Chapter 19

Mick

I must be the biggest putz in the world because I was on the roof of my hotel surrounded by off-duty showgirls in tiny bikinis and all I could think about was Terri. She was flying in tonight. We had spent two glorious weekends together, but this week I had been working the conference while she held down the fort at the office. Her brother had started the clinical trials and all seemed to be going well. Lemmingware fixed most of the bugs that had slowed the game down to a crawl in the beta version. The buzz on the Internet was that the game was worth the wait. I hoped popular opinion stayed that way.

Terri was going to call me when she got to her hotel. We planned to go out to dinner. I had a surprise in store for her that I was hoping was going to blow her mind. But first, I had work to do. I made some phone calls from a chaise longue until the ice in my drink melted and the temperature got too hot for anything but the pool. With one last glance at the showgirls, I went back inside with zero regrets. A few weeks ago, I would have had a much different morning and afternoon.

After taking a quick shower, I changed into more formal wear and had Lionel meet me in front of my hotel to take me to the conference. I had a VIP access badge that allowed me backstage and I avoided most of the lines. GameCon was very popular and since this was the first day of the weekend, the crowd had almost doubled. I checked in with our barkers and other workers who were handing out swag and directing people to the Lemmingware booths. Curtis and Jim had been in meetings all morning, but we were supposed to do lunch at some point.

I wasn’t holding my breath.

My phone rang, but it was a number I didn’t recognize. I let it go to voicemail. As I was walking down the rows of dealers, I listened to it.

“Mick, it’s your father.”

I should hang up right now.

“I need to speak to you. Alone. I know you’re in Vegas. So am I. Meet me at the Forum shops at Caesars by the fountain in an hour. Come alone.”

I rolled my eyes at the super spy shit. I needed to let it go. I needed to put his drama behind me. He wasn’t important. And yet, old habits were hard to break. Warren had been stunned when I had walked in the door behind Simon the other week. Both he and Bette were speechless when we gave them our terms. I had half expected him to call off the deal. But he hadn’t. They tucked their tails between their legs and signed over legitimate documents.

What could he possibly want to tell me?

I knew it would haunt me if I didn’t go, so I resigned myself to giving him ten minutes of my time.

He was waiting for me, even though I was a good fifteen minutes early. Before he could spot me, I scanned the crowd for Bette. I didn’t see her and I wondered again if they had split the money and gone their separate ways.

“I thought the conditions of your bail were that you had to stay in New York,” I said by way of greeting.

“I had to surrender my passport,” he grunted. “But I can still travel.”

“So what are you doing here? I thought I made it clear you were banned from Vegas.”

“That was only the condition for the first deal you and I made in the limo. You violated that agreement when you brought your brother in.”

“Technically, you violated it when you offered the deal to both of us. And then would have sold him the shares and conned me out of three million dollars.”

“Well, that didn’t work out as planned,” he said sourly, not a hint of apology or denial.

“What were you going to do with six million dollars?”

“Invest it in a casino down here. But that opportunity has gone. You might be able to get in on the ground floor of it. If you want, I can hook you up with someone in the know.”

I crossed my arms. “Don’t look at me. My funds are all tied up from our arrangement.”

“I thought you had more money stashed away.” He shook his head. “Ah well, live and learn. Why did you make Simon CEO? You’re the obvious choice for my successor.”

It was a good question. I wasn’t ready to admit to him that I did it to get Terri in my life. I wouldn’t give him that weapon to use against me or to exploit my vulnerability. And while it was a big part of it, it wasn’t the main reason. When I was with Terri, she made me remember that I really liked to hang out. If not on a beach, then on a couch. When I was beach bumming my way around Key West, the last thing on my mind was becoming CEO. It occurred to me that it never had been my dream after all. I just wanted to work for my grandfather’s company and see it succeed. “I’m better as an ad executive. Also, he will listen to my suggestions, so I’ll still have a say in the matter.”

Warren snorted. “I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

“What do you want, Warren? You didn’t cloak-and-dagger me all the way out here to shoot the shit. Cut to the chase. I’ve got a job to do.”

“Your mother’s on the warpath.”

“So what else is new?” I looked out at the crowds of people milling around. Tourists were shopping and laughing. Lovers held hands. Gamblers sauntered down the aisles waiting for a free table or for the next race to start. Vegas bustled, but it was a lonely town. I couldn’t wait to see Terri. I grinned. Yeah, I had it bad.

“It’s different this time. She’s almost unhinged and she’s determined to take you down. Just watch your back, okay?”

“Why does it matter to you?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to jail next year.”

“Your lawyer might talk them down to just community service and full repayment of the money you stole.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. If I do go away, would you come and visit me?”

“Why?” I was genuinely confused. Warren never did anything without it benefiting him. I could see his warning me about Bette in exchange for money in his prisoner’s account—if it even went that far. I had a feeling he was being melodramatic.

“I’ve made mistakes. I’m an awful father. I can’t protect you from your mother, but I can give you a heads-up. If you and Simon can work out your differences, then maybe we could too. All I’m asking is for a weekly visit if it comes down to it. In exchange, I’ll give you as much lead time as I can to help you prepare for when Bette decides to strike.”

“All right.” I shrugged. No skin off my nose. I would take what he gave me with a grain of salt, but it was nice to have an edge against my mother. I don’t think Warren and I would ever have a father/son relationship. But we had worked together for the past ten years and could possibly find a common ground.

“Good.” He wilted a bit. “She’ll go after your weak areas. Figure out what your weakest link in your business is and shore it up.”

There were a few areas she could really fuck up for me. “You should let her know that I will prosecute if she sells any proprietary information.”

“I’m sure she’s aware of your eagerness to litigate,” Warren said dryly. “For what it’s worth, Simon would have gotten the fake documents. As much as Bette wanted to make you pay for firing her, I wanted you to lead the company. It was what Dad would have wanted.”

“Papa would have been happy if either one of his grandsons was at the helm as long as the other was involved. Have a nice time in Vegas, Warren. Watch out for honeypots and grifters.”

“You too,” he said and then faded into the crowd.

Once Lemmingware released the live version of their expansion, I was going to take Terri down to Key West for a few weeks and we could enjoy island life. I’d hire a full-time nurse for Billy if I had to. I’d rent a boat and we could make love on the deck and drink shots every night at sunset. Then once we were considering our next tattoos, we’d head on back to New York refreshed and ready to take on the next set of clients. I think Papa would have been all right with that.