Julia was shaking when she left. That's what I do. It starts with a touch, or maybe a well placed one liner, and then they melt. I had her. She didn't want to accept it, of course, no gazelle wants to admit when a lion is about to make the kill, but I had her. I was going to play with her a little bit, make her think she was going to get what he wanted and take everything she had to offer.
That night, I drank nothing but water, sports drinks and ate a small meal with fish and kale. I wanted my head to be as clear as possible for the next day. When I woke up, I felt amazing. I could've swam in my pool for hours without getting tired, and I very much wanted to, but I had to suit up for the board room.
I pulled out a pair of ridiculous sunglasses again and buttoned up my shirt wrong, leaving it untucked on one side. Then I stumbled into the building and added a spritz of water on my face before I walked into the board room to make it look like I was sweating. When I walked in, fifteen minutes late, Regis was red in the face.
“Where have you been? If you want a place in this room,” he stormed up to me, “You need to start taking some responsibility. This isn't a fraternity Mr. Valenti. This is a place of business.”
I decided not to answer. Instead, I pulled out a vodka shooter that I'd filled with water, downed the whole thing and threw it on the ground. “Oh, you think you could pick that up for me?”
“What!?”
The other board members stifled their laughter.
“I will not be demeaned like this. Get out of here.” He pointed at the door.
I held my position and waited while he kept that ridiculous look on his bright red face, with his black toupee askew. Then I started tapping my foot softly, staring at him. His face got redder and redder while his cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk. We were at a stalemate, but he had no idea who he was talking to. I was smarter than him. I'd been groomed for this since I was a kid.
“Are we having a meeting?” The head of marketing asked.
“I was thinking the same thing.” The head of engineering asked. Then he got up to turn on the lights, leaving Regis standing there in the dark still staring directly at me with his eyes so wide they looked like they were going to pop out of his skull. When the glare of the projector illuminated his sweat stained white shirt, he turned around and walked back to his place at the other side of the table.
I let my eyes droop again, took another fake shot and leaned back with my sunglasses falling down my face to reveal my half open eyes.
“This has to stop!” Regis got up. “I want a vote and I want it now.”
“Regis sit down.” The head of marketing hissed.
“I—
The rest of the room stared at him until he slumped down in his chair with his tail between his legs. The head of engineering took out his laptop and opened his presentation. It was a picture of one of the golden edition 5.0 Smartphone models.
“Now, the main selling point of this phone is its removable hardware.” He clicked a button, opening the battery cover. “This is the battery port,” he clicked and the battery came out. “The company will sell three types of batteries, our basic battery, which has a lifespan of 36 hours in it dormant state; our extended life battery, which has a lifespan of 72 hours in its dormant state; and our premium battery, which lasts for nearly four days when used properly.”
“Uh,” Regis raised his hand.
“Now you see there's a black release button in the upper right corner. Once you press that, the metal case folds open revealing the hardware. There's the ram here. There are three separate slots for that.”
“Excuse me.”
“Then there's the antenna which can be switched out for a highly sensitive fractal antenna...”
“Hello-o-o!”
“Aw shutup, will ya.” The head of marketing said. “He's trying to make a presentation.”
“Well, why don't we just sell the best technology.”
“We're offering the phone for $5000 to start. That's nothing, but it already comes with high quality tech on roll out—the best processor, some of the best ram and one of the best antennas on the market. By the time customers purchase our add-ons, the device will cost 15,000. That makes it reasonably affordable for anyone wanting a basic model, and just bad enough that our customers are going to want to purchase add-ons.”
As they went on, going over the technical specifications, I tried to understand what Regis was really looking for. It sounded like he couldn't be satisfied no matter what. I've met people like that plenty of times. He wasn't looking for the perfect phone, or for profits for the company. He was looking for control. He wasn't satisfied with the phone because he didn't make it. He as furious with me, not because I was incompetent, or at least because I was pretending to be, but because I was the major shareholder, and there wasn't a single thing he could do about.
A man like that would be consumed with anger, because there was no way he could control every single variable in his life, and unless he did, something would always be getting his skin.
“He's sleeping!” Regis yelled once the presentation ended.
I threw my head back. “What? What?” I kept my eyes half closed while I looked around, trying my best to make my voice sound hoarse.
“You have to stay awake during board meetings,” Regis said.
“Whatever.” I got up and staggered out of the room to go chat up the receptionist at Regis's office. She had a mouth the size of Texas and she wasn't too bad to look at. Maybe I could get her to tell me what he'd been working on. He certainly wasn't involved with development or marketing.