I nod. “Yes, I do.”
There’s only one for him and, somehow, I know that’s me. I know it in my bones.
“How was your day?” Dad asks when I stumble into the house hours later.
“Exhausting,” I kick off my stilettos and drop into an armchair. I reach down to rub my sore toes. Maybe tomorrow, I’d wear my cute black Mary Janes with the kitten heel and ankle socks. That way if I’m running all over town, I won’t break a leg but I’ll still be looking hot for my man. It’s not like the high heels are breaking down his barricades.
After the filing room incident, I didn’t see Con for the rest of the day. Tim managed to keep me busy. When I finished my filing, I was sent out to get coffee for the rest of the floor. Then I had to get lunch. Then Con’s dry cleaning needed to be picked up. I wanted to deliver the suits to his office, but Tim stopped me at the outer door and gave me a package that needed to be delivered across town like yesterday.
“What deals did Con talk about today?” Dad presses. Each night I’ve come home to the same question.
Straightening, I roll my eyes. Insider tips is how he’s made his money and he doesn’t care that his question could place my job in jeopardy. I’m nothing to him but a bargaining chip, a pawn to be moved around to get dirty old men to spill their secrets.
“I wouldn’t have the first clue. I told you that I’m working mostly with his assistant. Today, I filed and spent the rest of the afternoon running errands. Yesterday, I filled in covering the phones. The day before, I sorted emails.”
He frowns. “Con promised that you’d work directly for him. Let me give him a call. Maybe there’s been some misunderstanding.” He pulls out his phone.
I lay a hand on Dad’s arm. “I am working directly for him, but I’m also new. It makes sense for me to be running the errands so that Tim can have more time to get things done for Con.”
“If you aren’t going to be learning about deals, what’s the point?” Dad complains. “Ennis Dvorskey might have an opening. He’s worth roughly about the same as Romano. Let’s see if I can get you a job there.”
“I don’t want to work for Ennis.” I brush past my dad, who’s tapping on his screen. “He’s in the entertainment industry and I don’t want any part of that.”
“You’re twenty-one,” Dad says without looking up, “you don’t know what you want. Besides, you owe your old man for taking care of you all these years. A few hints on the deals that Romano is thinking about closing would go a long way toward paying me back.”
“I’ll get right on that,” I drawl without an ounce of sincerity.
Naturally, because he’s not paying any attention to me, Dad doesn’t catch on to my sarcasm. “Good. Tomorrow bring home at least one name. If you could copy an entire file, that would be even better.” He tucks his phone away. “Let’s give it another week. You should be able to come up with something valuable in a week. After that, if you can’t get closer to Con, we’ll move you to Ennis’ office. Now that’s been decided, why don’t you make me dinner? Call me when it’s finished.” He reaches behind him and grabs a folder off a console. “And go through this here and give me a summary of the research on the Grant Pharmaceutical company. I think I might want to invest in it.”
With that, he disappears into his office, probably to drink and watch porn.
I take the inch-thick folder of research into the kitchen and throw it on the table. I haven’t gotten groceries in a week, so I suspect we don’t have much to cook. The empty shelves confirm my suspicion. Grabbing my phone, I order mushroom ravioli and a salad from a nearby Italian joint and settle down to read the prospectus some junior hedge fund employee threw together.
The research is incomplete, without long-term past data points and the growth prospects are all speculative. I jot down a two-paragraph summary and end it with a no-buy conclusion. That will probably piss my dad off. I think I remember seeing him and the pharm company CEO out to dinner a couple weeks ago. Dad came home, tracking glitter across the floor, which meant he’d been at a strip club.
He probably wants to go into business with this pharm guy so that they can go jack off together. Speaking of jacking off, I shift in my chair.
I’d bet my entire bank account that Con was masturbating in the bathroom. He’d been green with jealousy when he came upon Tim and me in the filing room. My sex throbs as I imagine what Con must look like, his large hand folded around that massive cock of his.