Chapter 126 Brawn Versus Business
Emily could not believe what was happening. Now she knew how Byron felt when he witnessed his mother chatting up Carter Jacks.
Katie and Carter were getting along like a house on fire. They were talking, laughing, sharing stories. It would have been really cute if it was anyone but Carter. Emily knew exactly how well he did when it came to committed relationships, and she didn’t want Katie to get involved with someone so unreliable.
“I have to stop this,” Emily said. “It’s getting out of hand.”
“Young people don’t want to be told who they can and can’t date, so there’s probably little you can do about it,” Byron reasoned, “Unless…”
“Unless?”
“We could introduce her to my star employee Brandon Clarkson. That young man is going places, and if Katie is as ambitious as you say, she might prefer him to your layabout buddy.”
“Other than calling Carter a ‘layabout’, I think that’s a great idea,” Emily said.
“Okay, I’ll distract Carter,” Byron offered, “while you introduce Katie to Brandon.”
“But I can’t make it look like it’s intentional,” Emily said. “I should talk to Brandon first and tell him to introduce himself.”
“Yes, the subtle approach is best,” Byron said.
Emily went over to Byron’s star employee. He was a young man in his twenties with black hair and an intelligent look on his refined face.
“Hi Brandon,” Emily said, “I’m wondering if you could do me a favor… My friend Katy doesn’t know too many people here, so maybe you could chat with her for a while?”
Brandon smiled and looked over at Katie, at which point he stood there just as slack-jawed as Carter had been. “Is that her, in the pink dress?”
“Yes.” Emily wondered if Katie had sprayed herself with some kind of pheromones, and all the males were helpless to resist her. But then, being a cute eighteen-year-old, she was naturally irresistible.
“By all means,” Brandon said, straightening up, “I’ll be happy to talk to her.”
Just as Brandon approached Katie and Carter, who were still having the time of their lives, Byron came over to the little group.
“How about a rematch on that weightlifting competition, Carter?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready anytime,” Carter said cheerfully.
“Okay, let’s go.” Byron led the way to the weight room. A few guests followed, wishing to see the contest. Unfortunately, Katie was one of them. She seemed more excited than anyone to see Carter in action.
Brandon came along too, but he was smart enough to realize Katie was too distracted by the spectacle as Byron and Carter stripped down to their undershirts so as not to ruin their formal attire. The young businessman was waiting for his chance to pounce.
Emily wondered if Carter showing off his muscles was going to make the entire plan backfire. All the guests were impressed with his ability to bench press hundreds of pounds with apparent ease.
“So is this like a regular thing at your house parties?” Katie asked.
“Not going to lie, it happens more often than you might think,” Emily said.
She forgot about the plan for a moment, admiring Byron’s physique as he hefted the formidable weights. And this time he did more reps than Carter. Even though this seemed totally barbaric, she was thrilled that he won! Byron winked at her and smiled in an alluring way, and she went up and hugged him even though he was a little sweaty.
“Dude, looks like you’ve been practicing,” Carter said with an easy smile, “Good rematch!” They shook hands while their small audience cheered.
“Ew! You’re sweaty!” someone yelled out. Nobody seemed to care that much, and everyone laughed.
Emily seized the opportunity to invite Carter to use their bathroom to wash up. While he was away, Brandon struck up a conversation with Katie. The young woman was interested in what he had to say, and from what Emily could tell, they talked about stocks and bonds.
Although Emily was a bit bored by such talk, Katie looked alert as ever. Of course, Katie was really into finance and stock market trading. She actually seemed overstimulated with everything that was going on. Emily decided she had done everything she could, and she went to see how the other guests were doing.
Later, she saw Katie and Carter exchanging phone numbers, but by the end of the night, Katie ended up in a small group of people, including Carter and Brandon. Emily wasn’t sure how successful Brandon was in winning Katie over, but she didn’t see him give out his phone number.
Emily noticed Katie’s parents looking askance at her as they left the party, probably not too pleased that their daughter was introduced to some kind of bad boy biker there.
