Rare - Briar Prescott Page 0,2

that would have made an impressive movie moment. Maybe he’d sweet-talk the security guard later and get the footage. He glanced toward the security desk. There was a bald man who looked like he bench-pressed horses every morning just for kicks. Sawyer something or other. That guy had hated Alex’s guts ever since Alex had broken into the vending machine on the twentieth floor when he’d been thirteen. Sawyer had seen him. Alex had run. Long story short, Alex had locked Sawyer into a bathroom and taken the subway home. Alex had no idea how long Sawyer had to stay in the bathroom before he was found. All he knew was that their relationship had never been the same. No hope of that tape, then. Ah, well, you couldn’t win all of them.

Alex pressed the button and hoped against all hope that by some miracle he’d managed to shake off Jeeves. No such luck, though. The man stepped into the elevator just before the doors closed, and up they went.

His father’s PA was already waiting for them and scurried to open the door that led to his father’s office before Alex could say anything at all. Didn’t matter. His father fired his assistants with a disturbing regularity, so it wasn’t like Alex actually knew the PA or had ever spoken a word to her. At least he didn’t think he had. In his defense, all of those women seemed to have come from the same mold – blonde hair, red lips, pencil skirts and silk blouses in varying pastel colors. Once upon a time, Alex had been worried one of them might become his new stepmom, but Alex’s father didn’t even seem to notice they were alive. He just barked orders at them and got rid of them for the most minuscule of reasons.

Alex sauntered in and threw himself in one of the leather chairs that was in front of his father’s desk. At least the old man was humane enough to provide a comfortable place to sit. Alex pushed the chair back and stretched out his legs, crossing one over the other. His head still throbbed, and he had a feeling he smelled of stale beer and sweat.

By the speed Jeeves had rushed Alex over to his father’s office, you would have guessed his father would have been more interested in Alex’s presence, but the man just continued ignoring him. That would not do.

“So, I have a theory,” Alex said loudly. His father threw him an annoyed look over the lid of his computer. Alex didn’t care. It wasn’t as if he’d asked to be there. “See, I always kind of figured you fired your assistants, but what if they quit themselves and the agency just sends somebody who looks the same, and you don’t even realize? Do they get a startled look when you call them Jessica?”

His father gave Alex a bewildered glance before he turned his attention to Jeeves. “Is he still drunk?”

“Not unless NYPD hands out alcohol as refreshments in their holding cells, sir.”

“I resent that,” Alex drawled. “This is all my very own delightful personality on display.”

There was that look again in his father’s eyes. The one that Alex had seen ever since he was old enough to understand that not all communication went through words, and that sometimes a single look could convey more than a ten-page speech. This particular look of his father’s was an old fan favorite. It was the one that said, I have no fucking clue what to do with you.

His father rubbed his fingers on his temples and looked at his computer screen briefly before turning his attention back to Alex. “Public urination, Alexander. Really?”

“It’s not up to my usual standards, I know. But please, please do not disinherit me. I can do better. I swear I will, Pa.” Alex used the heaviest Southern accent he could muster. He widened his eyes pleadingly and scooted to the edge of his seat. Then he slouched back and just stared at his father, who did not look the least impressed with his son’s acting abilities. Ah, well, them’s the breaks. Alex would definitely not mention his father in his Oscar speech.

“In my defense,” Alex continued, “my original idea was to steal the car.”

There was a long silence.

He looked at both his father and Jeeves. “What? It would have been much more impressive, is all I’m saying.”

“By all means, what stopped you from pursuing that grand plan?” his father finally asked in