Page 72 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

I laughed. Luckily, I didn’t have to negotiate with her, because she knew all the angles. I followed Amanda out of Greg’s office and back to hers. I sat down on the couch and wondered where to begin. Probably reminiscing about what a great fuck we had was too much for Monday morning. Again my cock was twitching a little just being around her. The fact that she was so ladylike and proper now made her hotter.

“So....” I said.

Amanda looked at me. “Yes?”

I reached over and closed the office door. She watched me carefully.

“You didn’t call me back last night.”

She dropped her eyes. “Well, clearly dinner turned into a much bigger deal than I had anticipated. We had a major discussion on the sale of the team. Uncle Thomas argued a lot, but my mother cast the deciding vote.”

“That’s a big deal, right? Your mom finally agreeing to sell the team. What changed her mind?”

“A number of things. You were one of them.”

“Me?”

“Yes. She trusts you.” She paused like she was going to say more but shook her head.

“What’s going to happen to your uncle?” I asked.

She swivelled in her chair until I could hardly see her face. “I don’t know. He’s not going to work here again though.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. You must feel pretty bad for him.”

“No, I don’t. He shouldn’t have been the President and General Manager. It was too much power.”

Amanda’s foot was tapping nervously. Her mood was getting worse, so I tried to change the subject. “Did you want to discuss the plans for to revamping the scouting system?”

“Chris. We just agreed to sell the team. Wasn’t that your mission when you came here?”

I nodded. It had been, but in the meantime I’d gotten so much into the helping the Vice that I’d half-forgotten. And there was still so much to do here.

Amanda continued, “Well... maybe you should go back to the Millionaires and tell them the good news.”

“Oh, okay.” I got up but hesitated. When we were going to see each other for real? Amanda was so straight-laced though; maybe she didn’t mix up work and her social life. I needed to see her outside the office. “So, are you doing anything after work tonight?”

She finally looked up at me, but her face was a tight mask. “Chris, Saturday was completely amazing. But you’re under no obligation to continue with....” Her voice trailed off.

“Mandy, get serious. I’m not doing anything I don’t want to. I want to see you again.”

“You’re so sweet to say that. But maybe, you know, we should cool things down. This place has already been rocked by one sexual harassment scandal, and we don’t need another.”

“Sexual harassment? What are you talking about? Nobody in this room was forced into anything they didn’t want, were they?” What the hell was she talking about? Where was the straight-shooting Amanda I knew and liked so much?

She looked down. “Maybe not. In any case, if this sale goes through I’m leaving soon, so what’s the point really?”

It felt like the temperature in the room has dropped several degrees. An icy anger ran through my body, and I made my voice as expressionless as hers. “Yeah, okay. I get it. If you don’t want to see me again, that’s fine. I thought we had a no-bullshit policy between us, and I’m pretty sure you’re feeding me a whole plateful of bullshit right now.”

I turned and walked out of her office. It was pretty clear to me what had happened here. Sure we had a great time on Saturday, but when she had time to think about us—maybe helped by her family—she realized that I wasn’t good enough. Some ex-hockey player from a crappy part of Winnipeg wasn’t someone a woman like her could get serious with. Sure, I had money now, but money wasn’t important to her. What was important to them was stuff like education and background, which I didn’t have.

I had walked without thinking into my tiny office. My useless, crooked office chair was sitting there, and I walked over, picked it up, and threw it against the wall. There was a tremendous crash, and the chair broke into a dozen pieces. Nancy appeared in the doorway, took one look at my face, and disappeared. I kicked the chair pieces into the corner, and then strode out of the office.

I got inside my car and sat there. Fuck this place. Time to go back where I belonged.

31

Deal of the Day

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