“So, Finnley, what the hell happened to you last night?”

“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Brad, who looked like he’d had a little bit too much fun himself, looked over at a girl named Liz (one of the many Cubed employees that had been more than happy to return now that business was actually up and running again). Liz looked back at Brad, and then the two of them promptly began to laugh. Finnley could feel her face growing hot, and her first instinct was to reach over and punch him squarely in the shoulder. As for Liz, she’d never cared about the girl one way or the other, but now that she was here again and joining in on the good time Brad was having at her expense. Finnley would have been just fine if Liz went away again and never, ever came back.

“Are you guys planning on acting like assholes all day? Because if that’s the case, go ahead and let me know right now so I can get away from the both of you.”

Liz looked more than a little bit offended by this comment, which gave Finnley a mild sense of satisfaction. Brad, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised by the snippy comment whatsoever. He shouldn’t have been, not having known her for as long as he had. This was precisely the kind of answer a person could expect from Finnley when she felt like she was being backed into a corner, which was exactly what she felt was happening now. Because she could say “huh” all she wanted to Brad’s question about her whereabouts last night, but she knew exactly what he was talking about. It wasn’t that she’d left with the beautiful stranger who claimed the name Garrett, but she hadn’t really needed to leave with him to be considered to have abandoned the group she’d come there to be with.

It was amazing how much the presence of one person, one person she didn’t even know, had made of the night she’d had. Right before he’d bumped into her, or rather scared her into essentially bumping into herself, Finnley had been assessing just how many minutes she’d have to stay at the stupidly named Posh before she could go back into the chilly night, free for another evening before having to answer to the new regime of Cubed. She’d just about worked it out, too, just about landed on another twenty to thirty minutes tops and then she was out of there when Garrett had startled her badly enough to cause her to pour her gin and tonic all over herself. Her first instinct after that had been to tell him exactly what kind of prick she thought he was before telling him to get lost, which was what she would have done to ninety-nine percent of the people who would be so presumptuous and careless as this guy had been.

When she’d looked at him, however, and saw just how crazy good-looking he was, her opinion on this matter had changed decidedly. To put things simply, and to admit her own shallowness, he had been too hot to send on his way, and the feeling of having all of this guy’s attention on her had been too much fun to give up. As it turned out, this Garrett character had proven himself to be more than just a pretty face, too. He had been witty, funny, the best thing she’d encountered in quite some time. Her required thirty minutes had come and gone, any thought of leaving the stupid bar long gone. She’d finished the drink Garrett had bought to replace the one he’d caused her to spill all over herself, and after finishing that one, she’d allowed him to order her another one and then another after that. They’d discussed many things together in the almost three hours they’d spent together, things that meant nothing of any importance but that nevertheless had been enough to make Finnley almost giddy with pleasure over her good luck at having been forced to come to this stupid place to begin with.

They had spent a great deal of time discussing how stupid it was to be forced to attend a work-related happy hour, with Finnley lamenting her bad luck and telling Garrett more than a couple of times that he was lucky not to be there for that reason…although she couldn’t—for the life of her—understand why he would be in such a ridiculous bar of his own volition. To this, the beautiful man had begged ignorance, reminding her that he’d just come from Denver and didn’t necessarily know which bars were alright and which ones were totally intolerable. The two of them had talked and flirted, had laughed raucously enough to draw both curious and jealous attention from the people around them, and before the two of them had parted they had shared a series of deep, passionate kisses.

They were the kinds of kisses that made a girl feel light in the head, the kind of kisses that made all of the other kisses that had come before feel like child’s play, like pretend or practice for when the real deal came. She had kept it at only kisses, kisses stolen in one of the dimly lit back booths of Posh, but that by no means meant that the temptation to take it to the next level hadn’t been there. Because dear God, had she ever been tempted to do that. She’d been more tempted to take this new transplant from good ole Colorado back to her apartment and have a wonderful, anonymous time that would never come to mean anything other than that night. She’d been more than a little bit tempted, but had used some self-restraint, the source of which she couldn’t even begin to identify, and that was something, but as it turned out, it hadn’t been absolutely everything.

It hadn’t, for example, been enough to keep her fellow employees (or at least some of them; there was still the chance that Travis hadn’t seen her little show, something Finnley was still very much hoping for) from noticing her out of character behavior, which was what she was having to put up with now. She took a moment to ask herself if the previous night’s dalliance had been worth it, but before hardly any time at all had passed, she was sure she knew the answer to the question. Sure, it had been worth it. Of course, it had been worth it, especially when she could still taste the stranger on her lips. It was delicious, and it made just about anything feel worth it.

“Hey, Finnley!” Brad said in an overly loud and laughing voice. “Earth to Finnley! Are you just sitting there thinking about your dude from last night? You are, aren’t you? That’s exactly what you’re doing.”

“So what if I am? What’s the matter, Brad? Jealous?”

“Me? Jealous of kissing a handsome stranger? Please, you wish. Jealous of actually being the guy all of the girls look at, like a really good piece of steak? Shit, who knows, you might have something there. The more important thing is, do you have any aspirin? My head is freaking killing me!”

Brad gave Finnley such a mournful look that she couldn’t help but laugh while simultaneously searching through her too-messy purse for some kind of a painkiller. Her laughter was enough to get Brad laughing, despite his clearly atrocious hangover, which was enough to get even Liz laughing. The three of them sat and joked that way, just ribbing at each other and messing around, for long enough that Finnley actually started to feel like things were just as they should have been. It was true that she still missed having Elsie and Clara there, she very much doubted that missing having them around the way it had once been would ever really go away, but she was starting to feel good enough that she thought it would be okay. It was only later, when the dust had settled and she had enough time to think about things in relative peace and quiet, that it would occur to her that it was always the times when a person felt comfortable that the other shoe would drop. It was only later that she would realize that in that moment of light-hearted happiness she should have been smart enough to know better.

“Hey guys! Hey, okay, people. I need everyone to pay attention to me. All eyes up here, alright? All eyes on me.”

Finnley felt a funny little jolt in her heart and looked up, surprised to see that it was Travis standing there and barking orders at them this way. She had worked for Travis for a while now, and although she’d seen him in all sorts of different moods, she’d never heard him talk to them quite like this. This time he was talking to them like they’d never been anything to him other than a bunch of disposable employees, and when Finnley tried to make eye contact with him, tried to force eye contact with him if that was what was necessary, she found that she wasn’t able to do it. If he could sense her eyes on him, and she felt certain that he must have been able to, he wasn’t allowing it to change the focus of his gaze. When she tried to determine where that gaze was actually being directed, she found that she couldn’t do that, either. She couldn’t do it because he wasn’t really looking at anything at all. He was focusing his attention on some point above all of their heads so that he wouldn’t have to look at any of their faces. When she realized that, she felt a strange wave of coldness move across her skin. This wasn’t the Travis she knew. She wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to him, what it was that was standing here in his place, but what she did know was that whoever she was looking at might not really be looking out for their best interests anymore.

“Hey, man!” Brad called out, apparently not having caught the same vibe that Finnley had. Either he hadn’t caught it, or he was unwilling to admit it to himself if he had. “Why so serious?!”

“Because we’re at work, Brad,” Travis shot back with little-to-no hesitation, words that were every bit as humiliating to Brad as an outright insult or maybe a slap to the face would have been, “which is a place that calls for serious behavior. Is everyone here? Is everyone paying attention?”

This was met with silence, both thick and full of mistrust. Now it wasn’t only Finnley who saw the difference in their unassuming boss’s demeanor. Now it was everyone in the room, a little under a dozen employees who had believed him when he’d told him it was time to come back to work and who were probably all now second-guessing their decisions to believe him. Whether that was true or only in Finnley’s vivid imagination, one thing was for sure and undeniable…Travis had their attention, just the way he’d wanted it. He smiled when he saw this, cleared his throat uncomfortably in the only small gesture that hinted towards any kind of discomfort with his new role, and told them what he’d come into the room to say.

“Alright, good. Very good. First of all, I’d like to say thank you to everyone for coming. This is a very exciting time for Cubed, as I’m sure we all understand. A very exciting time and one I’m sure will only grow more exciting for all of us as the days move forward. Do you have any questions? Any questions before moving on?”

“Sure,” Finnley muttered under her breath, low enough for Brad and Liz to hear it but not loud enough for Travis to catch onto the fact that she was speaking at all, “I’ve got a question. Since when were you such a complete and utter prick?”

“Good!” Travis said in an overly loud voice, completely oblivious to Finnley’s pointed question and maybe to the fact that he was doing anything that would warrant the asking of it to begin with. “Good, then we can move on. There’s a pretty wonderful spread laid out for you all in the conference room, and I can’t wait for you to see it. It’s the kind of brunch most of us don’t get, which only makes it more wonderful that it’s been brought right to our front door. I believe there’s even a man with an omelet station, which is pretty neat.”

Neat? Finnley thought to herself, biting on the inside of her cheek to keep from just coming out and saying it out loud, saying it loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear everything she was saying. Neat? Was Travis for real with this shit? Good God, he really was off his rocker if that was the way he was talking now. Somewhere between the cigarette she’d watched her friend smoke on the street last night and this imposter she saw standing in the front of the room full of communal computers before her now, Travis had changed. She didn’t know how real the change was; she didn’t know how deep down it went, but it was there, and it was anything but likable. Later on, she would try to get him on his own and ask him just what the hell was happening with him, but at the moment, she just had to try and come to terms with the fact that this version of Travis was now using words like “neat.”

“So!” Travis continued, clasping his hands before him in a gesture that looked like a move made by any-and-every kind of generic manager of any-and-every generic company across the globe. “I’d like to get you guys in there and eating just as soon as possible, but first I think it’s only fitting that we pay a warm welcome to the man who made this all possible. Let’s put our hands together for Mr. Jack Wallace, everybody!”

The announcement was met by a smattering of half-hearted applause and Finnley couldn’t help but wonder if Travis and the illustrious Jack Wallace could tell how far from excited everybody really was. If they could, it didn’t appear to matter any. It was sort of annoying, but also didn’t surprise Finnley any. Since when did the people in charge, the people in power, really give a shit what the people around them thought? Once the power was had, it really didn’t matter anymore what the “average” people thought, did it? And as if to punctuate this point, Mr. Wallace, the one and only Jack Wallace, strode into the room with his arms up in the air in the manner of a new president celebrating his victory. As Finnley surveyed him, she felt her skin prickle with dislike, a full-body experience that actually made her shudder. He looked to her like he was probably in his late fifties or early sixties, but a very well taken care of man of either age. Objectively speaking, he was actually quite handsome, with striking green eyes and a head of thick salt-and-pepper hair.

He was handsome, but there was also something formidable about him, something calculating she couldn’t quite put her finger on but that she was positive was there all the same. He steepled his hands in front of him, making it look like he’d placed them on an invisible desk only he could see, and surveyed the group of people who were now considered his employees. Finnley glanced around surreptitiously, curious to see what exactly he was seeing when he did so. That was when she realized that while she’d been busy messing around with Brad and Liz, the open-aired office full of computers and rolling seat,s none of which came with much of any order had filled with people she both recognized and had possibly seen the night before at the happy hour but couldn’t be entirely sure. Whoever they were, they were all watching Mr. Wallace with at least what passed as rapt attention, and for the first time since this entire thing had begun, Finnley started to wonder what exactly she had gotten herself into. She’d been so busy being happy that she was finally going to have work to do again that she hadn’t taken the time to consider whether or not the work, or for that matter Cubed itself, would be something she still wanted to be a part of once everything was all said and done. She was busy questioning that now when an elbow to the ribs got her attention.

“Ow!” she whispered in a hiss, rubbing the place where Brad’s bony elbow had just been. “What the hell did you do that for?”

“Because,” Brad whispered in reply, talking out of the corner of his mouth in what was clearly an attempt not to appear to be talking at all. “He’s looking at you. Pay attention, Finnley, or else I think you’ll be headed to the principal’s office.”

Finnley’s eyes shot upwards, and she saw that what Brad was saying was one hundred percent correct. Although it may not have been evident to everyone in the room, Jack Wallace had immediately pinpointed her as not paying attention to every single thing he was doing. His expression remained generically genial, but Finnley thought she could catch the smallest glimpse of something beneath that expression. What she believed she saw was another expression, and this one was far from pleased to have anything less that complete and total devotion.

“Right!” he spoke out as soon as he was sure he had the focus of every single person in the room. “I don’t want to make this a long, drawn out meeting. I’m sure that over the coming weeks and months we’ll all get to know each other, learn how we work best. We will, of course, have to gauge how we all fit together, if we all fit together. I have no doubt that there will be some stress, some concerns, and that’s alright. That’s to be expected. For this morning, just know that your fearless leader—Travis here—is still going to be manning the fort, a familiar face to help guide you through this time of transition.”

This comment was met by a hum of conversation, coming from both Cubed’s old employees and the ones Mr. Wallace had brought along with him after purchasing the company. The room felt full of excitement, anticipation, and more than a little relief, which didn’t really surprise Finnley when she stopped to think about it. For at least the former employees of Cubed, it had to be at least a small comfort to know that the boss they were used to would still be there with them. Finnley was sure she would have felt the exact same way if it hadn’t been for the total transformation of character Travis seemed to have undergone in the last twelve hours or so. After seeing that, she wasn’t so sure that having Travis around really meant they had somebody on their side. It could very possibly mean that he had been offered enough money that he would have thrown each and every one of them under the bus in order to keep the dough coming in. If anyone else saw this, however, they didn’t let on to it, only kept on with their excited conversation until Mr. Wallace used his hands to signal that it was time for silence once again.

“Wonderful!” His voice rang out, sounding to Finnley more like an auctioneer than anything else. “Wonderful, I’m glad to see some happy looking faces out there. For those of you that have come to this new venture along with me from my L.A. businesses, however, I can see how you might not feel the same sort of excitement. Rest assured, I want everyone to feel equally pleased and comfortable with things moving forward. That is why, I would like to introduce the man who will be here acting in my stead, a man I trust will help this transition to go as smoothly as any of us could hope for. Please put your hands together for my son, the one and only Garrett Wallace!”

Finnley heard both Brad and Liz beside her let out audible gasps before she managed to look up and see what all of the commotion was about. When she got a look, though, she felt the world fall away from beneath her, and it was all she could do not to get up and run out of the room. She supposed there were plenty of Garretts in the world; she supposed there had to be, but in this instance, she was not so lucky as to be looking at a stranger. What she was looking at, was the gorgeous stranger from the night before, the man who was now to be one of her bosses.