|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 27, 2015 0:45:03 GMT
Riley had made a point, he knew that it was in his best interest to keep everything in check. But between the remarks about Amber, the comment about his trading off with Tyler, and his obvious need to drive him crazy with the whole Alayna situation, it was really pushing his limits to not just hit the man and call it a day. "I highly doubt you give a damn about her interests." It was actually that topic that he had wanted to steer clear of the most and so he was quick to move on. "But speaking about best interests, it might be in yours to get out of here before I really start weighing the pros of hitting you regardless."
Adam nodded, "So ... this is kind of weird," he admitted. He knew that things would be strange once Riley had started working with Finn, but he hadn't necessarily expected them to borderline on being friendly. In fact, if Adam wasn't so against the idea he was sure that he might have even called them friends. "I'm glad she's happy, though." He felt like he needed to add the last part, just in case Amber questioned whether or not he was unhappy with Riley's new working situation.
Olivia toyed with the glass in her hand, giving a small raise of her shoulder. "I can really only assume," she stated. Though, given the information she knew that Eliot had now possessed, she was quite certain that she knew exactly what that awkward interchange was all about.
|
|
|
|
Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 27, 2015 1:01:49 GMT
Parker eyed the situation carefully for a moment before taking a sip of his drink. "Eliot Quinn is, perhaps, the most reprehensible man in Manhattan. We had the option of retaining him at work and I turned it down," he acknowledged. "Whatever trouble is starting over there, I would bet it's just the start. I've never been so glad that you and I were uninvolved in some drama. Better to spectate this time, I'm sure."
Eliot took a sip of his drink. "I'm actually going to stick around for the rest of the reception, Brandon. But how about we just walk away now, wouldn't want to spoil all the fun I have up my sleeve for a more appropriate time," he winked, taking a sip and glancing around the room. "If you'll excuse me now, I have to go have a word with an associate of mine."
"Quinn," Riley interrupted before he could walk away. "I don't know what it is that you think you're doing. But I don't like the idea of a mother coming around just to use their child as a tool for extortion and attention. It really rubs me the wrong way, understand? It makes sense that your fingerprints are all over this and while I haven't received the paternity results yet, I want you to know that I'm going to make sure that this is dealt with - and then I'm going to come deal with you and my only advice is to throw up the white flag and run - fast. Because I think you knew that this was going to push my buttons and I'm going to push back. That was your second warning that you're on my bad side. There won't be a third."
Amber watched the scene unfolding and couldn't help but think she should have been the one standing next to Brandon. While, for weeks, she'd felt that Riley didn't like her very much and that it probably had to do with her history with Adam - she was slowly coming to the realization that maybe she wasn't the hugest fan of the redhead either. "Yes, I didn't expect the two of them to become quite so...chummy."
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 27, 2015 1:40:01 GMT
Liv could have agreed easily with all that Parker had said about Eliot. He was perhaps the most impossible man that she had ever had the displeasure of encountering, however, he had certainly proven that he was someone that she could trust to get certain things accomplished around this city. If he was making an effort to already do whatever he had hoped to accomplish with Brandon and Amber, then that got him that much closer to helping her get rid of Riley once and for all. "Uninvolved in drama? When you put it that way it makes it sound almost boring."
Brandon looked over at Riley, suddenly very relieved that he had her on his side. She had already shown how capable she was against the likes of Eliot. "We should let him get back to whatever it is that he thinks he's going to accomplish here," he said decisively. Besides he wasn't sure how much he necessarily trusted Adam and Amber to continue to maintain a civil relationship, or at least not the sort of civility that he was comfortable with. In a perfect world, he was sure that he would have left Adam Tyler in the past. It was strange how things worked out.
"Yes, chummy," Adam wasn't sure how much he liked that word. He wasn't sure how much he liked any of this situation right now.
|
|
|
|
Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 27, 2015 2:22:49 GMT
"Eliot doesn't do what he does for personal reasons, he does it for pure entertainment. Because he wakes up one day and decides he's going to nail your wife and then take thousands of dollars from you to represent you in your own divorce. He's a Bastard. I'm a bastard, but he's a capital-B Bastard." Parker nodded, taking a sip of his glass and looking at Liv. "I think it's best we focus on more important matters than whatever he's up to. You and me, for instance."
Amber drained what was in her glass and placed both her and Brandon's empty glasses down. "I think I'd like more to drink," she nodded.
Cooper eyed Amber for a minute knowingly, shaking his head he looked at Maddy. "That sounds pretty good, actually. Want to grab a drink with me?" he grinned, offering her his arm. "Besides, it looks like that little spat is about to clear up."
Eliot smirked at Brandon, moving to take a step away before glancing over his shoulder. "Nicholls, tell me something. Does Alayna bother you so much because of your sense of moral superiority, or is it because your own mother didn't care quite enough to even bother using you for something? Because I wouldn't worry, it's probably because your deadbeat father wasn't worth anything to begin with."
Riley's hand curled into a fist before she actually had the time to register it was happening. Her blood boiled and her body reacted on auto-pilot, it was only after she'd pulled her fist back to gain some momentum to take a good swing, that she registered that she probably should see about retaining a lawyer for what she was about to do.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 27, 2015 13:13:18 GMT
Olivia sipped at her drink while Parker explained his perspective on the whole Eliot situation. She contemplated what he would do with the knowledge that she had been working with him, even in a small capacity, to help amuse herself as well. She supposed that her games generally tended to be a little more personally motivated, but the entertainment factor was still prevalent. “You and me?” she questioned, smirk poised on her lips. “Anything in particular on your mind?”
Maddy nodded, “A drink would be good.” One thing that she realized that she had never stopped to think about was that her involvement with Cooper, whatever it may be, indirectly led to situations like these. She had tried to be removed from all of the drama that this group seemed to inadvertently attract, but it seemed to be an inevitability around them. She felt badly that her best friend had suddenly found herself involved too, but she knew that if anyone was capable of handling herself, it would be Riley. But still, the drama seemed to be spreading in a way. She looked over at Amber sympathetically before taking Cooper’s arm. “I hope it’s over soon, for all of their sake.”
Brandon had already been thinking of hitting Eliot, and perhaps it was that thought that had made him acutely aware of how Riley’s hand curled into a fist and she made to draw it back. He grabbed her fist to keep her from throwing it at him, “I doubt he would hesitate to press assault charges against you, too.” He turned to Eliot, “I highly recommend leaving before I not only let her hit you, but I throw all caution to the wind. My public relations department is quite impressive – I doubt that it’d really be as much of a press nightmare as you’d think. And I’m willing to risk it, honestly, which might actually make it a little more dangerous than you’d like to admit.” And the truth was, at this point he wasn’t sure he even cared what kind of trouble would be caused from letting his temper handle the Eliot situation. If anything, he would just be satiated by the fact that he knew Eliot had deserved it. “Get out.” He repeated, hoping that he didn’t have to say it again.
Adam had felt his heart stop momentarily as Riley had looked to be getting ready to throw a punch at Eliot Quinn - and Brandon had been the one to try and stop her. This entire day was turning out to be all kinds of wrong, and he was not happy about it. "Think they'd give us a whole fifth?" he asked to no one in particular.
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 27, 2015 15:02:59 GMT
Amber lifted her eyebrow the moment that Riley went to take a swing at Eliot Quinn. Not that she could blame the girl. It was really more how quickly Brandon had been there that had caused her to bristle for a moment. She glanced up at Adam before holding up her index finger and making her way to the bar. After exchanging a few laughs with the bartender, she returned with a martini and a glass of scotch, holding the latter out for Adam. “Best I could do,” she told him with a laugh.
As Eliot walked away with a satisfied smirk, Riley turned to Brandon, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I let that get out of hand.” She smoothed out her dress and looked up at him. “I need you to know that no matter what the results of the paternity test are, I’m going to nail him to the wall,” she nodded, glaring over her shoulder at the man as he walked away.
Cooper watched the entire spectacle unfolding before looking at Maddy with a grin. “Believe it or not, this is everyone on a good day.”
Grinning, Parker pulled Liv in for a quick kiss. “I’ve got tons of ideas, love. Most of them involve us getting out of here though.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 27, 2015 19:41:03 GMT
Adam took the glass gratefully. This was a relationship that he never expected to have to entertain – the one between his new fiancée and her new co-worker. He supposed that it wouldn’t have been so bad had she worked with anyone else, but there was just something about this particular co-worker that Adam still couldn’t stand being around. Perhaps it was the sheer nature of Brandon Finn’s personality that drove him crazy. And it made everything worse that somehow Riley seemed to tolerate it all. If he had his choice he would have marched over there and dragged her away but he figured that would only make things worse. “Thank you,” he said to Amber, both for the drink and for sharing in his discomfort in the situation.
Brandon nodded, “I know that you are.” Her tenacity was a large part of the reason why he had offered her the chance to work at Finn Industries, regardless of the fact that it was a contract position. He knew that she would never back down on ensuring that the right thing was done, whether it was for the company, or as in this case, if it was personal. “He can’t continue to go around trying to make everyone’s life hell – it’ll catch up to him soon.”
Maddy shook her head, small smile on her lips. “A good day?” she questioned, wondering how bad a bad day could have truly been for everyone involved. “Did you used to get sucked into all of this drama too?” It was strange to think that the man beside her had once been a lot different than he was now, and while that seemed to be a reoccurring theme in the men in her life recently, she truly believed Cooper had changed from who he used to be. She wasn’t sure if she could have dealt with this kind of drama and emotional torment on a daily level – and she was sorry if Riley was now in a position where she would. It had always been such a strange feeling to be on the inside, to be part of the traditional Upper East Side crowd, but to feel like an outsider, but she couldn’t imagine what it must have been for her friend. She wondered idly if Riley was starting to feel like she belonged now that she was engaged to Adam Tyler and forging some sort of friendship with Brandon Finn. The world was really a very small and strange place.
Liv smirked at him, “Well… it does seem that the show has ended. Which is really too bad, I would have hoped for a more volatile explosion. Maybe we best find more ways to amuse ourselves far away from this atrocious occasion.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 27, 2015 22:10:17 GMT
Riley nodded at Brandon, taking a deep breath to calm herself down a bit more. "I just think it would be so much easier to beat the hell out of him. Legal, schmegal, I'd do it in a heartbeat if I thought it would do anything in the long run," she admitted before glancing over her shoulder back at the group, noting that Adam appeared to be pretty uncomfortable with the entire situation. "I think we should probably head back over," she glanced up at him. "I should have the results of the test in a week, I have the lab sending them straight to me to make sure that no one else gets their hands on them first," she nodded. "As soon as I have them, I'll give them to you."
Cooper looked sheepishly at Maddy as he ordered them both new drinks. "I was kind of the cause of a lot of it," he admitted before asking the bartender for an additional two scotches for Brandon and Riley. "I used to be a pretty horrible guy, if I'm being honest with you. Amber over there used to hate me and I wasn't a fan of any of them either. But I was young and I was stupid and I had a capacity to be cruel that outweighed my willingness to be good," he took a sip of his drink. "But things have changed."
Parker grinned at Liv, "I am more than willing to get out of here, even for just the cocktail hour."
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 27, 2015 23:40:28 GMT
Brandon wasn't going to dispute with her over whether or not they should have hit Eliot or if they should have saved themselves the hassle. The truth was that he had wanted to hit him for all of the things he had said about Amber, all of the things he had said about Riley, and for whatever part the other man was playing in the situation with Alayna. "Don't tempt me," he told Riley. He followed her gaze over to where Amber and Adam stood and nodded. "Thank you," he said in reference to the test. "And yes, we probably should get back over there before they get too friendly."
Maddy took the drink that Cooper had ordered for her and nodded, "A lot of people used to do stupid things when they were younger," in retrospect she could now admit that she wasn't completely innocent of that herself. Parker hadn't been her smartest decision, in all honesty, and she was not necessarily in a position to judge someone for the mistakes of their past. "But you're right, things have absolutely changed."
"Oh?" Liv questioned, taking a small step closer to him and placing her hand on his chest. "Want to come back for the second act, Parker? Or should we just plan on making our own little show?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 28, 2015 0:07:55 GMT
Riley grinned at Brandon. "You know not to actually be worried about any of that, right?" she asked with a tilt of her head. Even though she hadn't warmed to the idea of Amber and Adam spending time together, any concern she had was over their history. She knew Adam was a good man that loved her and wouldn't betray that, and even though she wasn't wild about Amber, there was one thing she knew for sure - the way Amber looked at Brandon for her to know that it was something special. Maybe part of her knew that back in high school, too. "She looks at you like...well, I think it's special. And you can't argue that it's him you don't trust," she warned, holding up her hand with her ring. "So, I don't know, I don't love it either. but I wouldn't make a thing of it," she shrugged, gesturing for him to walk over back to the group. When she approached Adam, she smiled at him. "Hi. If I tell you that you got cuter in the few minutes I was over there, can we pretend you didn't see me almost lose my cool?" she asked teasingly.
Cooper nodded at Maddy. "Change is a good thing. I think so anyway," he nodded, picking up the drinks for the others and gesturing for Maddy to come along to. "Thanks for coming with me, by the way."
Eliot was bored now. He had some new tricks up his sleeve knowing that he'd gotten under Riley's skin so easily. But he needed some entertainment. So it was when he saw Olivia Warren and her boyfriend he figured he could have a bit more fun. "Liv," he greeted her. "You know I really wanted to thank you for all of your help recently," he nodded.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 28, 2015 0:53:22 GMT
Brandon knew that she had a point, that Amber's friendliness with Adam was nothing that he had to be worried about, but there was just part of him that was having a hard time letting go if it. It was stupid, he knew that, but sometimes it didn't hurt to be reminded. And it didn't hurt that he liked to think about the way that Amber looked at him, he was fond of looking at her that way too. He followed her back over to the two people in question and smiled at Amber. "I'm sorry about that," he told her, placing his hand on the small of her back and pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.
Adam smiled at her, "I'll pretend that I never saw it." Part of him was wondering about whether or not it was worth talking to her about it later, just to make sure that she was okay. But another part of him felt like maybe Brandon had already made sure of that. He wasn't really sure what to think about Riley and Finn's friendship and the idea of it was still making him crazy.
Maddy nodded, "It's no problem. I'm happy to be here with you."
Liv wasn't sure whether to be concerned by Eliot's sudden appearance near them or amused by it. She put a polite smile on her lips, "Hello, Eliot," she greeted with a small nod. "I suppose you're welcome, but I hardly did anything."
|
|
|
|
Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 28, 2015 1:18:49 GMT
"Liv," Parker started, keeping his eyes on Eliot. "What's he talking about?"
"Miss. Warren, come on. I wouldn't even have anything if it weren't for you now and it takes quite a bit to admit that. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have found out Alayna had a child, the very idea of whom has Finn, Jacobs, and their little legal counsel looking over their shoulder at every turn. If it turns out the little bastard isn't his, at least I've created some waves to stick a thermometer in the water on all three of them. And if it is, we have a very good chance of making a run at everything Finn has ever known and loved," he grinned broadly. "It's really wonderful, actually. And I think I know exactly what it's going to take to burn Riley Nicholls to the ground, so there's that bonus too."
Parker looked between them for a moment, his eyebrow ticking up before he took a long sip of his drink. "Well, haven't you two been busy."
Amber shook her head at Brandon. "Now you owe me two dances later, Brandon," she beamed up at him, smiling as she lifted her drink to her lips.
Cooper grinned down at Maddy before handing Riley and Brandon fresh drinks. "So, what are the odds we make it all the way through the father of the bride dance without any sort of incident."
Riley grinned at Adam. "You got cuter then," she teased before turning to pay attention to Cooper just before she spotted Eliot a way's away, talking to Olivia Warren and Parker Blye. "I don't think we make it even to the first dance."
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 28, 2015 1:41:29 GMT
Liv sipped at her drink, not entirely certain how angry Parker was going to be as the details of it all continued to unfold. It probably wasn't important to remind Eliot that she had no interest in particularly bringing Finn down, but there were particulars of their agreement that she wasn't necessarily ready to share with the general public. "Yes, well, it seems as though everything is going quite well then, isn't it?"
Brandon took the drink from Cooper graciously, hardly needing a minute to ponder the other man's question. "I would highly doubt we even made it another ten minutes." That was one thing he could always count on with this crowd was that there was always more drama lurking around the corner. "But I'll promise to stay out of it - if I can." The last part he said more so for Amber's benefit.
|
|
|
|
Post by Eliot Quinn on Aug 28, 2015 2:33:54 GMT
"What am I missing here?" Parker asked.
Eliot flashed a grin at Parker. "Don't worry, I'm sure the entire city will be caught up soon. I love a big audience," he quipped before turning to Olivia. "And if you'd ever like a sneak preview of exactly what I'm capable of, feel free to drop by my office again at your leisure. It was a really special treat to see you. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, isn't that the saying?"
Parker frowned a bit before leaning over the bar and ordering another drink. "A double, please. I think I need it at the moment," he added.
|
|
|
|
Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Aug 28, 2015 12:24:55 GMT
There wasn't a doubt in her mind that Eliot knew exactly what he was playing at, and that he was slowly turning this into a game as well. She did her best to remain calm and impassive, daring herself not to lash out at him for the very public display he was, and had already made. She sighed softly at Parker's apparent ... disappointment? Anger? Annoyance? "Yes, I have heard that saying myself," she mused, nodding a little in agreement. "Now, if you wouldn't mind excusing us, I believe we have other matters to attend to."
|
|
