The CEO’s Bad Boy

Chapter 3 :)

To say Ash was exhausted would be an understatement. He’d been awake since 4 a.m.; it had taken him fifteen minutes to get out of bed, then another fifteen to freshen up, get some coffee and sneak out of the house without waking anyone up. He had spent the first six hours of his day selling them. However, the places he had gone had been different.

He no longer met his clients in dingy alleys or the slums of the town. The list of numbers he had received had all given him addresses to the higher end of the city and the drugs, too. He knew in his pocket was m*******a and something else. Something a lot stronger, but he decided he would not question it. The less he knew, the better.

He got home around noon, and to his chagrin, Lucky was already awake. He was the one he had tried to avoid the most. He had been coming down the stairs as he had entered through the door, his hair pulled back from his face with a hair tie, his glasses in his hand, and he rubbed his eyes. “Ash?” he asked. “Why are you awake so early?”

“I had some errands to run before we went to buy the paint.”

Lucky put his glasses back on and narrowed his eyes, but he said nothing. They went through the sliding doors to the right of the double doors and into the living room, where he slumped onto the couch. Liv came in, and she scowled at him but said nothing. She sat next to him on the couch, adjusting her belt wrapped around her waist, ruining the design of her oversized graphic t-shirt, which had another tarot card, the sun.

“We’re all dressed,” Lucky said. “We’re just waiting for Dai, and then we’ll pick up the paint and other stuff needed.”

Dai came down the stairs a couple of minutes later, and his eyes landed on Lucky before he smiled. They left the house, and Olivia decided it was best if she drove. After buying everything needed, they decided to stop through a Starbucks drive-thru, and Lucky decided they should grab their mother a coffee too and could visit her at work.

As Olivia pulled into the car park of the tall building, Ash stared at it out of the window. The sleek white brick contrasted the black doors and windows; it was a very boxy building with multiple floor-to-ceiling windows, letting in light. As they went inside, they stared in awe. To the right, there appeared to be an open-concept floor plan, which led to the cafe area, while the left was closed with a wall and a set of double doors.

Despite their mother having worked here for almost four years, they had never visited her at work before. The floor was sparkly clean, allowing Ash to see his reflection in the white marble. The walls were also white, with black furniture. He spotted the reception and walked over, smiling at the woman.

She looked up and politely smiled. “Hi, how may I help you?”

“We’re here to see our mother,” he said, staring at her as she narrowed her eyes on Dai and Liv.

She looked down at her screen before looking back up. “Who is your mother?”

“Cecilia Saunders?”

“How many of you are there?”

“Just me, my sister, my brother and Dai.”

“Cecilia only has three kids, and she’s white,” she deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ash blinked a couple of times as he looked over at Dai and then Liv before staring back at her. “Have you not heard of adoption? Just give me the f*****g passes.”

Another one of her coworkers rushed over, pushing the other lady towards the door at the back. “Hello, I am so sorry about her; please forgive her. She’s just a bit-”

“Racist?” he deadpanned.

The lady, Ash, looked at her nametag; Katherine looked at him, smiling apologetically. “I know, she’s a bit of a b***h, if I’m being honest with you. I’ve been meaning to speak to the boss about her. Did you say you were Cece’s kids?”

He nodded, staring at her warily. She had pale skin, long dark hair and brown eyes rimmed with eyeliner.

She looked up at him, her eyes trailing down before she locked eyes with him. “How old are you?”

“Twenty..”

She nodded as she typed away on her computer. Before reaching to the side, she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something down before handing him the paper and four passes. “Call me. Cecilia is on the fourth floor. Please always keep those badges visible,” she said, smiling.

Ash grinned as he walked over to the others, who stared at him as he waved the passes and discreetly stuck the paper in his pocket. He would one hundred per cent be calling her. They went to the elevators, which were located behind the double doors. And to the third floor.

It was the same upstairs, a small seating area consisting of black furniture, white marble flooring, pale white walls, and a black and white chandelier in the middle. They walked down the hallway until they found a door with their mother's name on it. They went in, and she looked up in surprise.

“What are you all doing here?”

Liv smiled as she took the coffee over to her. “We thought we could bring you coffee. You look f*****g awful.”

“Yeah,” Lucky said, smiling softly. “You should get some sleep and not drink coffee like it’s water.”

Cece waved her hand in front of her before taking a large sip of the drink. “I’ll be fine. There’s just a lot on my plate and-”

A knock on the door interrupted them; they turned to stare at a woman. She appeared to have an afro blowout, and her dark skin contrasted with her pale blue suit. She smiled warmly at them all. “Hi, Cece. I’m sorry I didn’t know your kids were visiting, but Mr Tomas needs those files and wants you to know the meeting has been moved up; it’s not tomorrow; it’s in five minutes.”

Cece gave Liv the files, who stared at them before awkwardly handing them to the woman. She smiled, waving a little as she left. “Bye, Miss Fae,” their mother grumbled as she slumped into her chair. “I love you all so much, and thank you for the coffee, but go home.”

Dai was about to say something, but Lucky grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room. Liv and Ash followed behind, but not before Ash stared at his mother’s exhausted figure one last time.

“She’s overworking herself,” he deadpanned as they waited for the elevator.

“No, s**t. We should do something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, implement protocol C?” Ash asked. Lucky’s eyes widened as he whacked him on his arm.

“No. C is too extreme. We could go for D?”

Liv snorted. “D is not extreme enough. I say we go for F.”

“Which one is F?” Lucky asked as they all stepped inside when the door opened.

“The one where we, yano,” Liv said, shrugging a little before she made a hand gesture.

“Oh! No,” he said.

“You’re all f*****g morons,” Dai deadpanned. “She’s an attorney; being stressed comes with the job. She’ll be fine. And if we do need to implement a protocol, we’ll just do X. It’s the simplest, and she needs sleep, and X is the easiest one to do.”

As they stepped out, they heard the chatter; people were rushing about, men and women in suits, holding folders, and others talking to people through their earpieces. Ash’s eyes landed on someone, his broad back and the back of his blonde hair, and that man seemed to be at the centre of the chaos. But Olivia dragged him out before he could stroll over to see the fuss.

Outside, Olivia and Lucky got distracted by the gardening store across the street, and they claimed they had to go there now, as it was a matter of life and death. Ash and Dai knew the day would be wasted if they went there, so they promised they would return tomorrow. Liv had threatened them, and this time, of course, Lucky didn’t scold her.

In the car, they planned who would be doing what to cover more ground. The entire house had been plastered, so it was a matter of painting it over a couple of times and adding wallpaper now. Ash would be doing the entryway, Liv and Lucky would work on the hallway downstairs, and Dai would work on their mother’s office and the guest bedroom.

And so, they got to work when they got home and had all the equipment needed.

~*~