Chapter 4 – Julian
“You’re making the call,” I tell Preston over cocktails. “Because I don’t want to be the one to lick Monroe’s taint. You have a much more gifted tongue than I do.”
Preston knocks back his second Manhattan of the evening. This is following the Long Island iced tea from earlier, of course. What can we say? It’s Wednesday. We have to celebrate Hump Day somehow. Personally, I’m going home to hump my girlfriend after this is over, but Preston can do whatever he pleases.
“If I make the call, then you’ve gotta put together the spreadsheets yourself. No delegating to Vern or the interns.”
“You have my word.” Great. One less thing for me to think about.
We’re celebrating the finalization of our deal with Damon Monroe, the man we chose to go forward with in our business venture. Both he and Cole made their compelling cases for getting in on our hot start-up action, but in the end, Monroe Industries had the history and name backing up what we are setting out to do. Now one of us has to call the man himself and start sweetly asking for the money so we can move forward with our business plans.
Meanwhile, yours truly was the one who had to call Ethan Cole and tell him that he had lost out this round, but maybe next time. It’s only fair for Preston to take on this next call.
Tonight we’re in the VIP lounge of Preston’s most recent nightclub, Blue Sky, the same place my girlfriend came that fateful night she learned that I am to be with her always, even if I am not physically present. I can now see why that incident happened. Even on a Wednesday night, the club is full of horny kids looking to up their sexual partner count. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those same guys Alyssa encountered are here again tonight.
I will say, though, that even if Preston and mine’s tastes don’t perfectly line up, he knows how to run a successful business. It’s not easy to keep nightclubs open in a small city like Portland. But Preston has mastered the art of limited space vs. space that is still functional for drinking and dancing. That’s why he has three successful nightclubs throughout the metro area with completely different themes based on the tastes of the neighborhoods they’re in.
Blue Sky is in the heart of downtown. It’s a hip spot for college kids and professional young adults looking to get drunk and smash their genitals against someone else’s.
“You and spreadsheets sound like a hot date, Julian.” Preston laughs into his empty glass. “Speaking of, where’s your girlfriend tonight? Got her at home doing her spreadsheets?”
“She’s home, but doing homework.” I’ll be so glad when Alyssa’s term is over and she’s mine for the whole summer. (Then I have her overworked senior year to look forward to, but I’m not thinking about that right now.) This finals business is not something I signed up for. “Says she has a big test on Friday and wanted to study.”
“You think she’s telling the truth and not trying to ditch you?”
My mouth twitches. “First of all, Stu is there doing his paperwork while also keeping an eye on her.” I’m not a big fan of having my girlfriend being in residence by herself. We’re a public couple, and that means someone could use her to get to me. I never cared much for personal security outside of what was immediately necessary, and now here I am, thinking about hiring a team for Alyssa. You’d be surprised how many female bodyguards there are for hire in Portland.
“I’m just saying. A lot of those college girls make up shit to go hang out with their friends and be stupid young adults. Especially the girls.” He chuckles again. “Remind me to never date a girl in college again.”
Something’s not adding up here. Then again, Preston has the loosest lips when he’s been drinking, and he’s had more than a bit tonight. “When have you dated a girl in college since you were in college yourself?” Preston likes his women younger than him, but he rarely goes college co-ed for more than a hot one-night stand. Can’t say I blame him at this point, either. They’re a handful.
“Ah, well…”
“Spill, man.” We haven’t talked much about Preston’s love life lately. We’re probably overdue, since we spend so much time talking about mine.
“There may have been a girl I was seeing off and on over the first half of the year. Nothing serious, of course. She knew it wasn’t serious, either. Sex here and there.”
“Of course.”
“Not like I was halfway to marrying her like you are with Alyssa.”
I ignore that stupid joke. “Go on.”
He looks away. That means he’s embarrassed. Now, is he embarrassed because the girl he was dating is someone I would look down on him for? Or because he had feelings for her?
Knowing Preston, it really could go either way.
“It was a fling. That’s all.”
“Must be more than that if you’re looking that wistfully off into the distance.”
I laugh, because even yours truly can occasionally be swayed by good alcohol, but Preston isn’t laughing. Instead, he candidly says, “No matter what, I come off sounding like a huge hypocrite, and I’m not in the mood right now.”
Oh, no. He doesn’t get away with saying only that.
Time for me to employ the kind of gaze I rarely unleash on my business partner. Usually, it’s reserved for misbehaving employees, business associates who are on the verge of insulting me, and everyday citizens who I am not in the mood to deal with. If Preston is getting my nasty eye, it’s because he needs to fess something up before I find out the truth for myself.
Trust me. It’s best for the both of us if he tells me instead of me finding out on my own.
I suppose I finally get through to him. Preston puts his empty glass down with a sigh, smacks his lips, and gestures to the empty space between us. “Shortly after you started fooling around with Alyssa,” he begins, “I may have had my own inappropriate romance with one of our employees.”
The intensity of my gaze is going to give me a headache. I can only imagine how I look to my blubbering idiot of a friend.
And business partner! May I remind everyone that whatever bullshit Preston gets up to can reflect upon me? And lose me some fucking money? Forever?
This is the man who has given me nothing but shit ever since I started dating Alyssa, let alone openly. This man is such a fucking hypocrite, and I’m not even sure what the whole truth of this matter is yet.
Dare I even ask?
“Who was it?”
Preston waves his hand as if it’s completely inconsequential. “Someone who isn’t even working for us anymore.”
That…
That is something I really don’t like hearing, because my brain instantly goes to one woman who might have some grievances to air based on the reasons I fired her. Damnit, I don’t remember her name for the life of me, but from the look cracking between us, I’m guessing Preston immediately knows who I am thinking of.
“Now, Julian…”
“It was not the woman I fired because she was acting like a petulant child, yes?”
“Cher. Her name was Cher.”
“Damnit, Preston!”
“I told you it was nothing!” He dares to go on the defensive so quickly? “She came on to me, man. Late one night after you and Alyssa had already left and most of the office was empty. I was finishing some stuff up when she came by with a stack of…”
“I swear to God, if you say folders…”
“Anyway. I took her out for drinks. Stuff happened. Stuff, uh, happened off and on after that.” Preston continues to act as if this isn’t a big deal, yet here I am, fuming between my two ears. “It was never serious. She didn’t even care that I was seeing other women as long as I…”
“As long as you paid her favor at work and, let me guess, gave her some kind of financial compensation that quickly came to an end after we fired her?”
Preston kicks back in his seat. His empty glass teeters dangerously close to the edge of our table. “When you put it that way, I sound like a fucking idiot.”
“Because you are. Holy shit, Preston, at least I covered my bases before I continued to make a fool of myself with an intern. Did you get any kind of protection at all?”
“Does paying half her tuition in exchange for her cooperation count?”
I smack the bottom of my hand against my forehead. This man is going to ruin me and my reputation before I have the chance to embarrass the whole lot of us with my “romance” with Alyssa.
Excuse me while I throttle my business partner’s neck. Apparently, I didn’t do it hard enough the last time he almost lost me a billion bucks in legal fees.
