Chapter 6 – Drake
“You need to actually listen, Drake. I don’t know where your head is, but you need to get off of whatever bimbo you did last night and focus.”
I looked up at Brandon and shot daggers at him. He had awoken me from my sleep far too early, wanting to talk about business. I had been unable to do more than give Erin a kiss goodbye before I had to leave this morning. I now remembered what he had made me miss, and there was nothing I wanted to do more at that moment than punch him. I didn’t care about the new project. It didn’t seem to matter. Nothing did but getting back to Erin before she left my bed.
“She isn’t a bimbo, Brandon.”
“Oh, so what was she, Drake? Did you find you another college girl to make you feel young again?”
I kind of frowned and thought about why he would say that. It was apparently not the first time I had made a mistake like that, but that was before. That was before Erin… I stopped and thought about what had just run through my mind. Why was I still thinking about her like she was permanently in my blood? I had known when Brandon called to pull me away from her this morning that I was not prepared to give her up yet. One time was just not going to be enough with Erin.
“It isn’t like that, Brandon. So what are we talking about?” I wanted to talk about anything but what we were currently discussing. I didn’t know why he was so interested or why I was so defensive, but I didn’t want to talk about Erin like that. She was different, and I wasn’t going to explain myself.
“We are talking about that museum. I’m going to have everything ready for signature in a couple of days, and I wanted to make sure that the details are what you wanted. I know how you are about the contract, so I figured going over it now would help out for later. If you don’t like something, all you have to do is let me know and I will take care of it.”
I raised an eyebrow and told him that he was being too helpful. “Why are you so eager to get this deal signed?”
He shrugged and then sat back at the bar. It was too early to be drinking, but ‘too early’ didn’t seem to be a time on Brandon’s clock, and he had already drunk two beers while we had been there. “I’m ready for a vacation and I need the funds. This deal will give me a big chunk of change.”
I just shook my head. I don’t know what he did with his part of the money, but I had a good feeling that a lot of it went to booze and women.
“It will be signed, Brandon. Get the details right and there will be no problem.” My mind went to Erin and I wondered if that was true. I had made her a deal, one that I had no intention of following through with, and now, after the night we’d had together, I was starting to really regret that dishonesty. I was not supposed to want her, but I did. There were a lot of things that were supposed to be happening, but at the end of the day, I wanted to keep her. The museum wouldn’t be sold for a little while longer, but soon she would know the truth. I was going to have to make the most of the time we had together and somehow make her need me so much that she would be able to forgive me for the lies.
Brandon knew something was up, and he wanted more details about the woman who’d made me look how I apparently did. I didn’t tell him much, but I liked that he had noticed the difference. Erin had to be different because what I felt was so different from anything before. I was starting to think that I was falling for her.
***
The contract was in front of me and it had mine, Brandon’s and two other signatures on it. The deal had been struck, and even though everyone else was celebrating the achievement, I didn’t feel like celebrating anything. What I felt like doing was getting out of there. What the contract meant to me was not a little more money in the pot. It meant that my time with Erin was quickly coming to an end, and I knew that I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to be done with her. I needed more time, and now I didn’t have any more. As much as I hated to even think about it, I knew that I was going to have to tell her soon. I wanted her to hear about it from me rather than learning about it somewhere else.
I picked up the phone to talk to her, but I was already hanging up before she answered. I just couldn’t figure out what to say. After a time I realized that it wasn’t something that I was going to be able to do over the phone anyways. I didn’t know how she was going to take it, but I knew that if I had my hands on her and was able to kiss her, she would come around. Erin would see that she didn’t need that job anymore, and she would see that I didn’t have a choice. It was just business, after all.
As I was getting my briefcase packed for a little work when I got home, I saw Mary coming in. It had been a little strained around her since I’d turned down her sexual advances, and it was again a day that I didn’t want to deal with her. The blonde hair reminded me too much of Erin, and too much about the time when I’d had everything I wanted. Now was not that time.
“So how did everything go?”
I thought of the last night with Erin and how well it had gone. It took a minute for me to remember that she was more likely talking about the contract. It was a big one, and everyone was counting on the bonuses that would be derived from it. There was always something more for her, though. She always wanted something more from me, and I knew then that this was no different.
“I just met with Brandon and got everything signed and ironed out. It will be a good quarterly bonus.”
She smiled and shook her head. For a moment I wasn’t sure what ill I had seen in her. I didn’t see it now. All I saw was a woman who I used to like, who just wasn’t enough anymore.
“I’m just happy that you got what you wanted. I know how you get when something is a bit too challenging.”
Her words were accompanied with a look that I had to look away from. I didn’t want her anymore. Instead I sent her ahead to see about making sure everything was in place with the PR for the new club. That was her job, after all, and the reminder seemed to get her into gear. At least it got her out of my office. I got a funny feeling about her, but I didn’t have anything else to go off of than a feeling in my gut.