A fucking note.
Still, I have to admit that it’s better than waking up with a woman stuck to me like sleeping together somehow equals monogamy and having to coax her into a cab as gently as possible. Blaire left. On her own. And while I wouldn’t have minded a morning round for good measure, I respect her game.
Hell, I wonder if I could adapt it for my own use.
“Holt?” Oliver draws me back to the phone.
“Sorry. I’m here.”
He sighs. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what are you doing? You’re distracted as hell.”
My lip twitches. “Iwasdoing Blaire. And I did it well, I might add.”
Oliver sighs. “Well, let me turn around.”
“Why? What areyoudoing?”
“Well, I was on my way to your house. But if it’s this early in the morning, and you’ve been with Blaire, then you sure as hell aren’t at home, are you?”
I rub a hand down my face.
My refusal to take a woman home with me, even for one night, is a running joke with Oliver. He can’t understand it. He also didn’t help me clean up the mess the last time.
It’s a rule that allows me to work and play and keep them in separate, clean little boxes—just like I like it.
“No. I’m at a hotel,” I say, bracing for the rant that I know is coming.
“Look, I really don’t give two shits about Blaire or what the two of you are or are not doing … although by the sound of you this morning, I do have to say that I’m leaning more toward the are not. But?—”
“Hey, Oliver.”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck off.”
He laughs. The sound works its way through me and, before I know it, has me smiling too.
“Back to Landry,” I say, feeling a bit more focused. “What did he want?”
“Well, Graham talked to his dad, I guess, and he has reservations about selling us the land. Something about a promise they made in a campaign about protecting the environment.”
I balk. “Since when did they become environmentalists?”
“Since they needed votes in the last election, I guess. Fuck if I know. Anyway, I assured them that Wade was on board with using environmentally-friendly designs and building methods.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure Wade gives a fuck.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure that I care what Wade gives a fuck about,” Oliver says.
I run a hand down my face.
We’ve spent so much time working on this deal that we’ve neglected others. As the president of the company, that was my call. The future of the company is in my hands in a way it has never been before. And if it falls through … we fail.
I fail.
