Author: Max Hudson
Category: LGBT
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/max-hudson/page,3,499970-a_second_chance_at_love.html
“Why did I do that?”
The feeling of tears on his face surprised Mischa. He’d never allowed any bullying to make him cry. He’d been called a lot worse than faggot by people who meant a lot more to him than Daniel Mann. He was used to being the potential target of some idiot who wanted to prove his manhood by saying hurtful shit to any random person who dared to be different. That wasn’t a big deal anymore. But this time it hurt in a way he wasn’t expecting. This time it felt personal.
Mischa locked the bathroom door and let the tears fall. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d lost something and had nobody to blame but himself. He’d listened to his hormones instead of his head and he was paying the price in humiliation. Every time he recalled a moment from the night before he felt dirty and foolish. Was he dumb enough to think that Dan “the Man” would ever actually fall for him?
It had been a fantasy of his, and this was what he got for entertaining fantasies. He’d broken his cardinal rule to pursue a dream. He couldn’t really complain when the cold, hard reality smacked him in the face. Or punched him in the eye.
Chapter Four
Ten Years Later
“We can’t just turn this down. His brand is on fire right now, and we could use the exposure,” Kyle sat down in a huff.
“What is your problem in the first place?” Roman, ever the grown-up was beginning to get annoyed. That was my cue to come up with a better explanation, and it had better be a good one or I was in danger of being outvoted.
“We are a high-quality production company. We can’t cheapen our brand by producing cheesy fitness videos for some up and coming fad diet,” I explained.
“Just level with them,” Faedra said.
I shot her a nasty look. She returned fire and rolled her eyes.
“What’s the story?” Roman leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers.
“We know this guy,” Faedra said.
“Correction, we knew this guy. We haven’t spoken in a decade. I think that after ten years you’re allowed to call yourselves strangers.”
“So, is this like an ex-boyfriend?” Kyle leaned forward, a wicked smile slithered across his face.
“More like an ex-bully. He was an asshole, okay!” I was getting emotional, and that wasn’t going to help my case at all.
“Yeah, but that was ten years ago. None of us are the people we were ten years ago. And like you said, after ten years it's fair to say you two are strangers again,” Roman said calmly. I wanted to punch him in his smug face.
“And it’s a payday,” Kyle added.
“And, a shout out from him could help raise our profile,” Faedra said softly.
“Et tu, Brute?”
She silently mouthed the word sorry and poked her bottom lip out in a mock pout. It was clear that I was outvoted. Nobody was going to pass up the chance to work with a guy who could single-handedly keep the Shopping Network working twenty-four hours a day with his useless line of sweatpants, or whatever he was slapping his fucking name on these days. Who knew that ending your career by wrapping your sportscar around a fire hydrant would be so good for business?
I had to admit that the project was great on paper. He was a name and most of his junk was actually high-quality junk. Even my mother had been talked into buying his special patented knee braces and had been thrilled to be able to get through a whole day of flea market shopping without pain. She even forgot to hand wash it several times and threw it in the machine but it still kept its form. She was a believer. So I shouldn’t have been surprised that Faedra turned out to be a traitor as well.
“You guys are acting like we are in the red. Need I remind you that we have had a great year. We aren’t starving artists. We are at the point where we can pick and choose what we want to do,” I argued, knowing it was futile.
“We can, but the only person who doesn’t see the bottom line here is you,” Kyle said.
Faedra put her hand on my shoulder and looked down at me with sympathetic eyes.
“Look I know he was an asshole. And I know what he did to you was fucking horrific. Honestly, you should’ve let me kick his ass back then. But, today we can’t afford to turn down good jobs because of your history with the client. If you want, I will handle everything. You won’t even have to see him. I’ll spearhead this one, okay?”
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Guys like that never change. No matter how much they want you to believe that they are better or different or whatever, they never change.”
“I consider myself warned,” Faedra said.
“If there’s no new business, then we can wrap it up for today. Fae, we’ll be counting on you,” Roman said, folding up his tablet and slipping it into his messenger bag.
I stood up and gathered my notebook before storming out of the meeting room. I hated this. I knew it wasn’t personal. It was all just business. Nobody knew better than Faedra how much I loathed the idea of doing business with Daniel Mann, but even she had turned on me. Maybe I was being unreasonable, but wasn’t I entitled to a little loyalty from my best friend?
“Hey, Mischa, wait up!”
I ignored her and kept a brisk pace until I slammed through the front doors and stepped out onto the pavement. The sunshine and cool air were a welcome to my hot head.
“Hey, wait up. Mischa!”
I turned to face her and nearly knocked her over.
“Forgetting something?” She held out my cell phone. I took it back and mumbled something that sounded like a thank you before shoving the device into my pocket.
“I didn’t sell you out!”
“Like hell, you didn’t!” I exploded. “You knew that they would want to do this project and that I would hate everything about it and you chose him over me. How is that not selling me out?”
“I didn’t choose him, I chose us, this company, over your hurt feelings. And I’d do it again because it's a whole lot easier to make our dreams come true with a few extra dollars in the bank than it is when we’re barely breaking even.”
“We aren’t just breaking even.”
“Not NOW, but not too long ago we could barely afford to keep body and soul together and I am not going back there just because you don’t want to face your old flame.”
“Not taking his money isn’t going to break us!” I was screaming on the sidewalk like an idiot. I could feel the heat rising from my head and I had no doubt that my face was as red as a beet.
“Do you hear yourself? You know this business. It’s either feast or famine. You have to get while the getting is good, and this is really good. And you know what, Mish? You’re being a really selfish jerk. I starved with you. I have begged for money to get this company off of the ground. I have gone months without paying myself. I have made every sacrifice that you ever asked of me to make this company work. And I was happy and proud to do it, for you, for me, for all of us. Now, you have to make one small sacrifice for the company and you can’t do it? You are a fucking amazing producer and a great videographer. If you refuse to work on this project we have to hire somebody to do it and I guarantee you it won’t have the same quality. How is that fair?”
Her words stung because they were true. I was acting like the same kid I was all those years ago. I was letting my feelings overrule my head, and it would end in disaster again. Here I was accusing Dan of never changing and yet it was me who clearly hadn’t grown up.
“Fine.”
“What was that?” She pushed her electric blue hair back away from her ear and leaned in to hear me better.
“Don’t rub it in, I’m still mad at you for not taking my side,” I growled.
“I’m always on your side, it's just that sometimes you’re not on your side,” she said, throwing an arm around my waist. “Come on, I’ll buy you lunch and we can find ways to make this project unpleasant for Dan the Man.”
“Oh God, does he even still call himself that?”
She frowned up at me.
“Yeah
right! Like you haven’t been secretly following his career.”
“I haven’t actually,” I shook my head. I did, however, take the time to look him up after this project came across my desk but I wasn’t about to admit that to her. She already had enough to gloat over.
The last few years had been a rocky road for us, but everyday things got better. When we formed our production company we were all just a bunch of college students who were determined not to spend our careers making somebody else rich. We had no idea how long or hard this road would be. We’d lucked out and landed a few gigs producing web dramas and music videos for up and coming artists. Our success was as much the result of the change in the market as it was the result of our talent and effort. But, I was grateful.
The four of us got through the lean years together and did a lot of work that I was pretty proud of. I’d grown as a person and we’d grown as a company. Instead of thinking about this project as a disaster waiting to happen, or trying to find ways to sabotage it, I should be thinking about it as an opportunity.
I wasn’t the scared, heartbroken boy who ran away from him ten years ago. I wasn’t going to hide from him as I did during graduation. I wasn’t going to pretend that I had no idea who he was the way I did during my college years. I wasn’t going to let the boy I had been obstruct the path of the man I was going to be.
Halfway through lunch, I sent a message to Roman and Kyle apologizing for letting my ego get in the way of progress and assuring them that I would be on board, one hundred percent. Then I went home and got to work. Faedra was still going to take lead, but I had my own ideas about what we could do for Daniel Mann and the Mann brand. When I was done I sent my ideas on to Faedra.
“I really like the way your mind is working. You should really come with me and present your ideas yourself. You’re the best one to do it, and you always nail these presentations,” Faedra argued.
“Yeah, I know I said I was going to be a grown-up about this whole thing, but I’m not that grown up,” I argued.
“Mish, you are going to have to come face to face with him pretty soon. You should really just bite the bullet and deal. At least you’ll be able to do it on your own terms.”
“One of my terms is that this confrontation happens as far into the future as we can manage and only last as long as is absolutely necessary, preferably in a professional setting where we can both pretend that we don’t know each other at all,” I said.
“Are you sure you’re completely over him? I mean, there’s no sick and twisted part of you that ever wonders what could have been? You know what they say, the first cut is the deepest.”
I gagged loudly.
“It wasn’t a cut, it was a horrible mistake that led to massive hemorrhaging. There’s nothing romantic about giving your virginity to your bully and then getting punched in the face for your stupidity. I’m not spending any part of my life imagining what could have been.” I’d done that once before. It nearly destroyed me.
“Okay, if you say so,” she didn’t sound convinced, but I didn’t care. “I have a meeting with him tomorrow, I’ll pass your ideas along and see what he says.”
“Thanks, you’re a star,” I said, hanging up the phone. I knew exactly what he would say. He’d love them. Knowing how to appeal to both the audience and the ego of the client was my specialty. And a guy like Daniel had plenty of ego to throw around.
Chapter Five
“Good news! He loved it,” Faedra’s excitement was palpable through the phone.
The three of us looked around smiling, silently congratulating each other on landing a big fish. I was the only one who could feel the unspoken “bad news” descending upon us. It was like a tight knot in the pit of my stomach. Nothing connected to pretty boys was ever that simple or satisfying. And this pretty boy just happened to be an athlete and an asshole. There had to be a catch.
“Great, so did he sign on the dotted line?” Roman, ever the grown-up knew better than to celebrate before the ink was dry.
“He only made one request. He wants to meet with the whole team and get a feel for us as a unit before he closes the deal.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I mean, you and Mischa knew him in high school, so it will be a class reunion for you three. Roman and I are just tagalongs,” Kyle said excitedly.
“I told him it wouldn’t be a problem. We’ll treat him to dinner tonight and if everything goes well we’re laughing all the way to the bank, fellas!”
“I can’t make it.”
“Come on, Mischa! This is a big deal.” Kyle glared at me from across the table.
“I really can't make it. I have a meeting scheduled with the director of another project.” Which was almost true. I told him I'd call him tonight and we could go over a few things. It was a personal project I'd been working on for months but they didn't need to know that.
“Reschedule,” Faedra's deadpan voice croaked over the loudspeaker. She was no idiot and she knew me best. I was lying and she was just daring me to push her.
“I’ll see what I can do. I might just drop by for a quick hi and bye,” I said.
“Fair enough,” Roman said, taking control of the situation. “Send us the address and the time and we’ll be there.”
We all agreed and I managed to make it through the rest of the day without grumbling, but I still felt like I'd just set a date with my executioner. I got home in a funk and couldn't shake it despite guzzling down the better part of a very nice bottle of red wine. When I realized that adding alcohol to the situation was not going to improve my chances of getting out of a forced and loathsome conversation with Dan “the Man” I decided a shower and a power suit was a better use of my time.
Twenty minutes later I was standing naked and wet in front of my closet trying to decide what to wear. I didn't even consider business casual clothing. I wanted to make a good impression. I wanted to be fucking intimidating. I turned my attention to the suits that I usually reserved for weddings, funerals, and high profile events. It was a little over the top for the restaurant Faedra picked, but I did say I had other plans. There's no reason why my other plans couldn't involve an expensive Italian suit and cologne.
I arrived forty-five minutes after everybody else. I promised myself that I wouldn't stay for more than half an hour. That was as long as I thought it would take to seem professional, detached, and incredibly busy. When I approached the table I made sure to move quickly and look like I'd been rushing instead of dancing naked in front of my closet.
“Oh, hey,” Roman waved me over. “This is the man of the hour, one of the best producers in the business, Mischa Vee.”
Daniel looked up from his plate and seemed legitimately surprised to see me standing there. I guess he hadn't bothered to look into who the other members of the company were. How typical of him to not do his homework. I gave him a smug, lopsided grin and extended my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Mischa,” he said confidently. I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips. Had his little accident given him brain damage as well?
“Oh, come on Dan. We know each other pretty well. We went to the same school for six years.”
“Mischa Vasiliev? Oh, man, I thought you looked familiar but I….oh man, how’re you doing? It's been—”
“Ten years,” I countered.
“Yeah, oh wow. Ten whole years. I can't believe it's really you.”
I can't tell if this is an act, or if he really wasn't sure if the Mischa Vee on the company website was really the guy he once knew. I didn't think I'd changed that much but the way he stared was as if I'd gone through a great metamorphosis. He was still holding on to my hand when Kyle chimed in, trying to restart the conversation.
“So, considering the timeline you gave us for this project, the sooner we can get moving the better,” he said, tapping a folder on the table lightly.
I pulled my hand away and sat down. Daniel watched my every move but didn't comment. Instead, he pushed my chair in for me before re
taking his seat.
“What did I miss?” I directed my question to Faedra, who sat opposite to Daniel.
“We were just talking about the rhythm and feel of the videos. We really want to make sure that it's fun and inviting for all people. But we are under a little bit of a deadline,” she said, ignoring anything but the business side of things. She must’ve been learning it from Roman.
The waiter came to the table and handed me a menu but I made a point of refusing it, ordering a glass of wine, and letting everybody at the table know that I couldn’t stay long. I turned to Dan and made my apologies, resting my fingertips on his forearm and smiling congenially as I explained that I had another meeting scheduled for later on that night. He seemed flustered by suddenly being the center of my attention, but didn’t flinch or retract his arm the way he used to. Progress? I was too cautious to be hopeful. Maybe he was just a little older and more in control of his impulses.
“I was wondering why you dressed up,” he said softly. Compared to the rest of the diners I looked like I was heading to the Met Gala.
“I know I’m a little overdressed.”
“The last time you wore that was at Charlotte’s wedding,” Faedra said.
I could’ve slit her throat for that little comment. Even if I didn’t dress like this to meet EVERY client, it didn’t mean that HE had to know about it.
“Well, I try to save the glitter for the special occasions,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Oh really? What’s so special?” She was hell-bent on making this as uncomfortable for me as possible. I had no idea why. She’d demanded that I come to this shit show and I did. Why was she busting my chops?
I turned my attention back to Daniel, who seemed thoroughly dazed by the meteoric change in the atmosphere, but still happy to be there. Successive concussions will do that to you. I wondered if it was too late to get in on that action.