Then again, what else was he supposed to do? Levitate? She didn’t know what she was thinking. It was kind of like seeing a teacher outside of school, or a movie star coming out of a bathroom. It was just jarring to think about one of the richest and most powerful men in the world doing anything besides getting out of a helicopter, or maybe, at the most pedestrian, being delivered by limousine.
“Is there something you’re waiting for?” Alex asked the question sternly.
If she didn’t go in now, she was going to completely embarrass herself.
“I was just, uh, waiting for…”
She was damn cute.
She was cute the way big-eyed puppies were cute, or kittens who didn’t know what their reflection in the mirror was, cute. Unfortunately, Alex didn’t have time for, or even much in the way of interest in cute.
He left her in his wake, still stammering away, and headed for the doors. When he glanced back, he saw her trailing after him a few paces behind, her face flushed bright red in a way that was reminiscent either of maximum humiliation or orgasm. In his experience, both could be combined for delicious effect.
He’d forgotten about the girl outside within seconds of walking in the doors. There was a lot going on at Apex. Usually the C-class executives spent their days on their private estates, teleconferencing in. Having to actually physically be in the building should have been enough to scare the pants off the few hundred people working there.
“Hello, Mr. Roth,” the front desk secretary said, starting out of her chair as if she were considering saluting, or maybe curtseying.
Alex nodded on his way into the elevator. He didn’t have time for small talk. His allotment for that was already gone for the morning. Stopping for two minutes outside the building had already put him behind schedule.
As the doors closed, he saw the blonde from outside finally slink into the building.
Good for her.
DING!
“Alex, we have a lot to go over.”
Carlyle appeared at the elevator exit on the thirteenth floor like a jack in the box. He must have been lying in wait, his carefully manicured exterior matching his carefully manicured interior. There was nobody more personally curated than Carlyle.
He had probably been at work since four o’clock in the morning. His nickname was the vampire, though it wasn’t a particularly good nickname because he was out as much during the day as he was during the night.
“I know, Carlyle. We’ll talk about it in my office.”
“I have a new hire. She’s late, but you’re late too, so I suppose that all evens out,” Carlyle frowned at his watch. He was the only person Alex knew who still actually used a watch instead of just wearing one as a status symbol or easy last ditch cash-in for illicit poker.
“Mhm.” Alex humored Carlyle. “Couldn’t be helped, I’m afraid.”
Carlyle was the definition of a details man. He was good at his job. He was responsible. He was the sort of man you wanted to meet investors, because he had a square-jawed, bespectacled trustworthiness which emanated from him in perpetual waves. He was Alex’s preferred foil when it came to meetings.
Carlyle’s phone buzzed in his hand. He looked at it reflexively, like a trained rat. Alex didn’t turn his phone on most of the time. The people he wanted to speak with were usually physically in his presence. And if they weren’t, then he would get them in his presence.
Carlyle frowned. “I think my new hire has gotten past security. I’ve retained her to deal with some of the environmental considerations we’ve been facing lately. There are increased requirements around compliance, and…”
“Alright, Carlyle. You deal with her. I’ll carry on with what I’ve got on my agenda.”
Alex slid past his colleague and continued on his way to his office. The secretary outside looked up with a long suffering expression on her predictably pretty face.
“There’s a man in your office, Alex.”
“There is?” He asked the question flatly, unimpressed.
“The man. The one who doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“The one who would be thrilled to hear you talking about him that way,” Alex said.
His world was full of the dramatic, but Indigo was one of the more dramatic elements. Not quite a criminal, but certainly not a legitimate person, Indigo was not his real name. Alex doubted anybody knew Indigo’s real name. Indigo himself had probably forgotten. He had as many monikers as Apex had international branches.
Alex took a breath before stepping into the office, and plastered a smile on his face. The kind of smile he reserved for enemies who had once been friends.
Indigo was sitting in his chair. Of course. Not so much a power move as a move to annoy. Indigo loved to get rises out of people. He was the most dangerously manipulative creature Alex knew.