Page 3 of Love and Loathing

He slanted a subtle glance toward his friend and business partner, Charles Beaumont. Charlie took a sip of water and smiled behind his glass, his green eyes peeking over the top. Kevin and Steve, their potential investors, stared starry-eyed at Alex—apparently even a half-hour-long pitch about their project with dividends in the millions wasn’t enough to get them to focus on the business at hand.

“What was that one film he was in with the helicopter and the motorcycle chase?” Kevin asked.

“With that hot blond chick?” Steve glanced at Kevin.

“Yeah, that one,” Kevin said.

“Sudden Speed?”

Alex frowned.

Charlie cleared his throat.

“Yeah, that’s the one. And what was the name of the chick?”

“Roxy Beaumont,” Alex said before the conversation could go any further. “She’s Charlie’s sister.”

“Beaumont?” Steve said. “Wait, she’s your sister?”

Charlie nodded and shot a glare at Alex. No more need to chortle behind his water. “Yes.”

Normally, Alex would never have mentioned Roxy in a meeting, but if he had to suffer, he figured he could spread the misery.

“That must be weird to have a hot, famous sister in the family,” Kevin said. “I’d think it’d kind of make your job seem boring by comparison.”

Charlie grinned. “Actually, in my family, Roxy’s the black sheep.”

Steven turned to Alex. “So, you two still a couple?”

Alex clenched his fist under the table. “No.” He hated talking about his acting career—but the nonsense dating rumors about him and Roxy were worse. They’d filmed three movies together, and because of that, everyone always thought they were a couple. It also didn’t help that he and Charlie were best friends. It meant that he was seen with Roxy a heck of a lot more than he would be otherwise. Not that he disliked her—she was one of the few people who actually treated him like a human being—but she wanted the one thing he could never give her: a relationship.

“Why would you give up movies to do this?” Kevin asked, gesturing wide to the conference room.

Alex took a look around. This was exactly why he’d given up acting. This was real. This was something he could leave behind that he’d be really proud of. He glanced at the blueprints on the table, the ones he’d designed with the help of his contractor. This would be an actual mark on the world that would make people happy. “I was never much of an actor.”

“Gentlemen,” Charlie said. “I hate to rush you, but my sister is getting married tonight—”

“Roxy?” Steve asked.

“No, my oldest sister, Hannah,” Charlie said. “So, if we could get back to business?”

Kevin nodded. “Yes, of course.” He turned the blueprints around so he could get a better look at them. The property they’d purchased was a few miles of about twenty total miles on the Southern Run River that went through Harvest Ranch. The river was wide and perfect for boating and fishing. The land itself was ideal and fertile. Really, a perfect spot. “It’s a prime piece of real estate—”

“It is,” Alex said.

“—and Steve and I don’t doubt that the houses and properties will sell quickly, but we’re curious why we don’t buy all the land on this stretch of real estate, quadruple the build and the profits,” Kevin said.

Kevin and Steve stared at Charlie. That was par for the course most of time, ever since Alex and Charlie had started their company three years ago. In business meetings, very few people ever took him seriously, and even fewer deigned to look him in the eye. After all, he was just an actor to them.

Charlie cleared his throat. “Alex? Do you want to take this?”

He did want to take this. While Charlie had been the one to find the Harvest Ranch, it’d been Alex who’d found the land, made offers on it, found the local contractors, and worked out the layout of the community. And Steve and Kevin knew that. He fought the petty urge to explain that and swallowed it with his pride.

“A larger community would not be in line with what’s happening in Harvest Ranch now,” Alex said. “It’s a small town that likes being small. A community of five to ten homes like we’re suggesting wouldn’t rock the delicate balance that makes Harvest Ranch so special, and it would enable us to hire local contractors, which is good for the community.”

Steve and Kevin gave each other a look. A look that Alex didn’t like at all. A look that made him feel like they’d be patting him on the back if they weren’t starstruck by him.

Alex opened his mouth to respond, but Charlie jumped in before he could. “As of now, we have a good relationship with the people of Harvest Ranch, and we have good reason to believe that buying up a bunch of river property and building dozens upon dozens of homes for upper-class people only isn’t likely to sit well with the middle-class majority of townsfolk. Small-town folks are very proprietary about their towns. If we do something they don’t like, there could be protests and picketing and general unfriendliness that we would like to avoid. But if we limit it to a few homes, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

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