Bending Steele

Chapter Two

The limo glided down the middle of Manhattan weaving in and out of traffic smoothly, thanks to the masterful skills of his driver. Adam stared moodily out into the night watching the cars and people go by only inches from his tinted window. Night, what a joke. It was never truly night in New York. The sky was always a murky gray, even in the dead of night. He hadn't seen an actual star of the night time variety in ages. Headlights, taillights, billboards, street lamps, stop lights, towering buildings with multi levels ablaze in a forrest of fluorescent lighting...you name it...kept this city constantly lit up. He supposed that was why it got it's moniker of being the city that never sleeps.

Abruptly, Adam dragged his gaze and his mind from his musings and opened the bar pulling out a bottle of fine scotch. He poured a drink and tossed it back, before he looked over at his traveling companion. "Would you like a drink?" he asked, more out of habitual politeness than his actual desire to be accommodating.

She wrinkled her nose in what he assumed she believed to be cute, but truthfully, it only annoyed him. "Do you have white wine, preferably Conti Montrachet?"

Her high pitched nasally whine further grated on his nerves. "I'm not in the habit of stocking five thousand dollar bottles of wine in the limo," he growled.

"But you stock 40 year old scotch?" she asked sarcastically, pursing her over inflated red lips.

Adam shrugged. "It's my limo," he stated simply as he poured himself another drink and shut the bar. Leaning back in the plush leather seat he crossed his legs and sipped on his drink while studying his date for the evening. The term date made him cringe on the inside. Adam Steele did not date under any circumstance. He used women; plain and simple. He didn't need the problems which developed over the misrepresentation dating implied. Every woman he'd ever been with understood he held no desire or inclination to have relationships other than sexual. That didn't mean they didn't try. The status of being the significant other of Adam Steele would be a major coup to some. But, those who broke the contract soon found themselves quickly discarded.

Part of the reason Steele Industries was one of the top ten most powerful companies of the world was because of his ability to stay focused and because he was fucking brilliant at what he did. Finding floundering companies was his specialty, along with having the Midas touch when it came to decisions of whether or not to fix ailing companies or rip them apart and sell them off bit by bit to the circling vultures. Tonight was no different. The company he acquired this afternoon had been hemorrhaging blood into the pool of sharks for quite some time. Nothing major, at first. Little driblets begun to surface months ago. So insignificant in the beginning, most people wouldn't have even noticed. Adam Steele wasn't most people. It was this single minded dedication which made him the success he was and left him without the time to deal with pouting, mettlesome girlfriends who would constantly whine about his lack of attention. It pleased him people saw him as an enigma, and he had no intentions of allowing anyone close enough to break the silence.

There were times though, such as this one, which demanded a certain impression be made. He knew he was intimidating in his own right, but having the accurate woman on your arm often times helped solidify that power. Not to mention, the distraction a beautiful woman could cause for men who are easily unfocused, like the one he was meeting this evening. For stints such these, Adam needed to choose carefully. He wanted a woman who was undoubtedly gorgeous, well connected, and high in the social circles. Intelligence was not a priority. In fact, he rather preferred them to be a little on the dim side. As long as they stimulated him below the belt and maintained impeccable manners, he was fine with them not being able to hold a conversation able to stir his brain matter. But, with these choices, came consequences. He ended up with women that were generally shallow and more interested in buying the latest fashions than what was going on in the real world. He couldn't share his frustrations or successes and so all his arrangements ultimately ended the same way. Once his dick was satisfied, the rest of him became bored and restless. A prime example of those consequences sat directly across from him in the form of one Jillian Houston Ross.