The Eternal World Read Online Free PDF

sensations to show our new boy. Come on, bro.”
    He grabbed David’s arm again and half-dragged him toward the doors.
    The entourage whooped in delight, the security guards looked slightly relieved, and the TSA agent was already lumbering back to his stool.
    Within moments, David was inside a limo, Tiffani on his lap, a drink in his hand.
    He was just able to see Simon in the farthest seat—the only light came from a video screen and neon tubing on the floor and ceiling—hoisting a glass to him.
    “Welcome to Miami, David. I think you’re going to enjoy it.”
    Then he vanished behind a very well-toned, very bleached blonde.
    This was a new experience for David. He had never been one of the guys before in his life. He was always too serious, too busy. He wasn’t sure he liked it.
    But he had to admit, this was a lot more interesting than the other job interviews so far.
    THREE HOURS LATER, DAVID’S head felt like it was made of foam rubber. He almost never drank, and the beer he’d accepted to be polite somehow led to tequila shots.
    This was their third club of the night, and like at all the others, Simon’s security had cut an effortless path through the crowd, escorting them to a booth in a prime position. Within moments, more beautiful women joined them, and the tables were covered in bottles.
    David wondered if wherever Simon went, people simply waited to meet his needs. Then he realized that was probably what being a twenty-three-year-old billionaire meant.
    In the limo, Simon had introduced him to the other young men in suits: there was Max, who sat almost as close to Simon as the girl on his thigh; Sebastian, ridiculously handsome and too bored with everything for a guy in his early twenties; and Peter, thick with gym-built muscle and whose first response to everything was an argument.
    They began to get loud enough that David could hear them, despite the thumping bass of the speakers. David was surprised they didn’t text one another like everyone else in the club. They were in some kind of political discussion.
    “I keep telling you, it’s time to get out of Afghanistan, Iraq, the whole Middle East. We’ll be lucky if there’s anything left there but corpses in the sand in a few years,” Sebastian said.
    Peter disagreed, loudly. “That’s where all the oil is, dumbass. How you going to drive that Mercedes of yours with no gasoline?”
    “Of course you’d say that,” Sebastian shot back. “You were the one who wanted us in downtown Kabul.”
    The others laughed, but Peter looked insulted. “I still say the only thing separating Afghanistan from Arizona is the right kind of investment and air-conditioning.”
    Max chose that moment to jump in: “And maybe something like Ebola to clear out the locals.”
    They all clinked glasses to that. David thought it was weird. He knew not everyone took politics as seriously as the students he’d met in Cambridge—because, really, who could?—but they talked like they were discussing investments.
    Simon watched them with a smirk, as if he’d heard this before. They finished each other’s jokes and sentences, hinted at past idiocies and embarrassments, utterly familiar with one another, as if they had been together since birth.
    David felt a pang of jealousy at that.
    Simon seemed to notice. Or, at least, he turned his attention to David. He waved, and one of the girls handed David a new drink.
    “So, how do you like the job so far?” Simon said.
    “I don’t work for you yet.”
    “Oh, come on. I bet none of your other prospects met you with girls. At least not girls like these. I mean, seriously, you should see what Tiffani can do with a banana and a martini glass.”
    David lost a moment trying to picture that, then shook it off. “I’m sure that’s impressive,” David said, “and yeah, this is fun and all, but it’s not really my world.”
    “True,” Simon said. “But it could be.”
    “I don’t think so. Nobody really gets into