A Deal With The Billionaire

EPISODE SIXTY SIX

THEME: An Old Wound

CONNECTICUT, UNITED STATE OF AMERICA

CRAWFORD CORPORATION

Christopher had just clicked on the send button of his message. He had just texted Raven to inform her they would be having dinner with his family tonight. Somehow he got more vested in spending time out with his family and with Raven too. Or maybe he was beginning to enjoy their cozy moments whenever they were out; an inner voice taunted him.

He shook his head hard to ignore what he considered as silly assumptions. He only wanted to eat dinner and nothing more plus the visit was meant to be a surprise as they hadn’t seen each other for almost two weeks. All thanks to the business deals he had been signing for a while. It got him really busy and he couldn’t complain and he really enjoyed taking control of things.

Checking the time he realized it was just past three. Since he had informed Raven to get ready by 6:30 p. m, he decided to round whatever he had to do by 6:00 p. m and get home at exactly 6:30 p. m to pick Raven up. And with that he texted Steve to inform him of their movement.

Settling into sorting the files sent to him on his laptop, he heard the door open suddenly. He grated his bare teeth together, only one person would barge into his office with no courtesy and it was no other than Benjamin Williams.

“Did you miss me?” Benjamin asked in a sultry voice with his eyes dancing with mischief.

Christopher stared at him for a while with a skeptical look. He had been away on a modeling trip for about two weeks and he missed him if he must be sincere. As much as Benjamin was a pain in the neck, he was fun to be around. But Christopher had no intention of ever telling him that or letting him know. Knowing his friend well enough, he would bask in the glory for years and make him miserable.

“Do you have any idea what wrong timing implies?” He asked him with a glare.

Benjamin shrugged nonchalantly as he sat on the chair in front of his friend and crossed his legs. “Enlighten me professor.” He taunted.

Looking amused Christopher smirked. “Benjamin, why aren’t you sitting on your favorite couch today?”

“You are curious to know or you are just running your mouth?”

“Either of both.”

“Just mind your business.”

“To what do I owe this non committal visit Ben? Cause the last time I checked, you are a total distraction.”

Benjamin held his chest. “Ouch that hurts. Is that a good way to welcome your closest pal after having gone for two weeks? How heartless can you get.”Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

“As long as it gets to you.” Christopher smirked evilly.

Benjamin faked a tears and spread out his hands. “Why did I end up picking wrongly?”

Christopher laughed hard at his friend’s drama. “You my friend is a trouble maker. So tell me how was your trip?”

Benjamin laughed too. “Awesome! Hawaii is a beauty to behold. I had much fun and as many girls I could take in.”

Christopher snorted as he stared at his friend accusingly. “You are a man slut!”

“Yeah! And it really feels good my man!” He laughed.

“You are crazy man!” Christopher chuckled.

“You up for some dinner tonight? It has been long we had a timeout.”

Christopher shook his head. “Nah, I will pass. I am having dinner with Raven and the other family tonight.”

“Oh cool! So how is Raven?” Benjamin wiggled his brows while winking at the same time.

“Do you even know how weird you look right now?” Christopher asked. “And there is nothing to say about Raven aside that the contract is going well and we are two months down already.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“You sound disappointed.” He taunted.

“Like you really don’t know I am? What’s taking you so long to fall for her?” Benjamin demanded.

“Cause I want sanity and I don’t need a woman for that.”

Benjamin pouted. “You are no fun.”

“That’s old news.” Christopher laughed at his friend’s exhausting look. “Did you head down here from your flight Ben?”

“Yeah, I am so in love with you. I break my healthy routine for you every time.”

“Awnnnnn, don’t feel so bad my darling.”

“Will you stop acting like a bully.”

“You should get some rest man. Do you need me to drop you off?” Christopher asked.

“Nah, I brought my car.”

“How did you even get such stamina to drive after a long flight?” Christopher forehead creased.

Benjamin stood up and winked at him. “It’s my super power man. I will see you tomorrow.”

“Alright man. Take care.” They did the fist bump before Benjamin exited the office.

Once again it was just Christopher in the office. He chuckled at the thought of Benjamin. He checked the time yet again only to realize that they had spent close to thirty minutes exchanging irrelevant words. But every moment with his best friend was worth it.

Christopher got back to work and he had the concentration for the next two hours. He attended to every file put in his care.

His phone got him distracted when a call came in and the caller was Ashley. Since the confrontation he had with his sister at the corporation’s dinner, Ashley had kept her distance from Raven a bit and even at their family dinners but she couldn’t hide her spite anyways.

However, Raven ignored her as much as she could. It pleased him that way, he wouldn’t have to be worried about he and Raven getting exposed.

Christopher picked up the call and he cleared his throat. “Hey Ashley.” He greeted with less enthusiasm.

Ashley didn’t bother to return his greeting, instead she threw a question at him. “Have you checked the internet today?”

“No, why should I?” He queried, pissed that she called him for such trivial issue.

“Something might interest you. You should check the tabloids in Idaho.” She responded.

At the mention of Idaho, Christopher’s heart rang loudly making his chest hurt badly.

“Bye Ashley.” He muttered, cutting off the call before she said anything more that might annoy him.

He dropped his phone and stared at it like it was a time bomb. He didn’t want to have to read anything in relation to where his heart break came from. However, he was curious to know whatever it was Ashley wanted him to see.

Picking up the phone, he typed in trending news and right there in front of him making the headlines was Jessica Campbell his ex-girlfriend.

The headlines read; ‘JESSICA CAMPBELL, THE BEAUTIFUL CAMPAIGN MANAGER OF SENATOR ANTONIO SANCHEZ IS DOING A GREAT JOB.’

Another read; ‘CAMPAIGN MANAGER, JESSICA CAMPBELL GIVES HER SPEECH TO THE PRESS ON SANCHEZ ANTONIO PLANS FOR THE CITIZENS ONCE HE BECOMES A GOVERNOR.’

Then his eyes caught another one that said; ‘JESSICA CAMPBELL IS CONFIDENT OF ANTONIO SANCHEZ WIN IN THE UPCOMING GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS.’

The write ups and videos of her attached to each article made his head hurt so bad that he had to place his phone on the table for a while before raising it back up.

Christopher couldn’t explain how exactly he was feeling. Mixed emotions. He felt shattered and betrayed. He still wasn’t over her yet like he thought and he didn’t realize that until he saw the picture of her that had been taken at a campaign ground by the press.

He wondered how easy it was for Jessica to break off their four year relationship that way all for her career without sparing him a second thought.

His whole expression changed and he felt choked in the office. He stood up from the swivel chair, snatched his suit from where he put it and he barged out of the office. He had called Steve to get the car around.

Still in his conscious mind, he texted Raven to forget about the dinner with his family. Seeing Steve drive his car up the front, he snatched the key from him.

“Where are you heading to sir?” Steve asked politely.

“I need to get to somewhere. Tell my wife to not bother about me, I will be back soon.” And with that he drove at a high speed down the road with no particular direction in mind.