“See?” I say to Lux as I put her panties back into place and lower her dress.
“Okay, you were right. Dresses at the office make life much easier.”
Her cheeks are flushed, and I lick my lips, still tasting her. “I’ll see you at lunch?”
“You’re insatiable,” she whispers, pretending she doesn’t like it. “And yes.”
My smile is smug as I walk out of the copy room and leave Lux to her work. When I walk past Katie’s desk, she gives me a knowing look, and I nod to her as I go in my office.
When I sit down at my desk, my phone rings, and I see it’s the head of the board, Richard Seymore. “Hey Richard, how can I help you?”
“Bastian.” His voice is cool, and the hair rises on the back of my neck. “We’ve got a problem.”
“All right, what can I do to help?”
We haven’t spoken much since the night of the cigar bar, just a few emails here and there. I’ve been a little neglectful in my duties this past week, and that’s in large part due to my distractions with Lux.
“Come to the boardroom.” With that, he hangs up, and I stare down at my phone.
There’s been a lot on my mind this week, and even before, if I’m honest with myself. I’ve been pushing to become CEO, but the more I consider it, the more I wonder if I really want it.
As I take the elevator up, I think about what I want my future to look like. The first image that I conjure up is Lux by my side, her hand propped on her rounded belly and kids running around us.
Family.
That was always the most important thing to my mother and her driving force in life. To be able to provide for us so that we could have the life we dreamed of.
Have I been doing it all this time, or have I been busy running myself into the ground so I didn’t have to face the sad truth? That I miss her so much it hurts and having a family without her feels like a betrayal.
Being with Lux this past week and thinking about what I want my future to look like, I realize now that I was wrong. My mother would want me to be happy, and having a family honors her memory and what she would have wished for. If she were here, she’d smack me on the back of my head and tell me to quit being a dummy. I’m going to take that advice to heart now as I enter the boardroom.
The room is empty except for a few members and Richard sitting at the head of the table. To his left I see Stan with his head bowed, and suddenly I realize exactly what this is about. Lux confided in me the other night that the other bunny Scarlett had a recording of what happened. I knew it was a matter of time before she shook him down for money or worse.
“Are you having issues with your phone, Bastian?” Richard asks in a clipped tone. I noticed when I looked at my phone that he’d tried to call me several times when I was in the copy room with Lux.
“What seems to be the problem?” I ask, directing my question at Stan and ignoring Richard’s snide comments. There was never a time I didn’t fall over myself all hours of the night to take his calls, but now I’m done.
“Stan is being blackmailed,” Richard answers for him, and Stan begins to sob. “Oh, quit your sniveling.” Richard clenches his fists on the table and glares at me. “You’re going to make this go away before this little bitch goes to the press.”
“What do you think it is that I can do?” My brows pull together as I try and see the logic in this. “Just pay her whatever she wants and be done with it.”
‘You don’t think we tried?” He slams his fist on the table.
“She told my wife,” Stan wails, and I have no sympathy for him. He’s never acted like he had a wife, and now it’s come to bite him in the ass. “She’s threatening to divorce me and take everything.”
“You need to get that little trashy temp you hired on board,” Richard orders like I’m a dog.
“What the fuck did you just say?” The penny drops at my statement, and although this isn’t how I wanted to do things, this is what’s happening.
“I said—” Richard begins to double down, but I cut him off.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I growl as I lean forward on the table and plant my knuckles on the glass across from him. “I don’t give a fuck if that woman writes what Stan did in the sky, you won’t ever speak about Lux that way again.”