Faking Forever Ch. 07

Documents lay strewn across the desk between me and Beck. He scowled at the numbers I organized for him, but numbers don't lie. He was doing well but struggling at times. I had gone through it too, so mentoring him through it came naturally. He rubbed his forehead and dragged his hand across his face in a drawn-out expression of frustration.

"Alright, oh wise and powerful leader, show me how to move forward here." He sat back in his chair and pushed the papers away from himself.

"Well, you are doing the right things already. It's just a dip you have to go through. Work or shoring up accounts and adding new clients. Trust the process. Apply the same amount of effort to this as everything else you've done and you'll do okay." I had walked Beck through a lot of deep water as he transitioned away from working with me into building his own competing firm. Every time I was asked why I'd help a competitor, my answer was the same. I don't get intimidated.

"Right, right..." He was stubborn at times, hard to work with. I had dealt with him for more than ten years. "Well, I guess I just have to dig deep and apply pressure." He sat forward and started stacking the documents and file folders. His briefcase sat open on the seat next to him. I noticed a few cigars there.

"You brought cigars? Let's get the brandy out then." I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the desk and Beck tapped the files before sliding them into the briefcase and pulling out the cigars.

"I always have the best." He drew one beneath his nose and sniffed it. "Not a Cuban, but pretty good."

He handed me one and I opened my desk drawer and pulled out the cutter and a lighter. "Let's head out back." I stood and he followed me out toward the patio where my pool man was getting the pool ready for the summer. I carefully trimmed both cigars and lit them.

"So how bad is it?" Beck asked, taking a drag from the cigar and filling his cheeks. He puffed the smoke out and coughed a bit.

"Not supposed to inhale cigar smoke," I joked and chuckled. "And how is what? The cigar? I haven't taken a hit yet." I put the stogie to my lips and sucked on it. The sweet, cherry flavor of the tobacco wasn't half bad.

"No, dating my sister." His wry tone amused me. "She's a nightmare, huh?"

"Cici? Nah she's not that bad." My mind wandered back to the limo, the way I almost kissed her. And then the boat... Damn did I want her to duck into that bedroom with me and do really bad things. "She's got an edge. That's true, but can you blame her? She had to put up with us for so long, it sort of shaped who she is as a person."

"Well whoever dates her for real is going to have to deal with that shit." He took another drag, this time without coughing his lungs out. "I can't imagine how any man in his right mind would date her."

The pool guy wrestled with the pool vacuum and distracted me. I knew every job had its struggles. Beck was struggling now, just like that pool guy. And jobs were a lot like relationships--challenging at times, but worth it. Cici was no more difficult than I was, or Beck, or any other person out there. She only had the issues with me that she had because of my poor behavior as a young adult. The venom she spat at me on that boat made that very clear to me.

"You just think that because she's your sister. If you saw a damaged woman with a rockin' body, you'd probably be a little patient with her weeds just to enjoy the garden fruits." The cigar was less than satisfying, but I smoked it, sending ash fluttering into the breeze. The pool guy glanced at me more than once, as if he thought our smoking was distasteful. I ignored him.

"Are you saying you think my sister has a 'rockin' body?'" Beck laughed so hard he snorted. "That's rich. I wouldn't go that far. I mean she takes care of herself but she's--"

"Your sister." I interrupted. "Which is why you can't see that she's actually a fox."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes as he drew another puff of smoke from the cigar. "And you can't possibly be serious. She's literally twelve years younger than you."

"Only for half the year." I pointed out. "The other half it's only eleven."

"As if eleven years made it better?" Beck scowled at me. "You're serious? You're into my sister now?" His tone suddenly took on an edge and I held my hand up defensively.

"Look, she's hot. That's all I'm saying." I would have said more, but based on his reaction to my attraction to Cici, I thought it better to hold my tongue. He had always been protective over her; I had just never been the one at the receiving end of his ire for that reason.

"No." He flicked the cigar, letting a host of ashes flutter into the air. They hung like a cloud for a second, then dance in the breeze toward the pool guy who swatted at them like they were mosquitos.

"What?" I sucked on the cigar, ready to defend my right to find her attractive. Cici was as free as any other woman. It wasn't like she was his ex or something.

"It's not happening. It was a joke when I said you two would fall in love. It wasn't a bet. You're not dating my sister for real."

He stared out over the back yard, anger in his eyes. I couldn't believe he was actually trying to ban me from liking Cici. Of course the conversation had never come up before because I had never seen her as a potential partner. She had always been annoying little Cici. Yes, she was 12 years younger than me, and the last time I'd seen her was before college when she had barely turned eighteen. Fast forward seven years and she was practically a goddess. Mental issues maybe, but hot as hell.

"Who said I was falling in love?" I tried to appease his frustration, but I didn't want to press the issue too much either. Beck had a horrible temper. And he knew the minute he told me something was off limits, I was having it. Like Becky Cavatappi. He wanted her and banned me from asking her out. Let's just say, I got what I wanted, and Beck didn't.

"It's that look in your eye." He ashed again, this time dropping his cigar. It rolled into a stream of water that trickled away from the hose the pool guy was using, thus ruining the cigar. "Godammit!" He stomped on the cigar. "This always happens. You get this look in your eye, some evil plan to manipulate a woman into giving you sex and then you dump her. She's my sister, Drew."

"Woah," I called, "calm down, man." But there was no calming him at all, and there was no putting the beast back into the cage.

"It's not happening." He squared off with me, chest puffed out. "You understand? We go way back, Drew. You know I don't mess around. I don't want this to come between us, but if you hurt my sister, I'm going to hurt you."

I took another drag on the cigar, this time blowing the smoke in his face. I never backed down from a challenge. I had no intentions on hurting Cici. In fact, other than feeling like bending her over my desk and hiking her skirt up, I hadn't thought a single thing about developing feelings for her. Beck was out of line anyway. We were both consenting adults and given the way she responded to me on that boat, and the awkward tension the whole drive home after we got to shore, she was feeling something too.

"I think maybe it's time you leave so we don't end up saying things we would later regret."

Beck coughed as I blew more smoke into his face, but he got the point. He retreated into the house and I waited until I heard the front door slam on his way out the other side. He'd gotten under my skin. I wasn't the type to be bossed around. He knew it, and he set up the roadblocks anyway--roadblocks that now needed broken down and driven around.

I stood there finishing my cigar and the only thing on my mind was how bad I wanted Cici now. Worse than I had before. He could tell me I couldn't have her, but it only made her more tempting. I would have Cici if it was the last thing I did.