Jason
My whole team is in my office. We have a meeting with Damian Cain; just the sound of his name in my head makes my blood start to boil. He's a true prick and I want nothing more than to punch him in the face, but that wouldn't be professional I keep telling myself. I'm standing in front of the panoramic window, and I can see Marcus adjusting his tie and Jacqueline smoothing her pencil skirt in the reflection of the glass. Standing here I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
Damian Cain almost got Jacqueline hurt and the rest of us were on edge. We don’t do business that way, putting people in danger especially my people is a very problematic.
The intercom roars to life as the receptionist announces that, "Mr. Cain is here for your 3:30 meeting Jason."
I slowly turn to walk to the door Marcus went to get up from his chair and I just motioned for him to sit back down. I stand in the doorway of my office watching as he walks down the hallway. So cocky his hands in his pockets as he checks out the paralegals by the copiers. He really makes me sick to my stomach, he finally reaches me and holds his hand out to shake mine.
I slide to the side so he can enter the office he scoffs and as he lowers his hand he walks past me into my office. The tension in there could be cut with a knife, everyone is throwing eye daggers at him as he moves to take a seat at the table.
As I close the door I take another deep breath. The sound of the door closing behind me echoes as if it's a million miles away. Walking to the front of the table, I slam my hand down on it so hard that the water pitcher shakes. Cain looks up at me after he damn near jumps out of his chair. "Oh do I have your attention now?" I scream at him moving inches from his face. "Do you know the shit you pulled almost got a member of my team hurt you son of a bitch!" I point my finger in Jacqueline's direction never taking my eyes off of Damian Cain. He can see the rage in my eyes as I keep making my point. "We don’t do business this way, people ending up in harm's way, we never intentionally do these kinds of things! You, sir, are a sick individual. And we cannot work like this, more importantly we won’t work like this!" Before I realized what I was doing I had my hand wrapped around his tie pulling him across the surface of the table.
Marcus is up out of his chair trying to pull me off of him.
Jacqueline is standing beside me her hand is on my arm. She places it there as she calls my name. "Jason."
I slowly turn to look at her as I loosen my grip on Cain’s tie. Enough so he can pull himself free, Cain’s face is red right now his tie is all dishevelled he stands straight up and fixes his tie, in a huff he smooths the wrinkles from his shirt. I take a deep breath and look into Jacqueline’s eyes.
The look on her face tells me not to do this.
"I’m fine" I tell her through gritted teeth.
She looks like she doesn't believe me but moves her hand from my arm anyway. I move and head to the door, Cain jumps a little as I put my foot there blocking him from leaving in a calm voice I inform him, "if you ever try to pull anything else that might put my people in harm's way, we will drop you as a client." I stare at him for a long time.
It seems like his eyes searching mine if he was looking to see if I was bluffing.
I wasn't at all.
I stood in the door of my office as I watched Damian Cain hurry from our office. When I finally do turn back around I gaze around my office making eye contact with everyone who is there. The looks on their faces said what their mouths would not. Damian Cain is a major client for us. I know this I know what it means if we lose his retainer but right now that is the furthest thing from my mind. I am pissed and now know we cannot trust Cain at all and that is a problem. Trust is worth more than any amount of money. I go back and stand in front of my window just staring out into the setting sun. My mind is racing right now with all the possibilities of the things to come.
What would I do if his actions actually would have gotten Jacqueline hurt? That I couldn't live with. And for what, money? It just isn't worth it, Marcus comes to stand next to me and starts staring out with me. I glance over at him but he doesn't say a word. I can hear everyone else leave and the receptionist enter the clacking sound of her heels on my floor sounds like she is a million miles away.
She moves about straightening up the table, my heart's still racing. I am trying to calm down. I close my eyes breathe deep and try to calm all the thoughts that are racing through my head. Marcus eventually puts his hand on my shoulder, tapping it lightly. He is saying something to me that I can’t quite make out. I just nod my head and in the reflection I see him walking away.
My office is quiet now all that remains are my thoughts and I finally I move from in front of the window finding my way to my desk I sit down behind it staring at the blinking message light that is alerting me to the new voicemails I have. Ugh. I lean back in my chair and close my eyes rubbing my forehead. I have a massive migraine now.