“Sit,” the lady said, waving him to the living room setup. “I’ll be back.”
He tracked her until he couldn’t see her any longer. Then he turned around. He couldn’t sit, so he stood in front of one of the paintings and pretended to study it. It was something modern. And it was deceptively simple, kind of like MacNiven. You thought you had it all figured out and then suddenly you realized there was an entire layer you hadn’t noticed before.
He hoped he hadn’t fucked everything up by not making an appointment. Maybe Lottie would put in a good word for him.
His dad would have told him a man makes his own way, that a man never lets a woman talk for him. His dad would probably storm past Lottie and make MacNiven see him, but Danny couldn’t bring himself to disrespect the lady that way.
“Osei.”
He stiffened, recognizing the voice. Its displeased tone wasn’t unfamiliar to him either.
He had the urge to put the sunglasses back on, but he knew MacNiven would see that as the sign of weakness that it was, so he pretended he was on the pitch and waiting for MacNiven to deliver a free kick. Face schooled, he turned around slowly.
MacNiven stood at the other end of the space, arms crossed. His blond hair was in its usual fashionable style, a little long without looking unkempt. He wore an impeccable suit—obviously tailor-made, worn more easily than Danny wore his sweater and jeans.
But the expression on his face wasn’t one that Danny had ever seen before. If he didn’t know better, he’d call it peaceful.
“You look different,” Danny said without thinking.
MacNiven raised a brow. “How is that?”
Happy.Knowing MacNiven would laugh at him for that stupid observation, he shrugged. “You gain weight?”
MacNiven snorted. “You come all this way to comment on my waistline?”
“You know I didn’t.” He put his hands in his pockets, not sure where to start now that he faced the man.
MacNiven studied him silently. Oddly, it reminded him of the way Lottie had looked at him—both curious and sympathetic.
Then MacNiven motioned to follow him. “Come to my office.”
Swallowing his relief, he followed his nemesis down the hallway. He glanced into an open doorway they passed, curious about the setup that MacNiven had created. The office had a different feel, more comfortable, but still luxurious. A blonde sitting at a massive desk looked up as he walked by. Her sweeping gaze took him in, and then she smiled sunnily.
“That’s Alice,” MacNiven said, as if he had eyes behind his head. “She’s our accountant. There are a couple other associates here at Winners Inc., including my fiancée, Rachel. You met her grandmother, Lottie, already.”
“Lottie could make bank at Chelsea, defending with me.”
MacNiven snorted. “Given how you’ve been playing the past three months, she’d replace you. She’s one of the wisest people I’ve ever met.”
So the man was up on his shitty season. He hadn’t been sure he would be, given he’d retired about six months ago. Danny wondered if that was a good thing or not. “Lottie thought I looked like a drug dealer,” he admitted, still smarting from it.
“It must be your jewelry.” MacNiven laughed. “Although she said the same to me and I don’t wear bling the way you do.”
The tension in his shoulders eased. That made him feel marginally better. No sane person would ever mistake MacNiven for a dealer.
“This is like old times, isn’t it?” MacNiven commented. “Me leading the way and you trying to keep up with me.”
Danny grunted.
MacNiven reached an open door and stepped aside, making a sweeping gesture. “Ladies first.”
Danny shot MacNiven a look but, in the interest of keeping things cool, said nothing.
The office was larger than the apartment in Encino where he’d grown up. It stretched in an L across two sides of the building, with an incredible view of both the river and the lake. He was more into stocks as investments on the business side—real estate hadn’t ever turned him on—but he knew the value of an office like this, with that view. He understood what MacNiven was trying to project too.
This was how winners rolled.
“Sit.” MacNiven waved him to a couch as he dropped onto a wide chair.