Chapter 8
Kain
“Thank you,” I said. “And look, let's work on moving forward. We'll just try to put the circumstances of our first meeting behind us and get on with this. You've got a job to do and so do I, so let's do this.”
“So, what about all that stuff you told me?” she asked, narrowing her eyes with suspicion. To tell the truth, I wasn't even sure if I believed half of what I was saying, but somehow, she was inspiring me to want to believe it.
“Like I said, there's been a lot of pressure on me. I was just venting. I just had to relieve some of the pressure, that's all.”
She nodded slowly. “All right, let's put this behind us. I'm going to go find Phil now. I'll uh, I'll see you around.”
“I'll see you soon,” I said. “You're supposed to be starting work in three days.”
She nodded. “That's what your father told me – although now I guess you can tell me when you want me to come in, since you're in charge now.”
There was almost a hint of a smile on her face now, as if she was being flirtatious? The dynamic between us certainly seemed to have changed a little. The awkwardness was still there but it seemed to have eased up a little. I was noticing again just how damn beautiful she was. I had always found her to be very, very attractive but now I really couldn't take my eyes off her. And I saw something of the same attraction in her eyes, too. Yeah, there was definitely something there.
I wanted to smile at her but it didn't seem like quite the right moment for that. She had given me the opportunity to move on from this awkward little encounter, and she had agreed to stay with the company and keep quiet about the things I had told her, so that was good for the moment, at least. I didn't want to push for anything else at this stage.
“Three days it is,” I said to her. “I still have to get to grips with all of the ins and outs of running this company, so I'm just gonna stick with everything my father planned for the moment.”
She nodded. “That sounds good to me. All right then, see ya.”
I extended a hand to her, somewhat awkwardly. She took it, and her touch was absolutely electric. It sent a thrill ripping along my skin.
“See you in three days, Mandy.”
Her name rolled off my tongue with such smoothness that I wanted to say it again, and again... but I didn't. I let her go and watched her walk away, feeling a weird mix of awkwardness, arousal, regret, and relief flowing through my veins.
“So, what do you think of the new marketing director, son?”
I spun around, caught off guard. How long had my dad been standing there?
“Is something the matter, Kain? You look like you've just seen a ghost or something.”
I managed to quickly compose myself and get my thoughts together. I guess he hadn't heard much of what Mandy and I had said to each other, thankfully.
“Uh, yeah, Dad, she seems great. Really well qualified for the job.”
I wondered if he could tell that I was scrambling for words and feeling uncomfortable. Luckily, if he did, he didn't show it.
“Well, if course. I took one look at her resume and knew that she'd be perfect for the job. I also went and did a bit of research on the work she did for her former company. The girl is a marketing genius, Kain, a true marketing genius, and we're very lucky to have been able to snap her up. She's going to succeed in every area in which our former marketing manager floundered, I can tell you that with confidence.”
I nodded. “She certainly has a very impressive track record.”
“Oh, so you did some research on her on your own?” he asked.
I wonder what he would have said if I had explained exactly what kind of “research” I had done with her prior to tonight. I figured I'd best not let the old man know about that.
“Yeah, Dad, I looked her up. Did a bit of investigating.”
Part of me wanted to chuckle when I said this, and images of her naked body with its exquisite curves came rushing into my mind. Oh, boy, Dad, if you knew what I knew about our new marketing director, you'd be surprised.
“And were you pleased with what you discovered, Kain?”
Now I really wanted to howl with laughter. I had been more than pleased with what I had discovered!
“I was... suitably impressed, Dad. Very suitably impressed.”
“Good, good. So was I. I spoke to her about the cryptocurrency campaign, and she has some ideas that I think are fantastic, stuff that will really put us a few steps ahead of our competitors. I expect you to start working on that soon. I do hope, for your sake, that you get along well with her, because you two are going to be working very closely together in the coming weeks and months.”
Oh, Dad, if only you knew just how closely I had worked with her two nights ago.
“I'll make sure I stay on top of things with her,” I said, almost chuckling at my own double entendre. I did manage to keep a straight face, however.
“Good, good,” said my father, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I knew Mandy way more intimately than he could have imagined. “I'm glad to hear that.”
He then paused and looked me up and down slowly. “You've grown into a fine man, a man who truly makes his father proud. I'm proud of you. I believe I've absolutely done the right thing by handing over the reins of this company to you.”
Now a stab of uncomfortable emotion twisted in my guts. I felt a bite of guilt sinking its fangs into me as I thought about all the things I had thought about doing; selling part of the company off, letting a bunch of people go. It had just seemed so overwhelming, taking on all this responsibility, and being pushed into the deep end like this. I hadn't been sure if I could handle it, and these things seemed like a way out. Now, well, I guess now I was feeling more confident about the whole thing but even so, there remained some traces of fear.
“I'll do my best, Dad,” I said. I tried to be as sincere as I could be; I almost believed what I was saying myself.
“You know, your older brother would have been proud,” said my dad, tears suddenly glistening in the corners of his eyes. “Jimmy would have been proud of you, if he could have seen this moment. I always thought that he'd be the one taking over from me, until...”
He trailed off here, his eyes gazing off into the distance. I felt a powerful wave of emotion crash against me as thoughts of my brother flooded my mind.
“You'll do well, Kain,” he said eventually. “Just as well as Jimmy would have done. Maybe even better, huh?”
I nodded. “Like I said, Dad, I'm going to do my best to take this company from strength to strength. I'm going to make you proud.”
He smiled at me, tears still glinting in his eyes, and shook my hand. “You do that, my boy, you do that. Well, go on now, there are a lot of people who want to talk to me this evening, and likely even more who want to have a word or two with you. So, go mingle with your employees and instill confidence in them.”
“I'll chat to you later, Dad. Go say your farewells. I'm sure plenty of people here want to give you one last handshake.”
He chuckled. “Did you hear the applause and cheering earlier? It was quite something. I have to admit that I felt like a bit of a rock star!”
I chuckled, thankful to have a moment of levity. Things had been pretty stressful the last few minutes, and I needed some sort of respite from all of it.
The break was still due to go on for quite some time, so I figured I could step outside into the large, park-like grounds and get some fresh air. That would help toward clearing my head, at least temporarily.
A waiter happened to walk past, carrying drinks. One of those would probably help toward clearing my head as well, so I stopped him.
“Hey, you don't happen to have any single malt whiskey, do you?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I'm sorry, sir, all we have is wine – dry red or sweet white.”
“Hmm, I see. Well, I'm going to have to have a word with whoever organized the catering for this evening.”
“Um, yes, sir.”
“Sorry, I was just thinking out loud there. I'd like a glass of dry red please. Thanks.”
The waiter handed me a glass of dry red, and I thanked him and headed out of the hall into the clear evening outside. I stood beneath a starry sky listening to the hum of the city as it droned on quietly. It was a relief to get out for a few moments. I walked along a quiet path, alone with my thoughts. After a few minutes of walking through the dark sipping my wine, I was definitely feeling more relaxed.
“I wonder what you would think if you could see me now, Jimmy?” I said, looking up at the starry sky.
A stab of guilt accompanied the sadness. It always did when I thought of my older brother, and I often wondered if I’d ever be able to shake the feeling. What happened had been terrible, and as much as people insisted it hadn't been my fault, it was hard not to blame myself for his death, even after all these years.
Interrupting my quiet contemplation, my phone started to ring. A little annoyed, I got it out to see who was calling. Jake.
“Hey, man, what's going on?” I asked as I answered.
“I was about to ask you the same thing, buddy,” he replied. “Is it all done? Are you officially a CEO?”
“I am,” I replied. “Everyone in the company knows about it now.”
“Damn, bro, that's huge. Congratulations!”
“Thanks, man. The reality of it is still sinking in. I've got some big shoes to fill.”
“You really do. How long has your old man been in charge?”
“Since the seventies. Started it with just one other guy.”
“Whew. That's something. I know you’ll do a great job, though. So, anything else happen this evening that I should know about?”
I sighed. “Yeah, actually something pretty crazy happened.”
“Ahhh, I know that tone. This is gonna be juicy, isn’t it? You gonna share with the class?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. Just hold your damn horses. All right, so remember the other night when I went out partying?”
“Of course, man. How could I forget how slow your ass was the next day with that extended hangover? Damn, I hope you learned your lesson from that.”
“We'll race tomorrow and see just how slow I am.”
“Bring it on!”
We both laughed.
“Anyway,” I continued. “Remember I told you about the girl I picked up at the club that night?”
“I do. I remember you said she was smokin' hot. Too bad you're never gonna see her again.”
“Well, that's the thing. I did see her again.”
“Wait, what? How? She's there tonight?” Jake sounded very surprised.
“That's right, she's here. And not only is she here, she's the new freakin' marketing director.”
Jake laughed for quite some time on the other end of the line. When his laughter eventually subsided, he said, “Dude! That's gotta be so awkward!”
I sighed. “It was kinda awkward, yeah. We spoke a few minutes ago, actually.”
“So, you two recognized each other then?”
“Yeah, of course we did.”
“And I bet she wasn't too happy about the situation either. She didn't know who you were the other night, obviously.”
“No, she didn't, and I didn't know that she was going to be working at the company either. It was just pure coincidence.”
“That’s one hell of a coincidence. Man, of all the women in the world you could have picked, you picked the one who was gonna end up working right alongside you,” he laughed. “What are the chances? Seriously! It's like winning the lotto – if the lotto prize was workdays full of awkwardness and avoided eye contact, that is.”
I had to chuckle at that. “No man, like I said, I don’t think it’s going to be that awkward now. We've agreed to keep things professional. And that's the way it should be.”
“Can't you just fire her and hire someone else?”
“That would be the coward's way out, Jake. And you should see her resume – she's got serious talent, talent that this company really needs if we want to take this to the next level. And I genuinely believe she can help us to do that.”
“Well, listen to you, man, already sounding like a real CEO.”
“I am a real CEO now, buddy. And I'm trying to think and act like one. And that means putting the company's interests before my own. That means despite any awkwardness that might exist between Mandy and I, she needs to stay. It'll be great for the company and, I think, pretty damn great for her career, too.”
“That's good. You're sounding more and more like your old man. To be honest, that's a good thing! It doesn't mean you're getting older. Just more mature.”
“More mature,” I mused. “That concept always used to scare me but now I feel like I'm growing into it. I'm actually okay with it.”
“That's what I like to hear. You're gonna handle this thing, I think. You're gonna make us all proud.”
“I hope so. I'm going to do my best. Anyway, I'd better get back inside. I'll see ya tomorrow.”
I put the phone back in my pocket and, once more, thoughts of Mandy began to run through my head. Had I done the right thing by keeping her on? Should I be doing this, or should I fire her? Only time would tell.
I took one more sip of my wine and started to make my way back inside.