternity together,” she says. I freeze at her words, willing it not to be mine. “Theta Omega Delta.”

Fuck.

“Are you sure?” I ask, pushing my chair up next to hers and reading what she has on the screen. It’s definitely my fraternity, not my chapter, a different university, but it’s not good.

“Yes. They both went to the same university and they were in that fraternity together. Looks like different years, Jared is two years older than Adam. Do you think there’s something there? I mean if they have been friends for that long…” She trails off as she bites her lower lip and studies the Theta Omega Delta website.

Now, it could mean nothing at all. But I also know it could mean everything. I can’t tell her. I want to, I want to tell her everything. Something about Alexis makes me want to confide in her. I haven’t felt this way about another person since Kara was alive. There are so many things about Alexis that remind me of her. Sometimes, it’s borderline painful to be near Alexis because she’s so damned similar to Kara.

“Isn’t that your fraternity?” she asks. I nod but don’t trust myself to speak.

“I’m going to look more into both of them,” she states confidentially as she cracks her knuckles and settles herself in front of the keyboard.

Sighing, I get up. “I’ll make coffee. It sounds like this is an all-nighter.”

She looks up at me and grins and damn it if that doesn’t pierce my dead heart.

“OK.” She giggles. “Are you sure you know how to use the coffee maker?”

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