They say that time flies when you’re having fun and drags when you’re not. It fucking did because I felt as if I hadn’t seen Laura in years and it had only been a fucking week. I’d really fallen hard for her. I thought that this sort of shit only happens in those chick flicks Emily watches.

Even with Trent back and helping out again, there was still too much to do. I hated to admit that I’d valued myself as being a workaholic and I’d been far from it lately. I couldn’t help it if unlike him, I didn’t spend all my time in the office sitting down in front of papers and a computer all day. In the short time I’d covered for him, there’d been plenty of stuff I’d overlooked, so technically, my being so busy was just because I was cleaning up my mess. Still, I didn’t like it.

I also didn’t like that it felt like Laura was avoiding me. Even when I’d called to have her come to my room, I was informed she was now cleaning my room, permanently. She probably just did it at a time when she knew I wouldn’t be in the room, and though I’d tried to surprise her a few times, I never caught her.

Fuck, I missed Laura as if a part of me was missing, like a drug addict needing a fix. I hated being fucking needy, but I was becoming just that.

“This isn’t going to end,” I muttered to myself as I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, in a terrible mood for the fourth day in a row. Then I sighed. “It’s kinda my fault I still don’t have her phone number.”

After taking a shower, I got dressed. Since it was still pretty early, I sat in my living room and had some orange juice from the fridge. I didn’t feel like breakfast. I was also waking up way earlier than I was used to and having trouble falling asleep.

How could one woman have left my world so upside down, and only after one night together? I didn’t get hung up on women, especially ones that didn’t want me again after they had me. From what I remembered, she’d enjoyed our time together, even if she’d been a little subdued afterward. I guessed she was tired, but maybe… Did she regret it?

No!

I didn’t know why Laura was avoiding me—and she was, because of the two of us, she was the one who knew how to contact me. I wasn’t going to let things stand as they were. I was used to getting whatever I wanted; and while that was a pretty fucking spoiled thought, it was true, and I wasn’t about to break it just yet. Not now when the one thing I wanted was Laura. She wasn’t an object to be owned, and I knew better than anyone that money didn’t buy affections. She didn’t seem like she’d be swayed like most of the women I met, but I had to try something.

I’d warned Emily all our lives about making friends with the help, but I no longer cared. If she came to me to snark about it, I would take it quietly and leave her relationships alone. I wanted Laura, and even if we were from different worlds, I was going to try.

I didn’t fucking care about the age gap, but I had a feeling that she did. It wasn’t like she was seventy or something! She was only thirty-five. Sure, that was still more than a decade older than me, but she hardly looked her age, it had been a surprise for me to hear it.

“I need some help,” I decided, jumping up from the couch.

I was done moping around and waiting for her to find me. I was going to take some action. Then I paused, wondering exactly what I could do to get a woman to fall for me. Usually, they came to me of their own free will, but I’d never had to actually woo a woman. Even back in high school and all through college.

For a moment, I thought of calling my sister for advice. That was a bad idea, and I vetoed it almost immediately. There was Mom, but she was almost just as bad. If either of them found out there was a woman I was trying to win over, not only would they tease me over it, they’d demand and pry to know who it was until I caved. I wasn’t worried about their reactions exactly; I just didn’t want my family butting into my love life.

Since the family was out of the question, I pulled out my phone and did some searches online to find what I needed. I saw several sites and found a few things on repeat. They were simple enough to accomplish. I switched my searches to local areas, looking for flower shops, candy, and fashion stores.

Over the next few days, I had things sent to her. I didn’t know her home address, and I didn’t want to abuse the fact that I was the boss’s son and could easily get her information. So all the gifts passed through the staff lounge. I couldn’t spare much time to go there myself at the times I assumed she’d be there, but I could do this much.

Trent kept working me to the bone, and I kept sending present after present in my new campaign to win this woman over. I never attached my name and tried to make the deliveries as discreet as possible so people wouldn’t talk. She’d be more affected by the rumors than I would be, after all. Flowers, candy, other expensive gifts; everything I thought a woman would want.

I was mistaken though, because in my moment of frustration and desperation, I forgot how Laura was unlike any of the women I’d ever hooked up with before. She didn’t appreciate any of the gifts, and over the week I’d sent them, they were returned. Every single one. I wasn’t sure what it was she disliked, so I tried changing things up, but still, nothing. She also didn’t send word as to why she refused everything.

It all left me so fucking frustrated. It was all I could do not to scream my head off.

“What was that?”

“Huh?” I blinked as I looked up and for once thought about something else apart from Laura.

Ah. I was sitting in the office, where Trent had the desk I’d used before brought back in for me. Moving around would probably have been better for my frustration, but I was probably beyond even that already. Only seeing Laura or getting some answers to the mounting questions—most of them varying ways of asking just what it was that she wanted—would get me to calm down.

“Is something wrong?” Trent said. “You’ve been muttering to yourself over there, and I don’t know if you’re cursing me for giving you too much work, or what. Work that I’m pretty sure you aren’t even doing.”

I blinked at the desk in front of me, feeling a little confused. He was right. For a moment, I almost felt ashamed. Then I remembered I was Mason Thompson. While this scene was eerily a lot like my times in high school, sitting at my desk with work I was ignoring in favor of looking over my phone underneath it, even back then I’d never felt anything but annoyance at being interrupted.

“Sorry about that. You’re right. I’m just a little distracted.”

I let out a sigh, dropping my phone on the desk as I leaned back in my chair, running an agitated hand through my hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

My head snapped up, eyes wide as I looked over at my brother. “What?”

Trent folded his arms on the desk, leaning forward slightly with an open expression.

“Seriously, tell me what it is. It might make you feel better to talk about it.”

I snorted. “I doubt it.” Then I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you and I don’t have the relationship where we share things, Trent. Not personal things, anyway.”

He shrugged, nodding as he conceded the point. “That’s true, and it’s probably entirely my fault. But I’m still your big brother and I’ve got years of experience on you. I might be of some help.”

I wanted to tell him that the fault wasn’t entirely his own. A great part of it was Dad’s fault.

“It’s just… something’s been frustrating me lately. It’s something I’ll work through eventually on my own. I just… have to keep trying, right?”

“Does it have anything to do with Dad?”

“Huh?” I repeated with a blank expression.

Trent had this pensive look on his face that I couldn’t read. I wondered what he was thinking.

“I was wondering whether or not I should tell you guys. Or even if I should tell you. As far as I know, Kevin is still in the dark. Not that I was trying to hide it from you, I just… didn’t know how to bring it up.”

I frowned, momentarily distracted. “What are you talking about? What don’t Kevin and I know?”

Trent sighed, then leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “Well, it’s this thing about Dad. Remember how we were all told he had a heart attack and he wasn’t well?” He paused, so I nodded, prompting him to go on. “As it turns out, that’s not exactly true. Dad is just fine. I heard it, and I didn’t want to believe it, but this is Dad. So I left, and he came to talk me into coming back after that. He told me to keep working because he was enjoying his vacation.”

His expression once he finished was calm. I blinked at him for a moment, not sure whether or not I should just take his word for it. Trent was waiting for a reaction from me. At first, I didn’t know how I should react, but slowly, it was sinking in for me, and I was not happy with the trick Dad had pulled on us.

I almost lost it right then and there, despite Trent’s calm attitude. There was a lot of shit on the desk in front of me; some documents I was meant to look through, a computer had been given to me to use. All of it so I could work for my father, who I’d momentarily forgotten as thoughts of Laura took over my mind. It hadn't even occurred to me just how long it had been since I last asked to see him only to be rebuffed.

If I was honest, I wasn’t even surprised. I’d already suspected as much. For a man at death’s door to suddenly refuse to see his children was odd, and I’m many things but stupid isn’t one of them. I don’t know why I hadn’t demanded an answer before now, yet here I was, totally not shocked to be told I’d been made a fool of by my father. Again.

Right then, I was well past super frustrated and somehow, I simply wasn’t in the mood to be smug that I’d almost guessed right. I was pissed off, righteously so, and in a move that I suspected mirrored what Trent did when he found out, I left everything where it was and walked out of the office.

Trent didn’t call me back, not that I would have stopped if he did. He probably knew, so he didn’t bother.