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I didn't want to fail.
Desperately, I stared at the white artificial flower, the business card, and Carter's message. It was all well and good that I had a date with a hot guy tonight. But that wouldn't make my financial problems disappear into thin air.
The morning that had started so promisingly was suddenly not so pleasant anymore.
What should I do?
How would my life go on?
Chapter 10 ~ Carter ~
Thiswasfinallyanafternoon just the way I liked it. No appointments, no pointless meetings, no people boring me because they had nothing to say but still puffed themselves up endlessly. In short: People like Donovan Hayden Ellesmere didn't come near me. I wasn't even working. Although I enjoyed that too, there were still some better things in life.
For example, last night.
At the memory of sex with the passionate Isabella, my cock began to throb. I grinned. Damn, what a woman. The body I had first glimpsed during our accident had kept every promise it had made. And more. Isabella Abbott, whom I had jokingly passed off as my fiancée, was simply incredible. I already knew that last night hadn't been enough to satisfy all my needs. I had to have this woman again.
The pleasurable grin on my face grew even wider at the thought.
"What are you thinking about?" My buddy Don looked at me intently. We had just stepped out of my helicopter on Long Island. The flight here was short, but still faster than driving the Ferrari. It was in the workshop today anyway, where a cost estimate for repairing the damage was to be prepared. Besides, I liked sitting behind the control stick of the helicopter. More than anything else, it gave me the feeling of having control over myself, my life, and all the people around me.
The flight had seemed much too short to me. We had landed a few minutes ago, not far from the private and very exclusive motorsport club where Don and I kept our quads. I had been a member here since early childhood. Just like my brother Cameron. The thought of him wiped the grin off my face and I grimaced in contempt.
For as long as I could remember, Cameron and I had been competing for the club championships between us. Sometimes he won, sometimes I did. Last year, I had drawn the short straw. But this year had to be different. I wouldn't let Cameron win at any cost. The trophy belonged to me. I trained as often as I could and had commissioned some technical innovations for my quad, which I wanted to test today.
"I didn't ask what you were thinking about to make your grin disappear," Don said then. He had been watching me closely.
"It's got nothing to do with you," I assured him. "There are a few things I urgently need to take care of. For example, this crappy situation with Donovan Hayden Ellesmere. It's still not settled, even though we met just yesterday." At that moment, it irritated me greatly that Don's name and the name of the man who had already seen himself as my father-in-law were so similar.
The two people couldn't have been more different.
Don. My buddy, who sometimes got on my nerves, but whom I wouldn't want to miss for anything in the world.
Donovan Hayden Ellesmere. The father of my ex Abigail, whom I would have loved to shoot to the moon. Along with his annoying daughter and my brother Cameron.
"Didn't he respond to your arguments?" Don wanted to know now. We were standing next to the helicopter, waiting for Tony, the head of theExclusive Long Island Motorsport Club, to pick us up in a caddy and drive us to the clubhouse. That's where our quads were. Today, we would finally go off-road again. I had been looking forward to it since the morning. Cruising around Manhattan's streets in the Ferrari was all well and good, but in the end, there was nothing like a real men's adventure.
"Yes, he listened to me and agreed with me. He thinks our products are technically superior," I recounted the beginning of yesterday's conversation.
"But?" Don asked. After a quick sideways glance, he said, "Abigail?"
At the mention of that name, I groaned loudly. "He's desperate to get us back together. Abigail's been doing badly since I kicked her out, and now I'm supposed to fix it."
"That's really not your problem," Don got worked up. It felt good to have a friend who took my side without hesitation and could understand my thoughts without much explanation.
"I see it the same way," I grumbled. "Women ALWAYS feel bad after a breakup. They're just different from us men. We break up and then get on with our lives. Women always have to analyze and discuss everything five times. And as you can see, it doesn't help at all. You just end up feeling bad about it."
"Well..." Don said. "Sometimes it might help to recognize your own mistakes and not repeat them with the next person. But anyway, it's not your problem if Abigail's doing badly. She has to deal with that herself."
"If I don't take care of it, I won't get the contract. But I have a completely different problem too: I need a woman!"
"Problem? You've never had a problem with that," Don grinned now.
I grinned too, but quickly became serious again. "Not that kind. A different one. Yesterday evening, my grandmother called me as well. If I don't get engaged by my birthday, Cameron inherits everything. I can't possibly let that bastard get everything. So I told Grandma Ruth that I'm bringing my fiancée to Cameron's wedding next week."
Don burst into loud laughter. He laughed so hard that he held his sides. Gasping, he blurted out, "Oh man, I haven't heard anything this funny in a long time. You and a fiancée. By next week." Don laughed and slapped me on the shoulder with his hand.
"Buddy, I've got it," he exclaimed. "Just get engaged to Abigail. Then all your worries will be gone at once." He laughed again, as if the idea seemed completely absurd to him.