Chapter Nineteen
Hawk
Hawk paced back and forth in his apartment, thinking about how everything had gone down that night with Kathryn and her father. He hated how much power that man had over her—and how much power she had over him. Though he had always known that he felt love for her, this was the first time in his life he would be able to say that he was truly in love with Kathryn and Kathryn alone.
The thought of ever taking another girl to bed repulsed him, and he didn’t even want to try to think about how he was going to get over her. He had tried calling her as soon as she left the restaurant, and several times since, but she wasn’t answering anything. No text messages, no voicemails, nothing.
Hawk knew that he had made a mistake, and he was paying for it now. He should never have hidden the fact that her father had contacted him in the first place. Perhaps if he had been upfront, she wouldn’t have been so upset with the two of them were arguing about her. He didn’t know if she had any idea about the tabloids, or if she was going to look at them now that she heard them fighting.
Either way, it truly didn’t matter. Nor did her revelation that she’d been planning on using him bother him. He pretty much deserved it.
Hawk didn’t know what was wrong with him. He couldn’t get her out of his mind; he had thought that he was in love before, but nothing that he had felt in the past could even compare to what he felt now. Every time he turned around, he thought of her in one way or another.
Unable to reach her, he decided to go home and think things through. Hawk was smart, and he knew if he were to think about things logically, he would be able to come up with some kind of plan that would prove to her that he loved her. That thought in itself was so foreign to him, he hardly knew how to handle it. Yet here he was.
He felt that he would do anything to win Kathryn’s affections. He knew she was different now than before, and he wished he could prove to her that he respected that. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but he couldn’t if she didn’t answer him.
“Come on, Hawk, think about this. You were just with her for nearly a week straight. Just the two of you with practically no distractions. She had to say something that stood out from the rest. A ring? Not now—not thinking that you are in cahoots with her father.” He rolled his eyes as he spoke out loud. Suddenly, something struck him, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
She had said something to him that stood out from the rest—and if it was something he could give her, she would be bound to give him a second chance. He didn’t know if she would, and he certainly didn’t know if he would be able to pull it off, but he was going to try. Of course, he couldn’t do this alone, and if he was going to make it happen, he was going to have to act quickly.
The tabloid was still circulating around, and it was only a matter of time before Berkshire got involved with it and legal proceedings could begin. With his heart racing, he picked up his phone and called the only person on the planet he could think to talk to, but the last person on the planet he really wanted to.
Cole Parker.
“Cole, I need to ask you a favor, and I really need you to do this for me, man. This is life changing for me, for all of us, really, and I need you to come through,” Hawk was speaking so quickly that it was hard for his brother to get a word in on the conversation.
“Hawk, it’s like ten at night. What the fuck are you talking about?” Cole’s voice told Hawk that his brother had indulged in some alcohol that evening, and he knew he wasn’t going to get far with him.
“Text Blake and tell him we are going to have a meeting as soon as we can, first thing in the morning,” Hawk said.
“Why don’t you do it yourself?” Cole asked, groggy irritation in his voice.
“Because he is mad at me, and you know he’ll prioritize it if you do it. Come on. I really need this from you, man. This is a business decision that is going to change our lives, I promise.” He did his best to keep his voice friendly and casual, but on the inside, he wanted to yell.
“Fine, but you better be there. I’m not going to show up and have you ditch us for whatever reason you decide between now and the next eight hours. Goodnight.” Cole hung up the phone before Hawk had the chance to respond, but that was perfectly fine with him. His plan was going into motion, but if he was going to truly get his brothers on his side, he was going to have to have something they could see, something that would prompt them to come to see things his way.
He was a businessman, and he knew that it was going to be next to impossible with what he was going to hit them with, but he was going to have to give it a try. That night, he’d realized that the only thing he really wanted in life was to have Kathryn Wellington become his, and the only way that would happen would be if his plan worked.
He pulled out some charts and began drawing on them, formulating the plan in his mind as fast as he could put it down on paper. If this worked, everything would be better.
Everything.
***
“No! All I can say is no, no, no, no, and no!” Blake let the coffee mug hit the table with more force than he should have, and both brothers looked up at him with surprise in their eyes.
“You aren’t listening to me,” Hawk said, “If we buy Wellington out, we won’t have to do a thing. We’ll hand it over to Kathryn, let her take care of it, and reap the profits. You know that this could work.”
“I know that it could, but I also know that you only tend to have bad ideas and mess things up, and I am not going to risk the wellbeing of this company so you can enjoy your little toy for a few more months. What happens when the two of you break up again?” Blake asked. He had his hands on the table, leaning forward and looking his brother in the eye.
“We aren’t going to. Things are so different now. If you had seen us in Vegas—”
“I think more than enough people saw you in Vegas, to be quite honest,” Blake said, interrupting his brother. Hawk felt like they were kids again, and he wanted to shove his brother to the ground and tell him to shut up. Instead, he held his ground and turned to Cole.
“Come on, buddy, you have said yourself that if we are going to escape a scandal, we are going to have to make this look far more deliberate than some kind of one-night stand. I want to marry this girl, and she isn’t going to do that if she thinks that her father is setting her up with me.” He gave his brother a pleading look, and Cole sighed.
“But what if he says no? What are you going to do then? I don’t want to dash your hopes, but Dan Wellington isn’t the best man to do business with. You know that as well as we do.” Cole drummed his fingers on the table, and Hawk nodded.
“But this is something that is going to be mutually beneficial to all who are involved. We are going to profit from another business that is doing fairly well considering what is going on with the internal workings right now. They are going to get the stability of a bigger company that isn’t doing so well, but one that is going to get a lot of stability from the union. You know as well as I do that if this were to work, it could potentially lead to better business for both of us.” Hawk showed his brothers the charts, and Cole sighed, but Blake shook his head.
“I know that you are saying this is a possibility, and I want to tell you that I am glad that you are taking a greater interest in the company. It really is about time. But this is the kind of risk that Father never would have taken, and we aren’t going to start now!” Blake slammed his fist down on the table with an air of finality and turned to go.
Hawk, however, stopped him once more, refusing to let him walk out when he had so much hanging on the line. “But what if it does work? You just said yourself that this is something that Father would never have done, and look where Father left the company! On the verge of failure! If Father had really been doing as well as we all like to think that he was, he would not have had Berkshire waiting to dive in and take what little he had left! Mark my words, there is more to this than what we realize. He wanted us all to have a part in this, because he knows we all bring something different to the table!”
Hawk turned to Cole for support, and Cole couldn’t help but nod. “You know, he does have a point. I’m not saying that this is the best idea in the world, but you have to hand it to him. If we were to do this, and it were to work, can you imagine what could come of it? And I have to agree that it is all the better if Kathryn is able to handle it herself. This is the definition of passive income, which is what we were looking for in the first place.”
“Have you gone mad? Are you really going to let the guy who would just as much drink all day as lift a pen make a decision like this?” Blake looked at Cole with an incredulous look on his face, and it was obvious he genuinely thought that his brothers had both gone crazy.
“If you guys are willing to go in on this decision with me, I am going to do more with the company. I will do what I need to do to pull my weight, all the time, every time. Trust me, this is going to be the change that we have been looking for, and I know you know it to be true. Come on, Blake. I’m begging you,” Hawk said. Blake sighed. It was clear that this wasn’t easy for him, but he wasn’t going to budge on his opinion, either.
Suddenly, Cole raised his hand.
“I say we put it to a vote. You know how Garret was talking to us about that the other day. There are three of us here, so it has to go one way or the other.” He gave Blake a challenging look, and Blake nodded.
“Fine, a vote it is, and there is going to be no arguing with the results.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
When all were in agreement, the vote was cast. Blake started. “All opposed to this merger with Wellington, raise your hand.”
He put his hand up, expecting Cole to do the same. Hawk looked at his brother in surprise, but Cole didn’t move. Blake gave Cole the dirtiest look he could muster, but once again, Cole kept his eyes on the table in front of him. ‘
“Those in favor?” he asked, shocked that his brother hadn’t moved. Both Cole and Hawk raised their hands, and Blake threw his arms down to his side.
“Are you crazy? This is going to be the ruin of the company!” he said.
“The votes have been cast, and the meeting is adjourned.” Cole replied. Hawk wanted to shout, but he merely smiled and held his hand out to both his brothers.
“Gentlemen, I look forward to working together,” he said.