The billionaire's sweet editor
Chapter 27: Lucas: A messy romance

Chapter 27: Lucas: A messy romance

IRIS HAS been on my mind for god knows how long today. After that fiery kiss that made me hold on to a boner till I got home and relieved it myself, I couldn’t get her out.

Even when I finally got the detailed outline of this month’s magazine and how we’re going to promote it, thinking about Iris and her lips was the reason why a big toothy grin showed on my face, although my detailed plan was partly at fault.

I’ve called the magazine team from the writers to the marketers. Starting next week, we will be going all out in our promotion skills. If my plan works, we can snag back our 2nd place on the list before next month, then I’ll be back to working towards the number one spot again.

Keith was right, our readers’ interests have shifted. We are a fashion magazine and that was taken into consideration every time we published an article. There are fashion and beauty features, celebrity and influencer content, tips and advice, you name it. Every other aspect our competitors have, I make sure we do it better, but after this plan, I want to add more.

For starters, a collaboration with our top designers’ brand. This month is going to be about her. She is loved by Gen Z’s for her modern designs, and the millennials love that she isn’t ashamed of her African roots. Bella makes sure to mix her culture with her fashion—a brand that’ll allow us to kill two birds with one stone.

I can already picture the looks on the magazine team’s faces when I present my idea to them. It’s going to be perfect. It has to be. This is the first of the two shots given to me by my Dad at making the magazine number one. I can’t fuck it up.

The sound of my phone vibrating makes me flinch. Jared’s name flashes on the screen. I swipe right. "Yes?"

"Are you coming or not? You haven’t answered my message yet."

"I don’t think I can make it."

"See, I told you he’s too busy to make time for anyone," he whispers to someone but I hear it either way. "Stop bad-mouthing me fucker, I have a magazine to look out for and unlike your pub being on the chart means more popularity and money."

A familiar snort comes from his side and I squint my eyes. "Is that Iris with you?"

"Yes, and she says to bring her laptop today because she wants to write."

Oh, there’s that too. I left it on my bed earlier."Okay, I’ll bring it."

"And come to the party!" She shouts over the phone. How could I say no to that voice? It’s like she wants to see me too, but I know better than to get my shitty hopes up. Iris makes sure to remind me every time we’re together that this is a fling.

And Jerald was right, I’m too busy to be worrying about her or anything else. The magazine is what’s important right now.

"Prepare food for me too then."

"Hey, that’s what Iris said when I told her to stick around," comes Jerald’s voice. Like a kid, I back away from the phone, smiling smugly at myself like I just heard the best good news the world has to offer. "We’ll see you soon." Jerald cuts the line.

Placing my phone on the brown desk, I stare at the clatter around it. I scoop the papers, arranging them in order and placing them in a drawer. Then I take the magazine I was reading and head over to the bookshelf where the other magazines are.

My library is my safe space when I want to concentrate and right now I’ve never been so grateful for it. Like the rest of this mansion, the walls are light, cream to be exact with hints of nude. I’ve always been a fan of nude pink, but it just felt right to let the raw color set in here.

Paired with the vintage brown look I made the library have, and a bit of lavender emitting from the diffuser, it’s a fucking paradise. Glancing at the lower shelf of the magazine section, I smile to myself.

I was right, I can’t read the books. I end up picturing Iris and me recreating the scenes. Yesterday at night after I snuck out of bed and went to my library to do research, I ended up picking one of them. Wanting to surprise myself, I opened a random page and the first scene I landed on was a sex scene.

The Chapter was good, but the detail in the scenes heightened my senses and I ended up in the book, spanking Iris and flipping her over. There were safe words, dildos, and whips. It was a sex cage, and the female character seemed to enjoy it, and in my head, she was Iris.

Fuck, now I’m horny.

Smacking my cheeks, I walk out of the library and head to my room. I gave Paul and Tim an off on a whim and now I feel lonely. Aside from the two, the rest of the staff is part-time and I rarely see them since they come while I’m at work on weekdays. As for the security, they change shifts daily.

"Lemme see, should I wear a suit or go low and wear sweatpants?" I rummage my clothes in the walk-in closet some more, looking for an outfit that’s both comfortable and good-looking, but nothing of the sort seems to be available. In the end, I opt for a Nike shirt, grey sweatpants, and dunks.

Phin’s car is already parked in Jerald’s yard when I arrive. They both peek at the window, grinning from ear to ear when I step out with two bottles of Penfolds Grange red wine.

"The man is here!" Phin jumps from the sofa when I walk into the kitchen from the garage, grabbing the wine bottles from me and placing them on the counter before giving me a lung-squeezing hug. He has a mohawk now, with the hair made into locs. "You’re rare like skunk these days."

Nice meeting you too Phineas. Patting his shoulder he lets me go and Jerald follows next. All this bromance and I’m looking around the kitchen for any trace of Iris, but she’s not in here. "Here’s Iris’ laptop." I place it on the counter.

"Let me call her." Summoning all his breath like he’s about to call a demon from the depths of hell, Jerald shouts at the top of his lungs: "Iris your laptop is here!"

"In a minute!" She shouts back from somewhere upstairs.

"You heard her, place it in the living room. I’ll bring out the food." Phineas and I walk out of the kitchen hands full of plastic bags, and once we’re alone he doesn’t waste time asking me questions.

"Why was her laptop with you?"

"Because I’m her boss and she gave it to me so I can do my research."

"Come on, I’m not that dense. Did you two finally decide to move in together or what? Are you fuck buddies now?"

"Stop comparing Iris to that random slut you call every time you have the urge Phineas or I’ll kill you." Both Phin and I still. Thank goodness he hadn’t said anything more otherwise we would have been in real trouble. But thanks to him, I have another reason to be careful around Iris, namely: Jerald.

If he finds out I’m hooking up with Iris behind his back I know he’ll kill me. Another reason to make Dad shut his trap, I can’t lose this friendship over my dad’s tantrum to my refusing his offer.

Fuck, this just got even more complicated.

"She is not a slut." The last thing I expected to see tonight is Phineas defending one of his many dates. "She is a fucking queen and I will hit anyone who says otherwise, so apologize to me on her behalf before I rip your lips off that skull of yours."

"Woah, easy there big guy, let’s not fight," I stand between the two. Jerald’s eyes are about to pop out from their sockets with the way he’s opened them wide.

"I—wow, Phineas is getting mad because of a girl? Are you even Phineas?"

"Apologize you shit!"

"What’s going on?" Comes Iris’ voice but I can’t look at her now or a meaningless fight will break out.

"Okay fine, I’m sorry for calling your girlfriend a slut, but you’ve got to tell me more about her. Who’s this fire queen that melted your shitty ice of a heart?"

Phineas relaxes, but one look at him and I can tell who the girl is—Mary. Even Iris who heard bits of the conversation pieces the puzzle together because she immediately covers her mouth.

Can a romance get any more messier? The famous playboy falls in love with his best friend’s sister after having shown her brother the worst versions of him.

As if on cue, Phin’s phone vibrates on the table, right next to where Jerald is placing the food. "Hey, maybe it’s your girlfriend who is—wait, it’s Mary, I’ll answer it."

Uh-oh. He’s about to press the answer button before Iris snaps the phone away from him, giving him one of those fear-inducing glares. "And what if it isn’t her, will you be able to restore the time you wasted for this person." She throws the phone at Phin. "Go answer it outside, we want to party in peace."

Phineas doesn’t waste any more time in the room, lucky for him, the air in here suddenly becomes thick and Jerald is gazing intensely at his back. It’s not menacing, and neither is it deadly, no, it’s a rare kind of gaze he gives when he’s deeply concentrating on something. I scratch the back of my neck.

I have a bad feeling about this.

Rubbing the eerie feeling off, I pick a bottle from the table.

"Who wants some wine?"

★★★★★