Chapter nine
(Matthew's POV)
"Mr. Benson, Mr. Benson."
I snap my neck towards the sound of my name with a scowl and the woman flinches. I school my features, apologize and ask her to carry on. This is probably the fifth time I have spaced out and had to be called to attention.
Mike glares at me from his chair opposite mine with a large circular glass table in the center. I glare right back and he rolls his eyes and looks away with a shake of his head and a smirk.
No one should blame me for spacing out when all that is on my mind is my date with Cassandra that I am supposed to be preparing for.
I haven't even made a reservation yet since today was just one meeting after another. I have not asked her yet though but I already gave her a heads up last week so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise I hope. The thought just got into my head this morning; the sooner we start dating; the sooner I can get her to trust me and accept my animal side.
I almost groan out loud. Why is this conference taking so long; couldn't they just summarize everything and tell me later but no; Mike had insisted on me being there for reasons I still don't get. Something about business ethics and shit.
Don't get me wrong, I love my business; I'm very proud of it but for the first time I'm looking forward to a date that might or might not happen and my nerves are going haywire.
"I think that concludes it. We'll send the papers over so you can run through it." A burly man in a dark brown three-piece suit says and I almost howl in joy. I stand up and make for the door but the man stops me by grabbing my elbow.
"Why the rush Matthew, we haven't had the chance to talk yet. We'll soon be business partners, you know." He says with a creepy smile and I look at the hand on my elbow with a frown.
He slowly lowers it and apologizes with the same weird smile on his face.
Who is he again? Honestly, I don't even know who is who in this room except for Mike and some of my staff. I did not pay attention during the introduction so I don't know who he is but judging by the suit he is wearing and how he carries himself, I think he's the boss of the company we are partnering up with.
"Mr. Spiegel, how's Mary doing?" Michael comes to my rescue as always and I sigh in relief. It would have been embarrassing if I had called him by his secretary's name. Spiegel turns towards him with the same creepy smile on his lips but I think I saw his jaw clench.
"Mary is fine." He replies and I frown at his contrite tone. Mike came to stand beside me and gave me a discreet nudge on my arm.
"Aah yes, Mr. Spiegel. I'm looking forward to working with you." I say with a polite enough smile.
"Same here and please call me John. Have you met my son yet? He will be taking my place someday so I decided to bring him along." He says and motions with his hand towards a boy standing at the corner of the room. He almost looks like the all-American playboy; all blonde and charming but for the brooding set of his shoulders and the scowl on his face.
"Come here, boy." John calls and the brooding kid glares at the floor before looking up with a blank expression and walking over.
Once he reaches us, his father slaps an arm over his stiff shoulders and draws him close.
"This is Princeton. Princeton met Matthew. I'm sure you remember him; he gave a seminar at your school about a week ago," He says and looks at me with a smirk, "I heard that you put on quite a show Benson." Michael snickers beside me.
"I guess I did." I chuckle uncomfortably. I see Princeton's hands tighten into fists. He stuffs them in his pockets and glares at me. Weird. These two were giving me strange vibes; I feel on edge standing so close to them.
"I'd love to stay and chat but I have somewhere I need to be right now. Excuse me." I say and walk out of the conference room without waiting for their response.
I hear Mike excuse himself and follow after me.
"That father and son duo gives me the heebie-jeebies." He says as he catches up with me right before we both step into the elevator.
"Same here but his proposal sounds good so..." I mumble and tap my foot in impatience.
"By the way, what did you do to that kid? He looked like you stole his girlfriend or something."
"I don't know and I don't care," I reply and we ascend in silence for a few seconds.
"Sooo... First date huh."
"Shut it."
He snickers.
...........
(Princeton's POV)
"Keep your temper in check boy." My old man scolds as he pulls a cigar from his suit pocket and puts it between his lips. I rolled my eyes and took out a lighter from the pocket of my trousers and lit the butt of the cigar.
"That beast is trying to take what belongs to me. You know I can't let that happen, father."
"If I remember correctly which I do; there was a speculation in the last meeting that the girl you're in love with is his mate." He says with an amused smirk and a raised brow.
I scoff and glare at the transparent wall facing the city. It is one of the only reasons I agreed to follow the old man to the meeting. The view was breathtaking and the height of the building made it so that you could see the forest of trees at the edge of that part of the city. I guess the beast had some brains in putting the conference room on the fourteenth floor of this fifteen-story building.
"I don't care if they're mates, she's mine."
He hums. "We'll see about that."
I turn to face him with a pleading expression. "Come on father, are you not going to help me?"
He ignores me for a few seconds as he looks at the city and smokes his cigar. "What do you want me to do?"
"Umm, what we always do; our duty." Obviously.
"Mmmm, it's our duty. That's easier said than done boy. In case you forgot, he is an Alpha; need I say more?" He says and I can hear a bit of mocking in his tone. I grit my teeth but don't say anything since I need his help and if I throw a bitch fit, he will just give me the stink eye and that would be the end of it and I could say bye-bye to ever get Cassie.
So I take a deep breath. "Please dad; I know you've been trying to snuff out as many Alphas as possible since those dogs are easy pickings without their leader. And now you have one more reason to do so."
"Which is?" He asks with a smirk and I sigh.
"To help your son get the love of his life," I reply in exasperation. At that time, we were the only ones in the room so we could talk freely.
"Why should I help you?" He asks as he faces me and blows smoke in my face causing me to wring my nose in disgust. I hate his cigars. I had burned his whole stack of them before but he just ordered double the amount a day after, but I haven't given up though.
"Because I'm your son but since you don't give a shit about that...."
"Mind your language boy." He scowls and I almost roll my eyes but I need him placated.
" Sorry. You should help me because if you do then I will be more willing to do whatever you want concerning the business." I say while looking him in the eye to show how serious I was. His eyes light up and he grins like an evil Cheshire cat.
"You are in love." He laughs and starts walking towards the door. He stops by the door when he notices that I wasn't following. He didn't give me an answer so I will not move. Petty I know but I don't care.
"Well, what are you standing there for; Let's go start our preparations to get rid of that animal." He says and I grin and run after him and we leave the building with satisfied expressions.
We hopped into the back of the limo we came in and drove out of the company premises and towards the HU headquarters.
"So what is the plan?"
"Patience son, patience."