I wanted to pitch to Charles Talon and get the bid to decorate the interior of the hotel. I had to figure out what his company was all about and tailor my presentation and portfolio so I could convince him to hire me.
I went onto the website of LQT, hoping to learn more about them so I would see what the best approach in this situation was.
After half an hour, I gathered all the information that I needed. Strangely enough, there was no photo of Charles Talon, and I found myself wondering what he looked like. From what I could gather in their bio, LQT had three owners and all of them were young. It was impressive that they started LQT right after leaving the military, and the business was apparently booming these days.
If they were expanding and getting more influential, working for them on this project would mean even more for my career.
Okay. I could do this. I would show Charles Talon I was smart and competent and he would have no other choice but to take me as his designer for the project.
4
Charles
“Fuck yeah, man! You nailed it!” Grant told me and patted me on the shoul
der.
I looked at my friend whom I trusted the most. “You can be damn sure I did,” I answered back, taking a long sip of my drink.
Several days had passed since I secured the bid for the run down hotel, and I was in the middle of a meeting with Grant and the real estate team in the board room.
Everyone was congratulating me on getting the winning bid for the hotel. We were drinking bourbon straight for this occasion, and I had to admit I felt really good and excited about this. There was nothing better than that feeling of getting something I really wanted. And I always got what I wanted.
“And considering how many bidders participated, this is a big win.” Grant winked.
“Yes. That building is very popular, and I wonder why its previous owner didn’t put it earlier for sale. It’s a shame he left it just like that.”
“This sale came in the right time. That area is attractive to contractors these days,” Bradley, one of the agents told me. “It’s no wonder that sale was all over the news.”
“Right. I knew securing that bid was going to be tough, but I did it, so kudos to me.”
“Well, that is hardly a surprise, Charles,” Bradley said. “You are always good with these things.”
“Yeah, man,” Grant agreed. “This is just one of your many conquests. You really have some skills.”
I grinned and shoved left hand into my pocket. “Of course, I do. What did you think? That I was fooling around here?” I took another sip of my bourbon.
“As if. Of us three, you are the one who works the most. Seriously, man, smile a little. I bet you are already thinking about all things that are needed to be done, right?”
I shrugged my shoulders, knowing how right he was.
Grant was a capable businessman. He was smart and hard working, and he was also a chick magnet. It was no wonder since he was very muscular, much more than me—even though I was pretty muscular myself—and his dark brown hair and gray-blue eyes represented an attractive combination for the ladies.
Recently, he got married, so now he had eyes for only one woman. This meant that he wasn’t able to join Colten and me in our sexual conquests, and it wasn’t so fun without him, but that was what you got when you got married—you had to say goodbye to your freedom.
“Well, somebody has to do it.”
“Yeah, but take some time to enjoy the sweet, sweet victory.” He rubbed his thumb repeatedly over the tip of his forefinger and middle finger.
I rolled my eyes. Grant and his millions.
“This project and a few others we managed to start this year are going to strengthen our position on the market.”
“How is that third hospital project going?” I asked Grant, referring to third project LQT had with the health network HealthUp. We’d gained a lot of profit from the first hospital, and they had asked us to work with them on another two.
“Excellent. I didn’t even doubt it would be any different,” Grant bragged. “Things are going pretty smoothly at this point, and we are negotiating about expanding our contract. They are proving to be our most reliable client so far.”
“That is great. Colten told me everything is going well on the site for the mall project.”