Breathless In Love

“Hey, Will.” His gaze jittered nervously around the room and up to Daniel’s face on the video screen. “I didn’t realize everyone would be here.”

“It’s an executive meeting. That means all of us.” Daniel hard-eyed the guy with a laser-sharp gaze.

“Sit,” Will commanded.

There was only one chair on the opposite side of the table. Sebastian had lowered it so that when Ray faced them, he looked like an overgrown kid in a child’s seat. He couldn’t even rest his elbows on the table.

“What’s up, guys?” Ray was trying for friendly, but Will could hear his fingernails tapping on the arm of his chair.

Will simply said, “La Verne.”

Evan opened a folder in front of him, withdrew a stapled sheaf of papers, and shot the package across the table. “The contract.”

Ray barely caught it before it hit him in the chest.

“Your signature is on the last page,” Daniel said, his crisp voice echoing out of the screen.

“Ah, yes,” Ray said slowly, hesitantly, his face reddening.

“And you took half the commission,” Matt added, specifically avoiding the word earned.

“Funny thing.” Will kept his tone mild. “Headley never talked to you. Only Drucker. And he was impressed with the kid.” He paused two beats. “He never even met with you.”

“Well, no, that’s, uh…” Ray started to splutter, then he sucked in a huge breath that made his shirt buttons look like they’d pop. “It’s how I train my people, hands on, right from the get-go. We strategize together. I write the sales script for them. I monitor their progress every step of the way. The only thing they do at this point is the talking.” He stopped to suck in another shirt-busting breath.

“Ray, I have to ask,” Sebastian drawled, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed. “Do we look stupid?”

“No,” Ray pushed out.

Matt waved a hand. “Why don’t we show him the other contract, Evan.”

“Sure thing.” Evan looked like a big cat ready to pounce on a lizard.

They hadn’t scripted the meeting, but the five of them had been together so long, they didn’t need a script. Right from the day they’d made their pact, they’d known exactly how to back each other up. Sebastian had gone to LA, where he’d founded a media empire, Matt and Evan had gone to college, Daniel had turned his contractor’s license into a billion-dollar home improvement kingdom, and Will had begun importing the right thing at just the right moment. But they’d all been there for one another with exactly what was needed right when it was needed.

This issue with Ray was no different.

Evan withdrew more papers from his magic folder and flicked them across the table.

Ray missed and it slid to the carpet. His chair was so low, he disappeared for a moment to retrieve it from beneath the table. The only sound was the rustle of paper and his harsh breathing.

His face was even redder when he popped back up like a buoy in the water. “What’s this?” But he already knew.

Matt stared the man down. The kid he’d been at ten was a distant memory. At thirty-four, Matt was formidable. “Drucker gave it to us.”

A drop of sweat rolled down from Ray’s sideburns. “He couldn’t have.”

“Did you really think you had the only copy?” Will asked.

Ray’s eyes flitted back and forth as if searching for a way out. Then, suddenly, he crushed the two-page contract in his hand. “This is standard operating procedure. I bring in the leads. I teach them the ropes. In fact, I’m devoting all my time to them rather than following the leads myself, which I could very well do. I’m actually the one sharing with them, not the other way around.”

Will leaned forward. “One—” He tapped his index finger on the table. “—we give you the leads. Two—” He tapped his middle finger. “—it isn’t our standard operating procedure to let anyone skim off half of someone else’s commission unless they actually do half the work. Which brings me to three.” He brought his hand down on the table. “You’re fired.”

“But I’ve got debts!”

Ah, so it was debts that had turned him away from being hardworking and honest? Even so, Will didn’t give a damn why Ray had turned rotten. He still wanted to grind the man down for taking advantage of kids fresh out of college who didn’t know better.

Will had seen it over and over again with his father and with the Road Warriors as they picked on the weak. It wasn’t just a way of life for them, it was sport—and how they made themselves feel bigger than they were. And Will had been one of them until he was sixteen and had tried to leave all that behind.

Now, faced with a bully like Ray Passal, Will felt the anger boil up all over again, the need to use his fists. “Get your things, Ray, and get the hell out. Now.”

Before Will let anything else boil over.

“But what am I supposed to do?” Ray whined.

Will stared him down. “How about thanking your lucky stars that we’re not asking you to pay back the commissions you stole?”

Ray blinked, swallowed, looked at the floor. Then, as if he saw it written down there how much worse things could get, he looked up and said two very simple words, “Thank you.”

It was only after the door closed behind the now shrunken and sweaty man that Will thought again of Harper. Finally, his fists relaxed. He hadn’t pounded on the guy. He hadn’t even humiliated him. He’d simply pointed out the facts.