Christian

"I wonder what mother has planned for us tonight." Brad spoke as he straightened up his tie in my bathroom mirror. I wasn't sure why he decided to get ready at my place instead of his, but I sort of enjoyed the company. It reminded me of the when we were back in college living together.

It felt like I only ever saw him in work mode these days. I missed those old days... when he liked banging chicks and wouldn't be caught dead wearing a tie. Brad was a shit ton more fun back then.

"I don't understand why she wants to meet Alex. She hasn't given a shit about any of my previous assistants before."

"Ironically, neither have you. I'm not sure if you noticed this but Alex is already in the running to become one of the longest assistants you've had. Shit, even I'm curious." Brad countered.

I hadn't really thought about that before. Alex was essentially doing two jobs now, so I hadn't given him as large of a load, like I did with my previous assistants. For some reason, they just weren't as enjoyable as Alex was. He was defiant in every possible way he could be. He kept things interesting for me.

"Half of those assistants were hand picked by mother." Brad reminded me.

"Half of those assistants didn't have one thought of their own. They did everything I said without questioning it."

"Isn't that... what an assistant is supposed to do?" He asked as he started in on styling his hair.

Brad always did the most when we were going to visit mother. I'd wear sweatpants to see her, if I could. There was just that slight underlying fear of what she'd do to me if I did... maybe strangle me with the drawstrings, who knows. This woman would get creative. I instead opted in for a nice sweater and some dress pants.

"I could've told some of those women to jump off a cliff, and they'd do it. I want someone with pushback. Someone I can bounce ideas off of." I explained.

"Someone who can put you in your place." Brad joked. I shot him a look. In some ways he was right, but I wasn't about to openly admit that.

"I'm already in my place as the head of this company." I reminded him. He rolled his eyes at me. Brad knew I never wanted to run this stupid company to begin with. If I had it my way, I would be sipping margaritas on the beach somewhere with a handful of fine women.

But alas, we were here now.

There wasn't really any going back, and somewhere along the way, this company had grown on me.

I was the successor... and I had put far too many sleepless nights into making this business expand. I didn't do all that just to watch it tank.

Did I mention the checks were nice?

Cause the checks were real nice.

"I want someone who's actually interested in what we do here. Someone who isn't afraid to give input. Alex is that person." I explained. Brad gave me a funny look.

"What?" I asked him.

"I'm not used to intelligent words coming out of your mouth. Forgive me while I take some time to adjust to this new found intellect."

I threw my shoe as him but he was able to dodge it in the nick of time.

"Asshat." I shot at him.

"Dickwad." He replied, not skipping a beat.

Alex

I was so nervous it took me 5 minutes just to get the door open for Christian.

"For fucks sake, Alex. It's a door knob, not the DaVinci Code Cryptex." Christian spoke as he entered my apartment. My hands were so sweaty and shaky I was barely able to grip the metal.

He stopped short to take a good look at me.

You look nice..." he nodded to himself, "but a little pale. Ease up, kid. We won't stay longer than an hour tops. I don't want to see this woman either."

I gave him a small smile. His words were oddly comforting enough to ease some of the anxiety I was having. "Let's get this over with." I replied.

-

Christian's car made my jaw literally drop to the floor. Up until now, I'd only seen him use the company cars (which I was still baffled about), but as he walked us out to his convertible, I got a quick reminder of just how rich this guy was.

"This is... wow. Just wow." I whispered to myself.

"Stop gawking and get in. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."

-

Christian's driving was one of those things that gave you nightmares. I wasn't sure where we were heading, but I knew we were getting there fast. Long strips of road indicated we were leaving the city and moving further out into the suburban part of town. The houses got bigger, and the distance between them got longer.

He pulled his vehicle onto another street that had one massive gate in front of it. I noticed the several cameras that immediately zoomed in on our car, and moments later, the gate started to open up.

I'd just got done picking my jaw up from the floor, but as soon as I saw the house come into view, that traitorous bitch dropped all over again.

"Christian..."

"Yes?"

"This is bigger than the goddamn Whitehouse."

He glanced over at me and chuckled.

"Stop being dramatic."

"Stop being rich."

He full on laughed at that as he pulled the car towards the front of the estate. There was a man there waiting for us once we got out of the car.

"Good evening sir." The man nodded to Christian.

"Sup Steve. Take car of her will ya?" Christian replied as he tossed the man his keys. The man (I guess Steve) gave Christian a genuine smile.

"Always a pleasure sir. Good luck." He nodded to the both of us before walking around to the driver side of the vehicle. I didn't know what was more concerning. The fact that that the valet had wished us good luck, or the fact that these motherfuckers had a goddamn valet for their home.

"You have a fucking valet..."

"I don't, my mother does. Also, leave your sailor talk at the door. Let's not give this fucking batshit crazy ass woman a reason to dislike you."

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