Chapter 23

Mason

I looked out the window at the sky that was turning from dusk to night. The lights in the city shined brightly through my windows, and I felt a burst of excitement inside me. It was Monday night, and I had been at the house all day. I’d made up an excuse not to go to the office, and I was really glad I had made that choice because I’d been dreading it all weekend long.

Instead of slaving away, pretending I cared about my father or his company, I’d stayed at home and worked on my own business. I took conferenced meetings all day, trying to get the company going. I had meetings with lawyers, accountants, financiers, and everyone in between. I wanted everything to fall into place so badly, and I was ready to be set free and watch my own legacy take off. I knew it was going to be difficult from the beginning, especially with my father not on board to help me with it, but I was determined and motivated. Everyone I spoke to loved my ideas, loved what I was trying to accomplish, and that alone gave me the motivation to push forward. Nothing could hold me back this time. I could feel it.

When the day was over, and I sat back in my chair looking at my notes, I realized that if I stayed on track, this project would be up and running with the next month. No, it wouldn’t be the corporate monster my father or John’s father owned, but it would have the capability of getting there if I did things correctly. I couldn’t believe that in a month’s time, I would have my own business, my own name—separation from my father. I didn’t know why I hadn’t done it before. I guessed it was daunting, and I hadn’t had the motivation I needed to get things going.

Exhilaration bolted through me, and I went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. My mind was racing a million miles a minute, trying to go through the monstrous list of things I had to do in order to make this a reality. I was so close, closer than I had ever been, and I would be damned if I let it slip through my fingers. I was excited about more than just the company. I was excited about the freedom it would award me, the freedom to make my own decisions, live how I wanted to live, no longer answer to my father, and have Ava in my life. Technology had always been my passion, which was why I had gotten a dual degree when I went to college. I had real ideas that could change the future of technology as we knew it.

The cell phone revolution hadn’t met its match yet, but the ideas I had concocted and worked through, at least on paper, would change up the phone game forever. It wasn’t only about money to me. It was about the revolution that technology could produce. It was about innovation and experimentation and everything that went along with that. I shook my head and laughed, too caught up in the big picture to quiet my mind enough to think about the details.

I sipped my beer as I looked out over the city, my thoughts turning to Ava, wanting to share with her everything I had accomplished. I knew it was dangerous to think she and I might actually make something out of the drama and mess we had been living in, but at that moment, I couldn’t help myself. She still felt like my greatest ally, just like when we were teenagers telling each other our biggest secrets. I really wanted to have that with her again, to have her standing by me when I forged my own future. I knew, though, it would take a lot more than the prospect of a booming business to get her trust back.

I looked over into the apartment, hearing a knock at the door. I walked over and opened it up, smiling at John standing on the other side. He smiled back anxiously, unsure where my good mood had sprung from. I had to be honest. I was more than a little surprised to see him. The last time we spoke, he’d been irritated as hell with me, wanting me to go out and not understanding my need to grow. He took everything I said as a jab against him instead of understanding that I was talking about myself and what I needed in my life. Hopefully, this wouldn’t turn into a fight. I was in too good of a mood to dampen it with something like that. Either way, he was my best friend, and I was excited to have someone to talk to about everything.

“Hey,” I said. “Good to see you, man.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “You too.”

“Come on in.” I grabbed him a beer and led him into the living room. “What’s up?”

“I figured it would be better for me to come by face to face to ask you what’s going on,” he said. “What’s up with you?”

“Well, if you can keep a secret, I’m trying to get my own business up and running, my own technology company,” I said. “You know I’ve had the idea for a long time.”

“Did your father finally agree?”

“No,” I said, smiling. “I’m doing this on my own. I’m branching out from my father.”

“Whoa,” he said, wide-eyed. “What kind of blowback do you think you’ll get?”

“There’s a lot to it, so probably a really huge blowback.” I laughed. “But when the dust settles, I will finally have the freedom to live my life. Like I said the other day, I want to grow into something more than a trust fund kid. You work for your father, and you enjoy it. I don’t enjoy working for my dad.”

“I’m really happy for you, man,” he said. “And working for my father is not the dream job, trust me.”

“I’m glad you said that,” I said, leaning forward. “I really think you would be a huge asset to my company. You’ve been by my side through everything, and I think your financial knowledge and business sense coupled with my knowledge and ideas would make a powerful team. I’m not saying you would have to leave your dad’s company completely. We could work something out that fit what you wanted, but I really would like to have you on my team.”

“Wow,” he said. “I mean, of course, man. I’ve loved your ideas from the beginning, and I would love to be on the ground level of this thing as it takes off. I think you and I could really make it work. And I don’t have a problem leaving my father’s company as long as I have somewhere to land that’s strong and stable. My dad isn’t as demanding as your father.”

“To the future then,” I said, raising my beer to his. “This is going to be fucking awesome.”

“To the future,” he said, clinking my beer and taking a sip. “So what area of technology are we talking about?”

I chuckled. “I have ideas for pretty much every area of technology. But we would start out in the cell phone arena. Not as a carrier, but as a technological source creating a new phone that would rock the cell phone world. I have all the ideas on paper. We can set up a time to sit down and go over everything. I could be up and running in a month.”

“This is exciting,” John said happily. “How about the rest of your world? What’s going on there? Have you talked to that model girl anymore? What was her name?”

“Ava,” I said.

“Yeah, Ava,” he replied, shaking his head. “You grew up with her, right?”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “She was my first, though she doesn’t know that. It was more than that, though. We grew up together, and we were best friends. We pretty much did everything together until we were eighteen and shit hit the fan.”

“So, have you seen her since the club? I know I was a douche. I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s all right.” I chuckled. “I’m used to you being a douchebag. We actually met up on Friday here, and I cooked her dinner. Things went a bit further than dinner, and I’ll say that she is pretty hot first thing in the morning. But we also talked a lot about what happened in the past, how we can resolve it, and how we can get our lives back on track. When Spencer Hotels went down, it really kicked her family’s ass, and come to find out, my father was behind the whole thing. I have to make that right, you know? I feel responsible.”

“You shouldn’t feel responsible for what your father did, but I understand why you do,” John said. “Are you going to confront him about it?”

“Eventually,” I said. “I want to get all my personal ducks in a row before I do to make sure that when he blows back at me, I’m able to stay on my feet.”

“And what about Ava?” he asked. “Is this more than just making things right? Do you want to actually start dating this girl?”

“I don’t know.”

John laughed. “Yes, you do.”

“All right, fine. I want to date her, seriously,” I said, tired of lying about it. “She is a really special woman, and she has been for most of my life, even when we weren’t talking.”

I couldn’t believe how good it felt to admit that, to get it off my chest, even if it was just to John. I couldn’t talk about it with my parents, and I didn’t know how to approach it with Ava, so I had been holding it inside for a while. I instantly felt so much better, and the path I wanted to go down was so much clearer. I wanted Ava in my life on a romantic level, on every level for that matter. She was the girl who had started it all for me, my whole change, my whole motivation for the future.

“Of course, I want to be selfish and say that’s a horrible idea because I don’t want to lose my partner in crime,” John said with a smirk. “But you’re a really good guy, and you beat by the sound of your own drum. I think this is exactly what you need in your life, someone you really care about and see a future with. I should have seen that coming, but I was really self-absorbed and worried about everything in my own life. I’m sorry about that, man.”

I sent him an easy grin to let him know it hadn’t damaged our friendship. “It’s okay. I have been the same way, too, for far too long.”

“Well, I guess I’ll back off on trying to get you to go out and catch some pussy with me then.” He flashed a bit of his old humor. "At least until you figure everything out with this girl.”

“I appreciate that.” I grinned, but it occurred to me that he might have been pushing so hard because he’d thought I would ditch him. “I’ll still grab drinks with you. I’m not leaving the country or joining the priesthood or anything.”

“Could you imagine me as a priest?” John laughed loudly. “The church would go up in flames.”

“Fueled by whiskey.”

It felt really good to have everything start to fall into place. Now all I needed was Ava by my side. I had a distinct feeling attaining that might be a harder task than I was hoping.