Chapter 1 – Greg
“Do you have any idea what I was doing when you called? This better be damn important, Tommy. I am not playing.”
I was trying to hold my anger in, but I was doing a horrible job of it. All I could think about was seconds with Desiree. Once would never be enough, and only Tommy’s statement that there was an emergency had gotten me here. If it was anything less, I was liable to lose it before I even got started.
“I wouldn’t have called if I didn’t have to, sir.”
He was sounding wounded. I didn’t have to look at him to know that he was upset. Tommy was a little too emotional for my liking, but I knew that he wouldn’t have called unless it was important. It was the whole reason that I had left Desiree at her house instead of taking her over and over again in the meadow. I didn’t have to like it, though.
“Of course not, Tommy,” I sighed. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Don.”
“Did he finally leave?”
Tommy shook his head. I was starting to get a little worried about what my idiot partner had done now. It wasn’t like Tommy to keep me in suspense, but he didn’t work well under pressure, so I tried to be patient and wait for him to collect himself.
I couldn’t.
“Just tell me, dammit, Tommy! I don’t want to sit here wondering. You pulled me out here, so what’s going on?” Well, so much for no pressure.
“They voted you out.”
I asked him what he meant. He said it again, a little softer. I think Tommy was really afraid that I was going to freak out. If I’d had the time to let it all sink in, I most likely would have done just that.
“What do you mean?”
“He called an emergency session and invited only a select few, just enough to gain a majority. I don’t know what all happened in there. I wasn’t allowed in the conference room.”
“Why are you even still here at this hour?”
“I never leave early. How do you think I have time to get everything done for you?”
I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t ever really thought about it. I just thought of him as a little magical. He could get so much done. Pretty much everything I needed, Tommy had already thought about.
“So Don is now the CEO?”
Tommy shook his head, again looking at me like I was ready to spring on him.
“What does he even know about the business? He’s never even here these days, and everything is so different from when he was. What were the grounds for getting rid of me?”
“Your decision-making came into question.”
I knew where this was going, and I just kind of shook my head in disgust. It was because of what Desiree had done. Her turning him down had caused all this. We had fought over girls before, but he’d never been so underhanded. It was a shock that he would actually do something like that to me.
“I can’t believe this.”
“Neither can I. That’s why I called you. They’re still upstairs.”
I smiled. I knew then why I kept Tommy around. He might be a lot of things, but he was always good at giving me what I really needed. Right now, I needed to see my old friend and partner. I knew that it wasn’t going to be good, but it had to be done. Here I was thinking about buying him out and he’d gone and voted me out. It didn’t take any money from me, but it certainly was going to make it hard to run my own company.
The whole way to the elevator, all I could think about was what I was going to say to him. What do you say to a friend who’s betrayed you? I started to wonder if the push to go public the year before was somehow related to what he was doing now. I had argued against the decision; we were making enough money that we didn’t really need to. Now I wondered if there had been an ulterior motive. Had he been planning this the whole time?
I was livid by the time I got to the top floor. Changes were already being made, and I could feel the temperature rising in my face. Who the hell did he think he was?
“Greg, good to see you. I wasn’t expecting you until morning, but no bother, it’s as good of a time as any to tell you.”
He was gloating. God was he gloating. His eyes were alight with pleasure, and I knew that he was enjoying himself. I almost wanted to ask why he was being this way, but I knew it wasn’t something I was going to get a straight answer on.
“I already know. Do you really think it will work?”
Donald did think it would work. His dark brown eyes were sure of it, and so was the set of his mouth. I wanted to hit him. The urge was strong, and I think he saw the change in my eyes, because he stepped back rather cautiously, like I was a rattlesnake. And indeed, I felt like I could strike at any moment. I also knew it wasn’t a good idea.
“It has already gone through. I took the liberty of putting all of your things in boxes, and I will have them sent over to your house in the morning. Nothing is really open around here at this time of night.”
“How did you get them to agree?”
He shrugged and smiled, not moving from the other side of the desk. My desk. I watched him sitting in my chair and I really wanted to wipe that smile right off his face. “You think that everyone likes you, but people like money better, old friend. A lot of the shareholders think we could have done better in the merger with Gary. You let him get it too easy because he was your friend, and that cost us all a lot of money.”
My teeth were gritting. There were a couple of people over by my library taking the books and packing them into boxes as we spoke. I could tell we were getting most of their attention. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had given Gary a discount and a better deal because he was a friend and because he had done business with me for years. Me, not Don.
“You’re going to regret this, Don. I was going to buy you out, but now we’ll just have to see.”
I didn’t take much out of the boxes that I could get to. I didn’t need most of it, and if he was willing to take care of it, I was going to let him. I did take the Rolodex, though. Then I walked away. Violence wasn’t going to solve anything. I knew that I was going to have to be smart about this. It wouldn’t help if I lost my cool. I wasn’t going to be able to take care of this situation tonight, anyway. I had to get my company back, and I knew that the only way to do it was to do it smart and patient.