Positive/Negativity (20 page)

I could hear the hurt in her voice, and my heart was starting to clench. We had never fought like this, and I would have preferred to have had this conversation face-to-face.

“Don’t be like this, Aria. We can talk more about it when I get home, and we can make a decision then.”

She laughed a sad laugh into the phone. “Oh, no, we won’t…and no, we can’t. My mind’s made up. I
know
it is a good investment, and I’m carrying through with it.
You
may not trust me, but I trust myself, and you know what?
My
project’s going to make quite a tidy profit for
my
company because I
do
have good instincts, and they’re telling me that I made the right decision when I made this purchase.”

Just then, someone knocked on the door. I had the phone up to my ear when I answered it. This was going from bad to worse. It was Marisol; she was working on this shoot as well.

“Good morning, lover. The car’s downstairs, waiting for us,” she said.

“I’ll be right down,” I said as I closed the door.

It was quiet once again, and I knew that Aria had heard Marisol through the phone.

“Perfect…
just perfect
” Aria said into the phone.

“I have to get ready to leave for this session. We shouldn’t hang up with us being angry like this,” I said. My head was pounding, and I wished Aria was in front of me. “Please, baby. I don’t want this.”

Aria’s voice was eerily stoic and composed when she said “We can’t always get what we want…”

…and as Marisol moved slowly away from the door, she smiled a Cheshire cat grin because she had unexpectedly gotten something she wanted…

T
It Ain’t Easy – Jason Aldean

TT
Journey To The Center Of The Mind – Jake E. Lee & Phil Lewis

“Paige? Declan Sinclair. I spoke with Aria, and she shared that the purchase of a building is underway on my behalf.”

I was attempting to keep any anger from coming through this telephone conversation.

“Yes, Declan. The building’s a great buy, and it wouldn’t have lasted long on the market. By the time I got back to the office with Aria’s contract, word had leaked that the building might be available, and there was instant interest from three other buyers. In my opinion, you and Aria got a great deal.”

“Yes; she said that as well. May I ask a favor of you, Paige?” I paused. “I’ll have a long flight back to the states, and I’d like to get a head-start on my projected plans and ideas. Would it be possible for you to e-mail some photos and possibly a spec sheet on the layout of this building?” I asked.

“Aria might have one that I had given to her, but sure, I can e-mail it to you. Let me get a pen for the information,” she said.

With that, I could get started on my preparations to state my case to Aria as to why she should never have purchased this building without my knowledge. The thought incensed me—no, it even went so far as to infuriate me. The questions just kept coming into my mind.
Why would she do that? Why a building? Has she lost her mind?
The cost. The goals. The vision.
Yes, I’ve shared everything with her, but does she truly have a grasp of what it takes to make this business successful?
The aesthetics alone to make the building presentable would be staggering.
How could she possibly presume to make a decision like that on my behalf?

“Declan, I have everything for you: photos of both the inside and outside of the building, photos of day shots seen from the building of the bay, and photos seen from the building of the beautiful sunsets. I also have the square footage of the building and the layout as it was when it was a gym.”

“That sounds great, Paige. Thanks—”

“Wait, that’s not all,” she interrupted.

“No?”

“I’m not sure if she would want me to share this, but I have a copy of Aria’s proposed layout for your space. She was right on top of it before she made the offer. She called in a favor to get an inspector out there while we were still at the building. While he and two of the other examiners were checking everything out, she was on the phone with some of her subcontractors, getting estimates. She was drawing her layout and wrote down some figures. Since she left this paper with me, I don’t think she’d mind if I sent it to you. Would you want that as well?”

It sounded like Paige had everything I needed. Even though I was doing this without Aria’s knowledge, she was providing a wealth of information, and I could look everything over when I was on the flight home. I wanted to be completely prepared to justify to Aria that this was a mistake that she should never repeat again, and I wanted all my points to be validated.
T

“Yes. Please send everything to me. Oh, Paige,” I added.

“Yes?”

“Will you be seeing Aria in the next day or so?”

“Yes, we’re supposed to be going out with the girls.”

“I’d appreciate it if you don’t mention speaking with me. I’d like to do some preparation of my own with regard to the space, and I’d like to surprise her. Would you do that for me?”

I didn’t want to be deceitful, but I needed time to prepare my case.

“Sure, Declan. Anything for a friend.”

Somehow, that remark made me feel like an enemy in a Trojan horse.

I had all of the information from Paige within the hour—every piece of ammunition that I wanted. It was seven o’clock at night when she sent it; eight o’clock in the morning in Tokyo, and I had a full day of work ahead of me. Hopefully, the photo session would end early. I had only looked at the building information for half an hour, and I was already getting the sinking feeling that I had underestimated Aria. I had a day of work and a head full of emotions to get rid of. I hated being this far away from her, I hated when we fought, and I hated that Marisol was on this photo session. Before I met Aria, I was able to tolerate Marisol much better. Being in her presence made me cringe, but as long as she kept her mouth closed and didn’t speak we were fine. It was getting to a point that I disliked doing any photo work with her, but I kept reminding myself that it was about the money. Whenever she was posed with me, she allowed her hands to roam and left her fingers to linger much too long after the photo was taken. She made suggestive remarks, regardless of my blatantly public relationship with Aria. The woman had absolutely no boundaries—she was becoming a nightmare.

These specifics on the building would have to wait until the end of the work day. The little I had looked at them, I had a sinking feeling that when I faced Aria I’d be eating my words, and was beginning to think I could have been seriously wrong in over reacting.

“Declan, please stand over here. Marisol, I want you right here,” our photographer, Jonatan, directed.

I was quite preoccupied with thoughts of the argument. Waiting for the e-mails to arrive from Paige would make this day seem endless. I could use the excuse that being so far away had me out of sorts, but that would have just validated it for what it was—an excuse.

Aria was right; there was a part of me that was excited about the idea of having my own business; however, when she told me that she purchased the building, reality smacked me in the face, and I did feel fear. It was a huge undertaking to make this business of mine a reality. Insinuating that her business was successful due to her father’s part in it, was hurtful to her and insulting. The truth was that Aria did have someone by her side that she trusted for advice when she started up her company. In my business, there were so many people that were waiting to undermine any effort you made for success that I didn’t know who to trust. I knew that my brother would listen to anything and everything I had to say, but he knew nothing of this business. I didn’t discuss much of my job with Carter, so the fault was my own that I didn’t have many trusted confidantes. I had a handful of people that I planned to depend on to work with me when the studio was up and running, but I needed to take that first step. I realized at that moment that I did have someone I could trust, confide in, depend on and ask advice of—Aria.

Knowing that I not only pissed her off royally, but hurt her, insulted her, and alienated her was distracting me. I couldn’t wait for this day to be over.

For this particular photo, Marisol was supposed to lean over to look as if she were whispering in my ear. Both of her wrists were crossed over each other, and she was pressing into me. Even though music was playing, I could hear her speaking very clearly.

“What’s wrong, lover? Little puta finally get on your last nerve?” she asked in a malicious tone.

She was baiting me and wanted to get a reaction, so I turned to her and tilted my head slightly to give Jonatan a better shot. It also allowed me to look her straight into her eyes and smile at her.

“No, Marisol.
You’re
the puta that gets on my last nerve.”

I then turned my head and waited for Jonatan’s next directive.

Needless to say, she was in a fit of temper for the remainder of the day.