Page 11 of The Fake Dating Plan

“Celeste is a dinosaur with image issues. Their company is hip and is known for selling ethically sourced products. It could be good for both companies, but it might be bad in the long run for Steel Cute.”

“That bad?”

“Emphasis on might. It could be good for both companies, who’s to say. I’ll need a few days to do the proper analysis.”

Going to her with this would be a good idea. Swoop in as her savior. Use her business to boost mine. Who cares if she’s left in the dust? Isn’t that how she left me? I could kill two birds with one stone if this was successful. But that would be the extent of my association with her. As much as I wanted to, fucking her, will only result in a less clear head and a fucked up me. I didn’t want to go through that again.

4

Aweek passed by before I got a call from him. A whole seven days he had me on edge wondering if the deal was on or not. If I needed to find a new investor or he would still hold on to his original word. Laura’s pestering didn’t help. Every morning she would pop her head into my room while I was in the middle of dressing to ask, “has he called?” and then when we were at the office, she would pop her head into my office again to ask the same thing. Until one day I said, “If he had called during the one hour you didn’t speak to me, I would have told you.” That seemed to assuage her. For half a day, and the pestering was on again. Dylan was overly positive and having the accountant draw up new budgets and looking for areas that might need improvement.

The more time passed, the more I felt like a date stood up. Who knows, maybe I had been. My mind kept going to our conversation in the alley. What I could have said differently. What I could have done differently.

Then in the middle of the afternoon, at one o’clock on the dot, he called. My hands were literally shaking so much I had to grip the phone tightly when I picked it up.

“Come to our offices. Bring some of your people. There’s been a change in the deal.”

“Does that mean it’s still viable?”

“There’s been a few changes. You might like them or you might not, but I need you to come tomorrow if you’re still interested.”

“I am,” I shouted the words as if I could feel him about to snag the funding away from me.

“My assistant will be in touch soon to discuss the logistics.” And with that, the line went dead.

Laura and Dylan filled my door when the call ended. They must have heard me talking.

“What did he say?” Dylan looked like he was about to pass out from anticipation. Laura was frozen to her spot with a cup of coffee in her hands.

“He wants us to go to KMVH. Apparently, there’s been a change in the deal, whatever that means.”

“Do we need to re-pitch?”

I shrugged. “Knowing Axel Reid, we should be prepared for anything. He wanted me to bring you guys along.”

“That’s good right?” Laura said, her brow furrowed. “he could have just said he won’t be investing if that was the case.”

“I hope you’re right,” Dylan said.

The second time I was back at KMVH, I didn’t get the beggar treatment. We were immediately ushered into a cool boardroom and served with coffee and cookies. A few moments later, Ax came in with his team behind him. Three other people he came with on the tour and one new person. They all sat opposite us, with Ax in the middle and the rest flanking him like an opposing army. He was directly facing me, and I could not dismiss the feeling of being in an ambush.

“There’s been a change in the deal,” he said after the introductions were done. His eyes were on me as if he was speaking to me alone, even though he was addressing all of us.

“I will no longer invest in Steel Cute.” Oh no. “ Personally. But KMVH will offer you a licensing deal and the buyout that you wanted.” Okay.

“You can have your stuff in our stores.” That was good. “Specifically, the newly acquired Celeste branch.”

Nope. Nope. Nope. Not the controversial branch. Celeste had been in the newspapers recently for all sorts of issues before KMVH bought it. Dylan leaned in and whispered, “The old people's store. Our products will die.”

“We’re thinking of revamping the entire outfit,” Ax said as if he had heard Dylan, “Bring it into the twenty-first century if you will.”

“Yeah. Kicking and screaming,” Laura said under her breath.

“It’s a good deal for your company,” he continued. “You’ll get to be under a prestigious house while Celeste gets your younger clientele.”

“But our products are the exact opposite of Celeste.”

“Not if we sell your pieces in our new stores overseas where the Celeste is a recognizable name, but the brand hasn’t been fully entrenched in people’s minds.”

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