“Can’t.” Alicia was too quick to say that. “I’ve got a dinner to go to tonight, and then I have to prepare for my meetings tomorrow. Sorry.”
“Really?” Candice scoffed. “This is how it’s gonna be now, huh?”
Alicia sat back. “What do you mean?”
“It’s one thing if you’re getting hitched to a rich bitch because you may or may not be inlooovewith her. Quite another to suddenly be her business partner, don’t you think?”
I do think. Believe me. Alicia drew in a deep breath and chose her words carefully. “Trust me, it wasn’t one of my goals to end up in this position. It was… necessary.”
“Necessary? Do tell.”
I can’t. That’s the problem.“She needs my help with an important business venture. That’s what all the meetings are for. I’m establishing myself in the company, so to speak.”
Candice sighed. “Don’t give me your bullshit corporate jargon, Al. Next, you’ll be telling me about synergy and lateral compositions.”
“Fact of the matter is, I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on. I can’t risk telling anyone. I have no idea who may be listening in at the moment.”
That certainly killed the mood. If there had been a mood to begin with.
“For fuck’s sake, Al. I have no idea who you are anymore.”
Fair enough, indeed. Alicia often questioned such things herself. Was she the bride of a billionaire? Was she a woman making a sudden and important career change that would affecther résumé for the rest of her life? Was she the future matriarch of a powerful dynasty? Was she a silly, low-class girl having a lark until her rich wife decided she was over her and enacted their iron-clad prenup through a quick and efficient divorce? Which identity came first? Which one did she present to her best friend… whom she had kept in the proverbial dark this whole time?
“I’m still sorting that out, too.”
“Seriously. Is this what you’ve always wanted but never told me?” Candice opened her arms to the large, still somewhat empty office. “I’ve never seen you working in a place like this, let alone owning it! Did dating that woman get you a brain transplant?”
“Excuse you…”
“No, excuse you, Al. You’re scaring me. I had no idea what to expect when I came here, but look at you! Suddenly, you’re the bigshot’s bigshot! Overnight, you’ve gone from some girl working at a sex club to owning half of a multibillion-dollar company!”
“I don’t own half.” That was easy to assume, though. “Technically, I own 8% of the company through shares.” Hopefully, by the end of tomorrow, it would be 9%.
“Oh, what the fuck ever! Fact is, Al, you’re a fucking billionaire! You’re on another level, and I have no idea how to reach you anymore. The worst part is that I got no warning.”
What the hell did Alicia say to this? “I don’t know how many times I have to say I’m sorry. We have our reasons for doing what we’ve done. I can’t tell you what they are right now. I barely understand them myself.”
“You barely under… holy shit, Al, listen to yourself! You don’t even know why you married the woman overnight!”
Enough.
Alicia may not have been in this corporate world for long, but she had learned enough. She couldn’t let people walk all over her. She couldn’t let them get to her, whether they were best friends or tenuous acquaintances. To go down that path was to lead to instant madness.
“Don’t talk to me like that!” Alicia shot up from her seat, a faraway part of her absorbing the shock on Candice’s face with glee. “Don’t treat me like a child. Just because I lived a different life until now doesn’t mean I can’t do this!” She knocked the emerald paperweight off her desk. Nobody jumped to pick it up. “You have no idea, Candi. You really don’t have a fucking clue what’s going on. I haven’t told you because I can’t. I am all the fuck alone right now. My wife? My wife is the one running the show. I have to trust her not to fuck me over. Because you’re right! I barely know the woman! I know that I love her, and I know that I want to do this, but you think I’m not scared? I’m suddenly married! Her father hates my guts and…” No, she wouldn’t drop the bomb about the fire and Russell’s involvement. Candice still didn’t know, and Alicia did not want to freak her out any more than she was. “Also, I might be pregnant. It’s true. So cut me some fucking slack right now. I’m going through an adjustment period where I’m not at liberty to talk about much, especially about work. You’re going to have to trust me like I have to trust my wife.”
Tears dripped from her eyes. Alicia snatched tissues from a silver box and dabbed the tears away.
“Now I kinda feel sorry for thinking you’re a bitch,” Candice said.
Alicia laughed. What else could she do? “I am a bitch now. I have no choice for the time being. Otherwise, nobody takes me seriously around here.”
“Just don’t be a bitch to me. You’ve got jack-shit to prove to me.”
Candice got up from her chair and rounded Alicia’s desk. When her hand touched Alicia’s shoulder, more tears came.
Tears of happiness? Tears of relief? It was all so odd. Alicia acknowledged how she had changed in such a short amount of time, but it was difficult to convey that to her best friend. Candice was still her best friend, right?
“When you have some time, call me, I guess.” Candice rubbed the top of Alicia’s head. “Assuming you’re not too good for me now.” At least there was sarcasm in her voice. Kind of.
