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Alex

My vision wasn't the clearest anymore. That cognac was settling in now and everything was forty trillion times scarier.

I dipped two fingers into the mud water mixture I had created, and smeared identical streaks under the bags of my eyes.  I had seen them do this in some action movies a few years back.

This was supposed to automatically make you a wilderness guru now right?

Something snapped a few hundred feet away from me that caused the hairs on my arms to stand straight up. Well fuck.

Twelve hours earlier...

We pulled on towards a long stretch of a driveway that opened up to a gorgeous home.

The location Brad had drove us to was completely unknown to me, but we had only been driving about thirty minutes. This city must have been a neighboring one.

The home was drastically different from Christian's. It wasn't anywhere near overdone like Christian's, but still had a beautiful old Victorian flare to it. Christian had to nudge me forward with his Remi Martin Louis XIII Cognac cause I had stopped walking to stare at everything.

Yes.

He nudged me forward with the box of a $7,000 liquor.

You never realize just how bad poverty can look on you until being nudged by a bottle of liquor that costed more than everything you have in all your bank accounts.

"Hurry up, will ya? You're dragging your feet." Christian snapped. I rolled my eyes as soon as he looked away. Fucking prick.

Before we could even make it to the front door, it was swung open. "Christian!" A man called out as soon as his eyes landed on us.

"Miles!" Christian replied. He sped up to pull the man into a tight one handed bro hug. "Jesus, it's been a really long time."

I couldn't really focus on this stranger cause I was too busy processing the fact that Christian fucking Ivanov possessed the ability to laugh. It sounded so foreign to me I almost didn't realize it was coming from him.

"Nice to meet you again, Brad. You're looking as unamused as always." Miles gave Brad a large grin which Brad just nodded to. It was finally my turn for Miles's attention. I expected his smile to falter, but his eyes found mine, and all he did was widen it.

"Hello. I'm Alex, Mr. Ivanov's Assistant." I spoke professionally as I stuck my hand out for Miles to shake. Instead, he stunned me completely by pulling me into a hug. "Uh-"

"Pleasure to meet you, Alex. My names Miles."

He smelt nice.

Christian cleared his throat and Miles pulled away.

"Alright, come on inside to my humble abode and I'll show you what I've got cooking for ya with this release." Miles announced. Though he was carrying casual conversation with Brad and Christian, it felt like his eyes were still on me.

-

"These are all fantastic." I whispered more to myself than to anyone else who was also currently seated in Miles's study. He was showing both Christian and I the products he would be releasing soon. Most of the items had a very modern aesthetic feel. Nice neutral tones and our logo was a great fit engraved into a leather tag. The camping tents looked very durable and natural disaster resistant.

"You've got that look on your face, Miles." Christian grinned.

"Well I was just thinking. We could just hang around and take some pictures with the gear for the release... or, we could get some actual shots of the gear being put to work. What do you say, Christian? You up for a little camping trip tonight? It would be like old times."

I looked at Miles with a sea of emotions visible on my face. Confusion was dominating right now.

Then I turned to Christian as we all waited for his response. He set his cup of coffee down on the table.

Miles, Brad, and I had already cracked open the bottle of cognac, but it didn't seem like Christian had much interest in alcohol. He had stuck with his cup of Joe while we poured ourselves another round.

The slight pause he took before his response didn't surprise me. That was just Mr. Ivanov for you. Extra as Hell.

"Let's do it."

-

"I-I-I can't go fucking camping." I stuttered out. I was still in shock from Christian just agreeing out of no where. I was even more annoyed that he had agreed for me.

"You're going. That's final."

"Listen, I don't do camping. I don't do nature. I don't due outside. I don't think you get it. I'm a nerd. A nerd. I'm allergic to about seventy different things that exist in nature. This isn't a good idea, Christian."

"It's just one night, Alex. It'll be a good way for you to get to know a little more about the company and it'll be a good experience for the both of us. We're supposed to be pushing each other's boundaries to do better. Let me push yours a bit tonight." Christian replied. His eyes caught mine through the rear view mirror.

I could only hold his gaze for a few moments before I looked away. I couldn't stop my cheeks from burning up.

I didn't miss the grin that played on Christian's lips when he realize he had won this argument.

-

When we arrived at the site, I had zoned out so intensely that I wasn't even sure how long we had been driving for. Christian took on the task of driving considering Brad and I were now buzzed. The photographer took a second vehicle with Miles. We arrived around the same time regardless and started unloading the cars.

Christian looked so in his element, I was startled. I guess I never really pegged him as the wilderness type.

Brad and I on the other hand, looked like fish out of water. Could you imagine an attorney in a whole ass suit, with a few drinks already in him, trying to put up a tent? Yeah. It was freaking hilarious. I was surprised Brad hadn't complained yet.

"If you don't figure out how to put up your tent, you won't have a place to sleep tonight." Christian shot out over his shoulder.

As of right now, I was currently doing something I'd like to call 'supervising.' This word was reserved for the few who didn't have the luxury of graduating from navy seal training and had no idea how to put up a tent.

"This'll actually be good. Take a look at the instructions enclosed and try setting it up. It could give me really good feedback on how simple the tents are to put up, and Joel here can get some great pictures of you doing so." Miles spoke as soon as he made it back from the car with the last of our things.

I gave him a polite smile and picked up the instructions that were lodged in with the packaging of the tent.

I was really about to either impress the fuck out of myself, or disappoint the fuck out of this very nice man.

••


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