Mr. Paine frowned.
“I think you need to be smart, young man. There are a lot of people in this room that support Charles Bernstein. You should keep that in mind.”
I put my hands in my pocket to hide the tension that was starting to rise. The nerve of this overweight, stuffed, fucking sausage.
“Well, Doug. This is why it’s a free country with free commerce and all that. If you and the gentlemen in this room, as well as my father and his lackey, would like to go to bed with ole’ Chucky boy, then by all means go for it. But don’t come to me when you have lost all you invested. Don’t come to me to try and save your company. As a matter of fact, please invest your life worth in the likes of Bernstein. That will benefit me in the long run, when I buy you all out.”
Mr. Paine turned red and pointed a sausage-looking finger at me.
“You better be careful, you self-righteous little punk. Mind who made a way for you in this business. If it wasn’t for us, you and you brother would have nothing.”
“And Mr. Paine, don’t forget who made you the millions you’re sitting pretty on right now. If it weren’t for my brother and me, no telling where you would be right now. Like I said, if you want to go to bed with Bernstein, go for it. Just understand that my business will not be involved.”
We had a staring match before the fat fuck left my sight. Pompous son of a bitch.
“West, is there something we should know about Bernstein? I mean we all know you have a history with him,” Stratford asked me.
I was aware, of course, of Maxine being next to me. So I quickly answered him, “Look Tom, most of my clients pay me for my insight on companies and sometimes even the people running those companies. In all the years I’ve been in business, neither I nor my brother have ever mixed business with personal shit. And I have had some successful ventures with Bernstein’s company in the past. However, I do know the man personally. Just knowing him like I do, I wouldn’t recommend going deep into a business like this with him. It’s as simple as that. You can take my word for it, or you can take your business elsewhere and pursue it.”
After a while, the business talk was over. It seemed the woman beside me blossomed even further. She charmed the pants of some multi-millionaires by just talking. I told you; it’s the sound of her voice that hypnotizes you.
I wasn’t jealous she was getting all the attention. That, is until I heard the voice of a man that has me contemplating murder in cold blood on a regular basis.
“Well, well, well. This is a surprise, West. Usually, you’d have some skinny, dense blonde on your arm. How did you manage getting this beauty to be by your side?”
I waited until the man came up next to me before I spoke to him. Dexter Morgan smiled at Maxine and put his hand out to her. When he said his name, his voice went down two octaves lower. He then raised her hand to his mouth.
I blocked her hand from his mouth, and took it in my hand I said coolly, “Morgan you do know this party is for successful businessmen, right? I know I’m supposed to be here but, why are you here?” I told him, not hiding my disdain for the man.
I watched him visually undress Maxine with no regard for the fact that I was standing right beside her.
“It’s clear why I’m here: to meet this lovely, ebony queen,” he said to me.
But he kept looking directly at Maxine. I rolled my eyes and looked over at her, only to see she was actually eating up his shit. What the hell?
“You are too kind, Mr. Morgan,” she told him, and a shit-eating grin spread across his face.
I wanted to punch him in said face, actually. Just at that moment, things got worse. The brunette came swaying in our direction, linked her arm with Dexter’s, and smiled seductively at me. I felt Maxine’s eyes on her and then on me. I knew at that moment that this was an ambush. ‘Aw, shit.’
The four of us stood there and talked about nothing. But the brunette, whose name I still couldn’t remember, was smiling and flirting with me. She kept touching my arm or laughing a little too enthusiastically at something I said. Dexter was trying his best to impress Max; asking her where she was from and trying to connect their past and culture. He was pouring it on rather thick. What was pissing me off was that Max seemed to be buying into his bullshit. I wanted to expose the fraud, but I also had to keep fighting off the clear advances the brunette was giving me.
I started to feel my anger rising, especially when Dexter said to my date, “Hey, let me introduce you to someone that could probably get you started in your career. He’s in charge of the top sports rehabilitation center on the East Coast.”