FALLING HARD SERIES (4 stories)

CHAPTER FOUR: ONE IN A MILLION

This was not happening to him, not after all the s**t that Oden had been through in his life, he could not believe that he was estranged from his wife for real.

Anger and irritation were starting to fade, only to be replaced by insecurity and sorrow. While Oden had assumed that his wife’s tantrum was only transient, her persistent silence after eight days indicated otherwise.

As he stared out of his office window exposing one of the busiest streets in New York, he was completely unfocused on his latest case as his mind pondered over the possibility of having failed his wife. Oden was trying hard to figure out what could have been the triggering factor to have incited Ash to walk out on him. The not knowing was driving him mad.

He could only remember that her mood had been off because his in-laws had paid her a visit the day before, and he’d cast it aside knowing that meeting her parents always exasperated her.

Otherwise, they had dined together on Thursday, his attention had been completely distracted with the case and frankly he’d appreciated the lack of conversation that night. It was only the next day after work that she’d dropped the bombshell completely catching him unaware.

“Have you heard the news?” a harsh male voice sounded behind him, jerking him out of his thoughts. “I knew that witch was up to something,”

Devon Mahoney. He’d probably gotten acquainted with the latest news about Keith Bennett becoming the new CEO of Silver Star industries SSI, which would make Devon in a terrible position about the takeover.

And the witch he was referring to was unequivocally Krystal Bennett who had dared refused his settlement in the first place.

“Keith becoming the new CEO weakens our position of bargaining. We both know he has the cash to inject in his father’s company and you don’t have leverage anymore,” Oden replied cutting straight to the point.

“That is where you’re wrong, my friend,” Devon replied despotically, throwing a file on the table.

Sighing with fatigue, Oden turned towards the neat looking file, almost dreading its contents. For the thing with Devon Mahoney was that he enjoyed the chase more than reaping the fruit of his efforts. Oden knew his friend well enough to accept the fact that the latter wanted Silver Star Industries because fighting for the company excited him more than acquiring it.

“Let me guess,” he mocked lightly. “We are suing them for using the white knight defense strategy?”

“Of course not! They’re completely legal,” the angry note in his voice designated a vivid depiction of his state of mind for Devon Mahoney rarely lost his cool.

Resisting the urge to sigh again, Oden opened the file and snapped it shut instantly. He’d seen enough of that kind of document to know what it was. The scoundrel has been buying shares of the Silver and Star industries on the open market.

“You’re playing dirty.”

Devon only shrugged with his trademark insouciance, his large shoulders barely lifting at the lithe movement. “When have you ever known me to play fair? I refuse to let that paragon of virtue have the last word.”

Oden knew that when his friend was in that kind of mood, it was better to let him steam. Spoilt beyond words, Devon always knew how to get his way, and he never hesitated to achieve his target whether it was by hook or by crook.

“How much?” Oden eventually asked, referring to the percentage of shares he’d acquire so far.

“Not enough,” came the nonchalant reply, and Oden guessed another dirty trick was just around the corner.

There was rarely anyone who defied his Majesty, Krystal Bennett being the only woman to have done so. They hated each other since high school, and Oden could attest to that fact since he’d known them both back then. Although Krystal had been younger, Devon, Keith and himself had been in the same class.

Come to think of it, Krystal was the second woman to have resisted his friend’s duplicitous charm, the first one being Ashleigh herself.

Involuntarily, he found himself taken back two years ago when they’d been in the same room at exactly the same position discussing a new legislation when Ashleigh had arrived with his coffee.

It had been almost a week since their little coffee-pretzel game and Oden found himself enjoying every moment he was spending in her company. It had been quite a surprise to discover that Ashleigh wanted to know him as a person, all the other staff of Taylor Hudson considered him to be Deborah’s stooge and therefore avoided mingling with him.

At first, it had been just a convenient arrangement but after getting to know her better, Oden found that he genuinely liked her. As a person.

There hadn’t been anything else on his mind until now. Until he caught sight of Devon’s predatory gleam on her, the appreciative male appraisal too flagrant to miss.

A wave of protectiveness swamped over him, catching him unaware with the intensity of the emotion. In that instant, he had the decadent feeling that she belonged to him and no one had the right to ogle her in such an insulting way.

Too busy with controlling his unwarranted jealousy, he missed intervening when Devon flashed her a charming smile, asking her politely to bring him a cup too.

Opening her mouth to protest most probably, Ash threw a glance in his direction before snapping her jaw shut, retreating without a word of protest.

Ruffled, Oden realized that he didn’t want her to bring Devon her special coffee. He would have stood up for her if she hadn’t left so hurriedly, most probably not daring to refuse Devon since everyone in the office knew he was among their most prestigious clients. Hell, his whole family consulted with Taylor Hudson, but Oden still felt bad for putting her in that quandary.

“Where did you find her?” Devon whispered dramatically once she was out of earshot, like he was sharing a huge secret with him. “I need to get a model of that kind in my office too. She’s a knockout.”

Coming from Devon, the statement was not disrespectful – Oden had heard worse misogynistic comments from him, much much worse. The problem was that he’d never reacted so violently to any of his preposterous remarks before.

Now, he had to clench his fingers tightly, pretending to take a sip of his coffee to prevent himself from pumping his fist into his friend’s handsome face.

Completely clueless to Oden’s repressed fury, Devon went on relentlessly. “And that coffee smells heavenly. Maybe I should hire her to replace my coffee machine?”

As timing went, this one totally sucked because Ash chose that particular moment to make another appearance in his office, her furious expression attesting to the fact that she’d heard his disparaging remark.

As she placed the coffee cup on the desk, Oden felt his spirits immediately uplifted as the lack of aroma indicated that she’d brought him coffee from the machine instead of Mr. Rashid’s coffee blend. He was addicted enough to know the difference at first sniff.

Elated beyond words, he winked at her conspiratorially showing that he’d understood her subterfuge, and watched her lips subtly twitch in response. Oden felt his heart burst with complacency as they shared that intimate moment, allowing a sense of connection to Ashleigh, a kinship he’d never felt with a stranger before.

Somebody was in for a nice surprise.

“Thank you,” Devon was saying gleefully before blowing over the rim of the cup, eagerly anticipating his first sip.

And they were not disappointed. At the first taste, he all but spat the liquid out with a grimace so childish that Oden enjoyed every second of it although he was careful not show his glee. If there was anything which rattled Devon even more than being rebuffed was being made fun of.

“What happened Mr. Mahoney?” Ash asked oh-so innocently, another point going in her favor as she addressed him formally to create a bridge between them. Oden felt his chest puff as he was inordinately proud of the way she was defending herself. From what he had gathered during their pretzel breaks, Ash was extremely unsure of herself due to her overbearing parents.

Devon lifted his nose suspiciously, looking at Oden’s cup with fierce concentration, as if he was debating with himself whether to pounce on it if only to cross check.

“Is the coffee up to the mark?” the question was uttered with such innocuousness that Oden had a moment of doubt determining the authenticity of the inquiry was it not for the sparkle of mischief he caught in her eyes.

Poor unsuspecting Devon swallowed the rancid liquid with a loud gulp, wearing a polite smile with his usual brash attitude queerly tamed. “Uhhh yes yes. it’s very nice,” he stammered, lacking the usual poise he naturally exhibited.

Behaving like a complete bimbo, Ash let out a blatant loud sigh of relief, as she giggled like a foolish schoolgirl, feigning pleasure at his compliment.

“Thank you so much! I’ll leave you to it then, gentlemen,” she announced in the air, but not before sending a look of pure mischief in his direction just outside the door.

Hell, if that didn’t turn him on like wildfire spreading through his veins with no relinquish.

Clearing his throat, he offered a bland look in his friend’s direction to hide his situation, before driving the conversation back to business, unable to stop his mind from wandering in the direction of that little minx.

His client seemed to have completely forgotten about Ash which pleased him immensely, as they engrossed themselves in the intricate business minutiae. After a few hours of debate, they managed to come to a consensus, and Devon stood up stretching his arms with a wide yawn.

“Sorry, couldn’t sleep a wink at all last night,” he winked at Oden with the connotation blatantly clear. “I think I’m scoring tonight also. By the way what’s her name?”

“Who? The coffee girl?” Oden answered feigning nonchalance while a lava started to boil inside his chest. Why couldn’t Mahoney do his gallivanting somewhere else? “I don’t know. Susan something,” he replied offhandedly, while inwardly trying to resist killing his friend as decadent rage filled him at the thought of them together.

Ash and Devon.

Was it possible for him to develop Neanderthal instincts over a woman? He’d dated quite a few beauties in the past, and their exchanges had always been cordial at most, only to satisfy a mutual desire, nothing substantial.

The mere thought of them ‘scoring’ rendered him sick to the stomach, the impulse to retch intensifying when Devon made his way to her desk, most probably to ask her for a date.

Like an anxious child spying a confrontation between his parents, he stood on tiptoe in front of his office door, where he could see Ash’s reaction, so engrossed that he completely missed the baffled expression of Judith, his secretary.

When Ash looked completely pissed off at Devon’s intervention, Oden felt like somebody had breathed life inside his chest, and could have danced when Devon walked away with a displeased frown plastered all over his face.

Somebody had just gotten curved.

The satisfaction which settled inside him should have triggered a warning then, but he was too busy basking in the intensity of the emotion to worry about anything else. That was the blunder he often committed – focus on something other than the main hurdle.

Like now, he was also repeating the same mistake. Too busy wondering how that could have happened to him instead of finding out the ‘why’.

The only main difference was that while back then he’d been uncertain of the way she made him feel, back in the present he was affirmative about his feelings for her. He loved her passionately and that was that. But he also hated her for making him doubt himself, he had the uncanny feeling that this would change him in a way he never wanted to be challenged, a place he never wanted to go.

As he struggled to remember the course of the conversation, Oden frowned at his friend who seemed also lost in his own thoughts, but whose sparkling right eye reflected a calculated gleam, one Oden was too familiar with. He’d experienced those looks enough over the years to predict that nothing good was coming out of his latest idea.

That look meant trouble.

“Mahoney…,” he began worriedly. “I hope you’re not planning to hound your pathetic self on poor Krystal again?”

Although he never found out what had actually happened back in the days, he knew there was bad history between them – knew enough to remain unbiased since he was friend to both Devon and Keith.

Alarm settled inside him when Devon refrained from replying, his Machiavellian expression still unaltered in fierce concentration. Oden hissed with irritation, while connecting the dots inside his head. The latest strategy from Krystal had completely ousted Devon from his bargaining power and that fact was pissing him beyond measure. Which meant that the tycoon was going to attack with unjustified means.

“Listen, Mahoney,” Oden tried once again to rationalize his old friend, hoping that he could get to his friend’s better appeal before it was too late. “It’s their father’s company. Surely you would have…”

He was stopped by a hand raised in mid-way in imperious command, as the king he purported himself to be. “I know. I know. I would have done the same thing in their place. But I don’t want to see that woman gloating in my face. You know how much I hate her.”

Hate wasn’t the word Oden would use to describe Devon’s feelings for Krystal but he refrained from commenting, as he focused on the problem at hand. Devon would ineluctably loathe to accept defeat vis-à-vis his sworn enemy. It was no longer a business matter but a battle of wills, which Oden hated to be part of.

“You should really let this go,” he sighed heavily, closing his eyes to relieve himself of the pending headache he could foresee. Dealing with Devon did take a toll on him, but having to worry about his wife as well was driving him mad.

Still musing over whatever his devious mind was plotting, Devon finally snapped out of his reverie and focused on him. “I can’t believe you’re asking this of me. Besides, you represent me. You should be on my side!”

“I am!” Oden sighed in frustration, raking a hand through his hair to find a way to make that obdurate man understand. Maybe it was time to back off. “How about we settle instead?”

His delivered words had the effect of delivering a physical blow to the man sitting opposite him. Reacting aggressively to his suggestion, Devon stood up with more force than necessary, the Swivel office chair nearly dismantling at his abrupt movement.

“Over my dead body. I don’t care how you do it Oden. You need to find a way to give me upper hand on that case, else I will use my own tactics to ward them off. And while I will enjoy every single moment of ripping that woman shred by shred, I have no intention of locking horns with Keith!”

With that menace firmly stated, Devon left his office in abject fury, leaving Oden in an even worse mood than when he’d started.

It was truly a bad week. A week he’d spent in loneliness and misery. Which was ending on an even more sour note.

Sighing with frustration, he opened the file Devon had left behind to study this new element in his case, his mind inexorably wandering in the direction of his estranged wife once again.

It was futile trying to work when he would achieve nothing. Canceling his pending meetings for the week, he packed his laptop and did what he hadn’t done in five years. Took the day off.

If the whole office stared at him like he’d grown two heads as he sauntered towards the elevator, he didn’t even notice as his mind was already busy looking for a strategy to cajole his wife over the weekend.

Ashleigh was one in a million - there was no way he was letting her go.