The Contract

Chapter 11 - The Business Date

TRAVIS FERRARI SEEN STEPPING OUT FROM A DATE WITH UNKNOWN LOVER.

Okay, now I'm pissed that they never seem to get my face in any of the pictures, i was certain Travis had a hand in this.

"Urg! The suspense is killing me" Kourtney groaned, laying down the newspaper.

"Do you think there's a connection?" She asked and I looked up at, confused by the question. "This one and the one he took to the wedding?"

I rolled my eyes and returned back to the file I was going through. Kourtney and Bethany have no idea about my past friendship with Travis, I befriended them after he ditched me for Italy.

And I don't like to bring up that topic for whatever reason but it seem as though I'll be opening the not so pretty boxes soon.

I sighed and sat up before placing down the file. "So, for the Mr and Mrs Fortune anniversary, it should be a white and gold theme " I supplied and she nodded in agreement.

"Do they have a venue?" I asked. "Yeah at their lake house in Calabasas"

"Date? Those are things I wanna see in this file!" I complained and she sighed. "Mrs Fortune will be coming in tomorrow but you still have that meeting with Mr Simmons today" she reminded and I sighed.

"Time and location?"

"7 pm, at Lakewood" she replied and I sighed again, laying my head on the table. "You know, I did come to check on you last night" she said my eyes shot up immediately.

"What? You weren't home anyways, you said you were in bed. Did you go somewhere?"

I tried to come up with an excuse but nothing cane, shit shit shit!

She then bursted into laughter. "I'm shitting you, I know you don't have a life aside us" she confessed, still laughing, I let out an inward sigh but I still had to feign annoyance.

"Shut up"

she wouldn't stop laughing. "Where's Bethany?"

"I don't know"

"Hey lovelies" she announced her presence throwing the door open, speak of the devil. "You're late" I informed.

"Relax, I'm here now and guess who I just got out the phone with?" she asked, taking a seat beside Kourtney.

"Why do I pay you guys?" I asked myself, shaking my head. "Travis Ferrari's assistant, they are scheduling a meeting. Travis and his fiance are gonna be dropping by next week Tuesday!"

My eyes shot open and they both began squealing.

I wasn't informed about that!

"Oh my gosh, finally! I'm tired of the suspense. Did you see the paper this morning?" Kourtney asked.

"Like this reporters are neck deep in his love life" Bethany agreed, picking up the papers. "But she's hot though"

"Right!" They both rambled, a smile making way to my lips at the comment. I glanced at the time. 6:40 pm.

"Okay assholes, I got a meeting " I announced, getting up. "What meeting?" Bethany asked.

"You would know if you're ever around" I replied ignored, grabbing my belongings before heading out.

I pulled out my phone and walked down the stairs into the lobby, shooting the receptionist a curt nod, I placed the phone over my ear.

He answered once I got into my car, "I'm busy right now"

"Oh so, you don't have time for your soon to be fiance?" I questioned, pushing the start button. "What's wrong?"

"Why did you schedule a meeting at my office without informing me? These are things I should know about!" I said. "Now you know"

"You're a shitty person" I told him as I drove out. "I know, anything else?"

I hissed and ended the call, focusing back on the road as I headed to Lakewood.

It was a 10 minutes drive and I was 5 minutes early. I walked in and sighted Mr Simmons at the far end sipping from his glass. He took was early for some  reason, I sighed and walked towards him.

"Miss Vega" he beamed once he saw me. "Mr Simmons" I greeted , sitting down and placing by bag beside. "Wine?" he suggested, already filling up my glass.

I grabbed it and took a sip before placing it down. "So, I heard you are no longer suing Paradise" I began.

"Can we eat first before we talk about business?" He suggested before then signaling the waitress and she brought the menus.

I ordered a salad with more wine because Mr Simmons had emptied the bottle.

"You know why I chose this restaurant?" He asked and I looked up at him. "I have a view of that!" He pointed out and I turned to the window to the city of LA. "Yeah"

"I bought that house last week" he pointed at one of the building. "I guess calling off the wedding brought good luck" I replied and he chuckled.

"You could say that"

"How's Dianne?" I asked. "She've moved into my brother's place" he answered. "Are they gonna get married? I plan weddings too, spread the word" I encouraged and he laughed.

"You've got humour, that's one thing I like about you" he said and I glanced up at him. Our orders got served. "And that's the very reason i decided not to sue. You put in a lot of work into planning" he continued.

"I didn't plan it alone" I pointed out. "You did nothing wrong to me, you weren't the fiance that cheated on me"

I nodded, where was he going with this?

"Okay then"

"And I'm willing to pay for damages. How does 3 million sound?" He asked and I looked up. "That's really generous, Mr Simmons"

"You could call me Greg"

"Okay but the payment is just 700 thousand" I replied and he smiled. "You always seem to make me laugh, Pearl "

"First name basis now, I see" I muttered to myself before saying. "Umm...Mr Simmons?"

"Greg"

"Right, the 700 will do" I stated and he chuckled and took another sip of his drink. "You're so funny"

"I'm not been funny"

"You keep the 3 million, see that as a second date"

"Second date? When was the first one?" I asked in disbelief and he chuckled,  leaning on the table. "Right now " he answered, winking at me.

Oh shit! he's flirting with me.

I should have seen the warning signs when he wanted me to accompany him for his suit fitting.

"You're right, it's a good thing the wedding got cancelled. I'm free to tell you my proposition"

I grabbed my glass and took a sip. "I'm flying to Brazil next week, wanna come with me?" He asked and i bursted into a fit of laughter, I couldn't help myself.

I even spilled the wine. "I'm sorry, I'm just..." I tried getting myself together.

He was really hitting on me. My gosh! The shit I have to deal with in my line of work. "Brazil?"

"Yeah" he nodded. "That's really flattering Mr Simmons"

"I told you, you could call me Greg"

"I'm not doing that. Thanks for the offer but with all due respect, I'm gonna have to turn that down" I said and his smile widened. "Playing hard to get, I see"

"I'm playing at nothing, I'm actually with someone at the moment" that got him. "You're in a relationship? You don't strike me as someone who is"

"Yeah and that's because I don't mix business with pleasure, now if you would excuse me, Mr Simmons..." I got up. "I'll be leaving and I want the 700 in my account in 24 hours or we'll do the suing" with that I headed out of there.

Fucker.