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I nod. “He’s a good guy.”
“He is.”
“Do you hate me?” I ask nervously.
“No,” she says genuinely, “no, I don’t hate you.”
“Are you happy?”
She sighs, looking away for a moment. “I think so. Are you?”
My heart feels like it’s being choked, but I smile. “Good. That’s all I want for you, Presley. I just want you to be happy.” I feel guilty saying it, knowing that she wanted me in order to be happy, but it seems like she’s moving on from that idea. A thought that makes me both sad and relieved at the same time. Sad that it’s not with me, sad that she’s moving on from me when I’m so clearly not, and relieved that hopefully she can find peace.
“I should probably get to work.”
“Right, sorry. I wanted to also wish you good luck, with graduation and going full-time at Wade.”
“Thanks. Good luck with Meridian and… everything.” She smiles again, then turns and walks out of the room.
My heart sinks. Everything feels so wrong even though I thought I was making the right decision. I thought this is what’s best, that I’d feel validated when I saw her again, but I just feel worse. This can’t be the last conversation. It feels like there’s so much left unsaid… This can’t be the end of us. I grab my coat and I’m about to run after her when I see six missed calls from my lawyer, Terry.
“Fuck, that’s not good.” I slide my thumb across the screen and call him back. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“You need to get over here now.” His voice is hushed and he sounds panicked.
“Your office or mine?”
“Mine. Meridian is here, with lawyers. It’s not good, Cyrus; it’s not good.”
I hang up the phone, running down the hallway to my car and racing across the city to Terry’s office. I can hear someone’s booming voice before I even reach the conference room they’re all gathered in.
“It’s gone too far, Ken. This—this is beyond inappropriate!”
I walk through the door, the man yelling turning his red, pudgy face toward me, his eyes narrowing.
“You’re done,” he says, wagging his finger at me.
“Calm down, Rick,” Ken says as he stands up and walks over to me. “There’s an explanation, I’m sure.” He turns to face me. “Seems like there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding of sorts regarding you, Cyrus.”
“It’s no misunderstanding; it’s an affair.” Rick plops down into a chair across the table from me.
“Would someone, who isn’t yelling, please explain to me what the hell is going on here.”
“Don’t play stupid. We can’t have you running around, having an affair with a woman half your age, your publicist no less.”
That gets my attention. I look over at Ken.
“It seems that there’s a rumor that you and your publicist, who also happens to be one of your students if I’m not wrong, have been having an affair?”
“Based on what exactly?” I attempt to play it cool, taking a seat in one of the high-back chairs.
“There’s a source, Cyrus,” Terry says, looking at me seriously.
“A source?”
“Someone has come forward with accusations,” Rick says smugly. “Look, son…” Instantly, that annoys me. This man has to be within fifteen years of me. “Frankly, I don’t give a shit who you flounce around with or bring into your bed, but the moment it threatens to interfere with my money, then we’ve got a problem.”
“Gentlemen,” I say, holding my hands up to quiet them. “I’m not sure what source or evidence you think you have, but I can assure you it won’t interfere with your money. And frankly, I still can’t understand how you think that my personal life will impact anything to do with Gates Enterprises taking over Meridian. I let you keep the board, didn’t I? They’ll still be making whatever decisions you think they should be making; am I right? You really think your stock is going to plummet just because the parent company who owns them has a CEO who doesn’t fit into some perfect ideal they’ve created?”
