2

    The sound of loud music reverberated across the room. Nothing made sense to him, his mind was occupied by other thoughts and contrary to Henry’s suggestion, the strip club or the girls clad in scanty clothes didn’t help ease the tension he felt.

In three days, he was going to lose his father’s company.

  He felt a knot in his chest and he downed what was left in his glass in one gulp. He watched as the other men sprayed the girls and cheered them on, he envied how relaxed they were, not bothered by what was going to happen.

 His relationship with his father was not the typical father and son relationship. They disagreed on so many things even though they were the spitting image of each other. His father had always feared that his son would end up a lonely man or if he kept on sleeping with different women, he might lose himself. 

  Aiden didn’t care about any of the things he had to say, his parents had found love which was perfect but he wasn’t interested in finding love. The thought of committing to one person for the rest of his life scared him.

  His parents had tried playing the role of matchmaker a couple of times but they eventually gave up when they saw their son had made up his mind.

His father had passed on a year ago and he asked that his will be read a year after. 

It was the toughest time of Aiden's life, he had to be there for his mother and sisters. He watched his family suffer so much grief he couldn’t save them from.

  A year later, the hole in heart wasn’t healed but he had gotten used to the fact that he’d never see his father again.

   He scoffed as one of the girls smiled at him and twirled her hair in between her fingers. 

He poured himself another shot, wishing he could drown his thoughts.

A few days ago, the lawyer had come to the house to read his father’s will. He had left his estates to his sisters which was expected, they had built good relationships with their clients unlike him who was impatient and dismissive. 

   “To Aiden, I leave Ray.co”

Aiden beamed. Ray.co was a tech company that had become a household name since the ‘80s. Aiden’s great grandfather had started it as a small business and Aiden’s father had established it to what it became. Now, it rested on Aiden’s shoulder to do better than what was in place.

 It was his dream as a child, to take over the company and to make his father proud.

     “Only on one condition” the lawyer added immediately 

 He raised a brow quizzically, his father’s gifts never came with conditions.

     “You must be married”

  Aiden laughed, he thought it was a joke but the look on the lawyer’s face said otherwise. His fists curled into a ball, even in his cold grave his father still knew how to pull strings.

     “You have three days to come with your wife or the company would be willed to your cousins”

 He scoffed, his cousins? Of all people in the world, his father chose his cousins whom he hated so much.

 It had been twenty four hours since he sat in his fathers den for the reading of the will and he was yet to find a wife.

It should have been easy for him, he was charming and he had ladies clinging to him every other night. He could have just chosen any of them to be his wife and then he’d divorce her after a year but none of them seemed worthy. It was just sex, that was all it was to him.

     He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. The thought of losing the company choked him, his father wasn’t alive to hear him argue all day about it. His only option was to get married or to forget about the company.

     “Look at all the beautiful girls here tonight,” Henry leaned over, whispering into his ears. “Watch them dance and have a good time, we’ll figure things out later”

  Aiden’s frown deepened. It seemed like Henry didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. 

His phone buzzed with a text message and he quickly reached for it. It was a text from the lawyer, reminding him he had forty eight hours left. He typed a hurried “OK” and shoved it into his pocket. 

  He stared tequila shots Henry had poured him. He had lost count of how many he had to drink that night.

Henry nudged him and pointed to the stage, a sly smile on his lips. 

 Aiden reluctantly lifted his eyes to see who it was. A couple of girls had tried to get his attention but he wasn’t interested in any of them, Henry was generous enough to tip them.

   The girl was clad in fishnets and her face was hidden behind a black mask. She had the most electrifying eyes he’d ever seen. They were blue like the ocean, calm and alluring.

He took his eyes away from her quickly, he wasn’t interested in her or her horrible dancing skills.

 He noticed she quickly moved back to where she had come from. He was too consumed by his own grief to care about how she felt.

  “I’ve never seen you worked up before” Henry commented, he didn’t bother hiding his displeasure in his friend’s moodiness.

  “I don’t expect you to understand” came the tired reply.

“I followed my father to work every holiday, I was intrigued by how the company worked and I looked forward to running it one day but asking me to get married is just too much”

 He wasn’t capable of loving anyone romantically. He believed marriage and love wasn’t for everyone. He was fine with having his sisters and their kids as his family forever, there was no such thing as loneliness around them.