Hearts at War (A Lesbian Story).

Chapter 2

Alex's POV

Just over an hour and a half after entering the conference room, we were being dismissed. A very long hour and a half at that. An hour and a half consisting of copious amounts of note taking, being virtually interrogated about my company, questioned about my motives and desires in terms of my business and asked about my history and how Standby Inc. came to be. All that preparation and constant thoughts of questions that could be fired at me and professional, thoughtful answers conjured in my mind every second of every day has not gone to waste. The information and STATs of Larry's company certainly came in handy.

Fortunately, for me, Larry didn't have the sense to research my company to compare himself to. But I did have to hand it to him, his company was doing well. I had also found out some useful information that I will need to share with my co-workers. Red (as we had been instructed to call the head of the conference and decider of whom shall be getting the sponsor - Galina Reznikov) was, what can only be described as a hard, all business, tough, Russian woman. You could tell from just looking into her eyes she meant business and you should not fuck with her or try to pull shit on her or she'd ruin you. She had a very hard face and bright red hair that could have been mistaken for a blazing fire. Despite this, her appearance was very much appropriate for dealing with business – Loose black trousers, a white blouse with a black blazer over the top. Her accent was beyond strong and on some occasions, hard to understand. Especially when you're trying to listen to what she says in detail and being sure not to miss a word, answering her questions with no hesitation and write down every word being shared amongst every other person in the room talking at different intervals.

Thank God I'd always been a quick writer and a good multi-tasker, in more ways than one. She sure had a very short, fiery temper, but it did amuse me to no end in this circumstance as it was at the expense of Mr Bloom. Larry had been the one to light her fuse and get granted the honour of booking himself a first class, one-way ticket to the end of one of her outbursts. But hey, if you're not going to take notes quick enough and ask the woman who is offering you a sponsorship worth a hell of a lot of money from her own pocket to repeat what she said multiple times, she's going to get pissed off.

She's a busy woman and didn't have time for ignorant, unfocused and slow people. Maybe if Larry had been wise enough to do his research, he would have known. Didn't he have any common sense? I almost felt sorry for the guy, feeling the need to bring his assistant with him to hold his hand. I'm surprised he didn't bring his Mom and hide a pacifier in his pocket to suck on. Now I come to think of it, I'm not too sure if the woman he bought along is his assistant. They do seem awfully touchy – linking hands every once in a while. Possibly his girlfriend?

"It's good to know about your competition, both business wise and in relation to their personal lives and relationships", that's what my old investor used to say and it had stuck with me. I walked over to the refreshments table and poured myself a black coffee, needing my caffeine fix. I took one sip and nearly spat it out.

"Typical, shitty office coffee" I grumbled to myself.

"I would save your taste buds the excruciating pain of indulging in the beverage they call coffee here, but it appears I'm too late." I heard an English, masculine voice say from behind me with a slight chuckle.

As I turn around, I'm faced with a 6ft male, roughly in his mid-twenties, muscles bulging out his shirt like he's desperate for feminine attention, paired with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. I recognised him as one of the men from the conference.

"You're Alex Vause, right? The owner of Standby Inc." he inquired.

"Yes, that's me. And you are?" I retort in a friendly manor with a small smile. After all, it's not a wise idea to be rude to one of Red's most valuable members of her organisation.