Chapter 2: Chapter 2
“Talk to the board, see what they need from you,” Taisha said after a moment. “They have to be satisfied it’s a real marriage and ratify it with Mitcham.”
Ted felt sick. “Real marriage? What does that mean?”
“As in, you legally wed yourself and really intend to live with this person and make a family.”
“I don’t want kids.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“They’re sticky all the time.”
“A family of two, then,” she said, quiet and careful, as if talking to a child. She repeated, “Talk to the Kinneys.”
The board. Of course, Race couldn’t just make it easy. Of course he had to go all Bible Belt. The Kinneys, one of whom was the chairman, were right-leaning, like most rich assholes, and that wouldn’t bode well even if Ted already had someone lined up to marry.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Sorry. Sorry, not your fault, Taisha. Thanks for checking it out. Just—keep looking, okay? Any loophole that might give us a shortcut, we take it.”
“We will.”
When Ted hung up, he collapsed into his desk until his forehead hit it, then stayed there. The clock in the corner ticked irritatingly—it had been given to him by a Chinese supplier who sold the steel MAC Superior used to make their rebar. Ted had brokered a new, extremely lucrative deal between MAC, the supplier, and a local factory to up their supply. Ted had brokered a lot of tricky shit in the three years since he’d gotten out of business school and taken up his place at MAC, at his father’s invitation.
And this was how the old bastard repaid him. Why couldn’t Wally be the one to carry on the family name, and Ted be the one to carry on the family business? Hell, Wally probably had a few kids already, scattered all over the country.
“Ted?” a quiet voice came from the doorway.
Ted looked up and tried to smile at Echo. They were a great assistant—a genius in their own right—and he didn’t want to take his father’s shit out on them. “I like the suit,” he told them.
They smiled, a sweet expression on a heart-shaped face. “Thanks. There’s a Ryan Costa here for you?”
Ted sat up straighter. “Send him in. Thanks.”
They nodded and ducked back out, and Ted ran a hand through his hair. It had flipped over when he’d face planted, and he must look like a total idiot. Not that Ryan would care—it was just Ryan—but it was still annoying. Ted might be a hot mess, but he’d be damned if he’d look like one.
“Teddy,” said a familiar voice, just before a familiar face popped through the doorway. Brown-skinned, freckled, with bright, honey-colored eyes and wild curly hair that stood straight up, Ryan looked…good. Ted remembered him from high school as an irritatingly popular kid, devastatingly attractive in a teenage way. Only the word “teenage” had changed.
“Come in.” Ted stood and beckoned. “What can I do for you?”
“Oh, no, man, nothing like that.” Ryan came in and held out a hand.
Ted took it, making a face at him. “Then…?”
Ryan pulled him into a one-armed hug. Ted huffed in surprise but leaned into it after a moment. He patted Ryan’s back and hoped it didn’t seem awkward.
“Been trying to get in to see you since I heard the old man died.” Ryan gave him another squeeze. He smelled of shaving cream. The skin of his cheek was baby-soft against Ted’s.
Ted cleared his throat and pulled back, straightening his jacket. “Right. Well, it wasn’t exactly a surprise.”
Ryan cocked his head and looked Ted in the eye.
Ted’s belly did a backflip. Probably last night’s whiskey coming back to haunt him. Couldn’t be the effect of those piercing eyes. Surely not.
“I know things were never great between you and him,” Ryan said, words slow and careful, as if he thought Ted breakable. “But he was still your dad. If you need anything, I’m here, man.”
“Appreciated.” It was cold, too curt, but it was already out by the time Ted realized. He cleared his throat again, turned away and back to the desk.
“When my dad died it was hell, but I mean, he wasn’t Race MacTaggart, either, so…” Ryan followed and settled into a chair on the other side of Ted’s desk.
Ted barely repressed his irritation. Didn’t Ryan have work to do? He’d only been working at MAC for three months; surely, he had a director to impress, or something. Then again, Ryan had apparently already impressed the pants off everyone in Marketing so maybe not.
Dammit.
Ted sat in his own chair slowly, carefully, and tried to compose his expression. Tried to find that numbness that had gotten him through so far. “We weren’t close, no. But he still had some very specific ideas about who he wanted to inherit his empire. And it wasn’t me.”
Ryan shook his head. “He didn’t leave it to Wally. No way.” It wasn’t even a question.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone