I tell him all about the arrangement Damian and I have and he talks through my ideas for the apartment with me. We hang up with promises to talk on campus on Thursday about the auction and I start my sketches for the space.
************
I’m at my office when Veronica comes in and announces that Alex is here and demanding to see me. She says he does not look to be in a very friendly mood, I smile and advise her to allow him in.
“You bought her a phone? She’s moving into the apartment? I’m sure the contract is next! What the fuck are you doing, Stone? I thought we talked about this?”
“Hello, Alex. It’s a pleasure to have you drop by. Come. Sit and have a drink with me. Scotch maybe?”
“Cut it out and fuck yeah I need a drink, maybe more than one after you tell me your deal with Sydney. You’re a piece of fucking work, you know that, right?”
I pour us each a finger of my best whiskey and join Alex on the sofa.
“I hope this will take the edge off. You seem a little high strung for three in the afternoon. I can use one myself too; I just finished a phone meeting with that arrogant fucking prick I told you about. You remember the resort deal I’ve been working on” I say as I hand Alex his glass.
“Damian, you know what I’m here to talk about. Stop avoiding the topic.”
“I do. And if I’m being honest I need this drink more because of her then I do over this business deal” I reluctantly admit as I take a gulp of the liquid and wait for the heat. “Alex, I don’t know what’s happening to me, I can’t seem to get a handle on my emotions. They’ve never been a factor in the past and they’ve caught me off guard.”
“Your emotions? Are you serious with this shit, man? Are you telling me you have feelings for Sydney?” Alex downs his whiskey in one gulp as well and holds out his glass for another, I oblige and pour myself another as well.
“I think I may need your help. You’ve tried my lifestyle, I know you were never hard core like me but you know what it entails. You’ve also been in love before and you understand what that involves too.”
“Yes, true on both points but I have to warn you, women are complicated and just because we think we have the answer to solve the riddle with one of them doesn’t mean it will solve the puzzle with all of them. But go ahead and try me, I’ll see what light I can shed on the situation but I must warn you, I’m not happy with where this is all heading” Alex responds as he turns down another helping of whiskey.
“I’m convinced she’s submissive. She probably doesn’t know it, hell she probably would never seek it out but I can feel it. And I like her, damn it. I had lunch with her and I started feeling things.”
“Things? What things?”
“Where should I begin? Her innocence made me hard, her body is flawless, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. But it’s so much more than that, more than just those physical things that I’ve felt before. I can’t fucking believe I’m sitting here saying this but my stomach kept doing this weird flipping thing every time I came into contact with her. I found myself listening when she talked, I mean really listening because I wanted to hear what she said, I wanted to learn more about her. I’m jumping out of my skin just waiting to see her again. Fuck, what’s wrong with me? I sound like such a fucking pussy right now, please stop me.”
Alex laughs and nods for me to continue.
“I’m totally fucking losing my marbles over this girl and I’ve only known her for five fucking minutes. I think about her all the god damn time. I want to have her with me, I want to know she’s mine but I can’t make a move yet. I have to do this the right way and every fiber of my being is telling me the only way to claim her is slowly or I’ll scare her away.”
“So you are still thinking about turning her into one of your
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