Love In The Wild West

Chapter 11

Kurt’s face changed all of a sudden. He looked at Lila and she looked back at him, concerned about what he was feeling in this moment.

“Are you okay?” she said.

“Yes,” said Kurt, a frown on his face.

“You do not look okay,” said Lila. She was telling the truth. Kurt looked as if he had seen a ghost. Was this Donovan guy really that influential? Kurt seemed like he was completely unable to defend himself against this person. Lila wanted to go with Kurt. She wanted to help him and have his back and tell this Donovan person that he could not just walk into this hotel and demand to see Kurt. Kurt was the owner of this hotel as well as the rest of the hotels in this chain. He deserved to be treated with respect.

“What’s wrong?” asked Lila, determined to get an answer in this moment.

Kurt sighed and rubbed his face before saying, “Donovan coming here is never a good thing. It inevitably means that I am going to get a hard time for something or the other. I just hope that I do not have to sit with him for too long. The longer I sit with him, the less human I start to feel.”

Kurt started to walk towards his office but Lila put her hand on his arm and stopped him. “Let me come with you,” she said. “I can stand by you and give you moral support.”

“What good would that do?” asked Kurt. “He is still going to have me in his pocket.”

“You are stronger than you realize,” said Lila. “You are the boss here. Keep that in mind. You are the one that has something the offer these guys.”

“I know,” said Kurt. “But still. I need to be respectful, I need to make sure that he leaves here happy with what he has gotten. There is no point to having investors if I do not keep them happy at all times.”

“Kurt,” said Lila. “I… I wish I could help you.”

Kurt turned to look at Lila. “You can help me,” said Kurt. “You can help me by coming with me and being by my side. You can help me by seeing how Donovan treats me and telling me whether there is anything I can do differently in that situation. I need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” said Lila. “I can most certainly do that.”

“Thank you,” said Kurt. He started to walk to his office and Lila followed him. She was desperately hoping that she could be of some help to Kurt in this moment. She had never seen him like this. He looked as if he was walking to the gallows, as if he was walking to his execution. She kept thinking of ways in which she could show Donovan that Kurt was the man in charge. The man had to be told that Kurt would not be fu*ked with, because as long as he was allowed to reign on Kurt’s territory like this Kurt would never be able to build the hotel empire that he had always wanted to create. He would always be forced to compromise on practically every aspect of his dream, until there would be nothing left of it except a mass produced, assembly line institution that had absolutely nothing original about it. Lila had to make sure that that did not happen. Kurt was myopic in this moment. He had no option but to continue in the business arrangement that was already at hand. However, Lila could change things. As an outsider, she had the power to make everyone see the truth of this situation. She was determined to do that.

As she followed Kurt, her mind whirred with the various possibilities. She had no idea how she was going to manage it. She gave Louise a parting look as she left. Louise looked worried and Lila did not blame her. This was not something that she was used to seeing either, as she had only ever seen Kurt in a position of power just like Lila.

They entered Kurt’s office and Lila saw a man sitting in the big chair behind the desk. When he saw Kurt enter the room he looked up and gave him a coolly appraising look. This was not the sort of look that you would give the person that was responsible for providing you with a major business investment. This was more the look that you would give a butler or some other kind of servant. It unnerved Lila to watch Kurt being looked at in this manner.

“Kurt,” said Donovan, standing up. He was taller than Lila had thought he would be. His hair was slicked back until it was basically a shiny black coating on his scalp, and his skin was paper white. He definitely looked scary. Lila now understood, to a certain extent, why everyone was afraid of this man.

“Donovan,” said Kurt. “What brings you here?”

Donovan glanced at Lila. It was a short, perfunctory glance, the way you would glance at something that is not really worth a great deal of your time. After this glance he looked at Kurt, raised an eyebrow in a look of utter disdain and said, “I heard that you have started something rather… unusual here at this particular hotel.”

“Unusual?” asked Kurt. “What do you mean?”

“You have purchased a number of riding horses and you are offering the guests here lessons,” said Donovan. “Is that correct?”

“Yes it is,” said Kurt.

“I thought we had an agreement,” said Donovan. “We agreed that you would not spend more than a certain amount of money before discussing the purchase with me first.”

“That was a handshake agreement,” said Kurt. “That was not something that was actually legally binding, I hope you realize that. If you have a problem with the way I am doing things here, I suggest you give me a phone call instead of coming all the way to my office and demanding to see me like this.”

“I can very easily invest in something else, you know,” said Donovan. “My finances are by no means in short supply. There are many opportunities for someone like me to invest and start earning a great deal of money. If you do not want to honor the agreements that we make, I can withdraw my investment from this institution and invest it somewhere my money will be treated with a little more respect.”