Casanova(29)

From: William Walker

To: Brett Walker

Subject: Fw: Re: Article One



Read this.



(Download attachment)



I hit the link on the email and downloaded the PDF attachment. The email itself was forwarded from Lani’s email address, but my father had deleted any trace of the email she’d sent him.

The downloaded completed. I stared at the box at the bottom of my screen asking me if I wanted to open the file. A sick feeling churned in my stomach—after today, what would this say? Dad gave no indication with his two-word email.

Was it good? Bad?

I had to read it. I knew that. I didn’t have a choice. If I did, it never would have been sent to me in the first place. Dad would have handled it and I...Well, I’d probably fucking ignore it.

I took a deep breath and clicked on ‘Open.’ The file loaded up within seconds, and I shifted to get comfortable in bed as the words appeared on my screen.



-Here is article one. Attach notes as necessary.



I assumed the note at the top wasn’t for me, but it was tempting all the same. I read on.



Former high school all-star quarterback, Brett Walker, has long been the name on the lips of the people who live in Whiskey Key. Protected by his name and his family’s status in the Key, he’s long gotten away with behaviors others would have been called out for.



Harsh.



It is, however, in recent months that his name has once again become a common topic of conversation. One can barely walk into the coffee shop or grocery store without hearing how he was rude to the girl behind the checkout desk or how he never called any number of girls back after one night of pleasure.

His womanizing is, of course, the biggest blot on his family’s reputation.

Like his father before him, William Walker was married by the age of twenty-six and a father by the age of thirty. As a teenager, he took an active interest in the family business, and his keen eye and quick mind helped take it to the next level, until Henrick Walker retired and handed majority ownership to his son.

This was the expected path for Brett Walker, destined to be shared with his twin sister, Camille.

While Camille seems to be taking an active interest in the business, the same cannot be said for her brother.



Wasn’t she supposed to be making me look good, not affirming to the town that I was a total fucking asshole?



It’s widely recognized and accepted that Brett Walker has little to no respect for people of the opposite gender, yet that doesn’t stop women flocking to him. Presumably they hope to be the ones to change him, but thrown-out numbers littering the library trash can at Walker House scream that the male Walker heir simply cannot be tamed.

He himself believes that women who fuck on the first night will only fuck him over in a few years’ time.



That was a point that could seriously damage my sex life. Not that I was allowed to have such a thing under the terms of my new behavior, but still.



Of course, it all depends who you ask. While rumors must have a shred of truth to start, rumors are easily twisted. Words can be misheard or misunderstood, and all that leads to is a web of untruths that can seriously hurt a person and those around them.

Brett Walker is many things to many different people. And he, like everyone else, has a side not many people know about.

You may know him for being a brilliant quarterback whose passion to play the game died the day he graduated Whiskey Key high, but his AP math professor knows him for being the kid who got almost one hundred percent on every test he ever gave him.

Yes, his advanced placement math professor.

One little known fact about Brett Walker is that he is, for all intents and purposes, somewhat of a mathematical genius.

Unfortunately for him, his outward behavior—rumored or true—hides who he is inside. Someone who is bright and brilliant where numbers are concerned.

Just recently his father appointed him as his in-house financial assistant after a string of accounting disasters courtesy of his team of personal assistants. After several instances where Brett fixed all the documents, his father gave him what, I suppose, you could call a promotion.

Now, the financial logging of the entire Walker empire is in twenty-five-year-old Brett’s hands. The responsibility is huge, but he already has a steady system in place that works for him.

In terms of checking his list and its accuracy, Santa Claus could stand to learn a thing or two from him.

If Brett Walker truly were a flaky, disrespectful, irresponsible failure, would his father have given him such an important position—one he created just for him?

That’s for you to decide, but for me, the answer is no. I believe it makes him strong, capable, and smarter than people give him credit for.



Well, fuck.

She turned that right around, didn’t she? And pulling the AP math card—she was right. It was a fact a lot of people either didn’t know or forgot. I might have passed English classes by the skin of my teeth, but I flew through every math class.

Genius was probably an exaggeration, but like words were clearly Lani’s thing, numbers were mine.

I took a deep breath and closed down the PDF reader. The click of the mouse as I tapped ‘reply’ echoed through my silent bedroom, and when it loaded, I clicked on the text box.