Reverie: Chapter 18

VICK AND BASTIAN.

Vick. And. Bastian.

I opened my laptop but couldn’t focus. I rearranged the paperweights on my desk. My father had given me three of them, all perfectly round. All blown glass. All from a little shop in Italy. The colors rippled, flowed together, and then pooled in just the right spots.

I liked the detail in them, the smoothness, the feel of the substantial weight in my hand. I grabbed one and fisted it.

One of a kind. They were all unique, and they all had their purpose. I kept them on my desk, set up for every person to see when they came and sat there. Some would focus on the red one, some on the blue, but most were drawn to the colorful one fisted in my hand, the captivating one swirling its damn color everywhere.

I needed to name that paperweight Victory Blakely. She was color, entertaining the whole world and not stopping for a second to think about all the attention she attracted.

And the woman was one of a kind, that’s for sure. No one else on my team had the audacity to push a partnership forward with the Armanellis knowing I didn’t want to. Leave it to her. And leave it to her to grab the attention of one of the most dangerous men in the city.

Sebastian Armanelli definitely appeared harmless. His charm was instrumental in sweeping his family’s business under the rug. And the man worked like a panther in antelope’s clothing. He was new mob, new money, new power. He didn’t technically do any dirty work. Most of the business he and his family did was clean, legal, maybe a little risky and hovering near criminal, but most often fighting for good.

Even if that meant going up against the government.

I had no doubt this backing would put me in a shitstorm with the FDA and other pharmaceutical companies. I didn’t have the bandwidth, my team didn’t have the bandwidth. Not with my father stepping down.

I squeezed the paperweight, contemplating the place I worked at day in and day out. We moved companies forward, we pushed healthcare, we pushed tech. Hell, I’d found a company to navigate bottling water without plastic and instead using biodegradable material. Now, some of the largest brands were following suit.

I had to work harder than ever to pave the way for good in my city, and I hoped it would spread to other cities across the world. I believed in my team. I believed we had the ability to change the world.

Vick breezed in, bouncing about like a ball that was as pink as cotton candy. Everyone’s eyes tracked her around the office like she was some sweet as hell candy too. She stopped by Josie’s desk and they both laughed at something she said. Then she hovered by Bob as though she didn’t have a pile of work waiting for her.

I waited for her to look up, I willed her ass to look my way.

She didn’t.

Fine.

I called my dad. “What the fuck do I need to know about Levvetor and the Armanellis?”

“Jett Stonewood,” my mother bellowed. “You’re on speaker and if you think I raised you to speak that way—”

“Dad, why do you have me on speaker?”

He chuckled. “We’re in the car, and she’s your mother.”

“She’s an enforcer is what she is.”

“Watch your mouth, young man,” she said but the tone was lighthearted.

“Love you, Mom. Dad, I really need to know what I’m dealing with here.”

He sighed. “I’m trying to enjoy my time with your mother.”

“And I’m trying to not go into the lion’s den completely blind.”

The silence on the other end told me all I needed to know. “Avoid it if you can.”

Vick was back at her desk, typing away, and I could have been imagining it but I saw a new posture, a new purpose. “And if I can’t?”

“Don’t go in blind.”

I hung up when I heard him end the call.

I stared out at the cityscape for a minute, glanced at the cotton candy below, then shoved away from my desk. “Screw it,” I grumbled as I walked out of my office and to her desk.

“You want to discuss the meeting here or in my office?”

She jumped like she’d anticipated my coming but still couldn’t prepare herself. Good. She needed to learn who was boss. The damn company had my name behind it, not hers.

“Bob and I are working on another contract that—”

“That can wait.”

“I don’t think it can,” she shot back and eyed me with those whiskey-colored eyes that delivered the same bite as a shot of the liquid.

“Vicky,” Stevie hissed, his eyes wide as they ping-ponged between the two of us.

She glared at him for a second, and then she folded back into her old posture like Mr. Stevie wanted. She cleared her throat and clicked a window closed on her screen. “I’m sorry. Yes, we should discuss it in your office.”

Stevie’s smile was instant, like a proud boyfriend. I filed away his look and my feelings toward it for another day.

I turned on my heel and heard her shoes clicking after me.

I opened the glass door and waved her in. She avoided looking at me and walked right to one of my chairs. I closed the door and sat behind my desk.

The silence stretched between us. I made her wait while I pressed the privacy button. My windows tinted, and she rolled her eyes at the effect.

“Why are you rolling your eyes, Vick?”

“I’m not.”

“Cut the shit. Time is money around here, you know that.”

“Okay. Then we probably shouldn’t focus on my eye rolling.”

I rearranged the paperweights, trying to curb my temper.

She eyeballed me while I did it, not looking at any of them for even a second. “Levvetor needs you to back them.”

“Oh, really?” I sat back and folded my arms over my chest. “What about you finding Bastian a different company? I’m pretty sure an employee offering to hook a client up with a competitor isn’t in our handbook.”

“You have every right to fire me, and I’m happy to resign if you feel I need to after my display in there.”

I started to tell her I wouldn’t be firing her, but she stopped me.

“I don’t care about my job.” She hesitated when I lifted an eyebrow. “Of course, I want to keep working for your company. It’s Stonewood Enterprises where la-di-da the sky’s not the limit. Although I must say, today, in that room, it seemed like your standpoint was the limit and no one wanted to overstep it or share a damn idea.”

I tried to say why that was. People needed to know who the boss was, when to be innovative, and when to shut up, but she barreled on. “Either way, yes, I want to keep my job, but I’m happy to step down and move on if you want. I just want you to reconsider Levvetor.”

“I won’t ask why. You know you need to explain yourself.”

She nodded, wringing her manicured nails in her lap. “A couple of years ago, the government tried to shut them down. Now, of course, no one ever came out and actually said that, but the FDA released a statement after a meeting they had with one of Levvetor’s biggest competitors. Levvetor appealed, lost millions, and just barely scraped by. I followed the news of it all very closely. Coincidently, I was doing a thesis on the company at the time. Their drugs work, Jett. They are saving lives at an extraordinary rate.”

“So do other pharmaceutical companies,” I said. It was the truth. But it was also the devil’s advocate in me. I had to come at it from all angles.

“Yes. At extremely expensive rates and by monopolizing the market half the time and sometimes to the detriment of their customers’ health. That competitor has a higher death rate with more side effects than Levvetor ever had and they know it. That’s why they tried everything in their power to shut them down.”

“And they will again.”

“Yes, they will again. And without you backing them, they’ll win. You and I both know it.”

“This happens all the time, Vick.”

“But maybe this time we can stop it.”

“I need you to be realistic at some point, Victory.”

“And I need you to disappear into my damn dream world for a second, Jett, and take a chance. Shoot for past the sky. Get into the damn stratosphere with me and save some lives here.”

“You were warning me about that mobster last night and now you want to get in bed with him.”

“It’ll be strictly business with them.”

“You sure about that?” The question shot out of my mouth loaded with a ton of different meanings, and I wanted her to answer every one.

She cleared her throat and broke eye contact with me. “Of course. Steven asked me to dinner tonight, and I’m … well, you know I’m committed to that. I’m not getting into bed with the mob.”

“Committed to what exactly?” I didn’t know why I was asking the question.

“I want a relationship, Jett.”

“Oh, and Stevie will give you one.” My tone was condescending. “He’ll also keep you nicely packed in a Stepford wife box.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I mimicked Stevie’s gormless face and whined, “Vicky.”

She stood up and paced back and forth in front of my desk. “This is irrelevant. Back to the meeting, please? Levvetor needs us, and Bastian doesn’t think it is a good idea to have any company other than Stonewood Enterprises invested in them.”

“Then, he should have put it on the table for me to take into account before the meeting.”

“So, you’re saying no based on principle?”

“It’s a matter of respect, Vick.”

“Levvetor is saving lives. Has it occurred to you that maybe lives are a little more important than you getting respect? Can we focus on that?”

“I focus on that every single day.”

She halted as my voice boomed out louder than I intended. I rose from my desk and faced the city I fought for every day, instead of that infuriating woman. “Have you noticed the work we do, what we stand for?”

“Jett.” Her voice was a whisper. “I know you do a lot …”

“I don’t need reassurance, Victory. Or praise, for that matter. I need you to see the bigger picture. If I fold to a man like that without him giving me respect, my company will fold a lot faster for a lot less. We can’t afford that. The city I work for can’t afford that.”

“The world can’t afford that,” she continued for me. She’d made her way over to the window and stood beside me. “I see you scooping up wounded passengers and putting them on your overloaded boat to carry them to shore. You’re their captain, Jett. And you spend every hour of your day making sure everyone has a life vest.”

I glanced over at her, and her honey-colored eyes shone with sincerity.

She continued, “I’m ecstatic to be a part of that. And I know Bastian is asking for one more passenger on a boat that could sink at any moment because it’s beyond capacity. Everyone here works extremely hard. I know everyone enjoys it, but you have to trust them to be able to handle more. The boat can take on more than you think. They are the best of the best, after all. And then reward them for it.”

“I do reward them,” I retorted.

She exhaled loudly. “Really? With what?”

“Money. A good salary. A very good salary.”

She nodded and nudged my shoulder with hers. “True. But sometimes people like to have a little fun. They want to feel a part of the family. The Stonewood name shines bright, Jett, and I bet if you give your people a little release, they will come back rejuvenated and ready to kick even more ass.”

“They’re rejuvenated now.”

“We’ve all been working extra-long hours since your father stepped down, and not one person is going to complain, partially because they’re scared to but also because no one has the energy.”

My jaw worked and I pulled on the cuffs of my shirt, considering what she’d said. At the bottom of my tower, figures rushed back and forth, and I was reminded of how this city drained people, how you could get swallowed up by its pace. My company operated the same way. “Fine.”

“Fine, what?” Her eyes widened.

I smiled at her surprise. “You think my team needs something. Halloween is in a few days. Throw a party. The Monday after, I’m holding a meeting to discuss Levvetor. If the team agrees it’s something we want to take on, I’ll do it. If they’re hungover and nonresponsive, I win. You drop it.”

“Deal.” Her smile beamed radiantly.

“And.”

She groaned when she realized I wasn’t done.

“You wear black every day for the rest of the year.”

“Seriously?”

“Dead serious, Vick. Your colors are too damn bright.”

“Oh my God,” she mumbled, starting to walk out. “I have to plan an epic party. Please, for the love of all that is holy, loosen up before then.”

The rest of the afternoon, I gazed at the damn paperweights, except for the moments I glanced up to see pink fluttering around down below.

By the end of the day, I wondered if the smell of strawberries would ever leave my office. Josie, Bob, and others turned off their computers as the sun set. I wondered if Vick would stay late, if she’d wait to see if I wanted a repeat of our other night.

A rude reminder came when she closed down her computer and walked out with Stevie. A feeling pooled in my belly and burned its way through the rest of my body, a feeling I wasn’t much accustomed to.

I got back to work. And after a couple more hours of work and research on Levvetor, I texted Bastian and Vick together.

I WALKED out of my office and shut off the lights as I made my way to the elevators. A large sign hung right above the elevator buttons and it read:

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I grumbled as I stabbed the elevator door and then dialed Vick’s number.

She ignored my call.

I called again, and she sounded out of breath when she answered. “I’m a little busy.”

“You were just texting. A little busy doing what?” My mind went right back to the pool in my gut, and I wondered if she was out of breath from doing shit with Stevie she should only be doing with me.

“I told you I was on a date!” she whisper-yelled.

“Oh, like Stevie gives a shit. He’d probably come if he knew you were on the phone with me.”

“What do you want?”

“Where are you?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, you at dinner or at his place already?”

“I’m not a cheap date.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“We’ve never been, nor will we ever go, on a date.”

“Fine,” I sighed and walked out of the elevators as they opened up. “I didn’t say you could book a haunted house for the party and offer a thousand-dollar prize.”

“I know. Your brothers said I could.”

“Those assholes—”

“Know how to have fun. Now, is there something you actually need?”

“Use common sense when you make your way home,” I grumbled and then winced at my words.

“Steven”—she emphasized his name—“is a gentleman, Jett. He’ll make sure I get home safe if and when I want to go home.”

“Let me know if the night’s as enjoyable as it is with me.”

“Already is.”

“Don’t lie, Pixie.”

There was silence for a beat, and I knew I’d struck a chord. I heard a breath of defeat leave her. “I’m trying to enjoy this, Jett. Is that so bad?”

“If you really need him to be happy, then no. It isn’t bad. I don’t know that you need him though.”

“I need someone,” she whispered.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Something about Victory Blakely was broken. I heard it in the brief whispers and glimpses of her reality she let me see. She hid it so well that she was the chameleon blending into everyone’s entertainment. I found myself drawn to those broken parts, the beautiful jagged edges she didn’t want the world to acknowledge. “All right, Pix. Make sure that someone deserves you.”

I hung up. I let the idea of her go.

Because I knew I didn’t deserve her.