Teaching The Boss Read online

  April relaxed her arms and let out a sigh. This wasn’t an evil genius she was dealing with. It was a father who was so amazing at everything except being a father. “You really think you have been helping him all this time?”

  “I know I have. I saved him from bankruptcy with the first one and I saved him from a lifetime of misery when I protected him from marriage.”

  “But you never thought to tell him this? Or sit down and try to offer him some advice?”

  “The second that boy went to school, he was done with me. He didn’t listen to me when I told him that buying into that experimental energy was a bad move and eventually he stopped taking my calls.”

  April shook her head as Sam’s horror stories about Donald all came back to her. This time, it wasn’t through Sam’s anger-colored filter. Sam truly believed Donald hated him. He was doing everything possible to ruin Donald, not caring who he had to push over in the process.

  All to get his revenge against a parent who loved him in the messed-up way that only a Hunt would understand.

  “You need to talk to Sam,” she warned. “He thinks you hate him and if you let this go on any longer, you might lose any chance you have of getting a normal relationship with your son.” For a brief second, she considered telling him about Simon’s scheme, but couldn’t bring herself to spill the beans.

  No matter what the future held for her and Sam or Sam and Donald, she would never be forgiven if she betrayed Sam to his father.

  “He won’t talk to me if I call,” said Donald softly.

  April wanted to feel sympathetic, but all she could do was roll her eyes. Whose fault is that? she wanted to ask. “Just get a hold of him. Don’t let this go on any longer. I can’t force this to happen. I probably shouldn’t even be here. Just…try. Okay?”

  Donald nodded. “April,” he said softly. “I really do hope you and Samuel get your wedding in the Bahamas like you planned.”

  She let out a deep exhale. There it was. Gavin was the mole. The one person she’d mentioned eloping in the Bahamas to. Yet somehow it didn’t seem to matter anymore. “Good luck,” she muttered as she turned to leave. Now all she could do was pray Sam and Donald figured their shit out before all hell broke loose.

  She’d spent enough time in their drama for a lifetime. It was time for her to focus on her own life and walk across that damn stage. With or without Sam to cheer her on.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Sam checked his watch for the twentieth time in the past half hour. He’d left plenty early, but the bumper-to-bumper traffic made the hair on his neck stand up.

  Simon had warned him plenty of times that they only had this one window to get Donald. If he missed the meeting and April’s graduation because of traffic, he didn’t know what he’d do.

  But he had a plan. He just had to go into the restaurant, lay out the ultimatum for Donald and make sure he knew Sam had to have the shares by the next morning, and get the hell out. He’d probably miss the beginning of April’s ceremony, but might just be able to get there before they called her name.

  He could snap a picture, send her a congratulations text right as she got back to her seat and make sure she saw him in the audience. Boom. Best of both worlds. He’d have Donald on a spike exactly where he wanted him, and April could see that she was important to him.

  He looked at the time and mentally calculated how long it would take to get to Radio City Music Hall in this traffic. An extra special gift to the graduates was that the ceremony was in the esteemed building. This had to be timed perfectly for him to make it there to see April.

  His phone chirped from his briefcase, breaking Sam from his concentration. Unlike the other calls he’d gotten that morning, his heart didn’t skip a beat. He’d given up hope of April suddenly calling to apologize. Business call after business call taught him not to hope. If he had any chance of fixing this, it would have to be in person and today.

  Simon’s name flashed on the screen. Sam answered the call. “Hunt here.”

  “I wanted to make sure everything was on schedule,” said Simon.

  Sam’s head fell back as he rubbed his eyes. “I’m on my way right now. Is everything set on your end?”

  “DuFord confirmed he and your father are about to finalize the deal. Are you sure you can get there in time?”

  “I told you I could,” bit out Sam.

  Simon let out a sigh of relief loud enough to echo through the phone. “Just think. In a few hours, you might not have a care in the world.”

  Sam blinked as the thought trickled through him. He could get rid of Donald for good. Finally prove once and for all that he could beat Donald at his own game. But Simon was wrong. Even if this all went off without a hitch, there was no escaping his problems. This wouldn’t get April back.

  His breath left his body at the thought. What if she couldn’t forgive him? He might not get to her graduation in time, and even if he did, there was no guarantee she’d forgive him. He’d been repeating to himself over and over again that she would get over it, but this was April.

  She wasn’t some temperamental schoolgirl. She knew what she was doing and what she wanted. If she told him she didn’t think this plan was a good idea, maybe she had a point. How much did he really know about DuFord? How much did he really know about Simon?

  “Give me a call when it’s done,” said Simon. “I want to know everything that happens.”

  “Will do,” said Sam. The words left a bad taste in his mouth and Sam tried to push his unease as far away as possible. This was a good plan. He’d thought it over thousands of times. Get in, tell Donald he was screwed if he didn’t help Sam, and then hightail it out to Radio City Music Hall and tell April she was the most important thing to him.

  His heart flipped at the thought. He couldn’t look her in the eyes and say that. His car was taking him farther and farther away from April with every passing second.

  The phone vibrated in his hand, and Sam jumped at the suddenness of it. Fuck. He needed to get his head in the game. “What is it now?” he asked. He didn’t have the patience to deal with Simon any more than he had to.

  “Samuel.”

  Sam’s back went ramrod straight as he recognized the voice on the other end. “Donald.” Shit, he hadn’t even looked at the screen. What the hell was going on with him? He never answered the phone without checking first.

  “I hope this is a good time. I only have a few minutes before my next meeting.” Donald sounded hesitant, as though he carefully chose his words.

  Which made the hairs on the back of Sam’s neck stick out. His father was the most self-assured person he knew. Was he suspicious?

  “What do you want?” Sam made sure he didn’t reveal any of his unease.

  “April came to see me today.”

  Every muscle in his body somehow managed to tense up even more. “What did she tell you?” As quick as the fear rushed through him, he pushed it back. April wouldn’t betray him. Even if she was pissed off, she loved him.

  Sam’s eyes fell closed at the thought. She loved him, and he was repaying her by completely shutting her out.

  “She was rather upset about...how things have transpired. I know you’ll probably be with her most of the day, but I was hoping we could work in a meeting to discuss a few things.”

  Sam rubbed the sudden pounding in his temples. “April talked to you and now you want to have a meeting? Why? What exactly did she say?”

  There was a pause on the line. “Well, she not so delicately pointed out that I might’ve handled the situation with you wrong.”

  “I said you were wrong a million times. What the hell is the difference?” he snapped.

  “She said it better.”

  The pain intensified, and Sam’s stomach twisted into knots. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He was getting his revenge, damn it.

  “I have to go. The man I’m meeting just showed up. Are you sure we can’t do lunch tomorrow?”

  Sam took two
deep breaths. DuFord was there. Sam was about to get what he’d wanted for months. Years even. A final way to get Donald off his back.

  “Don’t give DuFord any money,” blurted out Sam. Instead of the regret, he felt a sudden relief race through him.

  “How did you know about that?”

  “It’s a long story, but trust me. Don’t give him a single penny.” Sam bent forward and motioned for the driver to turn around. As the driver nodded his understanding, Sam smiled his thanks.

  “Are you sure about this? I’ve had him checked out.”

  “I’m sure. If you let that man in, he’ll destroy you. Now I have to go.”

  There was another pause. “You tell April I said congratulations,” he said.

  Sam leaned back in his seat. The tension in his gut released for the first time that day. “I’ll check my schedule later and we can try to arrange something.”

  “Thanks, Samuel,” said Donald.

  Sam tilted his head as he fully comprehended his father’s words. When was the last time his father had thanked him for anything? Sam wasn’t sure he ever had. “No problem. I’ll be in touch.”

  He hung up the phone and looked out the window as the buildings flew by. The pounding in his head had finally receded, and for the first time that day, he felt like he could truly breathe.

  “Where to?” asked the driver.

  “Radio City Music Hall,” said Sam. “Take the quickest route you know.”

  ~~~~~

  She didn’t expect it to be so hot. The room all the students were crammed into was probably set to a perfectly reasonable temperature, but why didn’t anyone consider that the fifty bodies in a small space would heat up quicker than the AC could work?

  April closed her eyes and tried to let the latest stress of the day roll off her. So what if Sam wasn’t there. She’d met her aunt outside the auditorium before all the students had been corralled away. She’d managed to snap a few pictures and April, for the most part, had avoided crying when her aunt teared up.

  Even if they were tears of joy, she’d cried enough in the past day. All she wanted to do was bask in the glow of this amazing moment. But her mind had other ideas. She’d tried to sneak her phone into the ceremony, but her dress didn’t have pockets so she’d left it in her purse with her aunt. She was kind of glad she didn’t have it, though. All she’d be doing was checking the screen constantly, hoping that by some miracle, Sam had changed his mind.

  Which would just be setting herself up for failure.

  She tried to focus on anything else. Instead of wallowing in her own drama, April scanned the room. She was surrounded by such a diverse group of business majors. Most were people she’d had a class or two with somewhere along the way; some were strangers. There were the younger people who’d been full-time students right out of high school and some middle-aged graduates who had switched careers. And a lot were like April and Annabelle. The ones who took a little longer, be it for money or family reasons. All different races and backgrounds coming together to celebrate. It was a beautiful thing.

  And April was still only thinking about Sam.

  She looked behind her to where Annabelle talked with the people around her. Everyone let out a laugh and April smiled at the sight. There was the joy she wanted today. The first day of the rest of her life. The rest of her life without Sam.

  Damn it!

  If she kept this up, she was going to start imagining him. Like he would suddenly appear through the crowds and run toward her. Of course, as soon as the thought hit her, April glanced to the door of the room. As expected, there was no knight in shining armor rushing in to rescue her from her own psychosis.

  “Excuse me, everyone.” A voice boomed from the front of the room. A well-dressed man in a suit stood at the entrance. “They will begin calling names any minute now, so we’re going to move into the auditorium in a minute.”

  April took a deep breath as a tiny bit of adrenaline spiked through her. This was it. It was finally happening. Her eyes darted to the main entrance once again, and her insanity was confirmed.

  There was Sam, pushing his way closer toward her.

  She blinked a few times, tried to push the mirage away and regain her sanity. This was really no time for hallucinations.

  But his image didn’t fade. If anything, it got clearer and clearer as he approached. “Sam,” she breathed as he pushed through the robed figures.

  He took a brief pause to catch his breath once he finally reached her. “I didn’t miss it, did I?”

  “No. You made it with a whole minute to spare.” She took in the beads of sweat that had dripped down the side of his face. “Did you run all the way here?”

  He shook his head. “Not all the way.” The corner of his mouth hooked up.

  April smiled back at him. A thousand questions popped up in her mind. “What are you doing here?”

  He reached down and held her hands in his. The warmth radiating from him made her even more uncomfortable, but she couldn’t care less at the moment. Just the simple touch from him sent a calm wave through her.

  “I love you, April. I wasn’t lying when I said it. And I know you think that it’s the company first and you second, but that’s not true. You are the company. You helped me build it and have been by my side pretty much since the beginning. You think you’re second, but you’re not. HuntCorp without you wouldn’t be what I’ve spent the past decade trying to build and I wouldn’t love it as much if it weren’t for you.

  “So if you ask me to choose, the answer is both. I can’t have one without the other, and I need you.”

  April stared up at him. Her heart beat so fast she was sure it was going to cause some sort of damage. “You’re serious?”

  “Without a doubt. You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met and if I let you go, there’s no way I can be half the man I am with you by my side.”

  She opened her mouth before she abruptly closed it again. “I, um, I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you forgive me. Please. I’ll do anything you want for the slightest chance you’ll take me back.”

  “Sam,” she whispered.

  “Okay, folks. Follow me. We’re going to start with the As,” called the organizer at the front of the room.

  April whipped her head back and forth between the students filing out and Sam.

  Sam’s eyes went wide. “Just give me one more—”

  April pushed up onto her tiptoes, pressed her lips against his and wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around her and she allowed herself to sink into the touch for a quick second before she pulled herself away. “Hold that thought.” She fell into line with the rest of the students. “I have to do this one little thing and then we’re going to have a talk.”

  Sam’s entire face lit up and April promptly tripped over her feet and fell into the student in front of her. She giggled out an apology as she tried to pay more attention to where she was going. Even with the added concentration, a ridiculous grin stretched from ear to ear. First step, diploma. Next stop, some serious talking with Sam.

  ~~~~~

  “Sam! You showed up,” said Annabelle as she wheeled over.

  As she approached, Sam took a step back. Suddenly his elation was smothered out by the reminder of his past. “Annabelle,” he said. “Congratulations. This is a big day for you.”

  She came to a halt a few inches from him. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like to not have school hanging over my head any longer.”

  He nodded as he racked his mind for anything to say. Yet all that flashed through his mind was a blaring siren of guilt. “Aren’t you supposed to be in line?”

  She glanced over to the shrinking line of students. “I’m going last so the line doesn’t get disrupted.” Her eyes raked over his face. “Are you okay?”

  Shit. Apparently he wasn’t as good at hiding his discomfort as he thought. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out.

 
Her brows drew together. “Sorry? For what?”

  He stared down at her. Was she messing with him? “For what I did to you.”

  Annabelle’s expression softened. “I’m not mad at you, Sam. April’s told me so many good things about you.”

  He scoffed. “April is sadly mistaken.” He took a deep gulp. “I know I ruined your life. I need you to know how sorry I am.”

  Her eyes widened. “You think you ruined my life?”

  “Well, yeah.” His gaze dropped to the wheels attached to her chair.

  She sighed. “Sam, that night was hard. Hard and painful, and finding out about my legs was one of the scariest moments of my life, but you can’t tell me you don’t think it’s fate.”

  “Fate?”

  “Look at me! I’m a college graduate! I had three different job offers to choose from. Where I grew up, college wasn’t even considered an option. It was a thing the rich kids went to, not people like me. Sometimes the things we expect to destroy us are the things that turn us into fighters. I know you gave up drinking after that, and April raves about your renewed commitment to charity. Heck, if it weren’t for you, I would’ve never met April and she’s been a godsend.”

  Sam took in the tiny woman who sat before him, who talked about his greatest shame as if it was a gift. “You really believe that?”

  Annabelle looked behind her to the one remaining student who waited by the door, looking at her expectantly. “Give me one minute,” she called.

  The boy nodded as he leaned against the wall.

  Annabelle held out her hands to Sam. “Help me,” she said as he wrapped his fingers around her. With a strength he wasn’t expecting, she gripped him tighter and pulled herself up.

  Taking her cue, Sam put some of his own strength in and soon she was unsteadily balancing on her feet. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked as she stood eye to eye with him.