The Heart to Help

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Colin tried very hard not to let the thought of Grady James ruin his day, but the effort was doomed to failure. The thought of Grady James had already ruined his month, and meeting the man did nothing to assuage his worst fears and suspicions. He replayed the night over in his head, picking through every exchange, adding the bits and pieces Gwen had told him about after he left. He should have been concentrating on his computer systems lecture, but the professor’s words made no sense to him. He was too distracted to make sense of the three hour lecture, which wouldn’t have been so bad if he could make sense of Grady James. Unfortunately, understanding eluded him.

After computer systems, he had an hour with his software engineering lab. It was harder to be distracted and short-tempered in a group of six, and he forced himself to smile and participate, relieved that none of his lab partners knew him well enough to see through the façade. Gwen would have spotted something wrong in a second. Elaine had asked him if he was all right almost immediately after he sat down to breakfast, and even Noelle had picked up on his sour mood. Of course, Elaine wouldn’t understand why Grady had upset him. She had talked about Oliver’s charming, handsome, wonderful son all the way home, excited about what that meant for the charity.

Colin didn’t have the heart to tell her what it probably meant. Over the years since Elaine adopted Noelle, she’d formed very tight bonds with the organization. Both she and Colin viewed the small office as a second family. Gwen was more like his sister than his boss, and he intensely admired her spirit, her work ethic, and her ability to makes funds stretch further than they had any right to. Dorothy James had founded the Heart to Help charity with a portion of the Dorothy James Foundation back when fetal alcohol syndrome barely had a name. It had been her pet project, and after she died, Oliver hadn’t been interested in taking a similar hands-on approach. The organization had languished, a forgotten corner in the vast James Empire.

And then Gwen had been hired. She was the one who had reached out to the community. She was the one who worked tirelessly to help the families who’d been struggling on their own. It was her leadership and dedication that had taken the charity from one of the smallest in the Foundation to close to the top, in terms of donations and community response. Colin had been excited by her passion when they first met, and though he’d only been sixteen at the time, he knew where he wanted to be. Where he belonged.

Now the charity was finally large enough and important enough to attract Oliver’s attention. Oliver’s mother had been most interested in using her family’s great wealth to help those less fortunate. She’d been a tireless philanthropist, and she bettered lives across the country. Oliver James, on the other hand, cared only about one thing. He might not have been able to turn a profit off the Foundation directly, but that was a minor inconvenience for a man like him. What he couldn’t convert into physical wealth, he exploited for prestige and positive publicity.

What better way to put his indelible mark on the charity than to send his only son to take over?

It wasn’t fair. Gwen deserved better than that. They all deserved better than that. Grady clearly had no idea what she was doing, had no idea how she ran things. That was obvious from the way he’d reacted to learning that Colin helped people with troubleshooting. He made sure the office ran smoothly, that none of the volunteers ever struggled with the technology there to help. When the computers worked and the printers hummed along merrily, he saw to the other mundane jobs that nobody wanted or could make time to do, but needed to be done. That’s what happened when they were forced to operate with a skeleton crew.

If Oliver really wanted to help them, he’d release more funds from the Foundation instead of treating them like they were a particularly under-performing mom-and-pop operation he’d snapped up along the way. But why bother doing that when he could just send Grady to mold them properly in the James Corporation image?

Colin had a pretty long list of grievances against Oliver, and some of them had nothing to do with the Foundation at all. His business practices were not eco-friendly or sustainable. His record on basic human rights was downright disgraceful, and there was more than one sweatshop in the empire. He hoped he never actually met Oliver James. If he did, the man would probably have him arrested within five minutes.

Based on his meeting with Grady, he couldn’t say that he had high hopes for the apple falling from the tree. He still couldn’t believe that Grady had purposefully caught Gwen flat-footed, and on top of that, he couldn’t even be bothered to arrive early enough to listen to the whole concert. And then, when Colin honestly didn’t think he could dislike Grady more, the other man had flirted with him. Like this was all a joke, and maybe if Grady flashed his smile with the extra dimples, Colin would forget what this was all about.

The comment about meeting everybody in comfortable surroundings still put Colin’s teeth on edge. Of course, Grady James would be most comfortable in at black-tie affair that he’d had absolutely no hand in planning. Of course, Grady James would be most comfortable mingling with people who could buy and sell Colin’s family a thousand times over, but couldn’t quite bring themselves to be generous with a charity for something as unglamorous as fetal alcohol syndrome. Of course, Grady James would think they were all there to have fun and mingle, and he wouldn’t realize for a second that Gwen hadn’t slept in at least two days, and Colin was basically running on too much Red Bull and Doritos.

Colin didn’t linger after the lab finished. He passed through the student union to buy a very large cup of iced coffee and a sandwich. He downed half the coffee in one swallow and didn’t take the time to properly chew his sandwich as he sprinted across the quad. He had just enough time to turn in his assignment (technically late but Dr. Winston never checked his box before three anyway) before cycling the ten blocks to the office. He volunteered there for a few hours every afternoon. Well, he did. Now he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Maybe Grady would fire them all and start over with a group of expertly trained professionals who understood charities weren’t really there to help people.

They operated on the fourth floor of an eight floor building that also included two temp offices and the headquarters of an online university. Colin nodded at the familiar faces huddled around the door. He knew what time they took their smoke breaks and their brands, but he never caught their names. They nodded back, a middle-aged man kindly offering him a cigarette. He did that every day, even though Colin always smiled and shook his head.

Colin’s heart was pounding as he pulled his bike into the elevator. The ride from ground level to the fourth floor was far too short. It barely gave him any time at all to catch his breath, wipe the sweat from his forehead, and remind himself that Grady James was human like the rest of them—but he still needed to be treated with a certain level of respect that hadn’t been present the night before. Colin wanted to do better. He did. It was just that he hated Grady James and everything he stood for.

Laughter he really wished he didn’t already recognize greeted him when the elevator doors slid open. His jaw tensed before he could stop it. He had to consciously take a deep breath and will himself to relax, or all his good intentions would be for naught.

Grady stood inside the nearest cubicle, one broad shoulder leaning against the wall, arms folded over his chest to stretch the navy sweater he wore across his back. He smiled down at Georgia, the office’s part-time receptionist, like she’d just said the cleverest thing he’d ever heard.

Colin frowned. Georgia was a sweet girl, and competent enough at her job, but when it came down to it, she was the perfect example for why blonde jokes existed in the first place. Plus, she was female. That was as far from Grady James’s type as it was possible to get, if the tabloids were anything to go by. What was he playing at?

“Hi, Col,” Georgia said brightly. She gestured at Grady at the same time he straightened away from the wall and turned toward the elevator. “Guess who started today?”

Gwen had been preparing the office for Grady’s arrival for the past week, so of course Georgia announced it like a surprise.

“And already working hard, I see.”

“It’s better than hardly working.” Though Georgia giggled like it was the funniest thing in the world, Grady stepped away from her cubicle and closer to Colin until only his bike separated them. “Actually, I’ve been waiting for you. Gwen told me when you usually check in, so I thought I’d hang out here with Georgia just in case we missed each other.”

“God, what a tragedy that would be. Georgia, did Ross Pines ever call me back?”

“Yes, he left a message and told me to tell you that he’d email you.”

“Thanks.” He looked back to Grady and gestured toward his cubicle. “I’m going to put my bike away and hit the restroom. If you don’t mind waiting a few minutes.”

“Nah. A few more minutes won’t make a difference.”

Colin smiled as nicely as he could and walked very calmly to his cubicle, where he deposited his bike as promised. He crossed the room as though heading for the restroom, but diverted just before the door and slipped farther down the corridor to Gwen’s office.

“Why was Grady waiting for me at the door,” Colin said, quickly shutting the door behind him. “Is there anything I should know? How has the day gone?”

Gwen finished typing something before turning away from her computer. “Better than I thought it would, actually.” She looked tired, and several curls had slipped out of her silver hair clip to fall against her cheek, but the small smile she offered seemed genuine. “He hasn’t done very much. Just followed me around a lot and listened to me explain how things run. Oh, and he went around and introduced himself to everybody again after I did it the first time. I heard him talking to Richard for half an hour this morning.”

“Talking to him about what? Like in a gathering information kind of way? I need to know if I should be prepared for the third degree.”

“No, they were chatting about drug protocols, if you can believe it. Well, I think Richard did most of the talking. He doesn’t get a captive audience very often.”

Colin wasn’t convinced. After all, Oliver hadn’t sent his son to chat up the staff. He was either gathering information or lulling everybody into a false sense of security—or both. “Are you sure you don’t know what he wants? This will be easier for me if there aren’t any surprises.”

“I honestly don’t know,” Gwen said. “He asked me at lunch when you got in, so I told him. You said he was waiting for you at the door?”

“Yes, I told him I had to piss. Not in so many words.” Colin grimaced. “So I guess he’s still waiting for me there and I better get back to him.”

“You better,” Gwen agreed dryly.

Colin wiped his clammy hands against his thighs and squared his shoulders. Grady was still right where Colin had left him, dazzling Georgia with his thousand-watt smile. Oily. Colin could imagine Grady on a used car lot. He’d have to be careful, because he knew damned well he wasn’t immune to pretty smiles.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” And now Colin actually did have to go to the bathroom, but he ignored the twinge in his bladder.

“Not a problem.” When Colin moved toward his cubicle, however, Grady caught his arm. “Actually, do you mind if we take this to my office?”

Grady’s office had been until very recently Rachael’s office. She took over the cubicle next to Colin’s the Friday before. A whole three months after she’d been hired on full time and promoted to the office. Colin had no choice but to follow Grady inside. He hovered, indecisive, until Grady gestured at the chair closest to the desk, of course.

“So how’s your first day going?” Colin asked brightly, hoping he sounded like he really cared.

“Good, good.” Grady surprised him by pulling the other chair from around the desk to sit opposite him. Their knees almost touched from how closely Grady positioned it, but he didn’t seem to notice. “You guys have some great energy here. Way different than what I was used to back in New York.”

Colin supposed that was meant as a compliment. “Well, you didn’t have Gwen back in New York.”

“No, I can honestly say there’s nobody like Gwen there.” His head tilted, in that curious c*****g gesture Colin was coming to recognize. “You two are really close, aren’t you?”

“She was there for me during some really rough times,” Colin answered, pitching his voice so Grady would understand that wasn’t an invitation to pursue that line of conversation.

“Yeah, she seems like the type. And she thinks the world of you, that much is obvious.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, his steady blue gaze fixed on Colin. His blond hair was more casual today, slightly mussed across his wide brow, but Colin would bet that was just as deliberate a look as the perfectly tailored black suit he’d worn to the concert. “Listen, we got off on the wrong foot last night. I know that, and I’m pretty sure you know that, too. I’d like for us to start over, if we could. Accept that maybe neither one of us was at his best last night, and move on.”

“Wait, is that supposed to be an apology?”

“An apology?” Grady straightened with a frown. “That wasn’t exactly what I meant.”

“What exactly did you mean then?” Colin personally thought Grady should apologize. He crashed the party, adding a huge amount of stress to an already exhausting night, implied Gwen was crass enough to serve champagne at the event, and then tried to flirt in a very inappropriate way. Plus, he completely won over Elaine, and that meant his house was now effectively divided into two factions.

“I meant that I hoped we could put last night behind us. I reacted badly when you refused to accept a simple compliment, and things never really improved after that.”

“I reacted badly because you had no idea what you were talking about. But that didn’t stop you from voicing your opinion.”

“What’re you talking about? The way Gwen talks, you’re some kind of tech wizard. How was I out of line complimenting your skills?”

“Because somebody has to do that work. There’s not a hierarchy where one job is more…special than the others. Besides, you complimented me seconds after you learned my name. You literally know nothing about me, and you probably don’t care, it’s just part of your…shtick.”

“My…shtick.” Grady pursed his mouth, eyes narrowing in assessment. For the first time, Colin felt like he might be seeing beneath the charming façade Grady had been presenting since swaggering into the theater. “And you’re an expert on my…shtick, is that it?”

Colin tensed, realizing he might just have crossed over a line he should’ve been paying attention to. And there really wasn’t any graceful way to save the situation. “It’s just sales, isn’t it?”

“So, according to that logic, I was just trying to…sell you something last night. That’s what you’re telling me.”

Colin shrugged. How was he supposed to know? “Maybe you’re always trying to sell somebody on something.”

With a soft snort, Grady shook his head. “You really don’t like me.”

“Does it matter if I do?”

“Not if I actually did something to deserve it. But you had a problem with me from the start. I want to know why.”

Colin couldn’t very well give Grady the litany of reasons. Even if he only volunteered at the charity, Grady was his boss now. And his mother had raised him better than that. Of course, Grady still hadn’t acknowledged that he’d done anything wrong or the general—correct—point Colin had made about him being insincere.

“Perhaps I was too hasty to judge you.”

“You think?” The moment the words escaped Grady’s mouth, he grimaced. “Sorry. That was uncalled for. I’ve just been wracking my brain since last night, trying to figure out what I did to piss you off.”

“Yes, well, just misunderstandings all around. Do you mind if I get back to work? There’s always a ton of data entry to do after an event.”

“Oh, sure, I didn’t mean to put you behind or anything.” They rose at the same time, but Grady reached the closed door first. His hand on the knob blocked Colin’s way. “Will you let me make last night up to you, at least?”

He wouldn’t even let Colin make a graceful and swift exit. “Make it up to me how?”

“Dinner. Your choice of restaurant.” The smile was back, a less dazzling one than what he’d bestowed upon Georgia, but sweetly charming all the same. Colin wondered if he had them catalogued according to what would work on whom. “Please.”

Colin stopped himself from physically recoiling at the thought of being stuck with Grady James, all night, with no immediate avenues of escape. He didn’t think he could take a whole night of sugar-sweet smiles and smarmy compliments designed to charm Colin into the palm of his hand. Plus, was that a date? It seemed awfully presumptuous of Grady to think Colin would want to go to dinner with another man.

Elaine’s training took over, and instead of shouting no and fleeing, he tried to smile. “Thank you for the invitation, but I can’t.”

“Because of your schoolwork? It doesn’t have to be tonight. In fact, tonight’s probably bad anyway, since I promised Gwen I’d review all the files she gave me.” His head ducked, almost sheepishly. “The last thing I need is to fall behind before I’ve even started. And I spent too much time today trying to get to know everybody, so it’s all my own fault for having so much homework now, I guess.”

“I can’t any night.” Colin was glad that was the actual, verifiable truth instead of just a line to blow Grady off. Elaine would probably read him the riot act if she knew what he was doing, but fortunately, she never would. “Not because of school. I have other obligations.”

“What kind of obligations? Another job?”

Colin could have told him. It wasn’t any kind of secret. Everybody in the office knew why he had to leave no later than six every night. But Colin couldn’t think of a single reason why he should, or why Grady thought he could press for more details. “That’s not really any of your business, is it?”

The question hung between them for several, very pregnant moments. The smile on Grady’s face faded, though it didn’t completely disappear, his gaze unwavering. When he finally moved, it was to open the door for Colin, then stepping clear to give him room to leave.

“I really am looking forward to working with you here,” he said, holding his hand out for Colin to shake. “And if you ever change your mind about me making it up to you, or if you come up with some other way I can do it, please, let me know.”

“Great. I’m looking forward to it, too.”

Colin nearly ran back to the safety of his own cubicle. Pretty much nothing of what just happened made any sense to him at all. He could only hope that spelled the end of his alone time with Grady. They would be seeing a lot of each other, and Colin could learn to live with that, but it would be much easier all around if they just saw each other from a distance. He just hoped he wouldn’t spend every day for the rest of the year fending off dinner invitations.