Page 106 of The Spare
Sloan
The day of the board vote, I had to run to the firm to get a few things since my promotion meant a new office. Henry and I got everything settled at the Amari Global board room before I made a quick trip to the firm and came right back.
When I got back, thirty minutes ahead of the meeting, Henry was talking to the board members who had already pledged allegiance to him. Watching him made me recognize just how much I didn’t want his job.
Xander, the newest member of the board, sauntered over to me. His eyes darted up and down my blouse for a second, and a wide grin erupted along his mouth. He leaned in and stifled a laugh. “Your blouse is inside out.”
I let out a small gasp when I realized he was right. I grabbed my suit jacket laid on the chair behind him and threw it back on.
“Seriously? You were gone for like forty-five minutes.” He chuckled.
“What?” My smile confessed for me. Ever since we made our relationship public, there had been an ease about Marcus. There was also an insatiable need to have me everywhere. Over the past few weeks, he’d pulled me into coat closets, empty offices, and town cars.
This morning, he intercepted me at my new office. I was his, and he was making it known.
“Please,” Xander said with a roll of his eyes. “Don't think I don’t know why it took both of you so long to get to dinner last week.”
I felt the blood rush into my face. We were terrible at covering our tracks. “I don’t know what you're talking about.”
“If you get pregnant, I call godfather.”
“Not really something you can call dibs on.”
The prospect of children excited more than I expected it to.We were moving a little fast, but sometimes it didn’t feel fast enough. There were no plans to do anything past living together, for now, but the idea of what the future held made my heart swell.
The room fell quiet as Henry called everyone to attention a few minutes before 9 a.m. We took our seats and watched the clock. The bylaws required a ten-minute grace period for all voting members to arrive.
The board meeting was tense.
As counsel, I regularly sat in on board meetings, but I’d never had my entire career riding on one. The first order of business was to address the immediate changes in the wake of our grandfather’s death. Henry looked like he was going to be sick before the meeting, but during it, he was a pro. I was proud of him.
The vote to retain Henry was the first item in the meeting. Things went a little sideways.
We had the votes to retain Henry, but the board voted on a stipulation. Henry would continue as interim CEO for the next year, but he was saddled with a morality clause. The board would re-evaluate his tenure in a year and had the power to remove him if his behavior didn’t meet the specific stipulations of the clause.
We were powerless to oppose it.
Once the day was done, we waited for him at our townhouse to celebrate. It was still a victory.
“To Henry.” We clinked our champagne glasses together.
“To you three.” Henry corrected. His ego had taken a back seat over the past few weeks. Likely humbled by the board. “We’d be pulling poor Sloan up off the floor if it wasn’t for your efforts.”
“You know what’s wild?” Xander took a large gulp from his glass. He pointed to Marcus and me. “They’ve fucked all over this city, and the tabloids continue to follow Henry around.”
Met with no laughter, he backtracked. “Okay, well, maybe not ‘ha-ha’ funny.”
“We should celebrate,” I said. The last few months had been rough for a variety of reasons. This was the final cloud looming over us. I felt Marcus move behind me and wrap his arms around my waist. He yanked me back against him, caring less and less about Henry’s protest about PDA. “Low key. Nothing to write about. But properly.”
A few moments of silence passed. “Got it. Everyone, get packed for the weekend.” Xander snapped his fingers. “Hamptons.”
CHAPTER54
Marcus
It was bright and humid the day I decided to visit the cemetery. It was early on a Saturday morning when I told Sloan, who was still in bed. It was a few weeks after the board meeting, and Sloan was now fully moved in.
I had never come here. Not once since their funeral. I was overwhelmed then, and later I told myself it was better avoid it all. My eyes scanned the granite headstones. The guilt crashed over me in one large wave. I didn’t realize how much I’d buried until my feelings for Sloan shook it all loose.
