Page 9 of Joey

If it’s on an island there are also large green lawns and tents. In the mountains there’s a wraparound terrace with a view that makes you want to pray.

This is where I met Charlotte Kane.

Yes, Kane. They own a little bit of everything but these days all anyone cares about is their mission to Mars project.

Every billionaire in the world has already purchased a seat on a rocket that won’t launch for at least fifteen years.

Whatever.

So the very first thing I said to her as we were both standing in front of a champagne fountain was, “I could buy a fucking ticket to Mars, if I wanted. But what kind of idiot wants to go to Mars? There’s no air.”

Because I was drunk. And while I love a good party, the summer parties of billionaires don’t really qualify as parties in my eyes. So I was annoyed that I had to show up.

Huck was closing a deal, Wald was talking computer code with other well-muscled, hispster nerds, and since I have no purpose in this company other than I own one third of it because I was the original investor, I was bored.

I’m dangerous when I’m bored.

So Charlotte said, “Bunch of teenage-boy bullshit, right?”

And I liked her immediately.

We fucked in the bathroom ten minutes later.

Now, usually I’m a one-night stand kind of guy. I don’t like to lead the girls on. I like to play it straight. So for sure, I told Charlotte after we were done that we wouldn’t be seeing each other again.

I’m pretty sure, anyway.

It’s the standard line, blah, blah, blah. But again, I was drunk. So maybe I forgot.

Because I saw her a lot after that. We fucked another three dozen times over the course of the next month.

And then I went back to Tokyo and she went back to… wherever the fuck she lived. And we moved on to other things and people.

But then, two months later, I got a phone call.

She was pregnant. She was pretty sure it was mine, but then again, not a hundred percent sure. Did I have an opinion?

Did I have an opinion? That was what she asked me.

And like, that same fucking day Johnny called and told me our father was dead. So I had to go home. And I did. I went home.

Then… I don’t know. I was emotional, maybe? It was a low point personally for me. I had no purpose in the company anymore. Like what was my job here?

I didn’t get it. I didn’t need the money, that’s for sure. I just hung around because Wald and Huck were my best friends and who else was there?

I barely knew Johnny anymore. We were tight when we were kids but that was a long time ago.

And Jesse… shit, I didn’t know that little fucker at all. Besides, he was hooked on drugs. Always making a spectacle of himself. My cousin Zach was an afterthought. He and Jesse were buds, so I couldn’t hang out with him.

So I stuck with Wald and Huck. I told them I didn’t even need a salary, just let me stick around.

And they both looked at me like I was a complete sociopath. Because there was never any discussion about them being unhappy with my role—or lack thereof—or splitting. Or that they were harboring some grudge because I didn’t do anything to earn my paycheck.

And that’s why, when I saw Charlotte the day after my father’s funeral, I told her I did have an opinion. I told her I wanted her to have the baby. I told her I didn’t even care if it wasn’t mine. I just… wanted it.

I even went home to the Bossy Building and turned one of the old bedrooms down on the family floor into a nursery. I don’t know what I was thinking with that move. Like… what the fuck was I thinking? That I would bring Charlotte Kane home to my family home slash office building and what? Raise a family?

I can’t explain why I did that other than… I was fuckin’ into it.