Page 17 of Game Change

“I want to stay awake with you all night,” he says. “I know it’s selfish because you have to leave early tomorrow, but—”

“I want the same thing,” I quickly reassure him. He sighs and pulls me to his side. “I don’t want this night to end. Tell me more about you. Tell me about your new job.”

He remains quiet for so long that I think maybe I crossed a line I shouldn’t have. “I’m going to work for my uncle. He has his own company. I love him, but he’s kind of old-school. He wants family to run it, and he’s been asking me to come work for him for years. I finally accepted his offer.”

“Is it to get away from Esme?” I ask.

“No. That’s been over. I want to be near my sister. She’s my closest sibling, and I miss my nieces and nephews.”

“You have siblings?” I ask. “Are you close?”

“I am with Lisa. We’re from my dad’s second marriage. We have two older siblings from his first. We’re not close to them, but I’m civil with my other sister. My brother’s kind of a jerk.”

I nod, understanding having a jerk for an older brother. Thankfully, mine is a step, and since both our parents have passed away, we have severed all ties.

“My stepbrother’s an asshole, so I get it,” I add.

“Yeah? At least you don’t have the same name as him.” When I give him a blank stare, he continues. “Our father’s name was Colin. My brother’s name is Colin, and my name is Colin. My brother Colin’s son is named Colin. You see a pattern?”

“Oh,” is all I can think to say.

“And brother Colin calls himself Colin the First. He’s twenty-two years older than I am and wants to compete with me in everything. We don’t talk much, but he offered to buy our uncle’s company. I’m sure it’s so I can’t have it.”

I prop myself up on my elbow and stare down at him as his words register. “Your brother offered to buy your uncle’s company?” He nods. “Are you a rich kid, Killah?”

He sits up and looks at me. Of course, he is. I’ve suspected it from the moment I first saw him. My mentor, Milton Kincaid, is a rich man from a rich family who taught me how to spot the elite. There’s a way they carry themselves. The truly rich aren’t flashy; it’s in their walk and the way they command a room. Colin has that.

“A little bit,” he confesses. “Okay, a lot a bit. Is that a problem?”

“Why would it be?” I shrug. “Tell me more about your brother,” I say to change the subject. It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter, but complicated family relations tend to bleed into other aspects of life.

“He’s a control freak who tries to take everything from me,” is all he says.

“I know the feeling. My stepbrother took something from me. At least yours didn’t succeed. Are you taking on a management role in this company?”

I work for a mid-sized firm, and anyone who is hired from the outside is never welcome. At least not at first.

“I’m taking over for him.”

“What about the other people who work there? Be careful. You might not get a warm welcome.”

“He says he wants family to run it, and there’s someone there, but she doesn’t check all the boxes.”

“Oh, yes. Nepotism,” I add. I keep the annoyance out of my voice. I know how unfair the world can be. Some are handed jobs while others, like me, have to work hard for everything.

“How about we leave these heavy topics for another day?”

I agree because, at the end of the day, it's not my problem.

Chapter 10

Colin

I blink twice at the brightness. I cover my head with the pillow and reach for her side of the bed. It’s empty, and that’s when I remember she’s leaving today. I toss the pillow aside and notice it’s nine thirty-seven in the morning.

“Damn!” I yell to no one.

I hop out of the bed and look out the window. My room faces the pool, and it’s empty. Of course, she’s gone. She told me she had to be on the eight o’clock shuttle.

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