In the morning, I step into the office with a toothy grin sure to frighten my staff. Medina is the first one to greet me, she comes running towards me, I stop in the front of the elevator, waiting for her to catch her breath. She takes big gulps of air, I stifle a laugh at her flustered expression. We might need to incorporate a workout routine to the schedule if she’s this discombobulated after a thirty second run.
“Good morning, Sir.” I acknowledge her greeting with a bigger grin, she freezes for a nanosecond before snapping out of it. Directing her attention to a thick blue file in her grip, she flips through it. The hand holding my jacket lowers, I take a sip of my coffee. “I got something.” Her finger pokes an underlined paragraph, she chuckles at my tight smile. “It’s a private auction sale.” My lips pull into a grim line, I haven’t been to many sales but the few times I did, it was on a weekend not a bloody Thursday morning. And why is she smiling so goddamn much? I cough, she clears her throat. “Jei Clementine will be there.”
The annoyance dissolves, I offer her a half-smile. This is good, the best progress we have made in weeks.
“Time?”
She flips to the next page, I discard the empty coffee cup, switch my jacket to the other arm. “10 am.” I peek at my gold Rolex, it is too late for me to get a reservation. “I called ahead to get you a reservation.”
Relieved by the news, my head jerks in an appreciative nod she returns with a small smile, I shrug on my jacket and we begin the journey back to the reception area. Dina keeps up with my giant strides, ruffling through the file in her hand while mentioning names I forget as soon as they leave her lips. She gives me a ticket, a ticket with the details of the sale, I murmur my gratitude with a slight smile, appreciating her thoughtfulness. She didn’t have to do this but she did. We stop at the counter, she schools her face into a blank mask while I skim through my phone, waiting for Enzo to reply my message. Where is he?
Enzo’s text enters a few seconds later, he is here. Dina returns to her position behind the counter, I flip the ticket, combing through my memory for the location but it doesn’t jump out to me so I tuck it into my pocket. The clacking of the keyboard stops once my fist raps on the counter, Dina raises her head.
“Anything else?” I ask.
Her brows furrow, she starts shaking her head but pauses midway. “He speaks Russian,” she says with an uncertain smile. I nod, patting the counter one last time before exiting the big, giant building.
I know a bit of Russian, so this shouldn’t be hard.
The car pulls up in front, I slide into the backseat and Enzo gives a curt nod. “Privet.”
Confusion flashes across his face, I chuckle and look out the window. Best for me to practice my rusty Russian on the fella, he should know it’s a simple word—hello. I hope it comes in handy or Jei is at least impressed by my efforts. Skyscrapers come into my line of vision, blending into one another the faster the car goes, I take out my phone from my breast pocket, switch to the house camera. El’s room is empty, void of yesterday’s romp, same with the bathroom, my lips curl in a small smile as the memories of last night assails me. It was a glorious moment, a feeling better than therapy. She still cares about me.
The car stops, my eyes meet Enzo’s in the rearview mirror. “We are here,” he says.
I peek outside at the tall, humongous hotel we are parked in front. Using my hand as a shield against the sun, I squint at the name written in calligraphy. Still no idea. Another glance at my wristwatch, I lean back on my seat and release a shaky breath. The event starts in thirty minutes, I am not sure I want to be there early but it will buy me time with Jei, that’s if the idiot has arrived. On a sigh, I step outside.
Knocking on the window of the passenger side which rolls down, I tell Enzo, “Stick around.”
His head dips in a courteous bow, I wave him off and stalk to the front doors. The suited security guards are over me in seconds, I stretch my hands while one of them does the customary search with his hand-held metal detector. A tad impatient, I drum my foot into the floor as the second guard steps back for his partner to take over. I have a multibillion dollar company but our security isn’t even this tight.
“Brandon,” I say when their search carries on for another second, irritation leaking to my voice. I should have introduced myself first but I wanted an excuse to be outside for a while. “The name is Brandon Stark.”
The bulkier man taps his partner, they share a panicked look, making way for me to go in.
Chills race down my arms as I approach the reception, thanks to the air-conditioner. The receptionist recognises me instantly, maybe they have a picture of their guests because she wastes no time in asking, “Brandon Stark?” I nod, shoving my hands into my pockets while scanning the empty area. I don’t like this place. “Ticket, please.” I hand it over, she signs at the back and returns it to me with a smile. Leaning against her desk, she points a finger in the direction of a corridor with doors on one side. “That way.”
A security guard skips my way, on inspecting my ticket, he ushers me to the elevator without a word. Everything is done with serious faces that makes me wonder if there is more than an auction going on.
I am led into a large room with rows of chairs clustered on each side. The dim lights make it hard to see beyond a few metres, I scratch the back of my neck. No one is on the stage. I assume the stand with a microphone attached to it is for the MC while the table at the centre will hold the auction items. My eyes fall to the last row, to the back of a man’s head, I exhale. By his platinum blonde hair and butterfly tattoo peeking out of his collar, I know who he is. Moving to his row, I settle on the seat beside him.
Jei’s gaze flickers to my face, he masks his surprise quickly and returns to tapping on the phone I am tempted to snatch from him. I smother a grin, the bastard didn’t think he would see me here. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I reply, managing to slide in a note of surprise. “I didn’t think I'd find you here.”
He snorts. I pick the auction paddle, trace the number boldly written on it. “What are you here for?”
“You?”
We laugh, I set the paddle back to the empty seat on my left and cross my legs. The brightness of the lights increases, Jei taps away on his phone, I peer over his shoulders to see it’s a game. Pokémon.
“What are you here for?” I ask.
“The Pokémon card.” I frown, my eyes dart to the podium as if it will appear on it. Jei slips his phone into his pocket, wipes the invisible speck on his slacks. “It’s a first edition holographic shadowless card.” A grim smile pulls the corner of my lips, I have no idea what he’s going on about, he chuckles. “The last one was sold for £264,000. I intend to break that record.” A cough catches in my throat, he wiggles his eyebrows. Brat. This is why I need him to invest in Project El’s expansion, money doesn’t faze him. “If you’re a fan of video games, you can get the sealed copy of Super Mario 64. Bidding starts at £25,000.”
Laughter spills from my lips, I slap a hand over my mouth to keep from cackling like a little bitch. He eyes me like he didn’t just make a funny joke, my laughter subsides and I sit upright. This dude must be insane to think I’ll splash that kind of money on a game. The hell? I shake my head. Respectfully, I’ll pass.
“Your loss,” Jei murmurs.
A loss I am proud of. Another moment of silence passes between us, he is about to bring out his phone when I say, “We have to talk.” He purses his lips, I imagine the wheels spinning in his head but he doesn’t get a chance to talk. “What else do you need?” We have given him all he needs to know. “Jei?”
Chuckles ring out from the other end of the room, our heads snap to the source—two men I only notice now, bent over a phone. They must have sensed our gazes on them, heads with mop of black hair turn to us.
Black eyes latch onto mine, my breath lodges in my throat. Well, well, well.
* * *
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, thanks for reading to this point. As with other platforms, I thought publishing a chapter would automatically make it reflect on the app but it's not the same with NovelNow. So, updates will now be once in two weeks and ten chapters. I must upload 20k words for it to reflect on the app and with 5 chapters a week, I won't be able to achieve that. Thank you for understanding.
PS: If you are a fan of teenfiction, please check out my story: Bullied By The Badboy.