"He doesn't know what's about to hit him, does he?" she finally said, bouncing her high-heeled foot.
"It sure doesn't seem so," he said, dropping the phone book back inside the drawer. Now that he had Kane Dalton within his grasp, it was time to work. He looked down at the stacks of files on his desk.
"Watch yourself, Avery," Janice said. Why was she still in his office? He never looked up at her.
"I always do." He picked the first file of the bunch and flipped it open.
"This one's more important than the others," Janice said.
"Perhaps. Maybe not. We'll see." Avery still refused to look up. Maybe she would get the hint sooner or later. He was done with this conversation.
"That smile you're wearing says it all. Just so you know, I'm with you no matter what. I work for you, not the campaign, not the party." Those words surprised him.
"Thank you. That means a lot. Don't tell my mother," Avery joked.
"Got it, mum's the word." Janice left the office, shutting the door behind her.
Chapter 5
"Fly out this weekend. You have to see this. It's beautiful here," Brian said on a telephone line filled with static. He was a pilot for a private jet charter company that currently worked for a large land developer in Dubai.
"I can't. You're halfway around the world. I can't be gone that long," Kane said, somewhat distracted while working the ledgers from last night's sales. Kane's entire focus shifted as he flipped through the pages, trying to find the to-date annual totals for the restaurant this year. The best he could tell, they were right on course, increasing steadily. If he could keep this pace, the property La Bella Luna sat on would truly be his in a matter of a couple of years. Then Kane could focus on buying the investors out and be truly independent for the first time in his life.
"Did I lose you? Or are you not listening?" Brian asked, irritation clear in his voice.
"No, I'm here, I'm listening," Kane responded, trying to remember what they were talking about.
"No, you're not. Look, Kane, I've been thinking. This isn't working out for me anymore," Brian said. It wasn't the whiney way he normally used when he tried to manipulate Kane.
"Wait, what? You just wanted me to fly out," Kane shot back.
"It was a test. You failed. I'm tired of being alone and you being distant all the damn time. I've followed all your stupid little rules. I've stuck around for years being monogamous and I still can't get you to open up to me. It's too much. You're too much. I think we need to end this and go our separate ways."
"Brian, no. I'll do better. Maybe I can swing flying out next week, during the week." Kane immediately went to his desk calendar, searching the days for a good time to leave. Brian was his first real relationship. His first time at having a regular sex partner, and he didn't want to let that go so easily.
"Don't worry about it. Look, I've met someone. I wasn't looking, I swear, he just came out of nowhere, and I don't wanna string you along. I know how important all your rules are to you. I can't live that life anymore. I don't want to live that life. You need to loosen up, man. I gotta go. Take care. When I get back, I'll pick up whatever I have over at your place. You know what? Never mind, just keep it. You never let me leave much there anyway. Take care." The call ended, but Kane sat there several long minutes before he placed the receiver back on its cradle. This shouldn't have come as a surprise. Kane didn't have time for a relationship, and for those few men willing to take him on with all his religious baggage, it was even harder.
It had been hard reconciling his religious beliefs with his body's most basic needs. At twenty-five years old, Kane had caved and had pre-marital sex for the first time in his life. Emotionally, that act had cost him, but physically it was exactly what he'd needed. Kane wholeheartedly believed in the sanctity of marriage before having sex. Just because you had one sin working for you, didn't mean you had to have two, but it seemed no one else on the planet agreed with him. Desperate need finally outweighed his morals, and as soon as he was alone afterward, he had cried. Like a girl.
"Kane, the flowers haven't been delivered." Paulie stuck his head inside Kane's office door, looked at him more closely, and walked all the way inside the office, shutting the door behind him. Concern was etched on his face. "What's wrong, Son?
"Nothing really, Brian and I just broke up. I'll call about the flowers." Kane cast his eyes down to the ledgers, trying hard to act as if it were no big deal. He didn't really know how he felt about Brian, he guessed he loved him. He'd said he loved him when Brian pressed him to. There was an ache in his heart, and he stopped what he was doing and ran a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes. First his mom, now Brian. Not a good week at all. He hadn't told Paulie about his mother, about the money he sent, or how heavily the problem with Mr. Adams's dinner had actually weighed on him.
Desperate for a mental stress relief, Kane reasoned that things generally happened in sets of three, so he should be done, and he reached for his Rolodex to follow up on the flower delivery.
"I'm sorry, Son, but he wasn't right for you. You know that," Paulie said, taking a seat across the desk. Kane could feel Paulie reading him, seeing straight through his carefully placed omissions.
"I know you didn't like him, but I did." Kane picked up the phone and began to dial. The time had to be near five, the flowers should have arrived, but there wasn't cause for alarm yet. They still had thirty minutes to set the centerpieces and entryway flowers.