“I know it’s difficult, but you could be losing millions of dollars, Jorge. You never should have had sex with her, man. The second you told me that you two hooked up, I knew it would be bad news.”
“How could I forget that conversation we had months ago?”
I thought Chase would have been impressed that I’d slept with Ria, who could have easily passed as a supermodel with her hourglass figure and long, chestnut hair. Her face was perfect, with full, luscious lips, chiseled cheekbones, and eyelashes so long they tickled my forehead whenever we kissed.
But her soul was pure evil.
Chase had ripped into me that night, saying that I’d done the dumbest thing possible as a business owner. He reminded me that he was always surrounded by beautiful women he worked with and that you never mix business with pleasure.
“And what did I say to you that night, man?”
“That if I don’t have the balls to turn down a woman’s sexual advances, then I don’t have the balls to be in business.”
Ouch.
“Look, I said that to you because you’re like my brother. Please tell me that you’re having this looked into, and if you need someone to help you with it, I’m sure I could hook you up. Personally, that’s not my thing, but—wait a minute. What about Ginger? That’s basically what she does anyway, and you two talk all of the time!”
Yes, we talk all of the time and funny you should mention that because she is looking into it. Oh, and I had sex with your sister last night. And even though it didn’t last that long, it was the best I’ve ever had. Is that cool, bro?
I froze in my seat, not knowing if I should tell Chase what had happened between Ginger and me the night before. Obviously skip over the details, since it was his sister, but tell him that it finally had happened.
Why should it matter to him? Both of us are grown adults, and it was consensual.
Our eyes met, and for a second, I thought he knew. Chase had always been highly intuitive.
Here we go.
But just as I went to tell him my cell phone rang—Ginger.
I held my finger up to Chase, who nodded, then I snuck onto the back porch. Margo ducked back into the house, giving me plenty of privacy to talk.
“Ginger, I was just thinking about you.”
“I have good and bad news, Jorge. The good news is that I’ve finished going through your books, but the bad news is that there’s a million dollars’ worth of funds not accounted for.”
My blood pressure skyrocketed as all of my suspicions were confirmed. “I knew it, Ginger! God, I am so stupid!”
“I know it’s a little too late, but it’s a terrible idea to mix business with pleasure. My guess is that Ria had you wrapped around her finger and knew that she could convince you not to look at the books. I’m so sorry.”
I could hear the concern in Ginger’s voice and truly believed her apology, even though she had nothing to do with my getting screwed over. “Well, I appreciate it, but this has nothing to do with you. I don’t think that I can ever thank you enough, Ginger.”
“Please, it’s the least I could do since you gave me such a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet.”
“That was a gift of congratulations for getting your degree, which is about to pay off with your new job. But I mean it, Ginger. I’m so lucky to have you in my life, and I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“Just promise me that you’ll never hook up with any of your employees because this will get super messy.”
Chase peeked his head out the back window at me, which was thankfully closed to keep the air conditioning inside.
Please don’t come out here, man.
“I don’t foresee that being an issue, Ginger. The hooking up with my employees, that is. Thankfully I have excellent lawyers, although I’m not sure which route I’ll take.”Ask her out!“Anyway, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”Please say yes, please say yes!
“I’d love to have dinner with you tomorrow night, Jorge.”
“Perfect. I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock.”
As I hung up the phone, I slouched down onto a nearby chair and buried my face in my hands. I was filled with excitement at seeing Ginger again, and remorse at ever having gotten involved with Ria.
