The Arrangement

Chapter Five: The End

Five more months passed with the arrangement going strong.  It honestly shocked me, though I couldn't say I was disappointed.

I just thought that Maverick would've surely found a better girl that he planned on marrying.  It's not like it would be difficult for him to find a great girl.  Yet, there he was still single.

"They're ready for you in the conference room, Ma'am," Pandora informed me.  I nodded and stood up from my desk, walking out of my office and to the conference room.

"I thought we had our finance problems solved, Mr. Pilt," I said, leaning against the end of the table and surveying the group of people around the table.

Mr. Leopold and Mr. Princeton were both gone- like I'd promised- and replaced by Ms. Underwood and Ms. Elms respectively.  It was much nicer having women in my higher positions.

"Well, the solution we'd come up with only worked if the branches had doubled their sales numbers every month for four months," he said.  I looked at him like he was stupid, which he was.

"That's impossible, Mr. Leopold.  That's not a solution.  That's a miracle, and businesses don't grow through miracles," I said.  He sighed and looked down at his notepad.

"If I may Ms. Smith, we could host a fundraiser or a gala," Ms. Underwood suggested.

"My apologies, Ms. Underwood, but we are above begging people for money," I said.  She nodded.

"Of course, but we could use it to raise funds for say.... anti-union purposes and then use that money for meeting the union's demands.  That's just an example, of course.  In our situation, we could say it's for technological advancements and use it to maintain our current tech without using the company's budget," she said. "This would only be a temporary solution, but it will buy us time to find a long-term solution."

I bit my lip and thought it through.

"Okay, I'll let you be the head of that project.  Make sure we aren't spending more than we'll get, and you must assure me that the company will not come across as desperate," I said.  She smiled brightly.

"I will make sure that our reputation is even better after the fundraiser," she said.  I nodded and allowed myself to smile.

"Mr. Pilt will assist, but you, ultimately, make the last decision," I said.  She nodded. "Alright, you're all dismissed."

I returned to my office and sat at my desk.

I thought the problem was solved, but we're still losing money.  I could only hope that I'd figure out a solution to the problem before the damage was irreversible.

After shooting Maverick a text, I waited for Pandora to tell me that I had a last minute meeting with him.  About five minutes later, Pandora stepped in and told me exactly that.  I worked on emails while I waited for him to get here.

Maverick walked in with Pandora and thanked her.  She walked off, and he locked the door before walking over to where I was now standing.

His lips connected with mine, and his hand immediately went to my butt.  He turned us and lifted me onto the desk.  Our lips moved in perfect synchronization.

"I-" I caught myself before I could say the rest, and I played it off as a moan.

What the fuck?  Why was I about to tell him that I love him?  There were supposed to be no feelings!  Of course I fucked that up too.

I knew that I had to either get over my feelings, or the arrangement was over.  The sad part was that I would have to go with option two.  This was going to have to be the last time.

God, I fuck everything up.  The company, my own dreams, and even the damn arrangement, which was the best part of my life right now.  Why couldn't I do anything right?

"Baby, are you crying?" Maverick asked, pulling away from the kiss breathily.  His hands were on my face now.

I lifted my hands to my face, and, sure enough, there were tears.

"Oh my god," I said, shocked.  I covered my face with my hands, so he couldn't see me crying. "I'm sorry."

His hands wrapped around my wrists gently, pulling my hands away from my face.

"Why are you crying, Baby?" he asked in a soft voice.  I just shook my head and wiped my face as if it were for no reason.  The tears just kept flowing down my cheeks. "Emerson, why are you crying?"

I looked down, and he gently held my face in his hands, lifting it so I was looking at him.

"Emerson," he repeated in a serious tone, but he somehow still made it sound like he was concerned. "Why are you crying?"

I sucked in a sharp breath.

"I'm a complete fa-failure," I stammered.  His eyes searched my features confused.

"You're not a failure, Baby," he told me, wiping away my tears with his thumbs.  I nodded.

"Yes.  I am," I said. "I'm failing my dad because the company's going bankrupt, and I don't even want to be the CEO.  I just didn't want him to be angry with me, but he should be. I'm failing all of the employees I have to let go.  I'm- I'm even failing myself.  I dreamed of growing up and having a perfect big family, and I'm twenty-seven with not even a sliver of hope that I will.  And-" I love you- "I hate myself."

"You're being way too hard on yourself, Baby," he said.  I shook my head.

"No, I'm not.  If I wasn't a failure, how did I talk with my father for two hours and only ten minutes were spent talking about me?  How is it that my twenty-three year old sister is getting married, and I still haven't met a guy who's even tried asking me out?  How is it that my twenty-six year old sister has two children, and I'm still spending all of my time running a company I have absolutely no interest in being involved in?  How is it that my apartment is so empty and depressing that I fall asleep and wake up crying?"

He looked like he wanted to say something, but he just stood there.  I looked back down.

"I think, maybe you should go," I said.  He shook his head.

"No, because then you'll think you're right when you're not," he disagreed. "You're not a failure, Emerson.  It sounds like you care too much about other people but not enough about yourself.  Sure, your father wanted you to take over as CEO, but what did you want?  Sure, you had to fire people, but if you didn't, you'd have to fire all of your employees.  Sometimes, you just need to forget about other people's opinions and just do what you want to.  I guarantee you'd have a family by now if you didn't put all of your time into a business that you aren't even interested in."

I didn't say anything.

He sighed. "Bye, Emerson."

I watched the floor as he walked out, leaving me sitting on my desk.  I hopped down and walked over towards the couch that sat along the giant window.  With my knees tucked up to my chest, I stared blankly out the window at nothing.

Hey,

Sorry for not updating in a while, but I'll post two chapters today to attempt to make up for it.

I'm still waiting to hear all of your thoughts so far. The next chapter will be from both Emerson's and Maverick's point of view.

Thanks for reading, CMF