“Great, then I’m calling Gary,” Cal added before he left into the family room.
Dan looked over at me. I could tell he had something else he needed to say. I don’t know if I want to know what other shoe is going to drop. His eyes narrowed even tighter and I watched his Adam’s apple bounce up and down his throat as he swallowed. I think it was the beads of sweat that formed across his upper lip that forewarned me he had more to say.
“There is something you should know. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Cal. I know how he feels about me and my position in GP.”
“Yeah, well, Cal knows you’re doing what’s right by our family,” I said as I mentally braced myself for what he was about to tell me. God, please don’t tell me the company is bankrupt.
“About two weeks ago, your father had me sit in on a meeting with his lawyer, Gary Browne, about his future wishes for GP. I don’t know if he knew he was sick or what, but he made sure that if something happened to him and he couldn’t continue in the capacity of CEO, that I would become COO of Goldstein Petroleum.”
“Well congratulations, Dan. Chief Officer of Operations. No need to be nervous about that. You deserve it. You’ve worked your ass off for him.”
“Thanks, Max, but that’s not all. Your father named you as CEO.”
I felt my knees buckle and my ass slam down on the wooden bench. “I don’t want it. Why would he do that? I’m not the guy! Goddamn him! He couldn’t leave me alone, could he? I won’t do it.”
“Max, he stipulated that if you don’t take the CEO position at Goldstein Petroleum it is to be broken up and sold off piece by piece.” Dan’s voice went into a low murmur of words that swirled around my head.
“It’s obvious he never really respected my choice of becoming a teacher. Now he’s going to force me into the same life that killed him.”
I couldn’t focus on anything and the deep yellow walls crawled in on me. My toes and fingers became extremely cold while every other part of my body began to sweat. My stomach lurched and my heart pounded so hard in my chest I thought it was going to burst through my sternum. Is the room really spinning? What the fuck? What was Dad thinking? He fucking knew I couldn’t say no; I won’t hurt my family. Son of a bitch…I can’t even argue with him. And Wilson? What am I going to do?
“Max, you okay?” Dan asked as he reached out and held my shoulder. His fingers, hot and stifling against my skin, pressed heavy into my collarbone.
“No, umm, I’m going upstairs. I need some time to think about this.”
I stood up and it felt like the world bore down on me. I didn’t want this. I wanted to be with Wilson in California. I wanted to have the life my father never got. I didn’t want to be stuffed in a suit, stuck in a high-rise, telling people what to do. I need Wilson. I had to get to her. I stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up at the twenty-something steps I had to climb to get to the one thing that made me happy. I started on the first step and stretched to skip the second. I got to the top faster than ever before, almost unconsciously aware of trying to leave behind the words Dan had so carelessly forced on me. My biggest fear just hijacked my life and Wilson had no idea our lives were about to change forever.
Chapter Eleven
~ Wilson ~
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Thank God, Joanie must be calling me back. But why was my heart thundering in my chest? Okay, so I was nervous to tell her about Nick. The third ring was even louder as I pulled the phone out of my pocket. Come on, Wilson, you can handle this.
There was a noisy thud in the hall before the doorknob turned fast and the door flew open. Max stood in the doorway, his black hair looking severe against his ghostly skin. His eyes were narrow, the corners of his mouth swaying south as he forced breath through his nostrils. His usually strong, sturdy shoulders hunched with each exhale. I stood watching him, not knowing if I should run to him or stay where I was. My phone continued to ring as I dropped it on the bed.
“Max? What happened? What’s going on?” I asked rapidly as I took a couple of steps toward him. He looked at me, his eyes filled with the burden of somewhere else. He held his arms out to me and I hurried to him. It was at that moment I knew he needed me. I pushed my body into his. I had no idea what had happened, but it didn’t matter; he needed to hold me, and that was enough.
His rigid body leaned heavy against mine and his breathing became lengthened and determined.
“Wilson, I need to— I need to talk to you,” he struggled to whisper.
My heart pounded violently in my chest and my stomach twisted into knots as his words passed through my hair and cascaded into my ear.