That had Lucas looking away from his screen and at Finn."Why are you apologizing for Old Sull?"
"He's not old," Finn said quickly, somehow forgetting he was talking to his boss.
Instead of getting angry, Lucas smiled."I stand corrected.But still, what do you need to apologize for?"
"Asking you to give me those two days off.I have this thing about not letting my personal and professional lives collide."
Lucas leaned back in his chair, looking at Finn."Did you tell this to Prince?"
"No, I've been a little distracted."Finn looked down, feeling his face grow hot at what had been distracting him.He looked up when he heard Lucas chuckle.
"The beginning of a new relationship is always the best part, but you don't need to worry about apologizing to me on Prince's behalf."He stood from his desk, putting his hand in his pocket as he walked closer to Finn."He's not just a friend, he's family."
Finn nodded and turned to leave, but Lucas's next words stopped him."Have you thought about what you're going to do after graduation?"
Finn had been thinking about it a lot, but he still hadn’t given Bevin an answer on whether they were going to be business partners or not.
"It's been on my mind as well," Finn said, turning to look at Lucas as a thought came to him."Can I talk to you about something?"
"Personal or professional?"
"A bit of both."He sighed, realizing what he had just said, then corrected himself."I'm just looking for professional advice, and whatever I decide will affect my personal life."
Lucas leaned against his desk, crossing his arms over his chest."Have a seat and talk to me."
Finn did as he was told and, without going too far into the personal aspect, laid out the business deal with Bevin and his role in the company.Lucas was silent when Finn finished explaining everything, and Finn wasn’t certain what Lucas was going to say.
"Do you know why out of all the interns I picked you to work directly for me?"
Finn shook his head.
"It had nothing to do with your grades or all the academic awards you earned.I'm not discounting them, but what got me was the determination in your eyes.I had no idea what you wanted for the future, but there was a look in your eyes that told me you would do anything to succeed.I've watched you take on tasks and complete them in record time, and the more difficult the task, the easier it seemed to you.I won't even talk about how you helped negotiate the deal with the CEO of House of Pallas.Do not downplay everything you’ve done around here.Your evaluation is already written with glowing reviews, not from me, but from the staff you have worked with.So why are you running scared now?"
"I'm not s..."He was about to defend himself, but he couldn't finish the word when he realized Lucas was right to call him out and let him face the one thing he was running from.
"I don't want to disappoint him or myself.He's trusting me with millions of dollars, and I don't want that on my shoulders if I mess something up."
"You will fail," Lucas said."And you will succeed, but that’s business."He chuckled.
"I can't trust myself right now."
"Understandable, but the longer you wait, the longer you will keep talking yourself out of doing it.I'll tell you a secret that not even Prince knows, and if he finds out, he would hold it over my and Tyler's heads for life.So I'm trusting you."
"I can't promise I won't tell," Finn joked.
"Still in the honeymoon stage and not keeping secrets from each other.Good, keep it up.Anyway, without going into too much detail, when my dad turned the company over to Tyler and me, we screwed up a multimillion-dollar deal, even though we had been working there since we were teenagers.We knew what the client wanted and thought we had done everything right, but we still failed.And what made it worse was that your wonder boy was seconds away from taking the deal from us if our dad hadn’t stepped in and saved us in the end.What I'm trying to say is that nothing will be perfect.You will not get every contract, no matter when you take that step."
Finn sat back in his seat, letting Lucas's words sink in, and it helped him make a decision.Standing, he extended his hand toward Lucas."Thanks, boss."
"So you've decided?"Lucas took his hand and shook it.
"I have," Finn said as their hands separated."Aren't you going to ask me what I decided?"
"Nope."Lucas smiled."I'll just wait to see how much dust you kick up in the business world."He patted Finn on the shoulder."Do me a favor."
"If I can."
"Come to me whenever you're stuck.You're not alone, Finn."
