Page 12 of Decoded
Chapter nine
Keaton
M
y phone rings relentlessly the next morning, waking me up with a piercing pain in my head. Somehow I’m able to locate it under my pillow and answer just before the call is sent to voicemail.
“Hello?” I manage to croak out.
“Why the fuck do you sound hungover?” Oh great, I get to start my morning with the grumpiest asshole I’ve ever met.
“Because I am,” I admit to my younger brother, Lincoln.
“Keaton Fisher, are you telling me that the one time in your life you decide to be reckless is the night before one of the biggest acquisitions we’ve landed since starting this company? Did you forget you have a meeting today?”
Shit.
I look at the clock on my phone. My meeting with Caruso Enterprises is in forty-five minutes and according to the maps app I pull up, it takes at least twenty minutes to get there.
“I didn’t forget.”I totally forgot.“I’ll make it,” I assure him.
“What the hell is this? You turn forty this year and have a midlife crisis? You’re the fucking CEO. People come to our company because of your professionalism and dedication. One trip to Vegas and you’ve gone and fucked things up.”
His condescending tone is the last thing my headache needs, but I bite my tongue and refuse to get into a pissing match with him so as not to wake the gorgeous woman who is still asleep next to me. Anna. My wife. Did I really fuck things up?
It’s been years since I’ve let my guard down and drank like I did last night. Definitely before I started our company. As the oldest brother, I had to step up when my dad passed away. I was eighteen, Lincoln just a couple years behind me, and Camden was ten. Mom was an absolute fucking mess. She couldn’t get out of bed for about a month after the funeral. I know the saying is that it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, but in the case of my mom, I’m not sure that’s true.
She stopped taking care of us. Hell, she stopped taking care of anything. I was about to graduate high school and was set to go to the University of Kentucky just a couple of hours away, but there was no way I could leave my brothers to try and fend for themselves. Especially Cam. Damn he was so young, way too young to lose a parent, let alone two, and then a brother on top of it.
So, I ended up enrolling in the community college, creating a schedule of classes that were built around taking my brothers to school and their extracurriculars. I enrolled in mostly business and technology courses, with no clear direction of what I wanted to do, but I enjoyed it, and when it came time to make something of myself, I put the knowledge I gained from those classes to good use.
Once Lincoln had his driver’s license, it helped a lot. Mom was still a mess and became a recluse, only going out for her monthly hair appointment and a ladies luncheon. She’d put on a braveface and act like everything was perfect, then come home and wallow in sorrow until the next month came around. Ten years ago, she stopped going out at all. Things got incredibly dark during those days, and we didn’t feel like it was safe to leave her, so Lincoln moved in. Now that his daughter, Charlie, is living there too, we see more smiles out of Mom, but she’s not the same as she used to be and I’m not sure she ever will be again.
A therapist would probably tell me that’s why I was content with nothing more than just the occasional hook up with a woman. Relationships can completely redefine who we are, and we can lose ourselves in our partners if the feelings are strong enough. Feelings create messes and between the business and making sure our family is okay, I don’t have time for messes. Looking back down at Anna, I feel a tug in my heart, and I know things are about to get a whole lot messier in my world.
I reassure my brother that I will get the job done before hanging up as he grumbles something about how he should have been the one to come out here, but we both know Lincoln’s growly tone doesn’t always do the best in business acquisitions.
As quietly as possible, so I don’t wake Anna, I slip out of bed and rush to the bathroom to prepare for my meeting. As I cross the bedroom to change into my suit for the day, I pick up the white dress we purchased at the chapel before we got married.
Anna took my breath away the moment I saw her in that airport but seeing her in that white piece of polyester that hugged her curves in all the right ways, knowing she was about to promise herself to me, I’d swear there’s nothing more beautiful than that.
I’m not an idiot, I know what we did was fucking crazy. When she asked me to stop at one more spot with her, I expected her to be hungry or want one of those impressively tall margaritas. The last thing I expected was for her to drag me into a weddingchapel, the gleam in those emerald eyes looking at me like I hung the damn moon.
When you’re the CEO of a company, you have to be calculated. Structured. Intentional. Making huge decisions based on a whim can lead to some pretty dire situations that could put your business on a path you want to go down. Impulsive was not something I had a luxury of being.
But how was I supposed to say no to her? And why would I fucking want to?
I look down at my woman lying in the bed where we joined as husband and wife last night. I note how she looks so beautiful and peaceful while she sleeps. I’m not sure how I managed to be the lucky bastard she ended up next to on the plane, but I will forever be grateful for it. Her blonde hair is tucked behind her ears. Her lips are still swollen from all our activity last night and they’re gently parted so that the slightest, softest, sweetest snore can escape them.
The temptation to lean down and kiss her awake is strong, but I fight the urge to wake her so she can sleep, and I can get to my meeting. Waking her up will just lead to me not wanting to leave this fucking hotel room, and that will without a doubt piss my brother, and our new clients, off even more.
Not wanting to leave her without so much as a goodbye, I search both the desk and the nightstands in the room but can’t find a single thing to write a note out on. Running out of time to get out the door, I pick up her phone and hold it up to her face to unlock, then I add my contact information, hoping she will see it and reach out in case she wakes up.
The meeting shouldn’t last too long. I’m just needing them to sign the contract. I hate to leave without saying goodbye, but hopefully I’ll make it back before she wakes up. I’m eager to spend the rest of the day with Anna, then follow today up with the rest of my life.
Chapter ten
Anna
