Page 16 of His Weekend Girl
“I am over it. Been over it.” Grant replied, his voice flat as a board. “Your point being what?”
Nathan ignored Grant’s tone and continued. “You don’t respond to emails. You barely respond to phone calls and texts! You don’t even have a relationship with your niece and nephew!”
“I send them gifts all the time. I talk to them whenever I can. I go to their games, their recitals, and whatever else they’ve got going on.” Grant quietly replied. “The problem is you don’t know that becauseyouchoose to leave all that to the nannies. You didnotice Liz greeted me with a hug and conversation while you were too busy yelling on the phone?”
Nathan gritted his teeth. “That’s beside the point!”
“Of course, you’ll never admit when you’re wrong,” Grant shook his head, “same ol’ Nate. Destroy everything in sight and wonder why certain people don’t returnyourphone calls.”
“The company is losing money, Grant.” Nathan finally admitted and Grant raised an eyebrow. “It’s been steadily losing money since the pandemic. We’re not about to go out of business but…” Nathan swallowed again. “…it looks bad.”
Grant knew his brother was full of it. He lied to cover his ass, even if it meant setting the world on fire to do so. “It looks bad? Orit isbad?” Grant pressed.
“We might have to lay off some people,” Nathan admitted as he walked a short distance and circled, “not too many. Just a few hundred.”
“Nathan, not too many is about 10 or 15, which is still bad.” Grant countered. “And you’re saying you have to lay off a few hundred like it’s not a big deal?”
“I…I….” Nathan looked away and then met his brother’s eyes again. “…Dad doesn’t know about this. I’ve been hiding it from him as long as I could. He’s starting to ask questions and I can’t stave him off any longer.”
“I’m sorry what about all this is my problem?” Grant asked.
Nathan approached his brother and Grant held up a hand to keep his distance. “Dad will fire me unless you back me.”
“Oh, this is rich,” Grant countered, “you staged a coup to take my job. You manipulated my fiancée and her family into thinking you’d be a better partner for her. Now you want me to save your ass?” He chuckled. “Do you even comprehend how badly I want to beat your ass right now?”
“Are you going to help me or not?” Nathan was on the verge of tears.
“It won’t be solved over the weekend,” Grant cut him off, “I would need to look at the numbers and trim the fat. I’ll do it come Monday.”
Nathan finally released the breath he held. “Thank you.” He began to walk out of the room.
“But Nate,” Grant stopped him, “my fix-it fee won’t be free nor will it be cheap. You want me to save the candy brand and the employees, it will cost you something major. But don’t worry, I’ll think of something good.” He winked.
~~~~~
“So, what are they like? Kardashians? Braxtons? OMG!! Which one is Tamar, do you think?”
Trixie rolled her eyes as she sat fully clothed in the clawfoot bath. She FaceTime’d Amberswan as she overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Trixie could not get over the magnificent view and was astounded by how wide and far the ocean was. “So far, so good. The mom, Sylvia, is a riot. The father, Jack, is a bit more reserved. I haven’t met his brother, Nathan, because he was on a call. The kids were occupied with their devices.” Trixie contemplated if she wanted to talk about her interaction with Charlotte. She decided she needed another opinion. “And one family member gave me a cold front.”
“Now, it’s juicy!” Amberswan rinsed off her orange and began peeling. “Who’s the cunt?”
“Amberswan, that’s not nice.” Trixie scolded.
“And I’m not a nice person. We’ve already established I’m an asshole, Trix.” Amberswan continued to peel. “Spill it, bitch.”
Trixie took a breath. “Her name is Charlotte. I think she’s Grant’s sister-in-law, but she seems to act like she runs things.”
“Hmm….”Amberswan took a bite of the orange. “…did she and Grant have something going on before?”
Trixie never considered. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Her kids with Nathan are still children. The oldest is nine and theyoungest is seven.” A notification popped up on Trixie’s screen. “What did you just send me?”
“Didn’t I tell you I still had contacts at the FBI when I fucked that agent a few years back?” Amberswan casually mentioned it as if it was just a regular part of a conversation and not jaw-dropping, mind-blowing news. “I asked him to send me a dossier on Grant. I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“And you tell me this newsafterI go away with him for the weekend?” Trixie deadpanned.
“If I thought you weren’t safe, you wouldn’t have left,” Amberswan reasoned, “anyway, take a look at it. There’s some fascinating gossip in there. Grant and Charlotte were about to be married over a decade ago.”
Trixie immediately sat up in the bath. “Shut. Thee. Fuck. UP!”
