Page 11 of Until You’re Breathless (Insatiable #1)

“When you’ve been trained to feel like your company is your own that you share with the same person you share your life with, there is no comparison.

Besides, if I thought of that even ten years ago, I might have had a fighting chance, but now everything is a mess.

I may revisit that idea after the dust settles, but for now, I need to get back into the game. ”

I stick my hand out for her to shake. “If you need some support, let me know. I’m not in this business to cut people down. That’s not how I got to where I am now.”

“And that’s why I came to you first, Jagger.” She smiles. “It was nice seeing you again.”

I nod. I can’t say the same. I know that this meeting is going to cost me days of interrupted sleep. To avoid questions, I don’t walk her to the door. I bid her adieu from the inside of my office and let her see herself out.

“All real.” Stevie confirms as I walk through her door. She’s sitting at her desk with her feet propped up on the desk, heels pointing out so far I’m afraid she’ll use them as a weapon.

“What. What’s all real?” I ask, closing her door.

The receptionist knows who I am so she just gestured me in.

Visits to my sister’s office are usually spontaneous and never last more than five minutes, because that’s all that we can stand of each other.

The love is fast and furious, but in under a minute, I can already feel my skin starting to crawl, and she’s the same.

We both admit to it. Neither of us are offended.

It’s just in our D.N.A. Evidently, she doesn’t have that effect on anyone else, and neither do I, for that matter.

“Bowie Ritter and Boston Kruger. All real. None of that shit’s made up. My source tells me that she tried to stick around but he was being such a psycho, watching her every move, just waiting for her to sabotage him, so she walked. The media is all over it now.”

I already know all this, but I don’t tell her as much.

“So, how much did he offer her?” She asks.

“How the fuck should I know.” I say with a grunt, sitting in the guest chair.

“Because she came to see you and don’t lie to me, I can see it in your face.”

Skin starts to crawl. “How the fuck do you do that.”

She shrugs. “It’s a gift. You have it, too. Don’t underestimate yourself. That’s why you showed her the door.”

My mouth opens. I repeat, only louder. “How the fuck do you do that!”

Stevie is unimpressed. Her eyes scan down a website as she scrolls through a page on her laptop. “Tabloids say three million.”

“What?” I squeal.

“Boston and Bowie. Pay attention.” She snaps her fingers.

“Three million was her parting price. I would have doubled that, personally, for pain and suffering. After living with that pencil dick all those years, standing in his fucking shadow, only to be thanked like that? I would have annihilated him for that much.”

“Which is why I showed her the door.”

“You’ll call her back.”

“Not in a million fucking years.”

She scoffs. “Don’t be stupid, Jagger. She’s your best candidate. Aside from the ancient past you had with her, she’s the perfect partner for you. Everyone else will be second fiddle.” Stevie says numbly, as though everyone else in the world is aware of it, and it’s old news.

That’s when I start to see the end of this meeting come. “Stevie, I’m not bringing her aboard my ship. I’ve already told her that and she took it like she saw it coming. It’s a done deal.” I rise and walk to the door.

“I see Axl’s back at it. I had a bet with one of my colleagues. I won.”

“Fuck you, Stevie.” I say as I leave. I salute the receptionist on the way out.

She knows the drill. Almost every conversation ends with one of us spurting an expletive to the other.

As I walk out the front door my cell phone rings.

It’s Axl. It takes everything in me not to throw the phone across the lawn.

“Axl. Not in the mood today, buddy.” I answer with as I enter my car and connect to Bluetooth.

“Ah, so you saw my face on that rag, did you.”

“What is with you, man? Ever heard of getting head at home? What’s the matter? Is your place getting fumigated, because I was just there.”

He chuckles, pleased with himself. “What are you getting all bent out of shape for? It’s not what it looks like.”

“Really? What it looks like is that you were getting head from a whore in the back seat of a limo. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Well, I wasn’t getting head.”

I’m frustrated and I’m not interested in getting into this with him. “What can I do for you, Axl?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering if you’ve made up your mind?”

“About what?” I start driving to the office. Halen’s meeting me there shortly. I wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth what the real story was with Bowie and Boston, hence the trip to see Stevie.

“About Bowie. If she comes crawling over to your neck of the woods.”

“Why is everyone so fixated on this?”

“I told you, man. I’m bored. Put me to work and I’ll stay out of trouble.”

Half of me wants to take him up on the offer, but the other half is screaming no.

Axl has a lot of smarts, and I’d love to collaborate with him, but he’s got to get his shit together.

I want a partner, not a fucking project.

“So, go design engines with Boston, Axl. It seems like you and him are made for each other. I gotta go.” I hang up on him.

I don’t have the time or the patience to deal with him right now.

I can picture him grinning, pleased with himself, and I know that he’s the type of guy to get over me hanging up on him fast. The dude knows that I’m busy and half the time he’s just amusing himself by calling me.

Either way I don’t have time for bullshit today, and I need to get back to the office for Halen.

When I arrive, he’s already in my office. “Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s cool. I knew you wanted to see Stevie, so I knew that would be short.” He chuckles knowingly.

“Yeah. She checks out. The story with Bowie and Boston is true. It’s not a charade.”

“But you knew that already.”

“Okay, how the fuck did you know that?”

He smirks. “Steve just told me. I just hung up to her.”

I tousle his hair. “Fuck you, man.”

He chuckles. “Fuck you, too.” I sit at my desk while he pulls out his laptop. “So, how did it go?”

“You mean the awkward, ever-so-scripted, bullshit impromptu meeting I just had with my ex? It went well.” I frown, nodding.

“What did she offer you?”

“In a nutshell? A great bargain if she wasn’t just freshly scorned by my closest competitor.”

“What was the offer exactly? Does she want to take over as CEO?”

I laugh. “No, she wasn’t so bold as to suggest that. She just wants to come work for me. Oh, and her buddy Jinny, too. I’d take Jinny over Bowie any day, if you ask me.”

“What, the HR Manager?” He’s surprised.

I nod. “Yeah.”

“She walked, too?”

“Well, why wouldn’t she? I mean, as far as I remember, those two were tight. How would you be able to stay with the dipshit in that case? It would make things awfully awkward, don’t you think?”

“And you’d take her?”

“Why not. I never had a problem with her.”

“So, why don’t you. Celeste isn’t cutting the mustard, and we can’t onboard some of these recruits without a decent HR Manager.

I’ve got a few here I can offer you, but if she’s open for business, I’d take her.

Shit, I will take her. She’s not on my radar yet, so this must be super fucking fresh news. ”

“You take her I’ll punch you out, man.”

“So you are going to take her.”

“I’ll think about it. But until I reach my decision, you keep your paws off her.”

“She’ll be a package deal, Jagger.” He warns, good-naturedly. “She’s not going to come over to the dark side without her buddy.”

“If either of them are professional enough, they will. This isn’t fucking Romper Room, Halen.”

He shrugs. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Fine. But respect my wishes and we won’t have a problem.”

He changes tack. “What is it, anyway. Is it because of your past with her, or because she used to fuck your closest competitor.”

“Both, man.” I reply, growing tired of the subject. “Look, give me a day or two. I need to get the testing done on this prototype. That’s got to be front and center. Then I can focus on the meat and potatoes.”

“If you had a decent HR manager already, it would be a simple meeting and I could take over.”

“Would you focus, Halen? Seriously.”

He rises. “Fine. You get one day. But if she shows up on my roster, she’s mine.”