The Game Of Love (#1)

Chapter-3 Richard Taylor

Richard can't say he hated his cousin brother, Damien Hamilton very much. No, he don't think he hate him at all especially when he clearly remembered how his uncle adored him. His untimely death was hard on Richard too. But he would admit, Damien gets on his nerves all the damn time. He was annoying to the point that it sometimes gave him consistent headaches. And though he knew that Damien did it on purpose to make Richard hate him, it didn't make him any easier to deal with. 

It was the way he always has been. Not always, the early-teens Damien was cheerful and kind and so full of life. It all changed after his father's death when his custody befell with his mother. That's when he changed for good. He was still cheerful but in a disgusting way. Still full of life, but that was restricted within the world that he has created around himself. A cage where nobody was allowed to enter. He loved to make people hate him with his egoistic, stoic, and downright selfish attitude. And to be honest it was not his fault. It was a long story that he didn't want to divulge at the moment. Especially when he was about to meet up with him in a few moments and also because he had found a much better pass time while he sat waiting.

 The pretty brunette behind the bar. Hazel. She has caught his eyes the very first time he came here to do an inspection, disguised just as a customer. Nobody here knew that he owned this place. He had sat there and watched while enjoying his drink as she playfully chatted with the other customers. There was something more about her apart from her beautiful face that has demanded his attention. Something sad and withdrawn and that has eventually prompted him to know more about her. A little background check had provided him well with the information he needed and it has just increased his interest in her even more. Not in the wrong way. Richard was not Damien, who toyed with women for his amusement and then left them broken. At least a few of them if not all. 

He had only a few relationships in his life and all of them pretty serious. He didn't randomly sleep with women and the number of hookups he had was not even ten percent of Damien's impressive record. Her full name was Hazel Connery, she was twenty-four years old and lived downtown with her best friend Madison Meare. She was all alone with no immediate family as of now. Her mother was in a coma for the past three years and Hazel worked all sorts of odd jobs to pay the bills. Her father left them when she was fifteen and a tragic accident has taken away the only family she had, her mother, leaving her alone to fend for both of them. Richard's heart has constricted after finding out all of that and his first instinct was to help her, protect her but, of course, it was only his desire. He couldn't just go out on a limb and offer her help out of nowhere. 

So he has been trying to come up with ways to get her to ease up to him. Her friend knew that he was interested and Richard suspected so did she but so far she seemed not the slightest interested in him which just made her all the more attractive. He wanted her bad but for the very first time, he didn't know how to approach her. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her in any way. 

"Sir," Richard reluctantly dragged his eyes away from her face and stood up as Damien approached him, the usual egoistic s**t-eating grin plastered on his handsome face. Richard reached over and hugged him. And there was no sense of brotherly affection in it as Damien hugged him back. 

"Brother," Damien smiled in the mocking tone that he uses for him and he nodded slightly, prompting him to take a seat.

"How's life?" He asked instead, as Damien's dark eyes assessed him as if he was something to eat up. He c****d his head to the side, another annoying habit of his, and smiled. 

"Smashing. As always. And I guess yours has been equally miserable? With the old hag around you all the f*****g time, anybody will be miserable," He answered, thoroughly enjoying his nonsense and trying his best to provoke him.

 But Richard was not the type to be provoked. He knew very well how to keep his cool. Especially with his brother. His eyes flitted automatically to the bar again as Hazel reappeared and he realized that for what he had in mind, this place after all wasn't a very good location. It was too distracting with her being right in front of him. 

"She is your aunt, Damien," He pointed out and Damien snorted. 

"She is my nothing," He answered, the intense emotions that his mother evokes in him becoming momentarily evident in his dark eyes. Richard couldn't blame him for his conduct wherever his mother was concerned so he decided it was best to ignore. 

"What would you like to drink?" He asked instead and Damien shrugged disinterestedly. "Moscow Mule for now," He replied and he nodded. 

Getting up, he slowly headed over to the bar, surprised as sudden excitement unfurled within him. Hazel was doing something with her eyes down and he took the moment to admire her, when she looked up it was evident that she was startled by his mere presence. How the hell was he going to move forward with her if she behaves this way? This was a problem Richard still hasn't come up with a solution for. 

"Hi there," He smiled warmly at her, and gathering herself quickly, Hazel smiled back at him. She has a beautiful smile too. But somewhat sad. 

"Hello sir," She muttered, her face impassive. "Can I take your order?" 

"Yeah...One Moscow Mule and one vodka and tonic with olives on the side," He replied. Hazel nodded and quickly fed the order on the computer.

 "Name?" She asked and he hesitated for a moment for no particular reason. 

"Richard Taylor," He answered at last. "The VIP booth," 

"Certainly," She muttered to herself and he stifled a smile. So she already knew. And she didn't seem pleased for some reason. "We will send your drink right away. Thank you so much,"

 "Thank you," Richard nodded and reluctantly dragged himself back to his booth. 

He halted as Damien smiled at him, sitting where he was a few moments ago, and patted the couch beside him. Richard didn't like this sudden friendly gesture of his and especially not the crappy grin but he sat down nevertheless and told him that the drinks will arrive momentarily.

 "Cool. So...you like her, don't you?" He asked and Richard froze, of course, didn't expecting this from him. He dragged his eyes to his face and Damien scoffed. 

"I am certainly a thousand times smarter than you in this department," He answered his unasked question. "Well, at least you are not gay. That's a relief," Richard made a face having no idea where he deduced that from and Damien smirked. 

"Pretty isn't she?" He murmured and Richard could sense his eyes on her. It irked him but then she was not his property that he can curb him from looking at her so he ignored Damien instead. "I most certainly have f****d her," Damien added and Richard sighed at his brother's lack of appropriate manners. 

"You have most probably f****d half of the United States, Damien," He muttered and smiled politely at the attractive waitress as she placed their drinks on the table. "If I start taking that into account I will end up single, don't you think?" Damien laughed out loud at his comment, throwing his head back and almost rolling over on the couch. 

"I will drink to that," He said, raising his drink in a toast and Richard gingerly clinked his glass with his, shaking his head in disdain. This guy will never change. He was a pure bastard at the very least. 

"Can we get down to business now?" Richard inquired. Not ten minutes with him and he was already exhausted out of his wits. The main topic was still not out on the table. 

"I know what you want, Richard," He said, sucking at an olive. Richard raised his brow at him and he shrugged. 

"That's a good thing. Then we can sort this easily," He said and Damien chuckled, sitting back and fixing him with a shrewd gaze. 

"You ain't getting it," He said plainly and Richard scowled at him. 

He knew this wasn't going to be easy. The deal was huge. Two hundred million dollars at the very least and Damien was in no way going to give that up. But he had a proposal and when he decided to meet him, he had everything sorted in his head. What to say, how to begin...down to the point. But it was difficult than he thought it would be. The insolence of this guy was wearing out his control and patience faster than he expected.

 "You haven't listened to me yet," Richard muttered and Damien eyed him in a I-don't-give-a-s**t-about-that way. "Did you really think I will give up a two hundred million dollar deal, that my company legitimately got?" Damien mocked and Richard shook his head. 

"First, I am not asking you to give anything up," He pointed, his voice hard. "I am proposing a collaboration and I will get down to that in a bit. Secondly, Damien Hamilton, let's not go into the legitimate details. Your manager met up with the bid director just a day before the bid. I wonder what could have been so important," Damien's face hardened at his words and Richard smirked. It never serves to overestimate oneself. Did he think Richard would ask for something so huge without doing his share of research? 

"Let's not go into details," He continued, finishing his drink. "I don't want you to give up on the deal. I want you to collaborate with me. Fifty-fifty expense. Fifty-fifty share. This is the easiest way to solve this otherwise brother, this could get downright nasty,"

 Damien stared at him long and hard and Richard didn't have an inkling of what he was thinking. Nobody in this world can ever know what Damien Hamilton was thinking until he chooses to reveal it himself. After a while of staring contest, he smirked at him.

 "Or, I have a much better idea," He said, lighting a cigarette. Richard frowned and he could feel that something was not right. He seemed too cool at the moment even after he threatened him. It was usually not a good sign. 

"And that would be?" He asked somberly. Damien grinned and turned his head briefly towards the bar.

 "I have a proposal that can serve you brilliantly, brother. If you play this the right way," He said, blowing the smoke.

 "Stop making puzzles, Damien," Richard grumbled, getting annoyed by the minute. "Spit the crap out," 

"Let's make this a bit fun, shall we? After all business deals are pretty damn boring, isn't it?" Damien smiled sweetly at him and he felt like he would really like to throw up. Damien smiling at him usually meant disaster. "Whoever of us can make her...the girl you can't keep your eyes away from, fall in love within three months, the deal will be theirs. And you have my word on that,"

 Richard blinked at him. He heard him right, didn't he? Did he just propose to use Hazel as a pawn for a two hundred million dollar deal? The woman he didn't even know. This was what he proposed, isn't it?

 "You are kidding me, right?" Richard hissed and Damien shook his head, making a cross over his chest.

 "I am perfectly serious," He answered. "Life is pretty boring, more so for you. And business deals are lame. If we can find an opportunity to make it more fun and invigorating, I don't see any harm in that. What do you say? If you agree, I will lay out the further rules," Richard stared at him and he couldn't believe that it took him all but less than five minutes to come with this s**t and even less time to gauge how he felt about her. As he stared at his brother, who was wearing a smug smile on his face, he couldn't help but think...

What in heaven's name was this guy made up of? 

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A/N: Hello my dear readers! Finally The Game Of Love is out here. It garnered a lot of love on the other platform, hoping the same for here too. To those who waited patiently for me, thank you so much guys! Just a little more wait before we can catch up quickly! Please do support this work as well and I hope you guys will like the story :) Patiently waiting to hear from you guys! 

Thank you so much :)