I DIDN'T KNOW how this all began. I just remember waking up one day with more than enough baggage for the next twenty-one years. The words, “Would you be interested in hosting this event for us?" replayed in my head on a constant loop.
I sat up in my bed and looked at all the boxes scattered around my bedroom. It had been a few weeks since I had moved into the penthouse of The Nexus Condominiums, and I had yet to unpack a single box. If my mother saw this mess, I would never hear the end of it.
I hopped out of my California king-size bed onto the solid, dark bamboo flooring that ran throughout my new place. I had the flooring put in before bringing a single box across the threshold. I didn't understand why Mother would put carpet in a penthouse, especially considering that we decided her only son would be the resident of said penthouse. She knows I hate carpet.
I stretched and yawned, then walked onto the balcony connected to my bedroom. The early-morning California sun greeted me with a warm embrace. My chest was exposed and felt good. It wasn't terribly hot this morning, but I was sure temperatures would skyrocket by the afternoon. I would have to get a workout in now before starting my day.
By day, I, Henri Maurice Daniels, am a mild-mannered property manager for a slew of rental properties in the San Francisco Bay area under the corporate title, Daniels Realty Management Group—DRMG. But by night, I am one-fourth of The Prom Kings, a lifestyle promotion group.
The Prom Kings began years ago when three friends and I were in middle school. We started throwing really successful parties. As we got older, we started taking the group more seriously and branched off into party promotion and event coordination for other groups and companies. We all opted out of going to college to focus solely on building our brand. We had done a great job of getting that exposure and getting our name out locally, but now, we agreed that we needed to step our game up.
The mission was to get our brand in front of more noteworthy people, other movers and shakers. I could easily call up mother or father and pull a few names from their Rolodex. My father is the Executive Vice President of Pi, one of Silicon Valley's top-ranking tech companies, while my mother owns an international law practice, Hardy-Daniels & Associates. I could do just about anything I wanted.
But I wasn't interested in relying on my parents for my future success. Sure, I was running one of the family businesses, but my heart was not married to Daniels Realty Management Group. My twin sister, Mona, and I discussed this from time to time. She was away at school in South Georgia and shared my thoughts on making it on her own. She even went so far as to get a job with Warren Hervey Airlines as a flight attendant so she could make her own money. That's commendable, but it's not for me.
At least I knew I had her backing me. Mother and father were fine with Mona and me doing our own thing. They constantly reassured us that if ever we wanted to stop party planning and flying around the country, we could settle into a position at any of the family businesses.
I have to admit it felt good to know that, but running a family business full-time would be a definite plan Z for me. I was merely working there to justify the amount of money I poured into The Prom Kings. Although I think Mother and Father honestly couldn't care less as long as I was happy.
All that being said, I was still on the fence about the event being held this weekend. The Prom Kings were approached by the PR firm, Happy Endings, about collaborating on a red carpet event. Happy Endings was good at what they did, but they were a more mature crowd— hosting events for older C-list actors and such. In the past few years, they had begun hiring younger employees to grab the attention of San Francisco's young socialites.
Since The Prom Kings was on every blog and on the lips of every tastemaker in the Bay Area, we were an obvious choice. Happy Endings offered everything they could to us, short of actual employment with their company. So I sat on the balcony of my penthouse, excited for this weekend's promised exposure but scared of the controversy anyone would expect from such a high-profile event. If we pulled this off, how would we stay grounded and humble?
GOD ONLY KNOWS.
*No Lover To Offend ebook HERE
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