Trey

My ploy to soften her up appears to be working. If she had any idea how much I know right now, she would simply die. Since we are going to be spending the next seven hours together in this confined space, however, there is no rush to make her uncomfortable. Besides, she is such a stunning woman, it’s really too bad that she works for the other side.

“You seem pretty at ease considering your father was killed last night,” she comments after gulping almost the entire glass of wine. She is obviously the one who is feeling a bit edgy.

“I know. I almost feel guilty, but you have to realize that he was a world-class asshole,” I reply, looking directly into her eyes.

Her cheeks instantly flush as a result of my comment. “I have heard a lot about him, but I can’t say I really knew him.”

“Not too many people will miss him other than his fiancé, Tyler and maybe Mom. I’m certainly not going to miss the weekly beat downs. Even the board of directors have grown tired of being dominated by him.” I think back to a recent phone call I received from the chairman of the board. He was so frustrated with Dad and Tyler that he had reached out to me as a last resort. Not that I could solve any of his issues.

“So, Tyler is like your dad?” she asks, turning toward me and getting more comfortable in her seat.

“Tyler is competitive like Dad and he’s definitely developing the condescending attitude.” I can’t believe how much of a jerk he has been the past few weeks.

“So why did Victor keep insisting that you come back and run the business?”

“Because I’m the one who got the brains.” Mandy bursts out laughing at my comment. “Seriously. I think Tyler took too many hits during his football career.”

“Yeah, I guess I knew he played football,” she admits, still snickering.

“How did you know that?” I ask, wondering if she will admit to knowing my family.

“Google. I’ve been reading about both of you. There was an article that talked about his horrible knee injury,” she says, not revealing anything more.

“That was a day I’ll never forget. He got hit square in the knee by the other guy’s helmet.” A shutter still runs through me whenever I think about it. “We could hear his bones crush all the way up in the stands.”

“That must have been horrible.” Mandy’s wide eyes remind me of the look on Vanessa’s face the moment that it happened.

“Yeah… we were all stunned.” I sit back reflecting on that day. “Tyler has never been the same… physically or mentally.”

“I imagine it’s hard to lose something that you absolutely love. I’m sure he knew he would never play again,” she replies, showing a surprising level of insight.

“Exactly, I lost my love three days later,” I admit, feeling myself slump in the seat.

“Your love?” She turns to me, raising an eyebrow.

“Vanessa.” I bring the glass to my lips and finish off my drink.

Mandy

Hearing Trey gasp when he says her name is downright painful. That was nearly ten years ago, but judging by the look in his eyes you would think it all had happened just last week. He turns away from me, pretending to be more interested in looking out the window. I know he is simply collecting himself. I have to wonder how someone so blessed in life could torture himself for so many years. I suppose it doesn’t help that she is engaged to his twin brother.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, when he finally turns back from the window, still avoiding eye contact.

“I never talk about it.” He once again turns toward the window.

“That’s probably why you haven’t gotten over it.” I reason. “You have to talk about those type of things and get them off your chest.”

After a long minute, he clears his throat. “I’m going to need another drink.” He gets up out of his seat. “I think I’ll just grab the bottle.”

“I’ll take another glass too,” I tell him, holding up my empty glass.

A smile crosses my face as I watch one of the richest men in the world waiting on me. His mother must have been pretty down to earth for him to turn out this way. He stops by my side and fills my glass before sitting down to fill his own.

“What?” He gives me a puzzled look.

“Nothing. I just never expected you to be like this,” I shake my head and give him a soft smile.

“Hmm, what did you expect?” He narrows his eyes at me.

“I honestly don’t know, but I certainly didn’t expect this,” I reply honestly. Trey smirks and sits back, taking a long sip from his glass.

I know that Trey is far from an angel. I’ve read lots of stories, but he’s not nearly as bad as what I expected. I honestly thought he would be a conceited asshole. Based on my initial impression, however, he is anything but that.

Liv moans and turns in her seat. Trey and I look at each other, breathing a sigh of relief when her eyes remain closed.

“So, tell me about Vanessa,” I continue, turning to face him.

After another long sip, he says, “She was the cutest thing I had ever seen.”

“Where did you meet?” I ask, settling in for a good story.

“We moved into Trump Tower when I was a seventh grader and I hated it. There weren’t any kids around except Tyler and me and then one day there she was. I remember telling Mom that I was in love that very first day.”

“So you had a crush on her from day one. How sweet is that?” I think about how cute he must have been as a teenager.

“Yeah, for me it was love at first sight. The three of us would meet every day after school in the common area between our two places. There were three couches and a big screen TV, so it was a perfect place to hang out and watch cartoons.” He gets a far-off look in his eyes and I can tell by the smile on his face that those were happy times.

“It sounds like fun,” I reply, suddenly feeling just a little jealous of Vanessa.

“Yeah, Mom always liked cooking and baking, so she was happy to have us out of her hair,” he says with a reminiscent smile.

“And your dad was at work,” I assume.

“Always.” He chuckles. “I used to look at our family picture that hung over the fireplace just to make sure I didn’t forget what he looked like.”

“I think you’re exaggerating.” I tilt my head and roll my eyes.

“Not really. I remember him being gone for weeks at a time. That was back when Papa ran the company. Dad was scouring the tri-state area trying to buy up all of the little cable companies.” He suddenly pauses as if he has said something wrong.

“What’s wrong?” He looks like he stuck his foot in his mouth.

“Nothing. Papa was a great man. He used to stop by almost every evening to check on us when Dad was gone. He’s the one I really miss.”

“You called your grandfather, Papa?”

“Yeah, that’s all we ever called him. Still do, I guess.” He stares reflectively into his glass before reaching for another refill. “Papa always drank whiskey too.”

I think back to the same time frame and my memories aren’t nearly as pleasant. I remember Dad pacing the floor and cursing each time the Addison’s out bid him for another cable property. It was only a matter of time before we were packing everything we owned into a moving van and heading for Tennessee.

No one could believe that our family business had failed so quickly after being in business for more than eighty years. Dad took the blame for the whole thing. He was the one had who bragged about the future of the cable industry, not realizing there was a blood-hungry shark sitting at the table with him.

Trey

After several minutes, I realize that Mandy has grown silent. Turning toward her, I see that a scowl has settled on her face. She’s still pretty, but I like her better when she has that twinkle in her eyes. I shouldn’t have brought up Papa. He and her granddad were best friends for many years.

“Do you want to hear the rest of the story?” I ask in an attempt to restart the conversation.

“I do.” She turns, giving me a more solemn smile.

“Once we got into high school, Tyler transferred to Syracuse to play football. I finally had my chance with Vanessa.”

“So she had always favored Tyler?” she asks inquisitively.

“Yeah, she couldn’t wait to see him when he came from practice. He would say hi and then blow both of us off.” It still makes me angry when I think about it. “He was the jock and thought he was too cool for us.”

“Most young girls will choose the jock over the nice guy if they are given a choice. It’s one of those foolish things we do as teenagers,” she explains, as if I hadn’t already had that realization on my own. “So did you guys start dating after that?”

“Yeah, three years and one month later we had our first date,” I tell her, feeling a little foolish about my admission.

“Three years?” she howls, looking at me like I’m crazy. “It took you that long to ask her out?”

“Well, the first day back at school Tommy Fowler asked her out. I couldn’t believe my shitty luck.” I can still feel how crushed I was when she told me. “I didn’t even have a chance to get my nerve up!”

“The… Tommy Fowler?” Mandy gasps.

“Yes, the Tommy Fowler who sold his first successful company when he was nineteen and had his own TV show by age twenty five,” I tell her, feeling a bit nauseated by the thought of him. “They dated for the next three years.”

“Ouch, that sucks!” Mandy gasps. “So you lived right next door and now she had a serious boyfriend?”

“Yeah, and she would bring him home almost every day after school, thinking the three of us could hang out and be friends. It was brutal.” My stomach still feels queasy thinking about those days.

“Oh, you poor guy. I know what it’s like to be the third wheel. It’s not fun.” She places her hand on my thigh after noticing that I am still squirming in my chair.

“It gets worse,” I add for some unknown reason.

“How could it?” she asks, shaking her head and looking at me with pity filled eyes.

“Well, Tommy is a year older than us so he broke up with her right before leaving for college. She was so crushed. She knew that he only wanted to be able to mess around without any guilty feelings,” I speculate, knowing how most guys that age think.

“Yeah, I’ve seen that one before.” Mandy replies, continuing to stroke my thigh.

Thinking back, I remember how badly I wanted to ask her out, but I knew I had to wait at least a few weeks. We had begun hanging out on a daily basis again, because I was the shoulder that she preferred to cry upon. It wasn’t the role I had hoped for, but at least we were spending time together.

“So did you finally ask her out?” Mandy asks, growing impatient with my silence.

“I did. After several weeks I couldn’t wait another day,” I recall. “I asked her to go to a movie. When we got there I suggested, Just Friends. It was a movie about a guy who wanted to be more than just friends with the girl he loved.”

“Were you trying to send her a subliminal message or something?” she asks with a giggle.

“Exactly!” I point my finger at her for nailing it. “Unfortunately, it kind of went over her head.”

“That’s because she wasn’t in the same place as you, so it wasn’t nearly as obvious to her,” she explains using her girl wisdom.

“Yeah, I realize that now. Afterwards though, we did go out for pizza. Sitting in that booth with her was one of the best nights of my life,” I admit, reflecting on the way I felt that night. “Within minutes I had her laughing and by the end of the night it seemed like our relationship was finally taking a turn in the right direction.”

“You were finally in the right place at the right time?” She asks with a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

“That was my thought at the time. I was on cloud nine for almost a whole day.” I readjust in my chair trying to get more comfortable.

“So what went wrong?” Mandy pries, wanting to hear how the story ends.

“God, I still hate reliving this shit.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Tyler was the captain of the football team, he already had two college scholarship offers and was about to play the biggest game of his life.”

“So, y’all went to the game?” she asks and I have to smile at the first slip of her southern accent. That was too damn cute.

“Yes, and I was so obsessed with Vanessa that I convinced her that she should make the trip with us. I loved the idea of spending all that time in the car with her.” I shake my head, thinking back to my huge error in judgment.

“So, she was there when it happened?”

“Yeah… I’ll never forget her scream. It really was a horrific sight and the fact that we could hear it, made it even worse.”

“That pretty much killed your second date, huh?” she says, stating the obvious.

“I’ll say. Dad and I drove back in the car, while Mom and Vanessa rode in the ambulance with Tyler. I knew right there that things would change again.” I think back to the look on her face when they closed the ambulance doors. She was looking at Tyler the way that I had always wanted her to look at me. “We both spent most of the weekend hanging out at the hospital. He had to have multiple surgeries. The next Monday after school, I stopped by his room to see him. Vanessa was already there, standing next to his bed. I could hear Tyler crying and talking about how his life was over. That’s when I heard the sentence that crushed my dreams.”

“Why? What did she say?” Mandy leans towards me with a true look of compassion in those beautiful blue eyes.

“She said, I will always love you Tyler, no matter what happens.” The feelings from that moment crash through me, just as they have done a thousand times before. “I can still feel what I felt in that moment. It was like her words knocked the wind right out of me. I nearly burst into tears on the spot.”

“Ohhh, you poor guy.” She begins stroking my leg once again. “What did you do?”

“I instantly felt sick, so I turned and ran down the hall to the bathroom. I’ll never forget standing in the mirror, looking at my reflection and feeling like a total fucking loser. I had wasted the last three years waiting for her. After I got myself together, I left. Neither of them knew that I had overheard their conversation, but I didn’t talk to Vanessa for a week. She had no idea what the hell was going on.”

“Did you ever tell her?”

“Yeah, we had a long talk a couple weeks later. She told me that I was her best friend and that she loved me too. She may have loved me, but as the year wore on it became obvious that Tyler really needed something positive in his life.”

“So Tyler was back in the city?”

“Yeah, we were the three amigos once again.” I pause, thinking back to how difficult my senior year of high school had been. It seemed like the longest, most torturous year of my life. It was a tough year for Tyler as well. He had full reconstructive surgery on the ligaments surrounding his knee and his kneecap had to be put together using wires, pins and screws. At the time, his doctor thought he was too young for knee replacement surgery, but he should have it done now.

“Hello?” Mandy leans forward looking me in the eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. That spring I decided to harden my heart, accept a scholarship offer from Stanford and leave everyone behind. I gave Tyler and Vanessa my blessing and moved a couple thousand miles away. It was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“That’s because you didn’t truly leave it all behind,” she says shaking her head. “You still carry all of the pain. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Tell me about this,” I reply, picking up the newspaper and laying it on the table in front of her. Enough of this emotional bullshit; it’s time to get down to business.