Damien – 'Xander, be nice, be a gentleman and show some respect.'
Damien and I are texting each other in the car because our little agreement cannot be known to Charles because once he's involved the whole world will know.
'I'll try', I text back.
'Don't try, DO! Or you'll be dealing with Charles,' he texts.
'FINE'
'Good, then you'll fine.'
I look up and smile at him and smile back.
The car stops, and the nerves immediately set in, my palms are sweaty, and my mind is racing, I want this to work, for me to get over my hate for women and maybe learn to be civil with them.
I step out of the car and put my suit jacket on.
"Relax Xander, you'll be okay," Damien whispers to me.
"I hope so," I whisper back, Damien takes my briefcase and I put my phone in my suit pocket.
Charles steps out, walks over to me and fixes my collar.
"Charles, please stop," I ask, I hate it when he moms me in public and for no reason.
"You have to look good, to feel good," he says, "And PS I want those cheat codes,"
And he tightens my tie around my neck causing me to choke a little, crazy Latino. He walks away, and I follow behind him, Damien opens the door, and he leads the way through to the boardroom. In the room, Nikki, her security, guard and PA and another random guy, who I assume could an associate.
"Morning Miss Abrahams," I smile as I walk to my seat.
"Morning Mr Forsythe," she smiles back, she stands up and we shake hands, the other guy stands up and we shake hands to, and I can already sense his negative energy, he looks like someone who's had it rough.
"This is Mr Aiden van Rensburg," she says, I look at him and something about his grey eyes brings back a dark and familiar feeling.
"Nice to meet you," he says, "And you can call me Mr Rensburg."
Keeping it formal, right.
"Nice to meet you, Mr Rensburg," I reply, Charles gives me a look and I can immediately tell that he's feeling what I'm feeling.
"We may take our seats," Miss Abrahams says, and we all sit down and begin the meeting.
The meeting consists of various discussion from project monitoring and evaluation to workers pay, the initial project starts in two months, but all necessary arrangements need to be made before hand, so that all the funds are transferred in order to purchase material and goods.
During the meeting, I couldn't keep my eyes of Miss Abrahams, she was beautiful, her chocolate skin was glowing, the way she spoke with confidence and authority, made me believe that not all women are the same, she was a work of art, God really took his time with this woman, there were moments where she caught me staring and a smile tug at her lips, but I'd earn deadly glares from Mr Rensburg.
The meeting ends, and Mr Rensburg leaves for another meeting, Charles and Damien leave the boardroom with Nikki's PA and bodyguard, leaving me alone with her for the first time, thank you Damien.
"I couldn't help but notice, you couldn't stop staring at me," she says with a smirk.
"Well, you are a beautiful woman," I reply, "I couldn't help it."
Nailed it!
She gives me a shy smile, "Thank you."
Alright, it's time to try this nice, gentleman thing out.
"Look, we got off on the wrong foot and I know it's my fault, why don't we start over, over dinner?"
She looks at me in shock.
Crap, I screwed up, she probably thinks I'm a weirdo.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of silence she responds, "That would be nice."
I sigh, "Oh good, I'll send you the details."
"Good," she smiles.
"Well, have a nice day Miss Abrahams," I say cheerfully, I probably sound like a little boy but who cares, she said yes.
"You too, Mr Forsythe," she replies, and I get up and leave.
I walk out the door and down the hallway where I'm suddenly pulled into a room by someone. I look to my side, and I see Mr Rensburg looking at me.
"Fancy the CEO huh?" he asks, pinning me against the wall.
I push him off and fix my suit, "No."
"Don't lie to me, you are fucking asshole," he says furiously.
I keep my cool and look at him dead in the eyes, "I am not and if you touch me like that again, I'll hurt you in more ways than one."
"Nikki is mine and if you so as look at her the way you did today, I'll kill you."
"Oh, well then she's yours Aiden," I reply.
"Good,"
I chuckle, "You know if she really was yours, you wouldn't be acting like an insecure son of a bitch."
And I walk away as fast as my legs can carry me, I get down to the lobby and find Damien talking to Nikki's bodyguard.
"Mr Forsythe are you okay?" Damien asks, he must have seen my terrified faced.
I nod, "Yeah, I'm good."
"Uhm okay, this is my best friend Max," he says proudly.
"Oh, it's so nice to meet you Max, Damien has said so much about you," I reply, shaking his hand.
"You too, Mr Forsythe," he smiles back.
"Oh no, please call me Xander," I say, "When we are outside of course."
"Well, I'll be in the car," I say, and I scurry away to the car, X is standing outside on the phone and Charles is inside playing Candy Crush.
"Finally got to level 1,000," he grins.
"That's great Charlie now let's go home," I say impatiently, looking out my window to make sure he didn't follow me.
"Xander, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," I say, looking at him, "Well, Aiden threatened to kill me."
"What?" Charles calls Damien and X and they all jump into the car.
"What's happening? What's the emergency?" Damien asks worriedly.
"It's not-
"Someone threatened Xander," Charles says.
"Who?"
"Aiden van Idiotsburg," Charles replies angrily.
"That son of a bitch, I knew there was something wrong with him the moment I laid eyes on him," Damien curses, "Why would he do that?"
"Apparently, Nikki is his," I say, almost feeling jealous.
"Oh wow, he really is a psycho," Charles laughs.
"He wasn't laughing when he threatened to kill me Charles,"
"Okay, that's crazy," Charles grimaces, "Nikki can't seriously be his, he's a freaking coward."
"Xander, you just need to stay calm and show no fear, men like him can smell fear from a mile away," Damien advises.
"So, what am I supposed to do? Report him?" I ask.
"No, just keep calm and carry on, show him the man that you are, a powerful man who isn't terrified of peasants," Damien says firmly, "Karma will get him."
Damien had a point, if I reported him to Nikki, it would seem like I can't handle it like a man, and that would not look good, not that I care. I'm going to keep my dinner with Nikki, I'm not going to let that peasant get to me.
"Good, lunch anyone?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Charles says.
"X, takes us somewhere nice please, make sure they have alcohol though,"
God knows I could some whiskey right now.
Nikiwe Iman Mthethwa
I'm sitting in my office when Aiden walks in with our lunch.
"Hello Nikki," he greets.
"Hey,"
He leans over my desk and kisses my cheek, "How are you beautiful?"
"Good and hungry," I say, eyeing the bag of food, he places the food down, he takes out a takeaway bag and puts it in front of me.
"I got a bacon and cheese sandwich with chips and a side salad for my lady and apple juice," he says and then takes out his lunch.
"You are the best Aiden," I grin.
Aiden Joseph van Rensburg, a fine piece of specimen, a true gentleman and a sweetheart, the only man I've actually felt loved me for me. His blue eyes twinkling when they laugh, the perfect set of teeth, I mean he looks like a tough guy but he's a giant teddy bear.
He takes off his blazer jacket and hangs it on the chair next to him and he sits down.
"So, what do you think about Mr Forsythe?"
"He ain't half bad, knows his stuff and I think he'll be a great asset and member of the Abraham's team; I feel like he's a little cocky though," he replies.
I chuckle, "Just like you but yes, he will make a great addition to the team."
"I am not cocky,"
"Is jy suiker?" I ask. (Are you sure?)
"Ag, nee man loos my," he chuckles. (Leave me be)
"So how was your trip?"
He takes a sip of his water, "It was good, everything is running smoothly, and you have nothing to worry about."
"Good, I'm glad," I smile.
"And now that I'm back, we can finally have that dinner we spoke about, it's been a while," he winks.
I blush, "Of course,"
"My house at seven, tonight," he says with a smile
"Good, I'll be there,"
It has been a while since I've gone out and it is a good place to start, but why do I feel so guilty? Right, Xander.
We finish our lunch and he leave to go back to his office, I spend the rest of my day, in and out of meetings and going through paperwork, just a typical day in the life of a CEO. My day ends at 17:30, I say goodbye to Jo-Anne and head home to prepare for my dinner date with Aiden.
I arrive at my double storey home, and I sigh, this house was unnecessarily big, but my uMama insisted that I buy in case I had any relatives come over, which they don't because they don't like me, but that's a story for another day. I get into my house, and I am greeted by my mother's worst enemy, my cat Vixen.
"Hello baby," I greet.
Meow.
"I missed you too and I have a dinner date tonight," I say.
Meow, meow.
"With whom you ask? Well, if you must know, with the beautiful Aiden,"
Meow, meow.
"Vixen, that sounded very judgemental,"
I make my way upstairs and throw my bags on the bed, I rush to the bathroom, take a quick shower and dress casually, putting on a simple, pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. I don't put on any make-up, so I tight my hair up and look in the mirror.
"I need a new weave," I say to myself.
I grab my purse and my phone and head back downstairs.
"I'll see you later Vixen,"
I rush out of the house and into my Range Rover, I reverse out of the gate and make my way to Aiden's house, I was running late due to traffic on the way home, I make it to his house twenty minutes left and I park my car outside his garage door and make my way to the door and knock. He opens the door and greets me with a smile.
"You made it, come in,"
"Yeah, I'm sorry I'm late, traffic was a bitch on the way home," I reply as I walk in, and I'm immediately greeted by the smell of food.
"It's okay love, I also got home late," he chuckles, I look over at him and he looks like he didn't have time to get changed, he was in his shirt and dress pants from earlier, he still looked good though.
"I'm feeling a little under-dressed now," I tease.
"Relax, you still look good," he says and kisses my cheek.
He leads me to the kitchen and my stomach grumbles; I cringe and try my best to play it cool.
"Someone's hungry," he laughs.
"I'm sorry, it just smells really good,"
"I'm glad, take a seat and let me pour you some wine, I passed by the shops and got you your favourite," he says, I take a seat on one of the island chairs and smiles.
"You didn't have to Aiden,"
"Only the best for my lady," he says, he opens the bottle and pours me a glass and then himself.
"Here's to a great night,"
I raise my glass and smile, "Cheers."