He almost gave up at the beginning, the responsibilities and the pressure proving almost too much for him to bear, but then Maria came along and most probably threatened to hurt him if he did such a thing, something he still wasn’t sure about since most of the yelling had been in Spanish.
She helped him learn; stood by his side through all the hiccups and problems that arose down the road, and now, fifteen years later, she was still there.
She was, in his opinion, the mother that his brother and he should have had and William loved her immensely.
The car stopped in front of a large, glass building and they got out and walked in. Several greetings and nods to the employees later and they were finally on their floor.
“The offices in New York are almost finished, and they will be by the time we arrive tomorrow. Also, your sister called me, since your phone was off last night, to ask if you’ll be available for dinner tomorrow evening. What should I tell her?” Maria asked, her high heels click-clacking loudly as they walked together toward Will’s office.
“I’ll call her later; you just make sure that everything is settled before our flight tonight. Thank you, Maria.” he said as he walked into his soon-to-be ex-office and closed the door behind him with a sigh.
As of tomorrow, he would be leaving LA and moving to New York, and he couldn’t have been happier about it even if he tried.
He was tired of this town, of the people in it and of the painful memories it held within. He also really missed his sister, Megan, who lived on the other side of the country in New York. She had moved there to attend college and never came back, except for an occasional visit.
Megan had studied law at NYU and after years of working in an unjust system that only favored the rich, she finally gave up and quit and was now a proud owner of a club called ‘The Echo’.
It had been quite a career change and it certainly raised more than a few eyebrows but Megan never paid attention to other people’s opinions and William adored her for it.
After making sure that everything was packed and sent to New York, and after ending an excruciatingly long conference call with business partners from Japan, Will made his way to the airport where his private jet was waiting, along with the crew and Maria, of course.
He had offered her the opportunity to stay in LA and run the office there since it was her home and she, most certainly, deserved the promotion, but she just ended up laughing in his face and proceeded to ignore his attempts to persuade her.
“Everything has been taken care of Mr. Jones, so you can just relax, have a drink and your dinner will be served after the takeoff.” Maria said after they boarded the jet. Will thanked her and dismissed her since it was, by that time, 8 p.m. and she had been on her feet for 12 hours already.
After it was announced that they could move freely inside the plane, William ate the dinner and then retreated to his small bedroom, took off his clothes and was out the moment his head hit the pillow.
~
As soon as they landed Maria got the news that the new office was flooded, so they quickly made their way there to see the extent of the damage and were appalled by what welcomed them.
After hours of waiting and an inspection, it had been made quite clear that the contractor that was in charge of building the office thought that he could use cheaper materials while keeping the rest of the money for himself. Furthermore, they were now going to have to wait for another two weeks before they could continue with their work.
“That stupid son of a bitch! I want you to bankrupt him!” Will shouted into the phone at his solicitor before disconnecting the call.
“I need a cup of coffee or something stronger.” he muttered to himself and told the driver to stop at the next Starbucks after climbing into the car.
Twenty minutes later he had a warm cup of coffee in his hands and was walking back to the car while debating if he should just take the day off and go see Megan, when someone slammed into him, making him lose the hold of the cup, which quickly fell to the ground and spilled.
He looked down at the offender and glared, already preparing to pour all of his frustrations out on the person since he couldn’t do it with the one he was actually angry with.
“I am so sorry Sir, it was my fault, I wasn’t looking...” the petite girl started to apologize before he had the time to say a word, and then looked up making William almost join the coffee on the floor.
With big blue eyes, brown, soft-looking hair and full, pouty lips, the girl was a work of art.
William could honestly say that he had never seen someone that beautiful in his entire life and he had seen and had a lot of them.
A shiver ran down his back the moment her soft voice left those bitable lips and he barely managed not to groan out loud.
Coming to his senses, he quickly said, “It’s okay; it was an accident. No harm done, but just be careful in the future.” and then he smiled and winked.
The pretty girl quickly looked down to her feet and blushed furiously which just made her more attractive to Will and he barely managed to stop himself from raising his hand to touch the rosy cheek.
She quickly mumbled another apology that he hardly heard, and before
