Beautiful Broken Mess(29)
“Aw, I’m sorry, Jace.” Quinn pats the bed next to her and I park my pathetic sorry-ass down. “I can leave if you guys want to talk.”#p#分页标题#e#
“No, I don’t care if you’re here. I just need one conversation where someone isn’t down someone else’s throat.”
“Deal,” she says. “Give them a break though,” she says, pointing to the door. “She just got back, so they’re in the honeymoon phase again.”
“I know, I know.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “That’s why I haven’t blown a fuse in front of them yet.”
“What’s up, son?” Cole smarts off again. I stare at him, not saying a word. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’m done fucking with you, for real this time.”
“I dropped Pre-med.” With Cole, it’s best to get straight to the point. He doesn’t have the attention span for beating around the bush.
Quinn’s mouth drops open and Cole looks equally stunned. “Uh… what? You dropped out of school? It’s your senior fucking year, man. You couldn’t go one more year?” he scolds.
“I didn’t say I dropped out of school. I said I dropped Pre-med.”
“What the hell else are you going to do now? Changing your major this late in the game is not going to be easy.”
“I’ve been double-majoring.”
Another set of stunned faces.
“I never wanted to be a doctor. Okay… well, I did once when I was sixteen and my dad and Jax stuck to the idea like glue. When Pops died, I just felt it was… right, you know?”
“What’s your alternate major?” Quinn encourages me to continue.
“Finance and Business Economics. Business, basically,” I reply with a shrug. “Okay guys, seriously. The stunned faces don’t fucking help.”
“Go on… tell me the reasoning behind all of this,” Cole requests.
“Look, I always saw myself taking over my dad’s business one day. I used to talk about it all the time with him. Then I spoke of being a doctor for like a week, and he acted like I walked on water for something I hadn’t even accomplished. Jax later took over that notion for him. I hear the way he talks about me to people, like I’m going to cure cancer.”
“Is Pre-med too hard?” Cole asks calmly.
“Fuck no, I was actually pretty good at it. I just don’t want to do it. I gave it a shot; I tried to love it. What I want to do is take over Pop’s company when my uncle retires.”
“I’ve never even heard you say what your father did,” Quinn reflects.
“Security,” Cole’s gruff voice responds.
“The Riley Group.” I smile with pride at all my dad and uncle achieved together.
The Riley Group began as a small business meant for personal and corporate security in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Together they built a humble empire due to their high success rate and numerous government contracts. I love that it still has that small business feel though, and I hope to maintain that.
My uncle Logan, who coincidently is my dad’s twin, has been responsible for all of the executive work since my dad’s death. The past couple of years he’s been keeping me up to speed on the company and trying to recruit me to take over when he retires. Seeing as the company is called The Riley Group, he wants it to stay in the family.
It’s always interested me, but I thought I needed to follow through with medical school. I finally recognized how absurd I was, trying to be something I had no desire to be. The day I walked into the Registrar’s office and dropped Pre-med, it felt like a thousand-ton weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Logan was thrilled, and has been in constant communication, trying to teach me the ropes.#p#分页标题#e#
“You’re having a hard time telling Jax,” Cole states.
Even though it wasn’t a question, I answer, “Yeah. I don’t want to disappoint him and I’m hoping he’ll join me. I haven’t heard him talk about the company once since dad…” I trail off. “So I don’t think he has any interest.” Here’s the kicker… “I want you to join as well.”
Quinn’s smile lights up the room and if Cole was hesitant before, her smile just shifted his focus away from anything negative.
“Dude, I’d take any opportunity to work with you,” Cole says with a smile. “I never imagined we’d have the chance to.”
“I know you and Jax are majoring in Business Journalism, so this is stretching the usefulness of that degree. But it just wouldn’t be the same to do this without you guys.”