“Why the hell have you been working with my dad?”
“He’s my boss. I talk to him.” Parker sifted uneasily through the message slips on his desk. “If you’re not meeting with him, then what’s your plan?”
William glared at him. “We need to announce to management soon but, for now, I’m only a consumer reporter. That’s all anyone needs to know. And as far as my dad’s concerned, I’m still the screw-up who embarrassed the family on national television. I need a solid strategy. With the big Colorado Springs acquisition you’re so concerned about, I have to be prepared. I’m not walking blind into any meetings.”
Parker pressed his lips together. “Don’t screw up the merger, William. It’s got to happen.”
“What’s it to you, anyway? Your job here’s secure with or without it.” Unless. William’s whole body went wired. “He promised you a Colorado Springs job, didn’t he?”
Parker glanced down at the carpet. “Vice President of Operations.”
William’s last girlfriend always said he had major trust issues. Right here. This illustrated why he struggled having faith in anyone. If you couldn’t rely on your friends to have your back, who could you count on?
“When you kicked me out of your apartment, you weren’t worried about your job here. You were aiming for a promotion.”
“After the merger, your dad plans to move all the offices to the Springs. You haven’t been around. You have no idea what this company needs. The merger needs to happen so we can move everything there.”
Never. His mother set the offices in Confluence because she loved this town. “I’m keeping the offices in Confluence.”
The door burst open, revealing Parker’s flustered assistant.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. Mr. Covington.” She glanced at William. “The other Mr. Covington is here to see you.”
Looked like that meeting with his dad wouldn’t wait after all.
“Son.”
One word, and everyone paused. William couldn’t breathe. Air wouldn’t come. His father’s presence erased everything William had worked toward. He was a twenty-two-year-old brat again, ruining the family name.
The perplexed assistant scooted aside to let his father pass.
“Dad.” William clenched his fingers against his palms. He would not go back in time. He would not allow his father that control. He would not be that kid again.
“I suppose congratulations are in order.” Joe Covington had aged over their time apart. Oh, he still owned the room when he entered, but his hair was whiter and the lines on his face deeper. “It’s been a long time. We’ve got some work to do to get this transition moving. Best get on that.”
He turned in the direction of the conference room without any other words. He didn’t need them. People followed Joe Covington wherever he led.
“Best get on that.” Parker jerked his head to where William’s father had stood moments before.
“We’re not done.” William pointed a finger at Parker and headed the opposite direction of the conference room. He refused to come when called—especially by his father.
Chapter Five
William was on edge. A string of tense meetings with his father over the past two weeks had been punctuated with uncomfortable, over-the-top civility. Twice his father had broached the subject of William staying at the family house. Twice, William declined. Politely. Through gritted teeth.
Better to live in a rundown place he called his own than move back to the altar of broken dreams, otherwise known as the family home where his father and stepmother lived.
Parker had tried to contact him a few times. William had avoided the calls and sidestepped him at the station.
But his father’s endless persistence, and Parker’s two-faced friendship, weren’t the only reasons he couldn’t sleep.
The yowling outside had become unbearable. He yanked a thin bubblegum-colored blanket over his head. Two a.m. and a first-class pain-in-the-ass cat would not shut up. William groaned.
Even without the cat, a man could not sleep in a house drenched in the color palette of Pepto-Bismol.
He was a successful reporter. A goddamned heir to an empire. All of that sounded great, but his life was like a late night infomercial. Looked amazing on television, but once you got it, you realized it was total bull and the return shipping wasn’t worth the effort.
The bellowing outside grew louder, punctuated with several short meows and a long, high-pitched cry.
