When Empires Fall (5 page)

Greg let out a breathy laugh and shook his head, reaching out for the blue rubber ball as it rolled towards him. With a wicked smile, he turned to face Linc and held up the ball suggestively. “I’ll humble you, Vasser, by shoving this pretty rubber ball right up your ass.”

“Threats will get you nowhere with me,” Linc shot back, tilting back his head and shutting his eyes as he tried to calm his furiously beating heart. He was in excellent shape, but even a good game of racquetball could occasionally kick his ass. “Is that why you’re so good on Wall Street? You threatening your clients?”

Greg laughed again, bouncing the ball against the wooden floor of the court absently. “Please, when you’re as good at stock broking as I am, you don’t need threats to get people to buy and sell. Hell, if you’d ever get over your aversion to investing, I could make you a lot of money.”

“I just think real estate’s a better buy, my oh so humble friend. Ain’t gonna change.” Linc got to his feet, reaching out his hand to help Greg up.

“Thanks,” Greg said, brushing at the basketball shorts he wore as he followed Linc out of the glass door of the court and into the hotel’s gym. “I suppose your obsession with buying property makes sense, being the prince of a hotel empire and all.”

“Hey, it’s pretty much a guaranteed good investment, if you’re smart,” Linc declared, replacing his racket on the stand just outside the court. “Besides, I know you’re just jealous that I bought that incredible plantation house in New Orleans last year.”

Greg paused as he put his racket away, eyebrows raised incredulously. “Jealous of a falling apart old beat up house with holes in the roof and graffiti on the walls?”

Linc frowned. “It has history. Besides, I have old family ties to New Orleans, so it means something to me.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Greg grinned, thumping Linc on the back with his hand as they began to walk towards the showers, weaving their way through the weight machines and the dozens of people working on them. “I get it, you’re sentimental about that stuff. How long have I known you again?”

Linc perked up with a laugh. “Going on nine years now, since college.”

“Right. Ah, the good old days…”

“That they were, my friend.” Linc lead the way towards the locker room, opening up the locker he’d stowed his gym bag in earlier with a nostalgic sigh. “Back when we lived the high life. What the hell happened to us?”

“We grew up.” Greg chuckled, stepping out of his shorts and stripping his sweat soaked t-shirt off before grabbing a fluffy white towel from a nearby rack. He draped it around his waist as Linc did the same. “But hey, at least we stayed friends.”

Linc snorted out a laugh as he slammed his locker shut and started towards the sauna, making sure he had his cell phone just in case duty called. “Please, you just stick around for the free gym membership.”

“True enough,” Greg mused, opening the door to the sauna and settling his tall, lanky body onto one of the bamboo benches, leaning against the cool tiled wall with a groan. “Ah, heaven.”

Linc let out a contented sigh as well as he took a seat, running his hands through his waves of chestnut hair and shutting his eyes blissfully. He folded his athletic legs in front of him, relaxing as he leaned his head back against the wall. Around him, the steam of the sauna swirled thick and humid, soothing his aching muscles until he felt lax and incredibly calm.

But when his cell phone began to ring to the tune of “Uptown Girl,” Linc groaned and scrubbed his face in annoyance.

He shot Greg a disparaging glance as he answered the phone, his mouth automatically curving into a strained smile. “Hi, mom.”

“
Lincoln
.” His mother’s voice came through the speaker in its usual sophisticated and pompous pitch. Despite not being born into high society, Charlene Vasser had mastered the art of sounding pretentious with every breath. “
Where are you?
”

“At work,” he lied, though technically it was true. He
did
work at the hotel, just not in the sauna. “What’s up?”

“
I asked you a week ago to contact our best clients to invite them to the charity fundraiser, and you have yet to get back to me. I need a list of those who will be attending.
”

He mouthed a silent curse, rubbing his eyes irritably with his free hand. He had completely forgotten. “Mom, I haven’t had much time for that yet. But I promise I’ll get to it today, okay?”

He heard his mother sigh audibly in annoyance on the other line and shook his head wearily. He hated to disappoint her, but her stupid fundraiser really wasn’t his problem. But he still felt guilty that he had forgotten, so he knew he had to somehow make it up to her. “Hey, but if you wanna come down and visit me today we can get lunch together. I know you miss me.”

Though she didn’t make a sound, he knew she was probably smiling. Any excuse to visit the hotel usually put her in a less crabby mood. “
Alright. But it’s very important that you make those phone calls as soon as possible. I would ask Grant, but he’s impossibly busy, and I’m sure you can free up an hour or two to take care of it. The fundraiser is great publicity for the hotel, as I’m sure you’re aware.
”

“I am aware,” Linc frowned, fighting to ignore his mother’s deliberate comment about his brother. She just
had
to slip in the jab about preferring entrusting Grant with the task, because he’s
obviously
so much better. It was so typical of her. “Now why don’t you call up Mads and bug her about the catering list and leave me alone for once?”

She sighed again, though it was a little more affectionate this time. “
Goodbye, Linc.
”

“Bye, mom,” he said as he hung up the phone, setting it beside him on the bench once more. He glanced over at his friend, shaking his head wearily. “She knows just how to make me feel guilty enough to give her what she wants.”

“That’s what mothers do best.”

“It drives me crazy.” Linc sat back against the tile wall once more and released a long, annoyed breath. “And then she just has to slip in that ‘oh, Linc, I would just ask Grant, but you know how awfully busy he is.’” He mocked his mother’s voice, chuckling to himself despite the irritation he felt over it.

“In all fairness, you’re sitting in a sauna right now while big brother’s upstairs buried in paperwork,” Greg pointed out with a grin.

Linc shrugged, seeing his point. “I’m not doubting that Grant works hard, but does she have to rub it in my face that he’s the pride and joy of the family and I’ll always be second best?”

“Think of it this way: you may not be able to do Grant’s job, but he certainly can’t do yours. See, guys like us, we have the salesman gene in our blood. We can charm ink off paper if we have to. And that is why you are head of marketing and customer relations, and why he sticks to managing, because that’s what he’s best at.”

Linc considered this for a moment, feeling monumentally better. Greg was right; he was being ridiculous. He met his friend’s eyes with a grin. “So what do I owe you for the advice?”

“You could put in a good word about me with your sister, see if she’ll give me another shot.”

Linc burst out laughing without a moment’s hesitation. “Seriously? You’ve got some balls if you’re gonna try that again. The woman’s a viper and you know it.”

“One of the sexiest vipers I’ve ever come across.”

“Did you think she was sexy when she tossed her vodka tonic in your face the last time you tried to ask her out?” Linc asked, delightfully amused by the memory. “If I recall, you called her a disgusting, dirty name and stalked out, furious. I really should have beat you up for it in her honor, but I felt too damn bad for you.”

“That vodka did sting pretty bad,” Greg said thoughtfully, frowning.

“Let that be a lesson to you. Madison Vasser is off limits, and it’s not just because she’s my little sister.” Linc chuckled, shaking his head. “But then again, you never learn.”

“You’re one to talk, Vasser. You always date actresses and models with pea-sized brains and then wonder why they can’t even name all fifty states.” Greg checked his watch distractedly, noting the time. “I gotta get going. Same time next week?”

“I’ll be here, like always.” Linc held out his hand for a fist bump as Greg strolled out of the sauna, then leaned back against the cool tiles, hoping to enjoy a few more minutes of steam himself before getting back to work.

He made sure to keep an active social and recreational life outside the hotel for the sake of his sanity, whether it be rock climbing upstate, shooting hoops down the street at Central Park, hitting up the night clubs and bars in the evening, or just putting in a few hours working on the remodel plans for the fixer-upper house in New Orleans that he’d purchased for the simple fact that it had existed and he had wanted it.

He’d be the first to admit he had an impulsive streak a mile wide. But to his mind, following your impulses was what kept life interesting.

And yet, amidst his wide array of projects and activities, Linc still made sure he gave his best to the hotel that was his birthright. After all, even he could recognize that he would not be who he was without the hotel, or without his family. He supposed that his family had recognized in him a likability and charisma that made him a perfect fit for marketing and relations. Hell, he’d been a shoe-in at the New York hotel anyway, given that his Uncle Marshall, the overseer of the hotel, in many ways considered Linc and his siblings to be more like children to him than nephews and nieces, which in the end benefited them much better than being born to Marshall’s youngest brother ever had. Out of college, and upon Marshall’s part-time retirement, Grant had been made general manager and Linc had been made head of marketing. Their sister Madison joined not long after that, and he had a feeling that his youngest sister, Kennedy, would be coming along once she finished college. And so they would stick together, just as they always had, in what would be their legacy.

Linc had big ideas for that legacy. Well, he’d
always
had big ideas about a lot of things, but finally he’d taken the time to bring these specific ideas together to form what he thought was a surefire way to reinvent the Vasser Hotels in a way that would make them more profitable and open up the field for expansion into even more cities across the country, and maybe even in other, more exotic parts of the world.

After all, America was in the midst of a bad economy, with little to no hope of recovering any time soon. Maybe it was time that they got with the times and expanded their client base, building three star versions of their five star hotels that could attract those of the middle class. It seemed a brilliant idea to him, but, then again, he had very little say in his current position.

If he could just get Grant to back him, he had a feeling Marshall would join in, and then maybe they could actually get shit done. It was all just a matter of convincing his stuffy, traditional older brother to take a leap of faith and try something new for once.

Rolling his eyes, Linc got to his feet, knowing it was going to take a goddamn miracle. The man was worse than a brick wall sometimes, and if he was ever going to get through to him, he’d have to bring as much ammunition to the fight as possible.

With a bitter
grimace, Charlene Vasser examined the invitations for the fundraiser that she had ordered, furious that they had had the gall to misspell her last name.

What kind of impression did that make to her as a client when the worthless printing company delivers invitations to her with the name
Vasar
instead of
Vasser
? God, had they never even
heard
of the hotels?

Frustrated, she lifted the invoice out of the box the invitations had arrived in, fully prepared to call up the company and give them a piece of her mind. She had to get these invitations out as soon as possible, and now they had cost her a valuable couple of days because of this pathetic mistake.

Clearly they did not know who they were dealing with, Charlene thought with a haughty sniff, adjusting her reading glasses on her nose as she scanned the invoice for the phone number. She was Mrs. Winston “Win” Vasser III, mother to four of Cyrus Vasser’s grandchildren and heirs, and an integral part of the Vasser family empire. Okay, she was technically an
ex-
wife now, but what did that matter? She had married into the Vasser family for a reason, and she did not intend to let her philandering ex-husband’s exploits ruin her long-term goals.