CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Trevor

Although today was a work day and the first one on this acquisition job, I couldn’t help thinking about yesterday as I drove to the office building. There’d been something insanely hot about Emma on my motorcycle with me. Having her thighs grip mine and her center up against my ass and her arms around me. But it had been her laughter which stayed with me, even this morning. I’d taken her on a winding road leading up through horse country before reluctantly returning her back to the hotel.

She’d had work to do with Simon coming into town and had to go. But I’d had the pleasure of her grin, exclusive for me, along with a heartfelt thank you for taking her on the ride. I’d promised to take her out again this upcoming weekend.

Today was the day we met with the owner of Big Town Fantasy Sports, Peter Briggs, to find out what he was looking to do with his company. We knew he wanted to sell; the question was the price and what to do with the employees.

Peter was twenty-five years old and a Cal Poly graduate with a programming degree. He’d started this company three years ago, and it now had a valuation of one point eight million. At eleven o’clock he walked into the conference room where I was standing with Simon, Tom, and Emma. My first observation was that the guy had man-lights—my word for male high lights. I tried not to hold that against the him. Unfortunately, it only took him opening his mouth to cement my poor first impression.

“So, gentlemen and hot-looking lady, what kind of deal do you have for me?”

Luckily, Simon was the one who spoke up as we all took seats at the table. “That depends a lot on you, Mr. Briggs.”

“The valuation is for two million.”

“One point eight, actually,” Tom provided.

Peter grinned. “I rounded up. Sue me.”

Turns out Peter Briggs was a bit of a dick.

Simon merely moved forward. “Mr. Briggs, we’ll need to go through your financials and conduct our own audit in order to evaluate whether we wish to purchase. Do you have a financial director or controller who can help us with the numbers?”

“Yep. That’s me. I’ll get you what you need. Seeing as most of the employees can be let go, it’s really just me you’re dealing with and my software you’re buying.”

My fist formed under the table. He had forty-two employees, and it was clear he didn’t give a shit about any of them.

“Don’t you have tech people who work on the software and provide support?” I queried. The majority of his staff was just that, with the rest made up of a few people who did marketing, accounting, and HR.

“I do. However, it’s not my company for sale. Just the software.”

I was confused. “So you’re keeping your staff?”

“Only three of my programmers. You may want to keep the support staff of seven, but everyone else can go. Or you can keep them. Up to you. But you’re smart businessmen, so it makes sense to buy the software and absorb it into the large infrastructure of the Stone Group.”

He wasn’t wrong. Phillip and the Stone Group had two other large software companies, neither of which dabbled in online gaming. They could pivot and perhaps start supporting this new software if we bought it.

He continued to talk. “At any rate, I’ve already spoken with Phillip about the burden of letting people go. It’s to be your problem, not mine. Which is good. I couldn’t face someone with tears and shit.”

Since the task of informing each of these people they’d be without a job would end up falling to me, I had to avoid speaking. My words for him would not be professional.

“In that case, we’ll need to talk severance packages,” Simon said, not giving away his feelings on the matter.

Peter wrinkled his nose. “I want the minimum. Nothing, if I can get away with it. Under Texas law, I don’t need to give any notice as I’m not a big enough company.”

Now I saw Simon’s eyes narrow.

I had to speak up. “We have a company standard at the Stone Group. Although employees losing their jobs is sometimes a necessity with a purchase, we require our buyers to give a minimum of two weeks’ severance pay. Also, you’ll need to account for paying out accrued vacation. Of course, all of that is contingent on the review of the employee contracts to see if something else was spelled out.”

He heaved an exasperated breath as if he’d simply noticed a scuff on his shoe. What a prick.

“Let’s hope the attorney who helped me draw up those contracts didn’t screw me. Luckily, Texas is favorable to the employer, so here’s hoping.”

We discussed a few more logistics and gave Peter a list of items we’d need for the financial audit.

He glanced it over quickly. “Am I working with you on this?” He posed the question to Emma.

She smiled, the action not reaching her eyes. “You can send me the items requested. I’ll be sure to email you the list, so you’ll have my email address. But mostly you’ll be working with Lyle, our forensic auditor, who’ll be traveling in next week.”

“That’s too bad.” He made no attempt to hide his blatant flirting. “All right, gentlemen, guess I’d better get to my computer to supply the beautiful Ms. Emma her documentation.”

After Peter left, Simon took me into his office. I didn’t hesitate to ask the question burning in my mind. “Are we only keeping the software?”

He sighed. “It was always a possibility.”

One I hadn’t really considered. Or perhaps I’d voluntarily blocked it out.

“Let’s call Phillip to discuss,” Simon said.

Now it was my turn to sigh.

***

I needed a drink. Since it was after nine o’clock in the evening, and I was only now leaving the office, I intended to grab one. Unfortunately, the call with Phillip had yielded less-than-favorable results. If we bought the company, we’d keep a team of five support people for now, Peter would take his three programmers, and the rest would be let go. And I was the one who’d get the horrible task of informing them.

I was packing up along with Simon and Emma. Tom had left hours ago, citing a conference call that couldn’t wait. I had no doubt he used the call as an excuse to put in the least number of hours possible. But it was easier to work without him throwing out snippy, peanut-gallery comments, so I think we were all relieved when he’d called it an early night.

While Simon was on the phone as he walked out, Emma fell in step with me. “You okay?” she asked, glancing over.

“I will be. After a beer or two. You want to join me?”

She hesitated, making me realize my mistake. I’d asked while we were leaving work, and she had to return to the hotel with Simon.

“Never mind. Have a good night.” I waved at both her and Simon. He’d hung up his cell phone and was ready to drive them both back to their hotel.

I stopped at a sports pub a few miles outside of town and realized as soon as I stepped inside that I was way overdressed in my suit. Loosening my tie and losing my jacket, I took a seat at the bar. As I looked around, I saw the place was almost empty. Of course, it was a Monday night, so that could have been why.

An old barkeep with a big white beard came ambling over.

Smiling at him, I ordered a shot of Patron along with a Corona chaser. After taking a sip of my beer, I took out my phone and was surprised to see a text from Emma.

“Where are you?”

“Bar called Whiskey Lullaby.”

There was no response, and I knew better than to get my hopes up. Twenty minutes later, though, she walked in. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit my heart skipped a beat. Yeah, I was just like the guy in those chick-flick movies my sister made me watch, who tracks the girl walking in, completely and totally smitten.

Damn. I had to swallow hard and clear my head else I send her for the hills by being too obvious. She was still dressed as she had for work, in a killer black suit, with her hair up and her fuck-me pumps on her feet. There was no doubt the few men in the place turned in her direction. But her gaze fixed directly on me, sending the message I was the only one in whom she was interested. I wasn’t sure, though, if her interest went anything beyond my presence in her bed.

 “Hi,” I managed as she slid onto the stool beside me.

“Hi. Drinking alone is a clear sign you’ve had a bad day.”

“Is that why you came?”

She gave a little shrug and ordered up a vodka tonic before giving me a smile. “I came because I hoped the invitation was still open. And because I know today wasn’t easy with the arsehole owner.”

“The invitation is always open, sugar.”

I noticed the way her face lit up at the endearment. She was probably thinking what I was, about how I’d first christened her with the name.

“Peter has no regard, no loyalty, and no moral compass when it comes to his employees,” I said.

She held up her glass and clinked it against my raised beer. “Nope, and yet we’re about the profit and have to ignore all of that.”

“Is it bad to want the entire thing to fall through? I realize I should prefer to make money for Phillip and the Stone Group, but I absolutely hate that Peter will win.” I’d rather tell him where to put his two-million-dollar price tag.

“Unfortunately, a lot of the owners resemble Peter. And yeah, I wish it would fail too, just to wipe the smirk off his face. Someone like that with no morals—makes you wonder about his company and accounting, too.”

“Good point. Hopefully, Lyle will conduct a thorough audit.”

“He will. I know you’re dreading the layoffs.”

“It’s awful. I don’t even know those people, yet I have to give them severance packages and tell them they’re losing their jobs. But I knew it would be part of my position.”

“Still doesn’t make it easy.”

“Does it bother Simon? Or did it, in the beginning?” Maybe it would help to hear I wasn’t the only one who had a tough time with it.

“Of course it does. Over the years, he’s simply gotten better at not showing it. He’ll help you through the process. Make a good sounding board if you’re worried.”

The last thing I wanted was for him to think he had a weak link. “Nah. I need to do it. I’ll get there. Tequila, beer, and you are helping. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. In the meantime, I’ll continue with some due diligence on Peter. I have a gut feeling something is off.”

“Tell me he’s the worst owner you’ve ever dealt with.”

She sighed. “I wish I could. They’re sort of all over the map. The last one, George, was sweet and so concerned about his employees. The one before him was middle of the road. Before that, another arsehole. You don’t always find out people’s reasons for wanting to sell, but sometimes they get greedy. Just remember they were twats before we came along.”

That was depressing. Not for the first time, I wondered if this job was for me. I enjoyed the deal, the research, and the investment part. But the people and terminating the jobs which paid their bills and fed their families—No, thank you.

“What I really hope to do is real estate investments.” I wasn’t sure why I chose now to share my long-term goal, but thankfully she didn’t balk at the subject. Perhaps because it wasn’t personal.

“What kind? Commercial, residential?”

“Commercial or maybe mixed, such as developments with shops on the ground floor and condos above it.”

She sipped her drink, thinking. “So why this job?”

“To get the investment and research experience. Investors aren’t easy to find, so networking with people in the business is important.”

“What about your father? He wouldn’t invest?”

I shook my head. “He would, but not in me. A part of him wants me to earn it on my own, which is understandable.”

“And the other part?”

I took another long swig of my beer. “The other part is still pissed I didn’t follow in his footsteps and take over his oil and gas holdings.”

She started to look uncomfortable at the switch to the topic of family.

I finished my beer. “You want to get out of here?”

Her drink disappeared quickly while I laid cash on the bar, giving the barkeep a quick nod and telling him to keep the change.

As we stepped outside, I took her hand. “How did you get here?”

“Uber.”

“Good. I’ll take you home.”

She hesitated. “Both Simon and Tom are at the hotel.”

The implication was clear she didn’t want to chance being seen together. I tried not to let it bother me. “Say no more. I have an idea.”