Page 24 of Burning for You
Levi
I’ve been strolling in loops between Carnegie Hall and the 57th Street subway station, where I last saw Carolyn.
If we were in another time and place, Carolyn Meyer would be the kind of woman I’d want to spend my life with. She has everything I dream of in a woman.
A kind voice—the way she talked about a fruit basket for a sick child just made me think about having my own kids.
A striking face and worship-worthy femininity—I shouldn’t be thinking about them, but the man in me just can’t forget the sight.
Intelligence—she read me, for sure, and I’m certain she was close to exposing every secret I had.
And her fear—something that I felt I could soothe, despite her power.
I have no doubt she’s afraid of the dark. How can I exploit this when we take her? Jesse might have an idea.
Barnesy hasn’t called me yet. The missed call at the bathroom turned out to be Abbie—the woman responsible for most of the cash I brought to Random Valley for my dad. I guess I don’t need my side hustle anymore. Even if I’d come up with a million dollars, it still wouldn’t have been enough. I won’t need to strip for my clients and let them kiss my tats. Now that’s the part I’m glad to have over.
Moving my feet with unnecessary strain, I weigh in on the possibilities of taking Bright versus Meyer.
Josh Bright has a bodyguard, and even his driver is armed, as I observed earlier. Miss Meyer, on the other hand, seems to be content travelling alone on public transportation. Perhaps she thinks she doesn’t have any enemies.
Carolyn has more power, or at least she will once she becomes the majority shareholder. The questions are:
Which one of them will yield more quickly?
Who will yield more cleanly?
If we take Josh, will Carolyn have enough reasons to surrender?
She won’t do it for love, that’s my guess. Not only because I’ve seen her bickering with him, but something in her body language tells me she’s not in love with that pumpkin-head.
Love aside, there will unlikely be any compelling business reason for her to drop everything and cave into our demands for Josh’s sake. She has all the cards. She would negotiate hard for her own interests first. Then his. Then ours.
Someone taps on my shoulder. “Hey, bro!”
“Jesus Christ!” I jump at the sight of my brother. “What the hell are you doing here? Planning to break into Brilliance like you did HPI?”
Jesse adjusts the strap of his duffel bag. “I don’t trust you.”
“It doesn’t matter. You need me.”
“What have you got?” my brother asks. He hasn’t looked at me more than a minute, yet he feels the need to examine my crotch. “Did you just get a blowjob or something?”
He laughs at my swift move to investigate my fly. It’s securely zipped up, but I can see a few strands of Carolyn’s blond hair clinging to my polyester pants. I swat away the strands.
“Who’s the lucky lady?” he says.
“Let’s go.” I take him by the arm.
“Where?”
“To my place, of course. Where else?”
“Is your missus there?”
I sigh loudly. “No. We broke up not long after she visited us for Dad’s funeral.”
“So she went home early just to break up with you?”