Hello Kittens!
You all loved Charming so much, I had to write Beasty!
Look for one more in this series, Dreamy, coming very soon.
Xxx
Nicole
Chapter One
Hayden
“Sir, are you okay?”
“Oh my god! Someone call 9-1-1!”
“Can you hear me? Can you see what’s around you?”
“Stabilize his head. There we go. On three, turn him over. One, two-”
“This is idiotic.”
“Mr. Lowell, we know this isn’t what-”
“No, this isn’t how this is going to work. We were approved for this project months ago. Why isn’t it off the ground yet?” I asked.
“We keep running into licensing issues. Building permits we didn’t know we needed.”
“Well that’s not my problem now, is it? That’s your problem. I pay you six figures a year and cover all your medical costs so you fix this type of shit for me. Am I going to have to find someone who can do this job more competently than you? Because I’ve enjoyed working with you for the past decade.”
“Sir, it won’t happen again. I’m looking into the problem as we speak.”
“Really? Because it looks like you’re making excuses while standing in my office.”
My head was pounding. Our newest luxury hotel chain was expanding into the Caribbean, and everywhere we turned something else was going wrong. A permit we didn’t know we needed, apparently. Or water mains bursting because of the weather coming through. Or the wrong adapter outlets being installed into all the rooms. Or the fucking tubs going in backwards.
Tubs.
Backwards!
It was like I was working with toddlers.
My investors were pissed. They were supposed to start seeing some sort of return a month ago. But instead, we were still building. Still draining them of money they didn’t expect to fork over. I was digging into my own damn pockets to get the fucking project done, and that wasn’t even my responsibility!
I was going to have to fire someone.
This could never happen again.
“When’s he going to wake up?”
“And when he does, where do we go from there?”
“I can’t take him home. Do you think he would let one of us move in?”
“Into his perfect little mansion? Not likely.”
“I’m going to need a flight out to the Caribbean as soon as you can get me booked.”
“Hayden. You can’t go out there.”
“Mike. I’m have to. For some reason, we’ve employed people who can’t get this damn job finished. I’m going to have to go out there myself and figure out what the hell’s going on,” I said.
“You’re needed here. The moment your feet leave this soil, your investors are going to freak,” he said.
“So do you want to take a trip to the Caribbean? Because the last time I checked, you didn’t like flying.”
“That’s what happens when a damn plane crashes, Hayden. But that still doesn’t mean you can jet off to the Caribbean. We can handle things from here.”
“We’ve been handling things from here. And look where it’s put us!”
Everywhere I turned, someone was questioning my moves. My motives. My want for doing something. My company needed boots on the ground. We were being swindled out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for this project and no one around me seemed to care. Yes, the Caribbean was being battered with storms, but that was why this project had insurance. Capable contractors. An entire team of investors ready to jump whenever I gave the damn command.
But we were supposed to be finished three fucking months ago. What the hell was going on out there?
I needed to know. And I was going to find out.
“Book me a flight,” I said.
“I’m not your damn secretary. I’m your COO,” Mike said.
“Then do your damn job and stop fussing about shit. I’m on the first flight out.”
“Fine. But you call me the moment you land. I want to know you’re safe.”
“My plane isn’t going to crash, Mike. And yours didn’t either. You had an emergency landing in a field because you weren’t near an airport.”
“That’s still scary!”
I rolled my eyes as I walked out of his office.
I needed to hire more competent people. And some with bigger balls.
“We need to get him into the O.R. Now. You have to leave.”
“I’m not leaving my son. That’s my boy!”
“Mom, he’s going to be okay if you let the doctors do what they need to do.”
“Hayden. Wake up for me, baby. Wake up!”
“Mr. Lowell, I’ve got you scheduled on a 4:37 flight out of JFK International. Straight shot to your destination if the weather stays nice.”
“Thanks, Alicia. I’m glad there’s someone in this company I can count on.”
“Sir, if I may?” she asked.
I slowly panned my gaze up from my phone and paused the email I was sending.
“Yes?” I asked.
“I know it’s not my place, but you might want to check with the original contracting company we checked out.”
“Why?” I asked. “What do you know?”
“I don’t know anything. But I got an invoice a couple of hours ago from a contracting company that isn’t the one we originally looked at. I think I know what they’re doing.”
“Talk to me then.”
“I think they took our contract, then subcontracted out the work for cheaper than we’re paying them. Subleasing, but for companies,” she said.
“Can I see that invoice?” I asked.
“Sure thing.”
I watched Alicia dig around in her paperwork as I furrowed my brow. In some ways, it was a smart business move. If the business could pull it off right. Take a contract, do none of the work, and still take a percentage of the top. It was lazy business, but it was cunning business.
But it was screwing me over, and I wasn’t going to have it.
My family’s hotel company had been operating for over one hundred years. Passed on to every son in the family for generations. I was bred for the damn job from the time I was young. Obtained my business degree from Cambridge and was thrown straight into the belly of the beast. My father gave me a month to learn the ropes, and if I couldn’t take it on then the business would be passed to my sister.
Cara.
The musician of the family.
“Here it is,” Alicia said. “Take a look.”
I took the piece of paper from her hand and began to scan it. A grin spread across my cheeks as I peered over the piece of paper. Alicia had gone back to typing on her computer. Probably clearing my schedule or fucking around with something that was way below what she had just proven herself to be worth. Her eyes were moving across the screen and her hands were typing a thousand miles a second.
Trained as a secretary, but housing tremendous observational skills.
“Miss Alicia.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Be ready for a promotion when I get back.”
“Come again?” she asked.
I folded up the piece of paper and put it in my pocket. I needed to get to the damn airport. I had two hours to get myself through security and onto a plane, and I still had to go by my car and get my suitcase. I kept it packed for every season so I was ready to go for moments like this.
It was a trick my father had taught me before he died.
“He’s going to need physical therapy, Mom. He needs a house he can do that in.”
“He’s coming home with me and that’s final.”
“You know he won’t go home with you. But I might be able to convince him to come with me.”
“That’s my baby, Cara.”
“And I’m his sister. He doesn’t need someone wiping his ass. He needs someone who will push him to get better.”
I ripped my bag from my car in the garage and started for the street. I’d need to hail a cab in order to get to the airport. I wasn’t about to try and park my car and navigate all that fucking traffic. I was on a strict schedule to get everything back on track.
I also needed to send an email to H.R. and tell them to open up a project manager position for Alicia.
I pulled out my phone and began walking across the road. My bag was slung over my shoulder and my feet were carrying me as fast as I could. Blood was pumping through my veins and my adrenaline was in overdrive. I missed this part of the business. The part where I swooped in and saved the day. I started out as a project manager at the company, but the position had only been utilized for me to learn. Once my father died and I was promoted to the new CEO and owner of the company, the position closed.
But we were in desperate need of one, and Alicia fit that job perfectly.
My fingers were flying over the keyboard of my phone before I heard the screeching of tires. The screaming of women. I felt the bag at my side pop as my phone flew from my hands. One minute I was looking at my screen and the next I was looking at the sky.
The sidewalk.
The road.
“Sir, are you okay?”
“Oh my God! Someone call 9-1-1!”
“Can you hear me? Can you see what’s around you?”
“Stabilize his head. There we go. On three, turn him over. One, two-”
There were lights. Flashing lights overhead. I couldn't move my left leg or my left arm and it hurt to breathe. It hurt to swallow. It hurt for my heart to beat. The smell of disinfectant was strong, but the darkness closing in on my vision was stronger than my wake to stay awake.
“Hayden! No!”
My mother’s voice was the last thing I heard before darkness overcame me.
“Mom, we can’t keep arguing like this. He’s going to wake up any minute.”
“Hush, Cara. He’s moving. Hayden. Oh, sweet boy. Momma’s here. Can you hear me? Hayden?”
My left leg was hoisted into the air and my arm was casted and cradled at my side. I couldn’t open my eyes, no matter how much I wanted to. Machines were beeping at a rhythmic pace and footsteps were falling heavily onto the floor.
“I saw him move. I swear it.”
Mom. I kept hearing my mother’s voice.
“I can vouch for that. He twitched his toes and cleared his throat.”
Cara.
Why was Cara in the Caribbean?
I didn’t know where I was, but I needed to get up. I needed to put my clothes on and get to the project site. Alicia was right. The company we had hired subcontracted our work out and was skimming money off the top. Not illegal, but certainly not helping us. I needed to get in there and fix things before this project went completely under.
And possibly the entire fucking family business.
“Mr. Lowell, you need to open your eyes.”
Who the fuck was that?
“Mr. Lowell, can you hear me?”
Yes, I can hear you. Your voice is annoying. What the fuck is going on? Shut the hell up. Get me out of this damn place.
“Hayden, please open your eyes.”
I’m fucking opening them, Cara!
“If he isn’t conscious within the next few hours, we’ll run some tests. But it doesn't look good.”
“Why isn’t he waking up?” my mother asked. “What are our options?”
Damn it, I’m right fucking here!
“I told you this third surgery was going to be too much on his body. If he doesn’t wake up, you can expect a malpractice lawsuit,” Cara said.
Wait. Surgery? Why the hell was my sister talking about surgery? Where the fuck was I?
“He needed the surgery. The first was to pin and plate his arm and leg and the second was to pin his ribs. But he started internally bleeding so we took him back in to chase it. Your brother would’ve bled out in the hospital bed had we not done anything.”
“You mean to tell me you didn’t catch the bleed before you stitched him up the first time?” Cara asked. “What kind of hospital are you running, doctor?”
“Cara, now isn’t the time to get upset,” my mother said.
“Not get upset? My brother’s lying in a hospital bed unconscious after three back-to-back surgeries and no one knows why! We don’t know what will happen when he wakes up, we don’t know what kind of brain damage there might be, if any. We don’t know what happened during the car accident because the damn traffic cameras weren’t hooked up, and I’m not supposed to be upset!?”
Hospital? I was in a hospital? Wait a second, what accident?
Oh shit. The car. My phone.
Holy fuck. The Caribbean. I’m not in the Caribbean. Wake up, Hayden. Wake the fuck up! Your business needs you!
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I was aware of the world around me, but I still didn’t have the faintest clue as to what was going on. Well, I was slowly piecing things together when the world wasn’t black. Dark. Empty.
I kept screaming for my leg to move. For my arm to move. For my eyes to open or my tongue to start working or my lips to part. Any sort of movement to prove to me that I had control. That I had the capability of controlling my body enough to get done what had to get done. Mom had no idea what was going on at work. I’d probably missed my flight. Three surgeries? What the hell?
I needed to talk to the doctor.
But it was like my will was disconnected from my physical form.
“Oh, Hayden,” my mother said. “I’m begging you. Just open your eyes.”
I’m trying, Mom. I swear to you, I’m trying.
“I can’t lose you, too,” she said breathlessly.
“We aren’t going to lose him,” Cara said. “Life isn’t that cruel.”
Say that to the guy that can’t move, why don’t you?
I felt my mother’s face fall to my arm. I could feel her tears running across my skin. I wanted to move my arm. To put it around her and reassure her that things were going to be okay. That I was okay. That I could hear her. That I wasn’t gone. Not like Dad had been taken from us. I wasn’t going to go out like that. With a car like it had happened to Dad.
Come on. Just one fucking finger. That was all I was asking my body to do.
“Please,” my mother said with a whisper. “Please don’t leave me, Hayden. I can’t bury you, too.”
You won’t, Mom. I swear if it’s the last thing I make sure, you won’t have to bury me.