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“Ten percent,” Olly announces loudly as he emerges from his bedroom, his iPad gripped in his raised hands. “Ten percent and it’s not even ten in the morning,” he cheers.
“Ten percent of what?” I ask, turning to look at him as he strides across the suite.
“Archibald Inc, we already secured the shares from the Nouman Batrich and Clintmore and we’re negotiating with Hudson Holdings and Vagnerwarmen,” he says triumphantly.
“Douglas Inc just agreed to sell too,” Arlo says, as he steps into the room.
“Twelve percent then,” Olly laughs.
“Jesus, why are you all being so loud?” Watson groans as he staggers from the doorway to his room, his eyes half shut, his face tinged green.
“Dude we got twelve percent so far,” Olly shouts, laughing as Watson flinches and grabs at his head with his hands.
“Fourteen,” Carson says appearing at my side, his gaze on his cell. “The Applebys just agreed to sell too.”
“Coffee? I need coffee before I can take any of this in,” Wats groans.
“I’ll get you one,” I say, pushing up from my chair and making my way to the coffee pot that’s hissing as it fills the jug with fresh, delicious smelling coffee. As soon as it stops, I make myself a fresh cup and fill a cup for Watson. “Anyone else need coffee?” I ask. When they all shake their heads, I grab the two cups and move back to the table, placing one in front of Wats. “There you go.”
His arms shoot out, gripping me, as he hugs my waist. “Thank you, Crueligan, I think I might be in love with you too,” he groans.
“Keep your hands off my fiancé,” Carson hisses, flicking Watson playfully in the head as he pulls me free of his friend and steers me back to my seat. Wats laughs, then grabs his head and groans, pulling his coffee toward him and bringing it to his lips
I start to lower myself into my seat but Carson pauses me, sitting down and pulling me into his lap, curling one of his arms around my waist and pressing a soft kiss to my shoulder.
Olly opens his mouth to speak, but Watson lifts his hand into the air silencing him, as he sips his coffee, his eyes slowly blinking open wider. Silently we all look at each other then to Watson, who eventually drains his cup, lolls back in his seat, and yawns. Lifting his arms above his head, he groans as he stretches. “Okay, go,” he says groggily.
A small laugh falls from my lips, then another until I’m giggling. “Oh my god Wats,” I chuckle.
“What?” he asks. “I needed a minute,” he says with a shrug.
“You ready dude?” Olly asks patronizingly. “You need another minute, maybe some breakfast and a massage?”
“Nah I’m good, go ahead,” Wats says, completely ignoring Olly’s sarcastic barbs.
Rolling his eyes, Olly lifts his iPad up, tapping the screen to bring it to life. “So far we’ve got Nouman Batrich, Clintmore, Douglas Inc, and the Applebys. Hudson Holdings and Vagnerwarmen are playing hardball, but the fact that they’re negotiating means we’ll get them too. We’re at fourteen percent so far and if we can pin Hudson and Vagnerwarmen down to a deal, that’ll take us to twenty-one and a half. Offers will be staggered out to the rest of the shareholders over the next day or so, but it’s looking good so far.”
“My mom and dad want to put an announcement about our engagement in the society pages in the times,” Carson says, absentmindedly twisting with my engagement ring back and forth on my finger.
“We should post on all of our social media too,” Wats says with a yawn.
“I have a photographer coming to Arlo’s tomorrow to take some professional pictures,” Tally says, pulling her cell out and typing out a message as she speaks. “I already spoke to Fitzy about sorting some clothes. I figured we could take some group shots of all of us, then engagement photos for you guys.”
“We should probably be prepared for Mom and Dad to lash out in some way,” I admit. “Carson and I had a run in with them as we were leaving the party last night, it got nasty, so it’s only going to be a matter of time before they retaliate.”
“Priss told them to go fuck themselves,” Carson says, pride lacing every word.
“You did?” Tally gasps. “No fair, I want to tell them to fuck themselves too,” she pouts.
“You can tell them next time we see them, little ghost,” Arlo chuckles, pulling my sister toward him and pressing an amused kiss to her lips.
“I’m so fucking tired,” Wats whines. “Let’s go home and we can catch up for dinner.”
Thirty minutes later I’m sat beside Carson as he drives us back to The Escape, our home. I thought his parents might be mad that we’re living together at eighteen, but they honestly don’t seem bothered. They’re flying out to Budapest in a couple of days’ time with Carson’s little brother to look at some harbor front property they are thinking about buying.
I’m a little intimidated by how nice they are. His mom is sweet. She’s lovely and warm, but even after our brief meeting I can tell she’s not a pushover. Carson looks like her, while his brother favors his dad. But what became obvious as soon as I met them, is that all of the Windsor men carry an air of controlled intensity.
My first reaction was to assume they were playing a game, being kind to me as part of some bigger scheme, but then I remembered that most people aren’t like that. The Archibalds are always playing some kind of game, manipulating and orchestrating events to play out in their favor, but some people are just good and nice and honest.
