Page 66 of Never Dance with the Devils
“I don’t like it,” I declare.
“Me neither.”
“Every fiber of my being wants to charge into her office and have her back against anyone who dares to say a single sideways word to her.” Tension is coiling through my muscles at the idea of people at her office daring to give her looks, call her names, or doubt her place in the company. I want to destroy them all.
“I want to hunt Brent down and punch him again, and then find whoever posted that other video and kill them,” Maddox agrees.
We stare at each other for a long time, both weighing the pros and cons of those actions. He sighs first, surrendering. “I’m ordering breakfast. I need a hockey puck of a steak to gnaw on to get some of this anger out. Steak and eggs?”
I shake my head. Maddox orders a food delivery, and the same thing will happen. Someone will notice his name on an order to her address. Instead, I’ve got another idea. I dial the number in my phone and when the line picks up, I’m not surprised by the answer.
“You really know how to fuck things up, don’t you? Normally, I’d approve of any tomfuckery. But since it’smy sister you’re fucking over, you should know, we’re mortal enemies again.”
“Kyle, shut up for a second and listen. We need your help.”
There’s silence on the other end of the line for only two seconds before Kyle says, “I’m listening.”
KAYLA
Iroll into Blue Lake with my game face on, ready to fight the war that’s been unexpectedly brought to my doorstep. No one dares to speak to me in the lobby or the elevator, though there are curious glances shot my way.
“Angeline, thank you for coming in early,” I say by way of greeting as I enter my office. “Everyone here and ready?”
She stands instantly, on full alert. “Yes. Greg and Helena from Legal are waiting for you as you requested. And Mr. Rodriguez will be here within the hour. Would you like Cameron in that meeting too? I can coordinate with his assistant.”
She’s good, having prioritized the business issues first, the same way I always do, while ensuring our family attorney will be ready to address the rest of this clusterfuck.
“Yes. Have Cameron come in as soon as he’s here, even if I’m still with Greg and Helena. I don’t want him and Rodriquez creating a game plan without me.”
“Of course,” she answers, theduhimplied in her tone. “Kayla?” I stop, looking at her expectantly though my mind is shooting off in a hundred different directions. “I’m happy for you,” she says hesitantly. “I kinda hoped this was why you’d been smiling so much lately.”
I’m so completely focused on this Jessup contract retraction that it takes me a second to realize what she’s talking about and switch gears. And despite my recent happiness, there’s no smiling now. “This isn’t exactly how I planned on the world finding out.” I huff out a humorless laugh, admitting, “I kind of hoped to keep it quiet indefinitely. At least publicly.”
I read some of the headlines, saw the Reddit boards too. The comments range from calling me a morally bankrupt whore—yes, an actual quote—to labeling me a lucky bitch for getting a Mad-Trick, with graphic musings about whether I was spit-roasted or not. All of the commenters were locked onto this being some sort of sexually perverse oddity, like we’re freaks on display for their entertainment consumption.
But we’re real people, with hopes and dreams, fears and insecurities, and sex is a laughably small part of our relationship. I suspect that like most people, our relationship is built in the quiet moments cuddled on the couch, the talks about everything and nothing, the knowledge that you are the bright spot in someone else’s day and they are the same in yours. It’s the details, the minutiae, the seemingly innocuous moments that make what we have together special and uniquely ours.
Angeline’s words shake me out of my thoughts. “You’ve never cared what the world thought about you before. Why start caring now?”
I did not expect that. I blink, letting her words sink inand realizing that she’s right. For the last hour and a half since Cole called, I’ve been spiraling in the chaos, lamenting my lack of control and trying to get some sort of tenuous grip on what my next step should be. But maybe this isn’t a public relations nightmare to be managed? My personal life and relationships have never been and still aren’t anyone else’s business, no matter the number of partners in my bed or their very public jobs, so there’s no reason to treat them as such.
I give Angeline one of my exceedingly rare hugs, over so quickly that she doesn’t even have a chance to react or hug me back. “Thank you.”
Greg and Helena stop talking the instant I open the door to my office. Maybe they were discussing the Jessup contract or maybe they were discussing my love life. It doesn’t matter. I’m in control again.
“As I said in my email last night, the contract with David Jessup is null and void based on the bad behavior clause,” I start the meeting off, the boss of bosses once again. “Thank you for that stroke of genius, Helena.”
Greg and Helena sit in their seats in total shock, clearly anticipating something completely different, but the brilliant head of our contracts division quickly inclines her head in acknowledgement of the praise.
“We need to approach from two angles—one, how best to limit our exposure on the contract retraction, and two, what’s our next step to obtain the process we wanted from Jessup. Contract first. Helena?”
She nods gracefully, probably having spent a good portion of her evening going over the contract she wrote with a fine-toothed comb in preparation for this moment. “It’s iron-clad. Based on Brent Jessup’s well-documented comments, we more than meet the requirementsfor dissolution. Admittedly, your comments might be seen as a contributing or even inciting factor, but since we’re not trying to force the contract…” She pauses, glancing to Greg, who shakes his head. “I don’t foresee any issues other than petty arguments, which I’m more than capable of addressing.”
Helena is most assuredly capable, but more than that, I think she’s looking forward to going toe to toe with a fellow attorney who has so entirely fucked over his company with his actions.
“I trust you to handle that,” I tell her, meaning it. Turning to Greg, I say, “Okay, next steps.”
“To be clear,” he starts, “while the contract is still in place, we have a small amount of ownership percentage within Jessup Enterprises. If you’d like, we could force the issue, give us perpetual access to the patented process under our investment rights. However, going that route would likely result in a messy and prolonged battle within the courts as the Jessups fight us. It’s also not the best look for potential investments in the future who may see Blue Lake as prone to underhanded commandeering of assets as opposed to partnering for mutually beneficial growth. So, based on that, that isn’t the path forward I’d recommend.”
