CHAPTER TWO - REED
I’d been waiting in my lawyer’s office for over twenty minutes before he came into the room. His wrinkled suit looked as if he’d slept in it the night before, and he fidgeted with his tie and tucked his shirt in his pants a bit before taking a seat. He offered me his hand, but seeing that it had been down his pants moments before, I simply curled my lip and jumped right into business.
“Let’s get down to it. I’ve got a meeting after I leave here.” He didn’t need to know that my meeting was with my best friend and that it was to talk about our plans to go out to the rodeo. We’d had the same yearly event planned since we were kids and hadn’t missed a year yet, not even when my father had died when I was twenty-two. The old man would have done the same if it were one of his lavish weekend destinations with his wealthy big-boy crew. The rotten apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
“Yes, well, I’m afraid you won’t be pleased, Mr. Harrington.” He flipped through a file that had my name, along with my father’s, marked on it, and breathed through his mouth making an annoying sound.
“You said you found something. Does that mean you overlooked something in the past?” I’d tried to wrap my head around how they could have missed something that seemed so cut and dry, not to mention important. I’d waited years for my thirtieth birthday, the day I’d inherit my father’s fortune, the day I’d no longer have to deal with my uncle, to whom my father had left the company.
It was finally time for me to inherit my billions and figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, out from under my father’s shadow.
“It seems there was an oversight,” the lawyer said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. He cleared his throat nervously and continued. “I’m afraid that to gain your inheritance, you must produce an heir by your thirtieth birthday.”
I blinked a few times, my stern expression still on my face otherwise. “An heir? As in a child?”
“Yes, that’s what it states. Your father was concerned about your lifestyle and hoped that you would settle down and start a family.”
I was stunned, and the fact that my father, who’d been a total womanizer who’d all but driven my mother to her death, would give a shit about family life was fucking laughable.
“I turn thirty in eleven months. The last time I checked, babies take at least nine months to be born. So how the hell am I supposed to make this happen with what time you’ve left me?”
The lout dared to giggle. “I’d suggest you get on it, and by getting on it, I think you know what I mean. Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Harrington. I’m sure there are many women who would love to carry your child.”
“That’s not really an option. I don’t want to have kids right now. I’ve never even considered marriage, much less a child.” I had to consider my inheritance, though. If I couldn’t get over my hang up about having a kid, it could cost me a fortune. My entire inheritance was well over $2 billion, and I couldn’t let anything get in the way of that. I had to figure something out, and quickly.
“I’m sorry, but the stipulations are very clear, and I’ve already looked to see if there was any way around it.”
“You’re sure there are no loopholes?” My hands wrung together in my lap, and I cracked my knuckles, itching to punch something.
“No, I’ve anticipated every possibility, and you’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. I’m sorry that there isn’t more time.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid that sorry doesn’t help much. If you’d done your damn job in the first place, I wouldn’t be in this mess right now, would I?” I stood and stormed out of his office, slamming his door behind me so hard that his secretary wilted behind her desk. I had to try and wrap my head around this and fast. Time was not on my side. I’d spent the past five years sowing my oats, but I was sure I’d always been careful. I couldn’t be too careful with my fortune, and I’d never taken the chance of letting a woman trap me. Now I had to go out and spring my own goddamn trap.
Even in the grave, the old man screws me over! Fuck!
I got in my car and headed out across town to Rick’s. Once I arrived, I swiped through my contacts and checked out what kind of women I had available and willing to have a kid with me. None were the type who’d I’d want to be linked up with for any length of time, much less the rest of my damn life. They were all shallow and brain dead, as I’d only chosen them for a quick lay and not a lasting relationship.
“What are you doing here so early?” I looked up to see that Rick was standing on the other side of the window with a lifted brow and a big smile.
I lowered the window and cut the engine. “I’m screwed. I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do.” The man knew me better than I knew myself, so I couldn’t hide what was going on from him.
“Damn, the meeting with the lawyer was that ugly? What did he tell you? You’re only getting one billion instead of two?” Rick, who came from old money himself and had inherited his grandfather’s ranch, had always teased me about my level of wealth. His own was in the millions, but my family’s work in the oil industry had put us at billionaire status years ago.
“I might not get anything. It seems there’s some stipulation that my father put in his will that my idiot lawyer missed until now.” I closed my eyes and punched the steering wheel.
“Careful, or else you’ll kick off an air bag. Slow down and tell me what the hell’s going on.”
“I have to produce an heir by thirty, or I don’t get my fortune. And since I’m already a good month into my twenty-ninth year, I’ll have to go on a fuck fest to make it happen.”
“Boo-fucking-hoo, man. So you go out and pay some chick to let you knock her up. It’s not like you won’t be able to afford it.” Rick said, totally missing the point.
“I’ll have a kid. I might not want kids, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to have a little me roaming the world without being in their life somehow. I’m not my father, and I swore I never would be. He’s only done this to prove some point from the grave. I bet the old bastard is sitting in hell laughing his ass off.”
“Not to mention you’ll have to put up with its mother for at least eighteen years,” Rick said, adding fuel to the fire.
“Yeah, there’s that. Do you know any of the women I’ve been with over the past few years who I’d even consider spending a week with?”
He seemed to be thinking about it by the expression on his face, which looked like he’d sucked a lemon. “Not a chance. I see your point, man. But maybe you can meet someone. You need to find a nice girl for this. Not the kind of barhopping bimbos we usually pick up.” He paused a moment as if to consider an idea in his head, then continued. “Someone like Kayla, who’s coming down for the rodeo this weekend, and just so happens to be bringing a friend along. She did ask if I had any available friends, and I told her you’d be along.”
“Thanks for the heads-up. I’m sure she’ll be a real pie face, and I’ll get stuck entertaining her,” I said, groaning out loud.
“Or she’ll be hot as fuck, and you can make her your baby mama! Either way, you can use the time to figure out what you’re going to do, because crisis or not, we’re not missing out on this rodeo. I’ve got to buy at least six head and one sow at this auction. I have Jimmy coming out to pick up my take and bring them home, so we don’t have to miss out on anything hauling animals back.”
“I’ll be lousy company.”
“And that’ll be different how?” Rick deadpanned.
I lifted a brow and gave him a hard stare, trying to get him to break, but that kind of shit only worked on other people. I had never intimidated Rick a day in our lives.
“Suck it up. You’ll figure this out, and I’ll help. I’ll keep my eyes peeled at the rodeo. Maybe you’ll find you a hot little buckle bunny who wants a baby.”
That was precisely the type I didn’t want.
“I don’t think you’re going to be helpful. My kid will end up with a stripper for a mother if I let you help. I need someone who’s going to have her own life and talents in an industry that’s not going to tarnish my kid’s life or my family name. My uncle will shit a solid gold brick if I bring some pole dancer into the family, although I’m sure that’s what they all expect. That would probably explain why I never even heard of this baby clause from my uncle’s mouth.”
“Fine, then, use the rodeo to clear your mind. You’ll start shooting blanks if you’re all stressed out.”
Great, something else I had to worry about. What if I couldn’t have kids?
“I’ll be there,” I finally said with a sigh.
But not before I made an appointment for a sperm count.
Fuck my life.