2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Eric

“I told you she was hot,” Adam jabs Jeremy as we walk back into our building after lunch.

Jeremy feigns injury. “I never said she wasn’t hot. I just don’t think she is that hot.”

“She’s a ten. I don’t know how he gets any work done,” Adam continues.

Once we’re in the elevator, I press the button for our floor and try to tune out their antics.

“Come on, Eric. Tell me you don’t think he’s crazy for hiring an assistant like that? How does he concentrate?” Adam forces me into the conversation.

I shrug my shoulders. “He probably doesn’t have the dick of a twelve-year-old who sports a boner at the sight of a pretty lady like you.”

Jeremy cracks up as Adam rolls his eyes at me. “Or maybe you’re just mad cuz you’ve become impotent at the ripe old age of thirty-two.”

“Whatever. I’ll catch you two later,” I say as the doors open.

I try not to let his jab grate on me as I take long strides to my office. He’s fucking wrong. I’m not impotent. I just don’t see the value in chasing after women who have the power to destroy you for fun or because of their own selfishness.

I’m talking from experience.

I’m not saying I don’t let loose once in a while with an attractive woman when I need to blow off some steam. But I’m always in control and know I won’t feel anything for her. And she always knows it’s just a one-night thing. I don’t lead anybody on. If they get false hope, that’s on them.

Just as I enter my office and sit down, my phone rings. It never ends at this job.

“Hello, Eric Williams,” I answer.

“Oh, thank God. You answered.”

“Layla? Is everything okay?” I ask as I sit up straight.

“No, it’s not okay. Remember me telling you about my friend Mia?

I vaguely remember when Layla basically told me a friend of hers might need to get away and she’d be staying with me. I put it out of my mind, thinking nothing would come of it.

“I guess. Sort of,” I say reluctantly.

“Well, she needs to come stay with you.” That was fast.

My entire body stiffens. This is not what I need right now. Work is kicking my ass with this new acquisition I’ve just been assigned to. One of my sister’s random friends bothering me and taking up my space in my own home isn’t going to help.

“I didn’t think you were entirely serious about that, Layla. I don’t even know this woman.”

“Of course I was serious. I already told her you were okay with it, so you can’t back out now. She really needs this right now.”

I push my shoulders back as I try to work out the mounting tension. “But it’s weird. Why does she need a place to crash? Did she lose a job or something? Is this some crazy irresponsible chick who’s going to mooch off of me?”

“Eric, your diva is showing right now. I wouldn’t ask for this if it wasn’t serious. The reasons are none of your business. She just needs to get away for a while.”

“How long is a while?” I sigh into the phone.

She grunts in response like it’s completely unreasonable for me to ask about the stranger who is going to be staying with me in my house.

“I don’t know. A month, maybe two.”

Fuck. That’s a long time to not feel comfortable in my own home. But there’s one thing you need to know about my sister Layla. She is relentless and fiercely protective of the ones she loves. She will lose her shit if I back out now.

Clearly, this chick is going through something. Since I’m the only one without a wife or kids, I get to take her in. Lucky me.

“Seriously, Lay? That’s a really long time. Why can’t she stay with you?”

“I tried to convince her, but she doesn’t want to impose since Josh just proposed and we’re still in my small two-bedroom home.”

“So, it’s okay to impose in my home?” I ask with annoyance.

“Well, you live in a five-bedroom freakin’ mansion where you guys can avoid each other if you wanted to.”

She’s got me there. My house is big. Much bigger than hers. “When does she come?”

“She’s driving down from Cleveland right now. She’ll be there around dinner time.”

“Layla! Are you kidding me?”

I now pull at my neck as the tension builds. I can’t believe she’s throwing this at me right now. And how is the reason she’s staying with me none of my business? That seems like a reasonable question for me to ask.

“You better at least be there to help her. It’ll be a little awkward if I have to welcome a complete stranger and get her settled in by myself.”

“Of course, I’ll be there. You think I’m gonna let her first impression of this place be you? I would never do that to her.”

“Gee. What a great thank you for doing this for your friend.”

“Well, it’s the truth. You are literally the grumpiest person on earth. She needs a smiling face and a warm hug when she gets here. Oh, I was going to make sure one of your guest rooms is nice and cozy for her. What’s the code to your garage?”

I clench my jaw in an effort to keep from going off on her. “It’s my birthday,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Thanks, Mr. Sunshine. Make sure to turn that frown upside down when you get home. Mia doesn’t need your negative energy. See ya tonight.”

She hangs up without so much as a goodbye or thanks again for doing this even though I know how much it’s going to irritate you. I slam the phone down on the receiver. How is this my life? I must have the shittiest luck of anybody. Not only does my sister expect me to let her friend, whom I’ve never met, stay with me for two months, but she wants me to act happy about it.

That’s not gonna happen.

She’s probably some airhead who lost her job and wants to mooch off her friend’s rich older brother for a while. Layla is too nice to see through people and their motives, but I’ve been burned enough times to know better.

I spend the rest of the afternoon trying not to think about what I am coming home to.

I begin researching the company that we are looking to acquire. It seems like it’s going to take a ton of my time to get a handle on an acquisition this size if they want to move forward as quickly as they do. They are a massive company with two thousand employees.

I’m going to need to get Adam involved to go over who we can keep on board and who will be given severance packages.

I dial his assistant and ask for him to see me as soon as possible.

While I shuffle through more numbers, I hear a knock on my door.

“You rang?” Adam walks in casually as he plops down on the seat across from me.

I met Adam when he started at this company a couple of years after me. We both really like mountain biking, so we’ve taken our bikes over to Greenville, North Carolina together to bike their trails. He’s a good guy.

I know he can come off like a dick but it’s a front. Deep down, he would never treat anybody without the respect they deserve. He’s just trying to figure out what the hell he wants out of life like all of us. At my age, I’m starting to wonder if anybody ever really figures it out or if we eventually just start pretending.

“I’m working on a new acquisition—two thousand employees. I need you to look over the numbers with me to see how many of them we can realistically keep in order to smooth over the dickhead board.”

“Damn. You know whenever we acquire companies that large, there are tons of positions that get cut. Corporations always end up having positions filled where the employee doesn’t have enough work to fill a full-time position.”

My body suddenly feels prickly all over and I resist the urge to itch my chest. I hate this part of the job.

“I know. Based on my rough estimate of a standard company in their industry with an equivalent level of revenue, they are about thirty percent overstaffed. But I just need you to do some more digging for me.”

“No problem.”

I crane my neck to the side and hear a loud crack. This day sucks.

Adam looks at me funny. “You alright, man? You seem tense.”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “You always tell me I look tense.”

He laughs to himself. “True. But you seem tenser than usual.”

I slightly recline in my chair and throw my head back as I look up at the large ceiling tiles in my office. “It’s my sister. She just called me and told me one of her friends needs to stay with me for a while. She’ll be there by the time I get home from work.”

I can see the look of confusion on his face. He doesn’t mask his feelings very well. “And you hate people, so this is equivalent to a shark attack for you?”

“I never said that. I’m not so dramatic that I’d react like that.”

“Your neck just went off like a firework when you cracked it.”

I resist the urge to crack it again then sit up and look him in the eyes. My shoulders deflate. “Fine. This is my own personal hell. Why does she have to stay with me?”

“Doesn’t your sister live in like a tiny little house?”

“Yeah,” I draw out.

“And don’t you live in a five-bedroom mansion?”

“Yeah, but it only has one kitchen and one family room,” I respond in defense.

“So, go watch TV in your room, or the massive basement with the huge built-in bar, or go watch it in your backyard where it’s hanging above your outdoor stone fireplace.”

“What about the kitchen?” I point out.

“You’ve got issues man. I guess you might have to risk a bit of social interaction with a woman for a little while if she happens to be in the kitchen when you are. I think you’ll survive.”

He clearly doesn’t get it. I know it sounds crazy, but I like my space. I like coming home from work and not having to be on for anybody. I spent years with a woman who I was constantly trying to please. And she only ended up being unsatisfied with anything I ever did for her.

I’m just over all of it. “Whatever. I just like my space when I get home.”

He looks at me sympathetically. “I get it. You’ve been burned a time or two in life. But not all women are like Kim.”

“This isn’t about Kim,” I snap back.

“Everything is about Kim. You changed when she left you. I’m not saying what she did wasn’t shitty, but you have to face the facts. You haven’t resolved your shit since she left.” He stands up and heads for the door. “I feel for you, I do. But maybe having someone live with you for a while will be a good thing. It might loosen you up a bit—remind you how to have some fun.”

With that, he leaves. The room starts to feel like there’s not enough oxygen in it. Like someone sucked it all out leaving me to die. I undo the top button of my shirt but it does nothing.

What a friend he is. The least he could have done was let me bitch and moan about it like a real friend would do. He didn’t have to offer his opinion. Then he had to go and bring up my ex. Now I’m not only tense, but I’m angry. I’m sure that will be a lovely combination to bring home to this woman.

I’ve managed to put off leaving my office for as long as I can. It’s now seven, and I’m starving.

The drive home feels like it lasts a millisecond. I drove slower than usual, trying to drag it out. I pull into my driveway and spot Josh’s truck along with a black Range Rover. Not exactly the car I would think someone struggling financially would be driving.

When I step into the house, I hear laughter coming from the kitchen. It’s an odd feeling to hear those sounds in my house. When Kim lived here with me, she would greet me much differently.

“Why are you so late?”

“I’m going out with my friends.”

“Did you make reservations for us tonight? I told you I wanted to eat out.”

“Gretchen got the new Birkin bag.”

I remember the argument we got in that night when I told her that a purse that costs thirty grand is ridiculous. With my line of work, we are surrounded by wealthy people, but that doesn’t mean we have to spend an inordinate amount of money on a bag just for appearances.

She told me I was being insensitive and didn’t understand how it makes her look like in front of these women that she doesn’t have a man who will spoil her like theirs will.

I ended up buying her the damn bag.

I take a deep breath as I prepare to walk in the room. The fact that I need to pump myself up to walk into my own home just because there is a guest sends a wave of guilt through my body. What the hell is wrong with me?