Masterson

ROMAN

"WELL LOOK WHO THE CAT drug in?" Jade quips with that smart-ass mouth of hers. Her delicate heart shaped lips would be sort of appealing, if I didn't look at her like anything more than an annoying little sister and a competent assistant.

I admit that I look like shit.

I need a shower and a shot of something in my coffee, but I don't have time for all of that before I meet with the old man. Joseph's going to want to be assured that I have things handled.

"Is that how you greet the man who's paying your rent?" I kid with Jade.

"You pay my salary, not my rent," she says as she hands me a fresh cup of black coffee.

"Potato, potahto."

The door to the conference room shoots open and two mounds of muscle who closely resemble each other barge into the room.

"The King brothers are here!" The younger, louder one named Cutter yells out like the town crier.

"Knucklehead," I respond giving him a strong hug and handshake combination.

I give a simple head nod to the other brother Camden, as he takes a seat in one of the large conference chairs by the window. His body language speaks volumes. He's all about business today and is trying to exude an air of dominance in the room. He's getting mentally prepared for Joseph, my father, someone who is not one of his favorite people right now.

"Boys," Jade greets them with a smirk.

"Hey," they both reply in unison. "Wassup Jade."

The King brothers and I work for my father and the company, which he founded, Masterson & Associates (us being the associates). We are for lack of a better word "fixers." We spend our days getting spoiled celebrities out of trouble, and that's a messier job than you would imagine. Not slick and glamorous like that chick on the television show Scandal makes it look.

Jade works as a sort of an all-purpose assistant for the three of us, which basically means that she keeps us on point and runs interference between the three of us and my father a lot.

When I met her, we were teenagers, and she was getting beat up on a regular basis by her low-life ex who was addicted to pain killers and using her to fund his habit. She loved him, but thankfully she loved herself more, and didn't go back to him after I beat the hell out of his high ass. I don't have a lot of patience for addicts, probably because of my mommy issues, but that's another story for another day. Jade and I have been friends ever since. In fact, she is probably one of my only true friends. Her and the Kings.

"You look like shit on a stick," Cutter says to me while laughing heartily.

"What did you tell him?" I ask Jade in an effort to purposely ignore Cutter's observation. "Where did he go?"

"Where did who go?" The cool as ice voice asks from the doorway.

With my back towards the all too familiar voice, I walk around to the buffet table to grab a handful of M&Ms out of a plain and slightly dented silver candy dish.

"Morning, Joseph," I say half-heartedly to my father as a I loosely shake a few of my favorite candies in my fist then pop them into my mouth one by one.

"Morning? It's damn near the afternoon. Why are you late, Roman? I believe you called this meeting."

Standing tall with a stern look in his eyes, even at my age my father still intimidates me. His salt and pepper hair and impeccably tailored three piece suit makes him appear quite formidable, and of course I've seen first hand the rage that simmers behind that cool exterior of his. Jade quietly leaves the room as she always does when we have meetings, unless the old man requests her to stay.