“Yeah, I guess distracting myself with our date isn’t working, but I do feel better after talking to you. I was going to ask if you had your schedule.”
“I’ll be off on Thursday, so you don’t have much time to plan something that will blow my mind.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “No pressure, huh? However, if you want mind-blowing, maybe we should stick with what we do best and skip the date. I’ve got a few tricks I haven’t shown you.”
“I bet you do.”
My phone buzzed out a text reminder from Layne, and I released a heavy sigh. “Well, that’s my cue; I can’t stall any longer. It’s time to get dressed and go meet the assholes who are suing me.” Lexa began coughing as if she were choking. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, my water went down the wrong pipe. Did you say you’re meeting them?”
“Face to face for the first time. I wanted to reach out after the accident. My sister’s boyfriend was a nice guy. We got along okay, and he seemed to make my sister happy. But I was dealing with losing everyone and spent weeks in a fog.”
She was silent on the other end, and I wished I hadn’t said anything about it. I didn’t want to bring her down with my problems. “Well, I better go. Layne, my lawyer, will have a fit if I’m late, and I’ve got enough skulls to crack as it is.”
She sniffled as we said goodbye, and I hoped she wasn’t upset. The last thing I wanted from her was pity, but she knew that. She had a good heart and cared, and I hated that I might have brought her mood down, too.
I dragged my ass out of bed, showered, and threw on the clothes I had laid out the night before. I was prepared, even though my mood wasn’t quite in check. I had already decided it would be good to show these people a little bit of my temper, but when I arrived at the office forty minutes later, Layne had other ideas.
“You let me do the talking. The last thing I need is your temper making things worse.” He’d been pacing the room since I came in; it was a wonder he hadn’t worn a hole in it.
“Are we doing this here?” I knew it was standard practice to meet in the boardroom and figured that’s where Layne would prefer. There wasn’t anything to throw in there, other than the chairs, and if he thought for a moment I wouldn’t, he was wrong.
He straightened his cuffs. “No, I’m giving you time to cool down, and besides, they aren’t here yet.”
“I’m as good as I’m going to be, and I don’t know what you expected since these dicks are trying to ruin my life.” I looked across the room to where Layne stashed his mini bar and wished I could have a drink to take the edge off, but that would have to wait until after.
“These pricks lost their son. Try to remember that when you go in there guns a blazing in full ‘beast mode.’” He straightened his collar and smoothed down his pants like he was prepping for a photo op.
I stood to close the distance between us. “You’d do well to remember who you work for.”
He held his hands up in front of him. “Aiden, please let me do all the talking. You don’t have to say a word, and you know it would be better if you didn’t.” I pegged him with a hard glare as his secretary opened the door.
“Gentleman, the Pattersons and their lawyer are here and waiting.”
“Thanks.” He turned and met my eyes releasing a long breath. “Are you ready?” What he was really asking is would I remain calm and let him do the talking.
“Yeah, let’s do this.” I headed out of Layne’s office, glancing at my father’s door on the way, and then headed to the boardroom.
Inside were the Pattersons, an aging couple whose body language spoke volumes about their moods. Mr. Patterson was relaxed in his chair with a look of boredom, like he didn’t want to be there. But Mrs. Patterson was sitting up taller, posturing herself as if she were a noble queen waiting to be crowned with my riches. I sat right across from her, edging forward in my seat to show her I was prepared to fight. She looked away as my eyes met hers. Nice try, lady.
Layne took his seat next to me and across from the Pattersons’ lawyer, Stephen Blanc, whom both Layne and I knew quite well. He had always been a twitchy little fucker, and my father had hated him.
“I don’t think introductions are necessary, but as a formality, I’m Layne Connor, and this is my client, Aiden Walker.”
Blanc shifted forward in his seat. “These are the Pattersons, Greg and Vicki, the parents of the deceased Shawn Patterson.” I didn’t move a muscle, but I wanted to remind them that their son wasn’t the only one missing from the table. “It has us concerned that you’re not finding the dollar amount acceptable. We feel that this is a fair deal, one your client can afford, and we’d like to get this thing settled.”
“We’d like you to explain the amount in question and see if we can work out something a little bit more reasonable. The amount you’ve asked for is quite well over half of my client’s estate, and while we do sympathize and mean no disrespect, we can’t quite figure how you’ve come to such an amount.”
“My son’s life is priceless, Mr. Connor.”
I met the woman’s eyes, and she stared down into her lap. There was something in her eyes for a fleeting moment that reminded me of Lexa, but I banished the thought. I wouldn’t let the resemblance distract me. I took a deep breath and glanced toward Layne.
He straightened a stack of papers he’d removed from his briefcase and slid them across the table to Blanc. “We feel this is more in line with proper respect to your son’s memory. Please understand this is not my client’s way of taking blame in all of this, but he’d like to offer this amount with his condolences.
Blanc sifted through the papers and then nodded toward Vicki, who shook her head and passed them to Greg. “This is not acceptable.” She folded her arms in a stubborn way and then straightened her posture.
“Could you explain why?” Layne addressed her directly.