Page 27 of One Taste
A large group of people stand behind us, and it gets loud as they all talk at once. We wait as they get organized and head inside. When we can hear each other again, I continue. “This still doesn’t help me understand why this is so crucial to business. Don’t tell me this is why Faust is going withDuchessfor his new phone line.”
“It is. He explained to Dad thathe had to show support of his daughter. Apparently, she was pretty upset about the whole situation.”
This is unbelievable. “She gets caught cheating, and I get punished. That’s fucking amazing.”
Madison lets out a chuckle. “Now you know how us women feel. We always take the blame for the affair.”
There’s a pregnant pause in the air. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
She nods. “Paul is pissed he lost that account and had to hear it from Dad, not the client himself. Faust wanted to give Dad the courtesy of calling himself so soon after the heart attack. When I sat down with Paul to tell him what happened, he didn’t take it too well.”
“Why wasn’t I aware of all this?” I ask.
She grabs my hand and squeezes. “You were finding your groove as a leader. Things were going fantastic. We didn’t want to have this mess up your transition, you know? I’m more than capable of delivering messages like that.”
“Why now?” I question. “Why are you so worried about it now?”
“We lost three more accounts last week. They were all smaller, newer accounts, and they all gave basically the same reason for their decision. They’re concerned about the behavior of the new CEO and feel they need to distance their brands.”
Madison and I share a look. Something doesn’t add up here. “Does this feel out of sorts to you?”
“Pictures of you keep popping up more and more frequently, and they are more provocative than ever. I think someone is trying to fuck with you. With you continuing to give them ammo to use against you, it isn’t helping us. We have no idea who is doing this, or why, but Dad and I both agree that something fishy seems to be going on. I doubt this is the Faust girl, she already got her revenge when her father moved his business elsewhere. I doubt it’s a competing agency. They could have been doing this for years.”
I can see how stressed out she is about this turn of events. Her hands keep alternating between making fists and cracking her knuckles. It’s a habit of hers when she’s trying to deal. There’spurple peeking through from under her eye, letting me know she didn’t sleep well last night. “I need you to work with the new CEO. I need you to keep your nose clean and not do anything to draw further attention to yourself.”
Reaching my arm around her, I grab her shoulder and pull her into me. “Okay, I will. Hopefully, we can find someone easy to work with. I’d rather not spend all day with someone I can’t stand.”
“Thanks for defusing the situation last night. I appreciate the effort. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
I kiss the crown of her head and smile. “It’s okay.”
“We’ll figure this out, Sebastian,” she assures me. “But maybe next time, avoid the club altogether, though, okay? And everywhere there’s always paps.”
Laughter bubbles from my chest, and I stand, pulling her up with me. “Let’s go see the stars.”
Devin
“Wake the hell up.” Brielle’svoice permeates my peaceful sleep just before I feel a pillow slam into the side of my face.
I curse under my breath, ready to murder Brielle, who looms over me with the pillow still in her hand.It’s fucking Sunday.
“What?”
Brielle jumps, landing on the bed and ruining my comfortable position. “Wake up.”
“I’m up,” I groan rolling over to my side trying to get away from her annoyingness.
“You’re not, but you need to be.”
“Why are you waking me up so damn early on Sunday?”
“Because big brother is here.”
“What? Who?”
She says each word slowly. “Your brother is here.”
I sit up, gathering my senses. “Mark is here?”
