I was ready to pummel these dudes then, really deliver a death blow. Because what the hell was wrong with them? They were so clueless it was fucking embarrassing. No wonder Katie wanted space, saying she had to think about things.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We can’t treat her like we treat everyone else. She’s too good for that. And the girl knows it, which is why she’s giving us the runaround. We have to make a real commitment. We have to go balls to the wall, show her that she’s something special, that we’re willing to pull out all the stops.”
There was a loaded silence because we’ve been in this lifestyle for a long time. Really cherishing a woman was new, like staring into the black vortex of the unknown.
“So what next?” asked Mason slowly. “You’re the big genius, what’s next in this crazy idea?”
I lunged from the couch then, fists raised, but Kane held me back.
“Cool it, cool it,” he grunted, pinning my arms. “Mason’s a dickhead, no disrespect.”
I sat down then, still fuming and glaring.
“Get real,” I spat at the man. “You’re such a fucking prick, you think you know what’s going on? Spill it then. Let’s hear your great idea.”
But Mason held up his hands then.
“Naw, like Kane said, no disrespect man. Just sayin’.”
I seethed, sinking back in the couch. But there was no sense in fighting because shit, Katie was waiting and time was running out. The longer this went on, the less likely she’d take us back. If she would take us back at all, period. So straightening my suit, I glared at Mason once more before speaking.
“We gotta move down here,” I said flatly. “That’s the only way to prove our commitment, to show that we’re serious about giving a piece of ourselves. We’ve gotta move to Knox.”
Snorts filled the air.
“You’re shitting me,” growled Kane. “I got a chain of restaurants up in NYC. My managers, my chefs, my serving staff, hell, even my accountant is up there. You think I can move an entire restaurant group down here? No can do buddy.”
Mason was the same.
“Bro, I’m working on seven new developments in the Tri-State area right now. The foundation’s been dug, the contracts signed. I can’t just jet and say, see ya, figure it out yourselves. I mean shit, you gotta walk those sites every day to make sure that the contractor isn’t screwing up. How am I gonna do it from down here?”
I shrugged.
“That’s the rub, exactly. It’s a huge pain in the ass, maybe next to impossible. But it’s the only way to give something that’s truly us. Sure, we could make trips down here once a month, but Katie doesn’t want that. It’s still a fly by night op, fucking her senseless and then jetting off. We could send her gifts from NYC, but you know this girl, she’ll just send them back. So it’s on us, bros. We gotta figure out how to move our lives down here.”
The three of us sat in stumped silence again.
“I don’t think it’s gonna happen,” said Mason slowly, shaking his head. “Like I said, I’m in the middle of construction. I can’t pick up a piece of land and fly it down on a magic carpet.”
Kane shook his head regretfully as well.
“Restaurants are the same, yo,” he rumbled. “We’ve got established locations, and I’ve gotta be there myself to make sure that shit is solid. There’s a lot of graft, the boss needs to be around to keep an eye on things. So what do we do?”
But there are always hard choices in life, and the fact we were even discussing this demonstrated the depths of our feelings for Katie.
“So what you’re saying is that it’s a no can do, right?” I asked. “I mean, we leave and it’s over bros. This dream is over, she’ll never let us back into her heart.”
The statement was mushy, it was emotional, but it was also true. If we treated this girl like one more skeezy whore, there was no going back. We could beg on our knees, but Katie’s heart would be lost to us, probably forever.
So the silence in the suite was ominous. Here we were, three billionaires with limitless resources, and yet, clearly there were limits to our lives. How the hell had one sweet girl turned everything on its head? How in the world were we left so powerless, with few options?
And unfortunately, there was no clear path forwards. At least none that I could see. None that my buddies could see either. We were at an impasse, and on the one side there was the woman of our dreams, curvy and full, filled with light, love and laughter.
On the other side stood our careers, powerful empires built on the backs of thousands of men. Were we gonna let all that go? Did we have to choose? When did life get so damn complicated?