Breaking into Sky | Book Two

Sixteen

Photo collage of Demi, Jax Brian & Evans

Music: Stand by you by Rachel Platten

Brian listened halfheartedly as Stephanie droned on and on with updates on his business investments, including the sale of LivePrint.

The negotiations for the sale of his 3D print company had dragged on now for almost a year, but, thankfully, they had come to an agreement with a buyer who was interested in purchasing the company for seven hundred million dollars, a price he was amenable to, and they were finally in the process of wrapping up the sale.

He'd secured a patent transfer of the 4D print research to his name, after consulting with both his tech guys and a developer. Everyone was positive that the research contained viable information which would lead to a breakthrough in 4D print.

Although he had corporations beating down his door with offers for the patent, he'd decided to hold onto it until his developer, in collaboration with the researcher, succeeded in altering the current 3D prototype to create what would become the first 4D print machine. Only then, after reevaluating the market, would he be willing to come up with a satisfactory starting price for bids.

His mind wandered to the one person around which most of his thoughts centred these days.

Skylar.

He scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed as he remembered the brief conversation they'd had on his terrace in the middle of the night.

Even though the incident had occurred two nights ago, her words still rang clear in his mind, she saw him as a representation of everything she hated and couldn't bear to be a part of, and each time he remembered, he felt the sharp sting he'd felt that night, all over again.

She hadn't come back to bed that night and he hadn't had the strength to go after her, because, for the first time in his life, he'd felt drained and defeated, as though he couldn't win with her no matter how hard he tried.

It was a feeling he never wanted to experience again.

He frowned as his thoughts moved on to a related matter, Whitfield. As far as he was concerned, that was a battle he could and would win.

It was time for him to begin making arrangements to deal his next blow.

'Brian?' Stephanie called out.

He refocused his gaze on her.

'Are you ok?' she asked, giving him a worried look.

He nodded, 'I'm fine Steph, is that all?'

He winced inwardly as she gave him a disgruntled look, 'just about...I can have my report typed up and on your desk by close of business if you'd like.'

He nodded again, 'that'll be great, and while you're at it...' he paused and waited as she picked up her iPad to take notes.

He rattled off the name and address of a company and asked her to get in touch with his financial manager and ask him to look into the discreet purchase of major shares in that company.

She nodded and asked, 'what percentage of shares?'

'A controlling number, anything over fifty will do.'

If she was surprised at his request, she hid it well.

'How soon will you require a feedback?' She asked as she tapped swiftly on the screen of her device.

'Tell him it's urgent, he'll understand,' was his curt response.

She nodded again and tapped on her screen for several seconds longer before scooting forward in her chair to gather the documents she'd come into his office with.

'Will that be all sir?' she asked.

Brian looked up as she stood, she only used the term sir when she was either overworked, in disagreement with him over a particular issue, or upset.

'For now.' He responded.

She gave a curt nod and turned to leave.

'Steph?' he called, waiting till she turned back around before he said, 'thank you.'

She gave him a small smile before walking out the door.

....

Demi glanced up briefly and discreetly from her phone as she observed the three men who were sprawled across the couches in her living room.

Both Brian and Evans had stopped by that evening and she'd invited them to stay for dinner, after which they'd relocated to where they were now, to watch a basketball game.

A game, which, she couldn't help noticing, they weren't paying much attention to, as they chatted and laughed and poked fun at one another.

She'd settled into a sofa, a short distance away from them, with her phone, to focus on responding to emails she'd had piling up for a while, before Jax had rudely lifted her from her comfortable perch and deposited her between his legs, where she'd found it a bit more challenging to focus on her task and instead found herself listening in on their conversation while still trying valiantly to work.

Although she felt like she still didn't know Jax's friends well enough, she felt that, something seemed off with Brian tonight.

First he'd looked tired and drawn when he'd arrived, but she'd chalked that up to a long day at work, next he'd made a joke about being poor company when she invited him to stay for dinner, and again she'd brushed off his words and insisted that it didn't matter

But as she sat amongst them, with the distinct advantage of listening to them converse without needing to participate, it seemed that so far, the only people doing the talking were Jax and Evans, Brian, hadn't said much.

And she doubted that either of the other men had noticed.

After her last email was successfully sent, she stood, deciding to bring refreshments for the guys before turning in for the night.

As she left the room, she heard their talk turn to the gala they'd hosted the previous week.

Their laughter drifted into the large kitchen and she found herself smiling in response. The more she got to know Jax's friends the more she appreciated the friendship between them.

She grabbed the bottle of wine and thanked their chef for the tray of fresh fruit he'd quickly put together for her and after he'd served the men, she dismissed him for the night, and arranged the bottle of wine along with three wine glasses on a tray before carrying it out to them.

She'd just entered the room which was now much more quiet than it had been before she left, when she heard the tail end of Brian sentence, '...we had that threesome with sometime ago, remember?'

She stopped in her tracks as she heard her husband respond, 'Yeah, right, she looked familiar but I wasn't sure...so you're with her now?'

She detected the surprise in his voice, but there was only one thing on her mind as she stepped further into the room and asked, 'with who?'