SURROGATE : Conception (+18) BOOK 1 (COMPLETE)

| 21 | Cusp of the Vortex ||

"I'm taking the yacht out in a couple weeks. Ben from the Brockter Company is searching for a broker and I want to show him a good time. I need you two there."

Liam's boss, Chuck, handed him the second glass of Scotch before topping off his own.

"I get inviting Kirby, but why me?" Liam wanted to know.

"Ben's around your age."

Liam crossed his ankle over his knee mirroring his boss's casual lounge in the over-sized leather chair. "Kirby and I are the same age, just about." Liam gestured between Kirby, who was completing the triangle of their small group, and himself.

"That's why I want both of you there. You two are good together. You're friends, and I want Ben to feel like he's a part of the conversation. When he took over for his dad, I knew he wouldn't keep the firm open long. His heart lies in deep sea fishing or archaeology or something like that. The company is ripe for the picking and you better bet the other broker companies are going to come out swinging. I heard Ted Miles just bought a jet. Showy bastard."

Liam laughed before sipping the rather pleasant drink. It was late evening and Frida was planning on leaving in the morning. He usually skipped these sorts of gatherings, smoking and drinking, but he needed the space away from everything. Frida left all the time, he shouldn't feel anyway about it, but he couldn't ignore the unsettled jittery feeling in his guts. He wasn't sure why it was there, or maybe he didn't want to acknowledge why it was there.

Six weeks of no travel, no escape save for a small three day thing he couldn't get out of of. What the hell was he going to do? He sipped again letting the liquid burn down.

"Do you think a yacht ride is going to compete with a jet?" Kirby asked adjusting his lean in his own chair.

"Absolutely. I'm hiring bartenders, getting other young people to make it a party. Nothing too raunchy, but you know that line between. Just want to show him a good time."

Kirby laughed. "You do realize that we're both married and boring, right."

"Hey," Liam said. "Speak for yourself."

Kirby laughed. "Don't worry, you're on your way to boring."

"Well, you two are going to have to be un-boring for forty-eight hours because Ben is single."

"This is a bit much for you, Chuck, isn't it? There have to be other very lucrative accounts ready to be sought after."

The old man exhaled. "Perhaps, but his father was my competition for so long that getting my hands on this account will just make my last year worth the effort."

Both Liam and Kirby frowned with the glasses at their lips before they looked at her other. A non-verbal confirmation they both heard the same thing.

"Last year?"

The old man grumbled. "Guess I didn't slip that in there as smooth as I thought."

"What do you mean last year?" Kirby wanted to know.

He exhaled. "Well, that's why I asked you both here, and I'm happy I finally got you, Liam, to agree. Been wanting to tell you for a while now. Suppose it's no secret that I'm getting old. Patricia and I are ready for me to retire. You know I have no children of my own to pass the firm down to, so I want to pass it down to both of you. It's mean setting it up as a partnership of course which might be more difficult than me running it solo for fifty years, but you two, like I said before, seem to get along well."

Liam's brain short circuited. Did he hear the man right?

The old man laughed before puffing on his cigar. "It's a lot to think about, but you've got an entire year before you have to make up your mind, so let's enjoy tonight."