She was walking down the beach, watching her footprints appear in the sand and then seconds later be washed away into nothing. It's funny how fast things can happen in only a matter of seconds. Her life had changed on that October night, only months after her eighteenth birthday. She had loved her dad, she had loved him a lot and had always stayed true to him, but there were just certain things that they argued about constantly. One of those issues was college, something she didn't want to do, something he thought was a necessity, and something that she had never thought back on again.
Her father was a millionaire from the day he was born. His father, her grandfather, had bought all of the land on a strip of beach, built houses on them, and had rented them out. The place around it boomed, but the beach itself was private which made it popular and demanded. The amount people paid to be on a private beach was ungodly, and it started soaring when her father was about fifteen. From then on, his father learned the ins and outs of the business and eventually completely took over for his father.
His father had loved every aspect of the business and became the poster-child for all workaholics. That had been the main reasoning for his wife leaving him and her daughter when her daughter was only one. She had been raised on the business, learning it and playing it as well as her father. They got along well when they worked together, and she missed the busy days. But her father had also been an alcoholic and an abusive one at that, so although she missed him, part of her was glad he was gone. He had been hit by a train and died instantly when she was only three months past eighteen, leaving his business to her as she was his only child, making her a millionaire and leaving her in charge of a little over sixty houses. Her father had hired a maid service to come and clean the house when renters left, and had walked the beach himself for most of the time, picking it up.
It didn't take long for her to switch it around, and hire people to not only help her clean the house after the renters left- the maids were not satisfactory in that they would often stay the weekend and not do a reasonable job cleaning- but also to help her pick up the beach. For a while she had had an assistant who helped her choose the people, but then found that she could do it herself and needed no one's help in doing so. She hadn't really liked the assistant because she often began her advice with:
well, your father would have...
I don't care what the hell my father would have done, she'd think. That, and she found that often times she couldn't trust people. Her right hand man- he had the same title as the rest of the workers, but she found he was easier to talk to then the rest and so spent most of her time with him- was one of the few that she could trust and could always count for a laugh.
About ten yards up the beach she saw a can floating in and out of the surf, looking new as if someone had just thrown it there. She looked up to the house, making a mental note that people were walking up the boardwalk, chairs in hand. She wasn't carrying a bag with her or else she would have picked it up to throw it away later.
No,
she thought to herself,
I'm on my break
. So she picked the can out of the surf and threw it up on the beach, thinking she would grab it again when she walked later, or maybe tomorrow morning when she ran at six.
Although if it's still there by six, then maybe I need to hire someone that can do their job
. No sooner had the can landed then she heard a voice behind her.
"Excuse me," he said. She turned and smiled on the inside. It was a new kid she had just hired, Will: he was nineteen, had just dropped out of LSU. They had never met, but she had seen his picture in his application and had talked to him over the phone.
"Yes?" she asked innocently.
"Aren't you going to take your can with you?"
"Oh, it's not mine."
"Are you kidding? I just saw you throw it up there."
"Right," she said, taking her time and trying to keep from laughing, "I pulled it out of the surf and threw it up on the beach so no one would step on it." He just nodded and raised his eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I think it belongs to those people," she said, nodding towards the house.
"Well thank you, but I believe I can do my job sufficiently." She lost it then and started laughing. He began to look pissed and more full of himself. She just turned and kept walking; he didn't pursue her.
That night she arrived back at the house, a huge white one in the most choice location, one that all of the people she worked with stayed in; she had the top floor all to herself. She was sitting in her living room area with Jacob, her right hand man, when his cell phone rang. It was a regular thing for all of the new workers to have an older worker buddy. This gave them someone they could immediately talk to and connect with, with someone to teach them how to do their jobs correctly. They were required to check in with their elder every night before they went to sleep, and they could talk about anything and everything.
Jacob answered and put him on speaker phone.
"Hello?"
"Jacob?"
"Yeah?"
"It's Will."
"Hey, Will, how did your first day go?"
"Really well, actually."
"Have any trouble with any of the renters?" Jacob asked, having already heard the story between the two earlier in the day.
"Actually there was this one girl. About my age, tall, reddish blonde hair, pretty blue eyes," he said.
"She doesn't sound familiar. Did you get a name or a house she was living in?"
"No, I didn't ask."
"Next time you should."
"Oh, okay."
"Don't worry about it though, you didn't know."
"Okay."
"What did she do exactly?"
"She threw a can up on the beach and then tried to tell me it wasn't hers. I mean I saw her throw the thing up; she was lying to my face."
"Are you positive? Did you see her take a sip out of it?"
"No, but I saw her toss it up."
"Maybe it wasn't hers."
"Maybe," Will said, giving up.
"Have you met the boss yet?" Jacob asked.
"No, but I heard one of the guys say she was hot." She heard this and stifled a giggle as she raised her eyebrow in surprise.
I need to hire older guys,
she thought to herself.
"Well I'm up here with her right now, we'll come down and meet you in the kitchen."
"Alright, cool," he said. They walked down the stairs and turned the corner, pushing the swinging doors in; Will was sitting at the table, drinking a glass of OJ. He turned and looked up as his jaw hit the table.
"Hey, Will, nice to meet you," she said, laughing as she extended her hand.
"You're...?" She nodded.
"You're rough. I can't wait to start working with you."
"She likes it rough," Jacob whispered behind his hand. She punched him in the arm and he rubbed it. "Ow."
"I swear," she said, shaking her head, "You would think that he was the boss."
"Well I am your boss," he said, grabbing her and swinging her around. Just then the doorbell rang and she ran- like a child- to answer it.
"Mr. Languest requests your presence tonight for dinner." She looked annoyed at the butler that had been sent to tell her this news.
"Tell Jack that if he wants me to come to dinner he'll have to ask me himself."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Johnson, call me Lo," she said, smiling at the man then waving goodbye as he climbed back into the car. She turned around to see Jacob and Will standing there. She just shook her head at Jacob and walked into his open arms.
"You sure you don't want me to burn down his house?"
"You mean houses?" He chuckled.
"Yeah."
"Nah, he can keep them all to his lonely ass self."
"You know he's not going to stop."
"I know," she said, then turned to meet Will's confused look. "Inform your child- he deserves to know seeing as how the rest of the house does." She started walking up the stairs then turned around. "Actually, Will, let's take us a little walk." Will just nodded and followed her out of the house.
As soon as they were outside Will said, "About earlier- I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry, Will, I was just having fun with you. I enjoy using men to entertain me." She laughed and he grinned at her, realizing how much he was beginning to love that laugh. She met his gaze and just sighed. His eyes were a beautiful blue, his hair dark- almost black- and shaggy, wavy. He was gorgeous to say the least. Tall, dark and handsome- just the way she liked them.
Over the period of the walk, they got more and more intimate with each other, physically teasing and then seconds later having a serious conversation. She began to realize that she hadn't had this much fun or opened up this much in years. She explained to Will everything about her dad. Then she went on to explain just exactly who Jack Languest was.
He was pretty much her counterpart. What part of the little strip of land she didn't own, he did. He was 27 and had been pursuing her since her father died last October.
"Of course," she said, "My father promised him that he could marry me whenever he wanted. He almost had me at sixteen," she said, shaking her head, "But I somehow convinced my dad to at least let me graduate high school. Then my dad died and Jack's just been hovering over my head every since, trying to get a hold of me so that somehow the two businesses will merge with our marriage. I've been thinking about accepting lately though, just to get him off my back."
"You shouldn't marry because it's a good business proposition. You should marry for love."
"I'm not so sure I believe in love, Will," she said, smiling gently at him.
"It just seems to me that marrying for the money can only go downhill."
"I know, but I don't know what else to do."
"Keep saying no?" She laughed.
"I guess that'll just have to do." They turned and started back, and then Logan turned to him.
"Hey, I was thinking I would go clubbing tonight, wanna come with me?"
"Of course," he said and he was shocked when she reached out and grabbed his hand.
"Meet you downstairs at seven thirty?" she asked, and he nodded.
Will was so excited that he was down there at seven. He sat down on the couch, coke in hand, to wait for her and just talk with Jacob.
"Watch out for her, alright?" Jacob was asking.
"Alright," Will answered, nervously.
"She doesn't take people out with her, not even me. Just take care of her- she deserves it." Will was shocked at what he had just heard but didn't have to think of a response to that as Logan was walking down the stairs. She looked amazing in her short black flowy skirt and an orange and yellow striped tube top, her reddish blonde hair flowing down around her shoulders. Without either of them thinking about it, they had met in the middle of the room and joined hands, sending flames through each other with their touch. Jacob raised an eyebrow at Logan and Will.
"Have fun you two, I'll lock up." Logan just smiled and said a quick thank you before practically dragging Will outside. They were climbing into her car, a Porsche Turbo, when a town car pulled up and Johnson, the butler, got out to open the back door. Logan groaned as she stood up and leaned on the car.
"Johnson, he doesn't deserve to have that door opened for him," she said to the butler, "I don't see why you do it."
