As chief marketing officer, Cruz was usually the one who made pitches around here. I wracked my brain for tips he’d dropped here or there. And then I remembered how extensively his team researched before each presentation. I didn’t know enough about Jada to know what impressed her. But her best friend was right here...
“Hey, Rei?” I said.
She blinked up at me. “Hey, Bryce?”
I put on a charming smile. “I have a... what did you call it? ‘Same day rezzy’ at Skylight Lounge. Care to join me?”
Rei looked to her friend for permission, and Jada threw up her hands, an exasperated smile on her full lips. “Get your shellfish on, girl.”
Rei hopped up from the table, saying, “I’m going to change real fast! BRB!”
As I watched her rush away, I said, “Did she just say ‘BRB’?”
“She sure did.” There was a smile that tilted across Jada’s face and lingered in her eyes when I looked back at her.
“It’s going to take more than a reservation to impress you, isn’t it?” I asked.
Jada shrugged, standing up from the table, paper cup in hand. “Who says I can be impressed?”
I bit my bottom lip, eyeing the masterpiece of a woman in front of me. “My lack of good sense?”
She let out a laugh, the sound music to my ears. “You’re funny, Bryce Madigan.”
“Does that mean you’ll say yes?”
“To what?” she asked, walking backward now.
Forever?I thought. That would solve my Simon problem. But instead, I said, “How about a date?”
She shrugged. “I’ll think about it while you’re at Skylight Lounge.”
I was about to reply when my phone started ringing. Shaking my head to clear it of the encounter, I glanced at the screen. Jude. When I looked back up, Jada had already turned away, going toward the exit.
With a sigh, I quickly held my phone to my ear. “Tell me you have good news.” All the levity from moments ago had evaporated like foam on a cappuccino.
Jude’s voice was practically a growl as he said, “No wonder Simon wants us to turn out differently from that no good son of a bitch.” I could hear the car door slam, and the background noise of wind quieted.
I cringed, asking, “What happened?”
“Smug motherfucker sat on his bed like a goddamned king and said he’d die before giving up his shares. Says we’re stupid if we think he’ll turn down a cash cow for a gallon of milk.”
I mean, he had a good point, but no way I’d say that to Jude right now. “How long does he think it’ll be a cash cow with him and his siblings at the helm?”
“Too stupid to consider that they’d fuck everything up in a quarter,” Jude grunted. “Probably less.”
Getting up from the table, I started back toward the elevators. “We just need two of the three to sell to us, right? Then we’d have the majority, if the founders all stayed on the same page.”
The background noise on the phone picked up again, and Jude mumbled something I didn’t quite catch.
“Where are you?” I asked. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Jude said over the growing background noise. “I’m staying the night in Tibet. Blowing off some steam at a bar.”
“Sounds like you need it,” I replied. “Just don’t give up. We still have Aleyna and Jasper to talk to.”
Jude sighed. “We both know Aleyna blows like the wind. Jasper’s a fucking freak.”
He was right, but I didn’t want to think about what that would mean for the company—for my future—if we couldn’t convince them to sell.
