Breathless (Less Is More Book 1) Page 3

  First time for everything I guess.

  ***

  The campus parking lot and streets are covered in nothing but metal. Car after car, and I start to wonder just how good the donations will be tonight. Even though my passion for teaching has faded, my passion for helping the less fortunate, especially when it comes to education, hasn’t faded one bit.

  I go to the staff parking lot which thankfully has a spot open - even though it is the farthest from the entrance doors. I lock the doors and focus on my breathing, as I make my way to the dining center where the event is being held; not that I get nervous about the idea of having to give a speech, but you can easily stumble over your words when faced with a crowd just dying to give you their money.

  “Good evening, Professor Everett,” a former student of mine says, as I make my way to the doors. “You’re looking quite dashing this evening.”

  I laugh and say, “Well thank you, Pete. You’re looking pretty snazzy yourself.” I always got the impression that Pete had a crush on me when he was a student of mine. Not because he was in fact gay himself, and made sure to make the fact known in conversations quite often, but because he would bite his lip when he talked to me one on one and smile.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask him.

  “I actually work with the company heading the benefit,” he says. “I’m going with the group to take everything over once everything is ordered. It’s pretty cool, honestly, because I want to travel.” He looks over my shoulder and then back to me, biting his bottom lip. “In large part to you, Mr. Everett.”

  “Well,” I say, checking my watch, “I’m glad I could inspire someone. That’s my goal here.” His gaze doesn’t waver and the unease is starting to set in. “It was good to see you, Pete. Hope everything goes as planned.”

  “Me too,” he says, his gaze still unwavering.

  I make my way through the entrance doors and start walking towards the stage they have set up. The stage is rounded with a different exhibit every few feet of promotions and reasons to provide for the event. The curtains to access behind the stage are red, draped in gold, and the stage floor is laid in black.

  I look around at my surroundings and see table after table laced with pamphlets and information about the publishers attending the event tonight. The tables are all laid in black as well, and the pamphlets are drenched in red and gold. To top it off, there is a small candle in the center of each table with an inscription carved on the side of the holder. Each one recognizes a quote from a famous author and education in general.

  I recognize a few names off the list, but once I skim further down the list, my eyes focus on a single name: ProjectSimpleton

  My heart immediately starts racing and I look around like an idiot to see if I can spot Elliot anywhere. I think he said he was a lead editor, so most likely he will be here attending.

  I make my way over to the display stand for ProjectSimpleton and look at the names displayed for attendance along with a picture of the people. There are three names: Andrew Simpson, Elliot Edwards, and Samuel Erickson. I look at Elliot’s picture and smile because the picture doesn’t do him justice. His smile is gorgeous and I realize that his relaxed, laughing smile is the same as his forced, fixed one. It looks like a recent picture because he is sporting the same haircut he was when I saw him the other night.

  “We need you backstage, Will,” I hear to my right. Standing beside me is Missy who is the coordinator for the whole event and one of the leads on the organization in general. Educate-Us-All has been designed from top to bottom by Missy and without her, it would be nowhere near as successful as it is now.

  “You’re looking pretty sharp tonight,” she says.

  I straighten my bowtie and throw her a smile and say, “Got to impress the bank accounts, right?” She laughs and checks something on her iPad that I can’t read clearly.

  “Damn it!” she says. “Adam is late and we need someone to go confirm who from the publishing houses is here.” My eyes grow wide and I feel my body tingle.

  “I’ll go do it,” I say, as calmly as I can. “Just tell me what I need to know.”

  “You already have enough to do, Will,” she says. “I don’t want to overburden you with extra stuff.”

  “Really,” I say, smiling, “I don’t mind at all. The prompter has my speech and other than that, I just have to mingle and look pretty, so it’s nothing.”

  She takes a second to think and then says, “If you’re sure. Just remember, I gave you a choice and I’m not bossing you around and instructing you to do this for me. You chose to do this for me because you’re awesome. Everyone thinks I’m a bossy bitch, so I want to be clear that you are helping out of the kindness of your heart.” She looks me in the eyes, not letting her serious expression waver.

  “I offered because I’m amazing. Got it.” I nod to her with an expression as serious as I can make it and she busts out laughing.

  “Come on,” she says, “and I’ll show you where they all are.” She arches her head over her shoulder towards the hallway and I follow.

  We make our way through the Science Department of the campus and into one of the larger lecture halls. As we make our way through the door, I suddenly feel myself get nervous and anxious. I can’t tell if it is a happy nervous or an ‘oh-shit’ kind of nervous. I’m not sure how to react once I see Elliot besides overly enthused and crazy.

  As we make our way down the stairs leading to the desk at the center of the room, I don’t look around me, but instead focus my attention between the desk and my feet. If Elliot is in here, I don’t see him.

  “Here is the list of the publishing houses,” Missy says, as we turn the corner of the desk. “There are either two people or three from each house here to present and speak. Here is the sheet with the order they are presenting in, so just ask for them from this. Just put a checkmark next to each name that is here and have one of the members sign. If there isn’t at least one person from each organization here then let me know as soon as you finish. They should all be here, though, because they were supposed to come early.”

  I lift my eyes and do a quick scan of the room, but it’s to quick to make out anyone or spot Elliot.

  “Got it,” I say.

  “Once you’re done just have them follow you back stage behind the curtain. I will be back there unless something goes wrong tonight, but let’s hope not.” She checks something on her iPad again and smiles up at me. “Thank you again, Will. If you weren’t gay you’d be a dream guy for us ladies.”

  I smile and say, “Well maybe one day they will make the cure. I’ll keep you posted.”

  “You’re a dork,” she says and makes her way back up the stairs.

  I call off each publishing house and ask them to come to the front to have them sign in and give them a rundown of what will happen when they go up on stage. Eventually, I get to ProjectSimpleton

  Two men make their way down the aisle and neither one is Elliot.

  “Hi,” the taller, gray-haired one says on the right putting out his hand. “Andrew Simpson, head of the company. And this is Sam Erickson, our lead graphic-design artist in the company.”

  I can already tell Andrew thinks highly of himself, but Sam seems moderately normal and laid back. He has dirty-blonde hair and green eyes and a beautiful smile when he says, “Hi, nice to meet you…”

  “Will,” I say, laughing, “sorry. Will Everett.”

  Sam’s eyes grow a tad wider and I have no idea why. He looks me up and down and then smiles and says, “Nice to meet you, Will. I’m also just a freelancer with the company. Not a lead designer. Not that it matters, but yeah.”

  “It says here that there should be one other member of your company. An Elliot Edwards?” Sam looks at me again and grins.

  “Elliot is running late,” Andrew says, reminding me that he was even there. “He had a meeting with a potential investor for the house, but he should be here before the event starts.” A surge of relief goes through
me and I smile. Sam laughs and I focus my attention back to the task.

  “Ok,” I say, “you guys are the last ones so that should be it.” Every other group I had leave once I registered them in, so I escort the other two out and we make our way back to the event area.

  “I know who you are,” Sam says, nudging my shoulder. “I’m beyond glad you are here.”

  “Why is that?” I ask, bewildered.

  “Elliot hasn’t shut the fuck up about you since he met you the other night.”

  Chapter Three

  Elliot

  “F UCK!” I MASH MY HORN AS the two cars in front of me go twenty miles under the speed limit. I am already late for the fundraiser and slowly getting more pissed as the time passes.

  The meeting with the investor was a bust and he wanted to basically demolish the company and revitalize it into a whole different genre than what we specialize in at the publishing house. My phone lights up in the cup holder and I see it is from Sam.

  You will never believe the special guest they booked for the event tonight. You are gonna lose your shit.

  I didn’t hear about any special guest when I was going over the event with Andrew. It was supposed to be pretty low-key, but still swarmed with the richest people in the city. People that Andrew frequents with: assholes.

  When I started at the company, Andrew was into his third year and already on his way to running the place. His dad had part-ownership of the house before he eventually sold out so Andrew got the job at exactly the right time. Every day I hope that someone slams into him with their vehicle while he is walking down the block on his way to work with his morning coffee in his hand and his phone pressed to his ear, not paying attention.

  He is the biggest asshole in the whole city and the day he makes a mistake, his job is mine.

  I drive through the campus gates and make my way to the parking lot. Everyone has already arrived and there isn’t a parking space in sight.

  I drive around and up to the student parking lot, which is a mile away from where I need to go, and park in the spot closest to the walkway. I lock the car and make my way down the staircase leading to the actual campus. The stars are out in full tonight and as I look up to admire them, my pant leg catches on a hook protruding from the side of the bar that goes all the way down the walkway. It takes me by surprise and I trip over my feet and fall down a few steps - tearing my pant leg and getting covered in dirt.

  Now I’m irate.

  I finally make it to the entrance doors and I am greeted by a guy who is a good bit younger than me and looks like he is still in high school. He smiles as we lock eyes, but it fades the closer I get.

  “Are you OK, man?” he asks me.

  “I’m fine,” I say, as calmly as I can. “I just fell down. Did it start already or am I good?” He looks me up and down again with a mixture of confusion and interest. I snap my fingers in front of his face a few obnoxious times and he zones back in.

  “Yeah,” he says, “you’re good. Go on in.”

  I walk through the door and make a right towards the bathroom. The only thing that could make tonight worse was if the water wasn’t working in the bathroom. I rush past an older guy and his wife, well probably his wife but it is hard to tell, and make my way to the sink in the bathroom.

  A damp paper towel gets rid of most of the dirt and I fix my hair back to what it looked like before I fell. I tuck the ripped part of my pant leg into my shoe.

  Ugh.

  “What the hell happened to you?” I hear behind me and I jump. I look in the mirror and see Sam’s reflection laughing at me with his hand pressed against the bathroom stall.

  “It hasn’t exactly been the best evening for me, dick.”

  “How did the meeting go?” he asks.

  I give him a thumbs down and say, “He wanted to change everything about the content we publish. Wanted to keep up with the times and do what everyone else was doing.”

  “Vampires and erotica?”

  “Basically,” I say. “Did you find out what we are doing here as far as presenting?”

  Sam’s smile widens and I scrunch my face in confusion.

  “What?” I ask him.

  “We are presenting last,” he says.

  “That has you smiling because...”

  “That isn’t why,” he says with his grin still wide. “You’ll see why. Let’s go.”

  Sam leads me out of the bathroom and down the hallway towards the eating area where they have the event set up. There are weird mixtures of black and red and gold podiums set up in a circle around the stage with each publishing houses’ info that is attending the event. The room is filled with people that I will probably never see or speak to again and I instantly feel suffocated and annoyed by all the shoulder-bumping going on, as I make my way towards the back of the stage.

  As I brush past an older group of gentleman talking about their summer plans, my eyes skim to the left most side of the stage where I see a photograph of a familiar face kneeling by two children; a photo, it looks like, from past years when they had actually went overseas.

  My heart starts racing when I see the name at the bottom of the photograph: Will Everett.

  “Holy shit,” I say, grabbing Sam’s arm and jerking him back to where my feet are firmly planted. “It’s him.”

  Sam starts laughing and says, “I know. I met him earlier.” My eyes shoot to Sam and he starts laughing even more.

  “When did you meet him?”

  “He was doing the check-ins earlier for all the different companies presenting tonight. He played it cool when he saw your name, but I could tell he was nervous and then disappointed when you weren’t there. I’m soooo glad you got his last name.”

  “Did you tell him I was coming?” I say with a little more force than necessary.

  “Yes,” he says. “Calm down, Elliot. Your boyfriend is expecting you so don’t get all psycho-crazy now.” I roll my eyes at him and he redirects me towards the back curtain.

  We walk through and the number of people is almost half of what it was on the other side of the curtain. My eyes immediately scan the room to see if I can spot Will, but they dart too fast and I can’t really make out anyone.

  Sam grabs my arm and jerks me out of my daze and to the left to where Andrew is waiting for us. He doesn’t even speak and I’m already over being in his presence and wish he wasn’t here attending in general.

  “Elliot,” he nods with a smirk, “you look worn-out this evening. Meeting didn’t go as planned?”

  “Not a good choice for the company, no.”

  “Well, anyone with money they are willing to invest is a decent choice if you ask me, though.”

  “I didn’t,” I say.

  He raises his eyebrows at me and his smirk widens as I say, “Maybe next time you should send one of your less inclined workers to have the meeting with him.” Sam grabs my arm and jerks me to the left and we walk to the back of the room.

  “Really, Elliot?” Sam says.

  “Fuck him,” I say, shaking my head. “The sooner he moves on to something else, the sooner the company can be made into more than a fund for stupidity.” I look around the room to see if I can spot Will, but still nothing.

  “What are you going to say to him when you see him?”

  “Who?”

  “Will,” Sam slowly says, raising his eyebrows.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I haven’t really thought about it.”

  “Well, you better think quick,” Sam says, pointing over my shoulder to the back of the room.

  As I slowly turn, there stands Will, head to toe flawless, in his suit. He isn’t wearing his glasses like before and I can make out details in his face that I couldn’t before with them on. His nose has a perfect curve that settles well with his face shape and his eyes are a bright blue that makes my insides quiver. His hair is pushed back and shiny and all I can imagine is having a handful in each of my hands while I sit on top of him, riding him deeper and deep
er into me. I shake back into reality before I get overly involved in my fantasy and wonder if I’m truly going crazy since my first thought was being his cum-dumpster.

  As I look back up to where he was standing, I see he is gone.

  “Where’d he go?” I ask Sam, suddenly annoyed.

  “He has to go present I think,” he says. “He is the main headliner for the whole thing; being the head of the department and all that.” I look around the room and don’t see him anywhere. I look down at my watch and see the event officially starts in five minutes.

  “Good evening, everyone,” I hear over the loud speakers. “My name is Will Everett and I will be, well, I guess your host for the evening. Basically the guy that stands up here and looks pretty for you and tries to sway you into giving me all of your money.” The crowd of people laughs and then Will proceeds to laugh into the microphone.

  “All joking aside,” he starts, “everyone here running the benefit is beyond thrilled that you all could make it here tonight and it truly is for an amazing cause that I have been apart of since I was younger and started going to when I went to school here myself. The program has a special place in my heart and for those of you who are new to the event this year, I’d like you to please take a moment and enjoy this short video that we have scrounged up for you all. Thank you.”

  The video starts playing and it’s a collection of pictures and moments from past years when groups have gone overseas. I see Will come back through the curtain, off the stage, and I instantly freeze when he tilts his head up and his eyes lock with mine. For a second, I don’t think he recognizes me because his stare turns hollow and blank, but then his grin grows wide and his gorgeous smile glistens in the light. My heart instantly starts racing and all the negative energy I had bottled up from the day leaves me instantly. He shakes a few hands and makes his way over to me.