Assigned to You (Completed)

Chapter Eight: Everett

This was probably the best sleep I’ve had for the longest time. The fact that I knew that when I woke up and knocked on the unit across from mine, the girl I’ve been looking for for a year would be the one to open it. The thought made me smile and feel giddy, like a high school boy being noticed by his long-time crush.

I wasn’t even sure why I felt like a pre-teen at the thought of Evangeline. I knew I liked her. I liked her the moment that I saw her at the beach. The red hair and green eyes. The way she smiled and the sound of her voice. Everything about her enticed me. She had me wrapped around her finger and she knew it. I was like a lost puppy when it came to her.

But the fact that Nana loved her last night thrilled me. I never introduced anyone to them before and the main reason I brought Evangeline along was because she had a comforting presence for me, she calmed me and I didn’t even know why. I couldn’t even begin to explain why.

But…

No. I had erased those thoughts long before. I didn’t want to believe them. I refused to believe them. They were thoughts instilled to me by people I barely knew. Even if they those things made sense to them, it doesn’t mean that they should make sense with me. Some people just had different opinions and beliefs and I refused to believe that what they told me could be right.

I threw the blankets off of myself and stretched, before dropping to the ground and doing my morning regimen. I’ve made sure that I had sweat out enough before hopping into the shower and getting ready for work. I haven’t even bothered to check on my phone and it was only when I was dressed that I had seen the texts I had received.

Curtis

Papa wants you at the company at 10. He already talked to your boss.

Grant Dayson

You have the morning off, Everett. Why didn’t you tell me that Victor Saunders was your grandfather?

Curtis

Don’t make excuses, Ev. Brenton’s picking you up so you won’t escape.

I closed my eyes and massaged my temple. I had woken up with a big smile on my face, excited to face the day and this was what I had in store for me. The real estate company was what I had in store for me, not another day to wonder what my grandfather and uncle had in store for me.

Growing up, I didn’t spend much time with my grandfather. When I did, he usually expected so much from me and I would simply end up disappointing him. My ideas and opinions about the world differed from his and it was clear that he didn’t like it. Whereas Curtis, his youngest son, seemed to shared the same interests and opinions with him which was why it was clear who would be the heir to the company.

But nonetheless, Curtis still saw me as competition and I never understood why.

The knock on my door returned me back to reality and I rushed to the door to open it, thinking it could be Brenton already picking me up and I wasn’t half-way ready yet. But when I opened the door, I was greeted with the most beautiful smile I have ever seen.

Evangeline grinned in front of me, “Happy Monday!”

I chuckled and tilted my head to the side, admiring the fact that she was simply wearing an oversized shirt and really short-shorts. Her red hair was tied in a messy bun and she didn’t have any makeup on. “Are you always this cheerful on Monday morning?”

She rolled her eyes and headed to my kitchen, making herself at home. I realized she had been carrying a tray with her that had two bowls and two cups of coffee. The smell of coffee filled my nostrils and I inhaled the delicious scent of the little bit of heaven that I know of.

“Nope,” she answered before placing the tray on the island counter and sitting down on a chair, “But I just realized that I had a neighbor that I could eat with.”

I raised an eyebrow, “You don’t like eating alone?”

“No. But that doesn’t mean I’ve never eaten alone,” Evangeline said as I sat beside her. She pushed a bowl towards me and a cup of coffee, “You’re welcome.”

When I looked at the bowl, I was surprised it wasn’t cereal. “I thought this would be Cheerios.”

She rolled her eyes at me again. “Oh please. I’m not that kind of girl, well, I am if I’m feeling lazy. But I woke up at five to work out. I usually have a quinoa breakfast bowl on mornings to start my day right.”

“And you thought of giving me because….?”

“Because I’m a decent human being who thinks about their neighbor who happens to be a bachelor and most probably has no clue how to turn on a stove,” she answered with a smirk.

“That’s actually very mean,” I said, feigning a wince, “But actually very true.”

She chuckled and we ate our breakfast in comfortable silence until I chose to ask questions simply because I just wanted to hear her voice. “So what are you going to do for today?”

She shrugged. “I have a few things to write and submit. I have a deadline today but after that I’m completely free so I guess I’m going to the mall or something. You?”

The fact that she had so much time for herself made me want to cancel every appointment I had for the day and just go wherever she did, as long as I was with her. But Papa wouldn’t be happy if I ditched the meeting with him and last night, I did say that I wanted to be a part of the business. My phone vibrated on the table before I could reply and Evangeline looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

Curtis

There’s a café near the company. We’ll wait for you there.

I sighed and ran a hand through my still wet hair. “I’m meeting with Papa and Curtis this morning and I have work this afternoon.”

“Hmm,” Evangeline mused and then smirked at me, “Busy, busy.”

“I’d rather live your life and have so much time in my hands,” I said, shaking my head.

She chuckled. “Oh trust me, with so much time in your hands sometimes you’ll have no idea what you’re supposed to do.”

“What do you do when that happens?”

She motioned to the food on the table. “I cook. It calms me and it’s like a de-stressor.”

I smiled. I liked the fact that Evangeline seemed so comfortable with just telling me things about her. My phone pinged again and I groaned, knowing it was Curtis and that he would most probably be demanding me to get my ass out of the building and to the car.

“I have to go.”

Evangeline nodded. “Just finish your food, Ev. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

We didn’t talk as we finished the meal she prepared and she placed her bowls and cups back into the tray and walked out of my apartment with me. She even walked me to the elevator and I couldn’t help but imagine that this would be a routine if we were to become a couple. The thought made me feel giddy and made me smile.

Evangeline looked at me. “Why are you smiling like a choir boy?”

“Choir boy’s have different smiles?”

She laughed and just shrugged. “But really, why?”

“I don’t know. I just like having you close to me,” I replied, smiling at her shyly, “I’ve never felt this giddy over a girl before. It’s like having my crush notice me for the very first time.”

Evangeline chuckled and reached out to touch my face. She reached up and kissed my cheek. “Stop being cute, Everett. It’s making you earn points.”

She turned her back on me and headed to her apartment. I knew I looked like an i***t standing in the middle of the hallway with a huge smile on my face. I practically skipped into the elevator and as I headed down, my mood didn’t. I was thrilled over the fact that Evangeline kissed my cheek when I was used to girl’s attention.

“You look like sunshine, Sir Everett,” Brenton commented, opening the door for me.

I grinned. “It’s a good morning, Brenton.”

Brenton simply chuckled and hopped onto the driver seat and drove me to the destination that Papa had set for us. I watched the buildings that we passed and waited until we were near the company to prepare myself for what my grandfather had to discuss with me. I didn’t know a thing or two about real-estate and wondered if I needed to take an exam to be a broker or if there was another position meant for me.

“We’re here, Sir Everett,” Brenton informed me, parking the car right next to Curtis’ Lamborghini.

I was ushered into a separate room. I’ve never been to this café before. It didn’t have a chill vibe or cozy one. It felt like it was a place that business people went to to hold a meeting so it was most probably why I was here and why Papa chose this. When I entered the room, Curtis and Papa were in a heated discussion that neither of them noticed my presence.

I cleared my throat. “Good morning.”

Curtis stood up and greeted me with a brief hug and I nodded at my grandfather as a sign of respect. I sat beside my uncle and Papa sat across from us. “It’s good for you to join us, Everett. Would you like to order breakfast before we begin?”

“I already ate,” I answered, “Thank you though.”

“Not even coffee?” Curtis asked, “But you don’t even know how to make yourself a proper meal. I’m sure cereal won’t cut for you.”

I shook my head. “Evangeline came by and brought breakfast.”

I watched the corners of Papa’s lips twitch upward. “I like that girl. Make sure that you get that girl, Everett.”

The frown on Curtis’s face didn’t go unnoticed by me but I ignored it, simply smiling and nodding at my grandfather. “I’m working on that. But can I ask why we’re here and not at the company?”

“Because you’re joining the family business,” Papa said, his grin as wide as mine had been when Evangeline kissed my cheek.

“But the company…”

“Oh, it isn’t about real estate, my nephew,” Curtis said, his eyes glinting.

A sudden fear coursed through my body, not liking the way Curtis looked at Papa and the smile on my grandfather’s face. “We have a different business?”

“Real estate had always been our front,” Papa said with a wave of his hand, “It’s easy business, for someone with PR skills as good as mine. It was simply a part time of mine when I was younger.”

“I’m not following what you’re saying, Pa,” I stated, looking at my grandfather dubiously.

Curtis sighed beside me and looked at Papa. “I’m not really sure that he’s ready for this.”

“You’re confusing him because you’re heading right to the point, Curtis,” Papa said, his tone reprimanding and from the corner of my eye, I watched my uncle bow his head at the scolding, like an indignant child, “You are joining on the real estate one. But that’s not our focused. You aunts’ husbands are working most on that end while Curtis and I, we focus on the other business at hand.”

“I never knew there was another one.”

“Because we never spoke of it,” Curtis stated as if he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.

My head was spinning, not keeping up on what they were trying to say. We had another business that I had no idea of? Was I the only one left in the dark about it or did no one aside from Papa and Curtis knew about it? Did Nana? What the hell were they going on about?

“My father,” Papa began to explain, his eyes looking straight at mine, “His mother was a prostitute so he was raised in a brothel. He knew everything about it and saw how easy the flow of the money was in a business like that.”

I didn’t want to hear the rest of the story about my great grandfather because I knew where this was heading. But Papa didn’t seem to notice how uncomfortable I was getting. He continued the story, looking me right in the eye.

“At first he simply helped out as a cleaner and eventually, he started recruiting girls and evidently, since he knew all the works, he had one of his own,” Papa said and I could see a glimmer of pride in his eyes. It made me sick, “He taught me everything I needed to know to continue the business, Everett. And I taught your father before he passed.”

I didn’t know what to say. What the hell was someone even supposed to say to something like that? Our family had a shady business. “Is that even legal? Human trafficking?”

“Oh no,” Papa said, shaking his head, “Of course not. I would never, Everett. Everyone who works for us are respected. It is their choice to be our employee.”

Why would anyone even choose to become a prostitute? I leaned back in my chair, my stomach churning and suddenly hating the fact that I ate such a heavy breakfast. Had I known that the meeting was going to be about this, I would’ve politely declined Evangeline. I ran a hand through my hair, tousling the short strands as I tried to digest the information that my grandfather had served me for breakfast.

Their food arrived and he casually sipped his coffee in front of me, waiting for me to say something. “You want me to be a part of this?”

“The men in our family are a part of it,” Papa stated, setting his cup down and clasping his hands together, “It was only a matter of time for you to be a part of it, Everett.”

“And what if I don’t want to?”

Something flashed in my grandfather’s eyes and the childhood fear I had of him rushed through me and I almost shrank back in my chair, waiting for his scolding. Curtis seemed amused beside me, as if it was the exact statement that I would make that he was waiting for. He leaned back on his chair, calm and collected, and regarded his father in the same manner.

“I told you he might say that.”

Papa narrowed his eyes at him and blatantly ignored his youngest child. “Then I will ask you to give it a chance.”

“What do you even mean?”

“You will still be introduced to it, Everett. You will know everything there is to know about it and then it’s only then that you will decide if you’re up to it or not.”

Curtis suddenly stood up, his seat toppling down. “You’re giving him a choice?!”

Papa fixed him with a stare and he angrily grabbed his chair and sat down, crossing his arms and huffing like a petulant child. “I gave you a choice too, Curtis, and you chose to be a part of it.”

“If I had said no you would’ve disowned me,” Curtis answered.

Papa raised a hand to shut him up and then turned to me. “Don’t you dare tell me that you’re going to think about it because you’re not. You will have a trial run. You will be introduced to it. No buts, Everett.”

I hated it when he was being forceful. Growing up, he always had been like that which is why I always looked to Nana for comfort because Papa was too overbearing. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist, trying to calm myself because this was all too much to handle and to process.

“I’ll still say no to this in the end, Papa.”

“Don’t conclude anything when it’s not yet done,” Papa answered with a smirk. He rose and then left a bill on the table, leaving me and Curtis. When he was gone, I buried my head in my hands, trying to force my brain to process everything that just happened.

Curtis was quiet beside me. I looked at my uncle, at the guy who took the role as my older brother. “I don’t want to be a part of that kind of life, Curtis. That’s not my scene.”

I waited for him to comfort me but he simply stood up and laid a hand on my shoulder. “Papa’s right, Everett. Don’t conclude anything when you haven’t experienced it. I thought I wouldn’t like it either but the way the money flows in that kind of business, the people you get to meet. It changes your perspective.”

“That’s what happened to you, right?” I asked, looking at Curtis.

He slowly nodded. “Yea. It helped that I have good PR skills. I get to meet tons of people and they can be my acquaintance. It also helps with the other business too so everything is all good because of it. We got to live our life the way we did, the way we do, because of that business. We wouldn’t be where we are now if it wasn’t for it.”

I stood up and his hand fell to his side. I looked at my uncle levelly. “I guess that’s what changed you.”

I rushed outside and ignored Brenton, deciding to walk to work to calm myself and wrap my mind with everything I just learned. But one thing tugged at the corner and resurfaced, the warning that was given to me a year ago, by people I had chosen to forget, a vacation I refused to remember.

The warning given to me by my mother’s side of the family.

When I had taken Evangeline’s advice and went to her funeral.

The one decision that changed everything.