Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Just as I was about to put the car in gear, my phone rang through the car’s Bluetooth.
“Dad calling,” the generic female voice announced.
“Answer phone,” I commanded my electronic helper. “Hi, Dad, what’s up?”
“Hello, Ryder. I trust your day is going well?”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled out of the parking spot. “Yeah, not bad.”
“I have a meeting this afternoon with the CEO of a biomedical company I’m considering investing in. I’d like you to join us. The more you get involved now, the easier it will be once you’ve finished your MBA.”
‘I’d like you to join us’ sounded like a benign offer, but it wasn’t. It was a command. He might as well have said, “Get your ass here in twenty minutes if you know what’s good for you.” And since I’d yet to tell him I had no interest in the life plan he’d been laying out for me my entire life, I had no excuse to bail on him.
“Uh, okay, I can be there in about half an hour. I just need to run home and change.” My stomach dropped at the thought of spending the afternoon watching businessmen mentally jerk each other off while trying to screw each other over at the same time. I loathed the whole corporate environment. The thought of commanding a billion-dollar corporation made me want to hurl, while spending my day wrangling a classroom of little gremlins sounded like heaven.
“Excellent. I’ll have Cindy print you some credentials so you can access the executive floors. They’ll be at the front reception desk before you get here. Proud of you, son. There’s nothing I’ve ever wanted more than to pass on my legacy to my son.”
Bile crawled up my esophagus, burning my throat. What the hell was I doing? He’d never accept this. Not in a million years. He had the power to stop me, and I feared he’d do it without losing a wink of sleep.
“Thanks, Dad. See you soon.” Each word cut like shards of glass ripping through my tongue.
The phone beeped as my father ended the call.
“Fuck,” I said as I pulled up to a red light and slammed my hand against the leather steering wheel.
“Fuck.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
ALEX
“I’m not late. I’m not late!” I rushed into the staff room with snowflakes flying off my parka. The snow had started a few hours ago, and I miscalculated how hard it was coming down when I left home. As a result, I’d spent the whole drive stressing about making it to work on time.
Oliver, a go-go dancer who only worked at Top Shelf on Wednesday nights, smirked from where he stood, adjusting his chest harness. “I don’t know, man. I think you were due in about twenty seconds ago. Better watch it, or Park will dock your pay.”
“Stuff it, smartass.”
Oliver grabbed his junk, prominently displayed in his shimmery black jock. “No stuffing necessary. Something you’d know if you took me up on my weekly offer for a fun time in BJ Alley.”
I snorted. “Never gonna happen, Ollie. Time to move on.” Oliver didn’t really want me. The over-the-top flirting was nothing more than a fun game between us. He tended to go for the big, burly types who could throw him around. While I could get on board with a bit of rough handling, I didn’t have what it took to manhandle the six-foot-two weightlifter. Apparently, not many did if his constant complaining about not finding someone who could hold him down and rail his ass like he deserved meant anything.
I preferred someone more my equal. A dude I could fight for dominance and sometimes come out on top.
And other times on the bottom.
Damn, it’d been a while since another man had touched my dick. Too long.
The door flew open, and Trevor burst in, looking like a furry marshmallow in a long white coat with a fur-trimmed hood, white snow boots, and an equally white fluffy scarf hiding everything but his eyes. “I refuse to serve drinks in my damn underwear tonight,” he grumbled as he stomped toward his locker. “I don’t care if I lose tips. It’s too damn cold to be running around damn near naked. If I accidentally brush a bottle against my nips, it’ll shatter.”
“Buck up, princess.” Oliver shut his locker and smeared body oil across his ripped torso. “You know you’ll be sweating your scrawny little ass off in five minutes.”
Trevor whipped around and gasped. “How dare you!” The swish of his puffy coat took some of the ferocity out of his complaint. “My ass is not scrawny. It may be tiny, but it is a firm, round work of art, you big lug.” He yanked his scarf from his face and shoved off his hood. “Take it back!”
I shook my head, pressing my lips together to hide my snicker, but Oliver let his fly free.