A Daddy for Damian by Joe Satoria

12. KRISTOPHER

MONDAY

I picked Damian up from outside his house. He had a different suit on. This one wasn’t creased or crumbled, and he brought along the same hideous bag. I thought I’d asked him to buy a new one—or at least I’d imagined asking him to.

It was a dark red suit. It was one of the more autumnal colours.

“How was your weekend?” I asked.

Damian twiddled his thumbs, buckling himself into the seat. “It was ok.”

There was a reason I asked. “I saw you went to Zaps. I’ve never been, how was it?”

His wide eyes, nearly bulging from his face at the confrontation. I didn’t mind. I’d see then the receipt. It wasn’t expensive at all, and I had given him the card.

“It’s fine,” I told him. “Consider it a business meal. It’s fine. I already have the receipt.”

“I was—I was seeing my friend, and the cards must’ve got switched,” he said.

“I told you to use it,” I reminded him, and honestly, he didn’t spend much. I was surprised. The first time I gave my other assistants the card, they would trigger the bank to call me and verify the purchase. “But you didn’t buy yourself a new bag?”

He clutched the brown messenger bag close to himself. “I didn’t know I could.”

I clearly didn’t tell him, or at least not loud enough. “Yeah, absolutely,” I said. “Something that says you mean business.”

Nodding, Damian finally smiled. “I’ll get a new one then.”

“So, we have two hours for the drive,” I told him. “That means we’re going to have a long talk about this company. I know your only experience with rope is at my kitchen counter, so we should go over a couple basics to what you might see.” I assumed he hadn’t seen much, and he didn’t strike me as the type of guy to have this stuff recommended to him on porn sites.

Sintight a play on the words sin and skin-tight, were a big player in the rope market. They didn’t start out with ropes, they were mostly leather garments and other types of apparel to play with, but after their showing at the recent expo event, they’ve brought bamboo silk rope to their storefronts and market.

“What’s the difference?” he asked.

“You have all different types of material. There’s nylon, hemp, jute, you have spun polyester and cotton. However, bamboo silk is one of the most supple and slippery types of rope.”

“Isn’t that bad?”

“It’s not a rope you use for everything, especially not suspension,” I said. “And most bamboo silk on the market is poor imitation. Sara has the real stuff. It doesn’t have a rough texture of pull to it. You’ll see why I’m excited about this.”

And I really was. It was an expensive material to manufacture and spin. But people loved it, especially the hand feel.

Sara had given me directions to a warehouse. It was a dull cloudy day, which wasn’t a surprise given this was still England.

Sara was a tall woman, jet-black hair shaved at the sides, and a slit in her eyebrow.

I’d met Sara once before, at one of the expos where she was showcasing the product. This was before she got into the different material ropes.

“Mr Kraus,” she said with a nod.

In my designer black suit, I approached her, cautious it could rain at any minute. I shook her head, glancing behind to see Damian leave the car with his bag in tow.

“Nice to meet you again,” I said. “This is my assistant, Damian. He’ll be taking notes.”

She nodded. “Let me take you inside.”

Inside the warehouse there were boxes and shaved stacked high. There were also many shelves with no boxes at all. And workers walked around with clipboards and purpose.

“As you can see,” she began, “we’ve recently expanded into this warehouse. It’s much bigger than the last place, but this is to show the capacity we can undertake. We also recently acquired a larger manufacturing facility too, so we’re able to put out more units.”

“I have a quick question. The investment. It’s for the business as a whole, correct?”

She nodded. “Absolutely. And you already know, because I spoke you about it last week, we’re looking to increase revenue by at least fifty per cent with the new bamboo rope.”

“And the investment, what will it cover?”

Sara puffed out her cheeks. I was already getting down to business and I wasn’t sure how she was thinking or even going to react to any of it. “Well, increasing the initial cost of raw material, machinery, and getting that set up.”

I watched as Damian scribbled down notes.

“So, I’ve done a little research,” I said. “I know you’re currently valued around two million.”

“Around about,” she chuckled. “And I’ve done a little research on you too.”

“I’d suspect nothing less,” I said. “So, what did you find?”

“You’re a man with a reputation,” she said, “and I’m not scared of someone with a reputation. You’re known to be someone who takes over a business within a year of investing.”

I scoffed. “Novice business. But you’re an established company. I wouldn’t try anything like that. Besides, I have no clue how to run an operation like yours.”

“Now that your past is out there, I will say that any contract going forward will have stipulations and clauses, they don’t allow you to sell or buy more of the company for a year after the initial investment.” She had a stern nod on her head and shoulders.

“Sounds like sound advice,” I told her. “I’d do the same.”

“Let me show you a little more,” she said, “I don’t want you to have driven all this way for something that could’ve been done over the phone.”

We continued forward through the warehouse. She told us about the systems in place she had for orders, the discreet packaging, the way she also supplied each order with a promotional card and how any number of my investments could be added to an order as promotion.

“Here’s some of the stock we have,” she said, presenting a large cardboard box. “They’re all hand dyed. Everything is done by hand, for the most part. And we quality test.”

“Can we?” I asked, reaching in to take a pastel green rope bundle. “I told my assistant he could feel how soft this particular rope was.”

They had a paper binding around them with the company logo.

“Sure,” she said. “And one of the benefits to this rope is the anti-bacterial properties. Bamboo spun rope is expensive, and it’s definitely got a place in the community, especially the aesthetics and colours we can create.”

Damian’s eyes flickered around, looking to everything except for me. “Me?”

I nodded. “Could you hold his notepad?” I asked. “He’s new. It’s a learn-on-the-job situation.”

He handed the notepad to Sara.

Holding both hands out. I pushed the sleeve of the suit jacket slightly to reveal his wrists. I pressed them together, his hands connecting.

“It feels nice,” I said, doubling the rope. I gave it a gentle tug and brushed it over Damian’s hand.

“The skin feel is incredible, especially for the intimate area,” she said. “Take my word for it. I don’t need you stripping down in the middle of the warehouse.”

Around each wrist and looped in the middle. I fashion the rope into a pair of cuffs around him. Giving it a gentle tug and he took a step forward to me.

“How does it feel?” I asked him.

He nodded. “It’s—it’s nice.”

“You can have that one,” she said. “Give you something to train with.”

I looked back at Damian, the same nervousness mixed with excitement filled his eyes, it was almost the same as the other night when he kissed me. I’d thought of that moment, wondering if it could’ve gone further than just a kiss. It could have gone further, and I was in two minds whether I wanted it to.

“I do have other investment meetings,” she said.

“Is this your way of asking me my thoughts?” I said, untying Damian’s hands. “Because I do have an offer to make.”

“With the stipulation about not selling and not investing more?”

“I think you could be shooting yourself in the foot with the not investing more,” I said, “but this is your business. I’ll offer a hundred-thousand for five per cent.”

Damian was quick to take his notebook back and write down what was said.

“You know I’m only looking for seventy-five,” she said.

“I usually don’t get up for less than ten per cent,” I told her. “But you’re positioned to make noise, and I like that. So, I can have a contract drawn up. And then we can talk about getting some of my businesses listed with your packages.”

She smiled, extending her hand. “Consider it a deal.”

I shook her hand.

A two-hour drive for forty minutes of business. It might have seemed like a lot, but I would’ve taken the drive even if it had been less. I knew before we even stepped inside the warehouse I was going to be investing. Not only because I knew she had a lot of customers, but also because this would’ve benefitted the recent investment in the Brink Club. It was time to show them the reason they accepted our investment.

Outside the warehouse as we waited for Carl to arrive. I could see Damian rubbing his fingers around with the rope, and behind the both of us, Sara watched with a smile on her face. I didn’t go below her valuation, I had to keep her happy.