I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called you here today,” said Ash. “I bet you’re all wondering. You’re probably wondering… Damn it!”

He smacked the bathroom sink with his palm, and stared more deeply into the mirror.

“Come on, Ash,” he told himself. “You can do this. You’ve been in front of a million board meetings. This is no different.”

Except of course it was different. He had one chance to win back the man he loved, to save them both, and if he blew it, if his plan backfired, he might lose everything, Lucas and the land and the company.

He washed his hands and brought cold water up to his face.

Maybe I should’ve waited to do this after I’d had more sleep. These bags under my eyes do not inspire confidence.

But sleep wasn’t a possibility. Not since his meeting with Rex. His mind had been in overdrive.

It reminded him of when his father was first under investigation, and the company began to stutter and stall, the hours and hours he sat at his desk, deep in thought, holding the whole company in his head, its sales and factories and processes, visualizing the inflow and outflow of money, trying his best to figure out how to make it all work again.

It had been exhausting then, and it was exhausting now.

And yet he had a spark of hope that kept him going.

Lucas won't care about my big scheme. He’s too hurt. I hurt him too badly.

No. He’ll see that I was only doing it to keep him safe, he’ll forgive me once he sees what I’ve done.

It was almost comforting to be back into these cycles of thoughts after the time he’d spent planning and plotting after Rex had left his office.

He looked back into the mirror. His eyes were red. His skin was pale, except for the pink of his cheeks.

Honestly, he was looking a little feverish.

Didn’t matter. He straightened his hair, and slipped on his jacket, making sure his lines were sharp and crisp. He pulled a bottle of eyedrops out and dosed each eye until the little veins disappeared.

He blinked and looked into the mirror again.

There. Almost human, anyway.

* * *

The last time anything dramatic had happened in the conference room on the top floor of the Cray Building, it had been Simon and Evan proving that Ash’s dad had embezzled from the company. That had been a difficult day for Ash.

This was going to be much more difficult.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you all here today,” he said as he entered the room.

The empty room.

In horror, Ash looked around. It’s not like people could hide in here. They simply hadn’t shown up. He’d invited everyone, instructing his secretary to be as cryptic as possible, just giving the time of the appointment and the room number.

Lucas wasn’t here. Rex and the rest of his friends weren’t.

Ricky certainly wasn’t.

Not even Callum had shown up.

“Well fuck,” said Ash, looking at the empty room.

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” said Callum behind him. “Did I miss something? Your secretary didn’t say what was going on.”

Ash checked his watch. “I…oh god, this is so stupid.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I’d planned a confrontation. I invited everyone involved in my breakup.”

“You what?”

“See, I was going to have you all sitting here, while I dazzled everyone with my reasoning that Lucas should get back together with me, and that Ricky couldn’t harm us.”

Callum’s brow furrowed. “You’re using a boardroom to get back together with Lucas? Wait, why are you getting back together with Lucas, I thought—”

“I had it all planned! It was going to be big and dramatic!”

Ash looked around the room anxiously, as though by looking just one more time, he might make everyone appear.

Callum patted him on the back. “I think you need to get some sleep,” he said. “You’re losing it.”

Then Ash was alone in the room again.

* * *

He couldn’t call Lucas directly. The shame and embarrassment of it would’ve been too much. That didn’t mean he couldn’t call Rex, though. He dialed him while driving.

“Man, I thought you were going to bring Lucas to my office,” he said.

On the other end of the line, Rex sighed. “I wanted to. I really did. But he won’t budge. He asked me where I was trying to take him, but you said not to say, and I wasn’t sure if I should tell him I was bringing him to you, because he might get mad, or maybe even sadder…”

Ash’s hands tightened on the wheel. Maybe the whole suspenseful confrontation thing was a dumb idea. It had worked out so well for Simon and Evan, though.

Why can’t anything ever work out that well for me? I’m smart, I’m capable…but damn.

“I’m coming out there,” he said.

“Maybe that’s not a good idea,” said Rex.

“You told me to fix this. I’m fixing it.”

“Yeah, but Lucas is devastated. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“I have to make it right, Rex.”

“Do you want me to tell him you’re coming?”

“No! Please, don’t.”

“You want it to be a surprise?”

“Not exactly…I just don’t want him to have time to run away from me.”

“Okay, see you in a second.”

Ash stared at the road in front of him, the highway that led to the city. “It’ll be longer than a second. There’s one more stop I have to make first. Actually…wait. Are you and your friends free right now?”