“I look like I belong in a ‘Dukes of Hazard’ episode,” I told my mom. “I can’t possibly go to the city like this.”
She smiled and suddenly gave my ass a slap, “Sure you can. Trust me, no matter what kind of business you want to open in the city you’re bound to succeed. You’ve got bigger brains than my tits combined, sweetheart. But you also got to be confident. This will help you, trust me.”
I looked at myself in the mirror. She was right though; I did look really pretty. The shorts made my long legs stand out and both my hair and big breasts were noticeable with the tiny top. Maybe if I had the confidence – and the height – I could be a model.
“Okay,” I sighed and caved in. “I’ll keep this on only if you let me have one of those cookies you’re making downstairs.”
My mom giggled and relented. She took me by the arm and we headed down to have ourselves a quick little snack.
It was just an hour later that I had to bid her farewell.
By sunset I was on a bus and on my way to the big city. Seated there, all I could think about during the ride was how all my dreams were about to come true.
2
Marcus
I looked at the calendar on my laptop. I groaned when I saw it was still Wednesday. Most people hate Mondays because it was the start of the workweek. I hated Wednesdays the most because it was smack-dab in the middle of the week. I was already exhausted but there were still two more days before I could sit back and relax.
Ring!
Lazily I picked up the landline phone on my office desk and greeted, “Good afternoon, thank you for calling Phoenix Banking. My name is Marcus Phoenix, how may I help you?”
As I expected, it was another wannabe businessman hoping I could help him secure a loan and start up his dream. Unfortunately, his business of “automated pick-up lines via text messages” didn’t sound viable enough for me to sign on. I had to politely decline but I did refer him to a colleague of mine who did take on such bizarre clients.
When I put the phone back down I looked at my laptop real quick. There weren’t any new emails coming in and my pile of work for the day was long done. I take pride in being a quick worker but that did leave me with one issue: now I had nothing to do.
I picked up the phone again and dialed for an internal number. My secretary, Felicia, instantly picked up and greeted me with her usual dry tone.
“Sir?”
“I’m going to call it a day. Could you stay around for at least another hour and then go ahead and close down the office?” I told her and then put the phone back down. I gathered my important papers and neatly slid them into a folder before I got up, put on my coat and walked out of my office.
Felicia was by her desk, typing away – probably fixing my schedule for next week or inputting the data about our recent clients into our database. I simply gave her desk a tap and then nodded farewell at her before I walked out of the waiting area and out into the parking lot.
The cold wind blasted my face as soon as I stepped out and I couldn’t help but sigh in relief. My office wasn’t small by any means – it was probably the biggest banking office owned and run by a single man in this entire city, to be honest – but it still felt claustrophobic at times. Maybe it was time I hired a few rookie bankers to work under me so I could take some time off. It’d be nice to be a real “boss” man for a change.
I hopped into my car and drove off. I wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes as I tried to enjoy the freedom I had of working for no one but myself. I even plugged in my smartphone to the dashboard and played some classic rock to really set the mood.
After a few minutes, I realized I was a little thirsty. Without even thinking, I took the next exit off the main highway and drove off to the city outskirts, which was where my favorite bar and restaurant was. There was no better place to get hammered than Mercury Wild.
I sped through the traffic, weaving in and out so I could get there quickly. Even then, the congestion was thick and it was nearly six o’clock by the time I got there. The sun was going down and by now there might already be too many people in the bar for me to have a moment all to myself.
The parking lot was slightly filled but not as bad as I thought it would be. That got me to sigh in relief. I parked close to the entrance and then walked in.
Immediately, I was greeted by the familiar dim lights, the sound of a live band playing in the center and the sight of numerous gorgeous girls going around having drinks and dancing to the music. A lot of the tables were already filled but I fortunately found a corner where I could sit.
That corner was already occupied but it was my friend Daxter. He was a former firefighter turned model. He just recently quit that life, however, when his elder brother died and he became the sole heir to the family business. He and his wife, Noelle, launched a fashion company that quickly took the world by storm.
“Hey,” I greeted them both with a smile as I sat down at their table.
“You look tired,” Noelle greeted. She slid me an extra bottle of beer.
I took it without second thought and gulped down. “Yeah,” I admitted. “Well, ‘bored’ is the better word, I guess.”
“You know why you’re bored?” Daxter asked. He then answered his own question, “It’s because you’re a billionaire working in a tiny-ass office. Dude, you can afford hiring a dozen staff members to do all your work for you.”
I rolled my eyes and tried to explain, “Yeah, sure, but there’s no guarantee my employees would be as good as I am. I want to maintain a level of quality and the more I hire the less likely I’ll have quality control.”