If He Ever Cries (manxman / boyxboy)

Chapter 30

A/N: Hello everyone, before you read this chapter, I wanted you to know I made some changes to Chapter 29, so you'll probably want to go back and read that one first ;) The changes are subtle but now that chapter aligns better with what I want to do with the story :)

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Adam left the last chart on the projector screen and eyed the four councilors at the conference table with a business smile, from the front of the room. "Do you have any questions?" He asked out of obligation. He couldn't care less about what this group thought of him, of his quarterly metrics, or of the measures his team took to adhere to the new legislation for record-keeping and controlled disclosure of confidential information. Their mastery at stating the obvious didn't impress him, but his father plucked them from the gentry, though he had yet to marvel at their ideas. Or maybe it was his anger speaking in Adam's head.

"All of this is nice data, but you need to move faster," one said.

"I would say your team needs to start showing the right level of urgency," another agreed.

Adam tuned out and nodded. They patronized him from a place of conceit when, where exactly were their achievements? Adam could look them down his nose with poise and handle them like a pro. Outside of their stirp, what else did they fall back on? He held the degrees and titles, and only put up with them as a means to an end. Until his hard work bore fruit and he became the one to call the shots, these were the folk to rub shoulders with for donations and influence—and all the hooey his father cared about.

But today was not the day things slid off his back. He wanted to retort that it was their collective fault that he was behind for their short notice and that his team did wonders up to this point to program their database and be compliant in time when he normally wouldn't give a damn. "I understand your concern, but I assure you our timing is impeccable, regardless of the circumstances."

His father eyed him with a warning, clarifying for Adam that the chagrin he had wrestled against showed through his facade. Well, fuck you too. Today, he needed to unleash. In his mind, he had turned over every work surface in his path. But he couldn't act on the pain that spread inside of him. He had to be the Colton in the Bespoke suit, with the vest and the Rolex Daytona, with the manners and the pedigree, and no pillow to scream into.

Adam harbored too much bitterness to conceal behind a Gantt chart, and his audience didn't appear to notice, but in many ways, it pleased him his father did. Parker read his son with precision—with so many accumulated memories behind eyes like Adam's own. His redemption would be sympathy if only Adam could see a glimmer of it. But he knew better, so he swallowed and turned eyes to the councilors and their counsel that went in one ear and out the other. He opened the door for them at the right time and thanked them for their insight—and shook their hands goodbye with the grace of his upbringing.

As soon as they got out of sight, he dropped the smile and went to grab his pad to head to his office without a glance to his father.

"What did just happen?" Parker asked with his tone of disapproval, stopping Adam in the middle of the conference room.

Adam looked at the ceiling and exhaled before turning around, palms up with a question. "Success?"

Parker gave him his stern look, the only look Adam knew in the man and cut to the chase. "It would serve you well to put your head in the right place." He shook his head. "It's about time you got over Jessica."

Adam paused at the sharpness of Parker's assessment but didn't correct him that Jessica was the furthest of his concerns. It infuriated him that the man dared demand that two months be enough time to recover from a divorce, especially because Jessica was supposed to be the love of his life. He scoffed. Love. He couldn't confide today's heartbreak in Parker, even less so because Parker was in great part to blame for the memory that hadn't ceased to come back—of the echo on the walls in his penthouse when his door clicked, and of the silence that rushed in when Kaiden left.