Me: Again, I am fine going out on my own and stopping the advances of men (and occasionally women) towards me. I don't succumb to everyone like I have to you.
Jackson: Occasionally women?
Me: Did you read the rest of that last text?
Jackson: Tell me about these women?
Me: I'll see you later. Surrounded by men (and women).
Jackson: Shall I meet you at your offices and walk you over?
Jackson: Don't you have any heavy bags that need carrying?
Jackson: Van?????
***
Alice was on her third cocktail by the time the first couple of employees from Callaghan Greene arrived at the bar. She hadn't stopped all day, finalizing the arrangements for the retirement ball, meeting with another potential client and managing the digital marketing team who were in the midst of arguing over the concept of a new advert for a high street store. She was worth her weight in platinum and diamonds and a few cocktails were the least I could do for her today. Those and a late start tomorrow.
"That's three new clients today and seven inquiries, four of which will involve campaigns," Alice said, sipping her margarita. "We can't have too many days like today, Van. We don't have the capacity and I don't want to turn potential clients away. The campaign we did for Baby Butterscotch has sent us viral."
She was right; we were expanding after a couple of particularly good campaigns and rebrands that had got people talking. "You're still interested in coming in as a partner?" I said. This had been something I had thought more about over the weekend and discussed with Jackson – in his capacity as someone who had an MBA and ran a business, not as anything else.
"Definitely. When you're clear what you need to buy Richard out for let me know what you can offer me. I'm not the only one, either. Josh has mentioned it too." Josh was our creative lead when I wasn't able to take on any more work. "And Sally."
"Sally? When did that conversation occur?" Sally was our business manager and extremely able.
Alice looked sheepish. "Last week when we knew you'd finally started legal with Richard. If he won't let you buy, everyone will hand in their notice and go with you."
"He'll sell. I'll arrange a meeting later in the week between the four of us to discuss going forward. The firm's really developing and I'm at the point where I won't be able to manage to spread myself so thinly going forward. But I don't want to stop doing the creative side." Baby Butterscotch had been my idea; a baby clothing range that was unisex with a very set ethos. We'd gone hard and heavy with the photos and the models used, keeping it clean and simple and it had worked.
"Can I get you ladies, a drink?" A tall man with thick red hair peered over. Alice smiled up at him, re-crossing her legs and sharing a glimpse of thigh. I recognized this Alice as being Prowly Alice, who was also highly amusing.
"I'll have a Long Island Iced Tea please," she said, her eyes widening, eyelashes demurely fluttering.
Red looked at me and then I felt a hand on the small of my back and a pair of lips on my temple.
"I'm good, thanks." I turned around to see Jackson sending out the alpha signal. If his employees didn't know we were dating before, they did now as that signal was beaming across London.
"Jesus, Jacks," Seph said. "Territorial much?" Maxwell stood behind them, lifting a glass as a greeting. Amelie lingered nearby, her usual shine lacking luster.
I lifted myself onto my tiptoes and kissed Jackson briefly on his lips. As much as I would never be someone's possession it was nice to know that someone wanted to be possessive over me, something Richard had never been bothered about showing, if not the opposite.
"What do you want to drink?" he said, keeping a hand on my waist and speaking quietly. "I knew you'd have a man hovering."
"I've never known him leave work so quickly," Seph said. "We should do this more often. It might convince him to quit being a workaholic."
"Shut up, Seph," Jackson said. "Drink?"
"A margarita," I said. "One more and I'm done. Alice has a few hours to get over her hangover but I have a busy day tomorrow."
He took the orders from the rest of his siblings and Amelie; Claire, Payton, and Killian joining us too. Josh and Ceri from my firm were already here but had discovered the bar had various games consoles so had joined another group of geeks, failing yet again in their trials to find people who would sleep with them. We commandeered tables where I could keep an eye on Alice, who was quickly seeming disinterested in Red and I found myself for the first time in over a year enjoying myself after hours on a Monday in a non-work situation.
Amelie sat down beside me sipping at what looked like a gin and tonic. "I'm so sorry I interrupted your weekend," she said. "If I'm been a bit more with it I would've told Max to leave it and got a hotel, but I couldn't think straight. I hope I didn't disrupt your plans."
I shook my head. "It was nice to have you around, I'm just sorry about the circumstances. It might not be the right time to ask you, but how are you holding up?"
She gave a hollow laugh. "I've not had to hold myself up. He's done it for me." She nodded towards Max. "Before I think of something that needs doing, he's already done it. It'll annoy me later, but at the moment it's a godsend. They're good people, the Callaghans." Amelie glanced around them, her eyes brimming with tears. "Tell me about you and Jackson. Take my mind off the shit storm that is my life at the moment. And what you can't tell me now, tell me after drinks on Wednesday."
