“I’ve done my research,” Jordan commented. “If you two were trying to abandon a sinking ship, you obviously know something the rest of the world doesn’t.”
“Nothing to hide here,” Jack smiled, spreading out his hands. “All of our cards are on the table.”
“I can vouch for that,” I nodded.
I caught a warning glare from my father who always said not to invest your trust in too many places, spreading it thin and making you vulnerable. He had seen too many of his associates brought down catastrophically from trusting the wrong guy with his books, his ideas, his career, his life.
But if Jack was going to sell off a sinking ship, he would have done it with someone he didn’t know. They wouldn’t bring close friends in on a bad deal. I knew that much was true, and nothing would make me doubt it. Heartstring was the real deal, and in ten years or less—I could be just like them. Incredibly rich, infamous, and confidently passing it off into someone else’s hands so I could move on to my next big adventure.
“We’ll have some things to discuss, obviously,” my father concluded, keeping his cool—never looking too impressed, even though what was in front of us was beyond impressive. “We’ll have to think it over.”
Another expert move. Always demand what you want. Never ask for it. When I got my first job offer from a local bank so I could build up my number and accounting skills, Dad never let me hear the end of it when I asked, “How much time can I have to think about it?”
Never ask, always demand. Say it as an expectation rather than treating it like an apologetic favor. Don’t leave the terms up to them or the ball in their court.
“Of course,” Lucas submitted, but it was obviously not the response he was hoping to end the meeting with.
But Jack just smiled and scratched his chin because he knew how we operated.
Dad stood and began shaking their hands with me and Jordan following suit. Another thing he didn’t mess around with was fraternizing with potential clients. While some people might have thought it wise to extend an invitation to lunch to build good, he always insisted you didn’t share food or drinks with anyone until after decisions were finalized with a signature on the dotted line.
They showed us out, and without business to focus on, all I was left with was the suffocation air of Jordan’s closeness. Every darting glance, every polite smile…it made my hands sweat. Of course that wasn’t the only thing on my body that was wet, but it was the most obvious—making me cringe with every handshake goodbye.
We were silent on the elevator…just in case there were cameras with audio. A nice place like Heartstring could afford something like that, and Daddy told me lots of execs installed that kind of thing to catch unsuspecting traitors in their midsts. The business world was more cut throat than anyone on the outside would ever fully realize.
Jordan’s car was waiting for us out front and we all filed in. Thankfully, Dad sat between us because I didn’t think I could handle sitting side by side with Jordan in such close quarters. Not with my father watching over us.
“I made us lunch reservations at Castise to discuss the deal,” Dad announced, flicking down the sleeve of his suit to check his watch. “Which by the looks of it, we’ll be early for.”
“I need a drink,” Jordan said, loosening his tie. “We can wait at the bar.”
I sucked in a deep breath with as much subtlety as I could, trying not to let on how difficult all of this was for me. Not only was I making my big break into the business world I had always admired over my father’s shoulder, I was about to sit down to lunch with my teenage crush who would be otherwise fair game to me now…if it wasn’t for the fact that he was Dad’s partner, of course. And at that lunch, as I pulled my chair up to their table, I would be their equal, their partner. Dreams were coming true left and right.
I was teeming with excitement as the car pulled up in front of Castise. I wanted to take the deal, and I knew every reason why we should beyond my own personal motivations. I was also prepared to present them in perfect bold confidence. Jordan’s presence may have been enough to throw me, but when I was fighting to have my way, everything else vanished. I had tunnel vision all the way through to getting the answer I wanted. Nothing else existed at those times—not even someone as delicious as Jordan Ashford.
I could see it all playing out like a movie in my mind. I’d impress them both with my points and by the end of lunch, I’d be on track to be one of the newest executive owners of Heartstring—a billion dollar company.
But the rug was ripped out from under all of us when my father’s phone rang, and after stepping away to take it, he returned to inform us he couldn’t stay.
“Sorry, something urgent came up. I have to run,” he told us on the sidewalk, just outside the entrance of the restaurant where the doormen awkwardly froze in their spots as they continued holding the doors open for us, probably wishing we’d make up our minds and go in or out.
“You two go on without me,” he suggested, practically with one foot already back in the car to rush off.
“No, we can reschedule,” Jordan argued. “We’re not going to discuss this deal without you.”
“I told you I’m too busy for this thing, and now you see I meant it. If we’re going to do this, you two have to get used to discussing things and making decisions
