them seriously or not,” Felix countered. “You can bet millions of blokes saw this…and when you hit the trail tomorrow, this is all they’re going to be thinking about.”
My stomach turned at this.
“Does this even bother you?” Felix demanded.
“What are you even talking about?” I snapped. Wasn’t it enough that I had to be alerted of how awful I looked the night before? I didn’t need anyone driving in the knife even harder.
Felix leaned in, his brow furrowed in a way that I knew after all these years meant business. “Look, you’ve been at the head of this company since you were eighteen years old. People expect you to have learned how to act by now.”
Leave it to your best friend to reprimand you like he is your mother.
“Yeah? Well, I don’t care what people think,” I lied.
Felix scoffed. “Bull shit. You eat it up. I can see you looking at that headline with that smug grin on your face, like you’ve accomplished something.”
I set my jaw. It really was too early for all of this.
But Felix wouldn’t let off. He leaned in so closely to me that I could see the crack in his teeth from when he fell of his motorcycle when we were both at university. “You’re running for office. Knock it off. No one is impressed by you.”
I hated the way his words hit me right in my gut. “I told you. I don’t care what they think.”
Felix stood up, shoving the chair under the desk. “I’m not going to try to get you to tell the truth, because, at this point, I don’t have the time. We used to run around uni talking about how we were gonna change the world. Now, you’re sitting on over a billion pounds and a possible parliamentary seat. And for some reason, now you don’t care what people think.”
I couldn’t think of a real response before he turned and made his way to the door. It wasn’t until he had wrapped the knob in his sausage-like fingers that he stopped and turned back to me.
I braced myself for whatever his last comments might be.
“You have a meeting in the lower conference room. You will do well not to miss it.”
“I thought I didn’t have any business engagements for the morning,” I called after him.
But he just kept walking, shutting the door behind him anyway. Not wanting to sit in my office any longer and continue to ponder whether or not calling Nisha was even worth the trouble, I stood up and followed him out. After I had stalked down the hallway, into the elevator and down a floor, the doors swung open to the conference room that filled up half of the 57th floor of my office building. I stepped inside, my eyes sweeping the room, taking in everything from Bridget, who sat next to Felix with her nose buried in a binder, to the campaign officers that Peter and I had handpicked from a massive slush pile. This wasn’t a business thing.
This was a campaign thing.
“Oh.” I couldn’t help but let this slip out of my mouth before I took my seat at the head of the table.
As soon as my butt hit the cushion of the chair, Peter leaned in. His face was looking much pastier and his eyes held a severe glow to them, now that he was sober. “Let’s go over the pros and cons of you.”
I sucked in a deep breath. I was the one who said I wanted to make an actual difference, who wanted to fund my own campaign so that I could make my own decisions. All of that could go to shit in a second if I didn’t follow that up with action. So I tried my best to hold in my pride then listened up to whatever list they had prepared for me.
Bridget stood up, straightened out her pencil skirt then made her way to the portable white board situated in the front of the room. She cleared her throat then opened with, “Now the fact that you are rich is both pro and con.” Her voice shook as she wrote this on the board with conviction.
There were nods of understanding, and a couple of nods of
My stomach turned at this.
“Does this even bother you?” Felix demanded.
“What are you even talking about?” I snapped. Wasn’t it enough that I had to be alerted of how awful I looked the night before? I didn’t need anyone driving in the knife even harder.
Felix leaned in, his brow furrowed in a way that I knew after all these years meant business. “Look, you’ve been at the head of this company since you were eighteen years old. People expect you to have learned how to act by now.”
Leave it to your best friend to reprimand you like he is your mother.
“Yeah? Well, I don’t care what people think,” I lied.
Felix scoffed. “Bull shit. You eat it up. I can see you looking at that headline with that smug grin on your face, like you’ve accomplished something.”
I set my jaw. It really was too early for all of this.
But Felix wouldn’t let off. He leaned in so closely to me that I could see the crack in his teeth from when he fell of his motorcycle when we were both at university. “You’re running for office. Knock it off. No one is impressed by you.”
I hated the way his words hit me right in my gut. “I told you. I don’t care what they think.”
Felix stood up, shoving the chair under the desk. “I’m not going to try to get you to tell the truth, because, at this point, I don’t have the time. We used to run around uni talking about how we were gonna change the world. Now, you’re sitting on over a billion pounds and a possible parliamentary seat. And for some reason, now you don’t care what people think.”
I couldn’t think of a real response before he turned and made his way to the door. It wasn’t until he had wrapped the knob in his sausage-like fingers that he stopped and turned back to me.
I braced myself for whatever his last comments might be.
“You have a meeting in the lower conference room. You will do well not to miss it.”
“I thought I didn’t have any business engagements for the morning,” I called after him.
But he just kept walking, shutting the door behind him anyway. Not wanting to sit in my office any longer and continue to ponder whether or not calling Nisha was even worth the trouble, I stood up and followed him out. After I had stalked down the hallway, into the elevator and down a floor, the doors swung open to the conference room that filled up half of the 57th floor of my office building. I stepped inside, my eyes sweeping the room, taking in everything from Bridget, who sat next to Felix with her nose buried in a binder, to the campaign officers that Peter and I had handpicked from a massive slush pile. This wasn’t a business thing.
This was a campaign thing.
“Oh.” I couldn’t help but let this slip out of my mouth before I took my seat at the head of the table.
As soon as my butt hit the cushion of the chair, Peter leaned in. His face was looking much pastier and his eyes held a severe glow to them, now that he was sober. “Let’s go over the pros and cons of you.”
I sucked in a deep breath. I was the one who said I wanted to make an actual difference, who wanted to fund my own campaign so that I could make my own decisions. All of that could go to shit in a second if I didn’t follow that up with action. So I tried my best to hold in my pride then listened up to whatever list they had prepared for me.
Bridget stood up, straightened out her pencil skirt then made her way to the portable white board situated in the front of the room. She cleared her throat then opened with, “Now the fact that you are rich is both pro and con.” Her voice shook as she wrote this on the board with conviction.
There were nods of understanding, and a couple of nods of
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