I made it to the building and sprinted down the hallway to my classroom. To my amazement I made it with two minutes to spare and I had gotten my exercise in that morning after all.
I sat down at an empty desk and scrambled to study more for that pop quiz I was sure was coming. I was reviewing my notes when I felt my phone vibrate. I quickly looked at it and saw that it was from my mother. She wanted me to have dinner with her that evening. I would tell her later that I was busy. And she would not want to accept that of course, and now she would be worried about me and she would demand that I talk to her on the fucking phone. I hated talking to my mother sometimes. She was so invasive and wanted to know every single detail of my personal life, and usually it was because she wanted to know why I didn’t have a personal life. The reality was that she wanted grandchildren while she was young enough for people to be amazed that she was a
grandmother. That was it. My mother is one of the vainest people on the planet. It had not been easy growing up with a mother like that.
“Alright, class,” Professor Wendell said as he closed the door and sauntered slowly up to the front of the class. “Do we know what today is?”
“The day before tomorrow!” some wise ass in the back cracked.
The professor laughed and mocked the student before hopping down off his desk and grabbing a stack of papers. “Nope. It is pop quiz time. It’s been a while, and you should have been expecting this.”
We all groaned. Looking around it was not at all a secret there were some very scared looking faces staring around. He’d already tricked us with pop quizzes twice this semester. I had to bring my grade up a full letter grade to have a hope of getting into the best graduate programs.
“Oh, my God!” a girl beside me gasped. “I should have known. I should have known. Breathe Rachel, breathe…”
I tried not to pay too much attention to her. I didn’t want her to know that I was watching her pain and I didn’t want to be put on the mark to have to show that I really cared. I was too worried about my own shit.
The professor sat the paper down on my desk and I saw it was three essay questions. They were worded in a weird way that might trip some people up, but I thought I would be fine. And as I sat there getting ready to read the first question I thought about how Darren would tell me that I would do great. He would be proud of me. I knew it. And in just about eight hours I would be seeing him in person again. I was so excited.
I took a deep breath and got to work.
Chapter 7
Darren
“Everything is coming along well,” Tate Alderson said to me.
I took a look around at the property I was developing. It was a week behind schedule and I was not at all happy with the progress. This was one of five houses I was flipping in this same subdivision. It was close to a shopping mall and a big part of a business district, so it was most likely going to command a hefty price tag if I ever did sell, or if I just stuck to renting the property. I would probably rent for a while and when the market was right for it I would sell it to someone who didn’t know the market as well as I did and they would be stuck with some of the diminishing results in the near future. It was not kind, but it was business. And that was something I never let conscience enter into. It had no place there. A lion never did that with its prey. It saw food and nothing else.
“Well, I want to believe that, but you are a week behind schedule. And you say you ran into an issue with Asbestos? How much money did it set me back to have that inspected and fixed?”
He looked down at his shoes and didn’t say anything.
“And I know that isn’t your fault. You didn’t put fucking asbestos in the house, but the guy you had schedule that work for you to fix the stuff didn’t do his job and it ended up costing us several days because he got scammed and we didn’t get that money back. So, I’m not too happy about all the progress. I suggest you pick up the pace and get this done in short order. If something goes wrong, I trust you to fix it without calling me every five minutes. Is that too much to ask?”
“Sure, we will do that,” he said. “Sorry again about all of that.”
I walked around the property a bit more and saw guys who were loafing around and not working nearly as fast as they should have been. I glanced at their boss and he began barking at them to work faster. I wasn’t usually such a prick to people who were working for me, but I paid top dollar to get the best results. They were all being well paid.
I finished inspecting the project and then I went off to the next one. Right now was a period where I was really focused on my real estate businesses. It was the right market for it, or at least it was if you knew what you were looking for.
It had taken me years of studying the local real estate market for me to master it and only then did I start to heavily invest in it. Most people took the wrong approach to things. They went after the idea and worried about how to sell it later. No matter what you are going after or trying to sell, you always have to do the market research to make sure there is a real market for it and some way you can stand out in the mix.
I finished a few of the work project inspections and then I grabbed a fast food hamburger before I went back to the office. I didn’t really feel like taking any meetings this evening. I was still on a huge high from last night. I wanted to see Teri. I wanted her in my arms. I wanted her on my lips and in my bed once again. I was tempted to ask her if she wanted to meet me at my place after her last class and I would blow off work. We would just get together and make sweet love.
But no. That would be just too much, too soon. I would come off as if I was desperate or that I couldn’t be without her. I didn’t want her to know that I felt quite that deeply yet. Soon. Soon she would feel the same way and it would happen together and we would both be relieved. But why? Why did I have to hide my true feelings from her? Why did I have to hide my real thoughts from the most amazing woman on the face of the planet?
It wasn’t fair. Was I wrong? Was I falling victim to some stupid game that really had nothing to do with the real world? Wasn’t I past all of that juvenile crap?
I hoped so. But I didn’t know if Teri was. I didn’t want to do anything that might scare her away.
I went back to the office and finished my lunch. I washed it down with a couple of whiskeys and then I went to the meetings I had scheduled. They were both successfully done. I had a few more investors for the computer market I was currently trying to get a piece of. There was some technology that was being developed underground that I wanted to get in on and these guys were the guys to help me do that.
After I finished the meetings, I went back to the office and did some research on new properties and then I checked my emails for people who were interested in having me invest in some of their businesses. I didn’t want to give people money, but there was so much money to be made from it and without me having to do a lot of the work of the actual business. But still, I had to be careful and I had to choose the right businesses to put money into.
After going over a few things and emailing a few potentials I was interested in, I went home. I was nervous the entire time I was driving. I was going to see Teri. When I saw her it was going to be difficult to keep from holding her, but I didn’t want to tip Bobby off. He was so fragile and sensitive now that we had to be careful and we had to respect his feelings. I knew he would accept it eventually, but it was best if we just went along with this somewhat slowly.
When I walked through the door, Teri had just finished getting Bobby ready for bed. I could tell she’d rushed through dinner and shower so that he would be ready for bed a little earlier than normal. That was fine. He would sleep all through the night and then he would nap a few hours around noon the next day at school. It amazed me how much sleep kids his age actually required.