Learned Behaviors (Higher Education)

by Jayce Ellis

  Matt wasn’t there when he got in, which was honestly a surprise. Once Matt knew that Jaq showed up early, he’d taken to doing the same, enjoying the early-morning quiet before everyone else showed up and things exploded. They hadn’t done anything in the office since that one night, but the memory alone had been enough to charge their quiet time together.

  Jaq was tempted to shoot Matt a text and make sure everything was okay, but god that sounded needy. He shook his head at his thoughts, then got to work. Lord knows he had plenty to do. He was prepared when the lights came on and the gradual hum of conversation filtered into his office. He was not prepared for Patti bursting through the doors before eight thirty, her hair flying behind her, her flowing skirt swirling around her legs, her eyes full of fire.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked when she stopped inside the doorframe, not having bothered to put down the fabric swatches in her hand.

  “Where have you been?” she demanded. “I’ve been trying to reach you all weekend.”

  Jaq stared at her without responding. It was too early for this, and it wouldn’t do him a bit of good to jump to being defensive. He snatched his phone off the desk and frowned. It was off. He vaguely remembered it dying at Matt’s place, and charging it while they watched TV. Had he not turned it back on? A sour feeling settled in his gut as he powered it up.

  “Patti, whatever it is, we can’t solve it while you’re still holding all that. Why don’t you set it down and come back?”

  She opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut and disappeared. Jaq took a deep breath. He hadn’t gone a weekend—hell, a day—without his phone on and at the ready. He hadn’t even realized there was something amiss, and he could chalk that directly up to the thrill of exploring Matt’s body. Leisurely, without the concern of someone walking in, being interrupted, worrying about who needed him. And, of course, someone had needed him.

  The phone powered on, and he stared at it in horror. Patti walked in and sat down, but he didn’t look up. Seventy-nine text messages and thirteen voicemails. You’ve got to be kidding.

  Jaq sat back in the chair and pushed the phone aside. For her part, Patti was gnawing her lip. “I’m not reading through those,” he said. “Tell me what happened.”

  Her eyes narrowed and Jaq raised his arms, splaying his fingers apart. “Patricia, in the time it takes me to read those, you could just tell me what the problem is and we can be well on our way to finding a solution.”

  “Fine. They didn’t approve the designs.”

  “The fuck?”

  “Oh, now you care.” Sarcasm dripped from her lips, and only years of practice kept Jaq from saying something. Patti sighed. “I know it was a lot, but I freaked out and you weren’t there.”

  “Did you call a meeting?”

  She cocked her head to the side. “No.”

  “Did you send a message to the designers and tell them to be here first thing for an emergency meeting?”

  “No.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, she fidgeted in her seat, and Jaq felt a momentary pang of guilt. Yes, these things were all her job, and yes, she’d presumably had to do them before he started working with her. But they made her uncomfortable and he knew it. It wouldn’t have occurred to her to call a meeting. She’d hired him so she wouldn’t have to do those things anymore.

  “Patti, I’m sorry,” Jaq said, and he truly was, on top of being baffled as hell. “My phone died and I forgot to turn it back on. Did they give a reason for the rejection?”

  She shook her head. “No, and that’s what’s so frustrating. Matt had these approved weeks ago, I thought. If they’re being rejected now, so close to launch, there’s no way we’ll come up with new ones in time. We’ll have to let go of the collection.”

  Something was wrong. Matt was too invested in the collection to okay designs that wouldn’t have been approved by his boss. He’d worked there too long to not know what would walk and what wouldn’t. Maybe it was just a mistake, but it was one that needed to be dealt with immediately.

  “When’s Matt coming in?” he asked, his mind whirring through possible solutions.

  Patti’s brow quirked up, and for a second she reverted to the mischievous woman he was accustomed to. “I’d assume you’d know better than me.”

  Jaq felt his whole body heat through the inside and was glad she couldn’t tell. That didn’t stop him from having to clear his throat.

  She spoke again before he could. “Maybe you need to check those text messages. They might not all be from me.”

  Lord, grant me the patience to bite my tongue. Jaq grabbed his phone and, sure enough, there was a message from Matt.

  Matt: problem with the caterer. Diane is having a fit, so is Chandra. Driving to Norfolk to resolve. Probably see you Wednesday.

  Dammit. “There’s a wedding problem. He has to go down to Norfolk.”

  Patti’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. You’d think if he knew our design plan had fallen through he’d be front and center, even if he was on the road.”

  She was right. No way would Matt leave them to their own devices at this juncture. Jaq called.

  “Good morning again.” Matt’s voice filtered through the phone, a low and husky rumble, and Jaq stuttered out a laugh.

  “Umm, morning. Look, I got a question for you.”

  Jaq could practically see Matt frowning. “JaQuan? What’s wrong?”

  He filled Matt in, reading the email verbatim.

  “That can’t be right. My phone was on all weekend and Nichole didn’t give me any indication there was a problem. I’ll take care of it now.”

  “But you’re headed down to Norfolk.”

  “Yep, and Diane’s gonna both kill me and remind herself why she divorced me, but I’ve got to handle this. I’ll call you back.” He clicked off and Jaq set the phone down.

  “Well?”

  He’d almost forgotten Patti was there. “Says he didn’t get anything and his phone was on. Says his boss would’ve called him, so there must be a mistake. He’s going to check on it now.”

  “And until then?”

  Jaq shrugged. “We wait, I guess. Let’s not get into killing ourselves to plan a new launch before we know whether there’s anything really wrong.”

  Patti nodded, and after a few moments of silence, jumped up. “Oh my god, I forgot. It’s Tanisha’s birthday, isn’t it?” She rushed out without him responding.

  Holy mother of god, how the hell had that slipped his mind? T’s birthday was a thing in the Reynolds household, one that usually involved weeks of planning. But even though Tanisha had taken to coming home on the weekends, that wasn’t her life anymore. Sure, she avoided excess time in the dorm, anywhere she may run into Angela, but she had other friends to hang out with. Which meant she probably had something important planned that had nothing to do with him. And he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  Patti bustled back in with a perfectly wrapped box. “This is for her.” She laid it on Jaq’s desk and stepped back. “Thanks, Jaq, for calming me down. I get on edge and...”

  “No apology necessary, but thanks. We’ll get this worked out, okay? And Tanisha will once again love you.”

  “Let me know when you hear from Matt, okay?”

  He nodded and she left again, and he sank deeper into his chair. One night with Matt and he’d missed a major development he could’ve addressed the previous day. Hadn’t sent his baby girl a text message at least, which, knowing her, she’d been up at midnight waiting for. Hadn’t thought to check on Gran while he was gone or anything. One day, and he was acting brand-new.

  There was a short knock on the door, then Daria poked her head back in. “Mr. Reynolds?”

  “Morning, Daria. What’s up?”

  She smiled. “Good morning, sir. Mr. Donaldson is on the line. He’d like to h
ave a conference call. He says it’s urgent?”

  “It is. Be right there. Thanks.” She nodded and disappeared.

  If Matt was on the line, that meant this wasn’t a mistake, and they were about to go balls to the wall. He took a deep breath and stood. Might as well get this over with.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Matt’s stress level increased tenfold walking into the Bernhardt office building. He’d been nearly to Richmond when Jaq called. Both Jaq and Patti, who didn’t speak but whose whispers he could hear, sounded so distressed that Matt had to pull over and check his phone, email, and voicemail. Nothing from Nichole, and that didn’t make a stitch of sense.

  He pinched the space between his brows and sighed wearily. The phone call from Diane had come less than twenty minutes after Jaq had left this morning, and he was worn out. Going backward, even paying for the HOV lane to do it, meant he was going to be hours late, and disappoint everyone in the process. As was the norm he was trying to break, but the universe clearly had other ideas.

  The guard at the front looked surprised to see him, which he supposed was fair. He’d already spent most of the last week here, and she probably didn’t expect him for another few weeks. Matt punched the button for Nichole’s floor, two above his, then marched to her door and knocked.

  “Come in,” she said.

  Matt pushed the door open and found her behind her desk, tapping away at the computer. “Matt, I’m glad you’re here. We have a situation.”

  “With Kingsley?” He took a seat, unsure why he’d even asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Nicki,” he started, then stopped. As comfortable as their working relationship was, it was not like JaQuan and Patricia’s, and he needed to remember that Nichole was staunchly in boss mode now. “Nichole, what is going on with Kingsley and why did I have to hear about it from Ms. Kingsley and her assistant myself?”

  She sat back and crossed her arms. “What are you talking about?”

  “Jaq—Mr. Reynolds called me this morning and told me about the email. I checked all my devices. No communication from you.”

  “Matt, I sent you—”

  “Nichole, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to be in Norfolk. I was almost in Richmond when I got the call and turned around. Why don’t you tell me what the problem is?”

  She sighed and went to the computer for a moment, then faced him. “Another company is coming out with a similar design to Kingsley’s. The brass wants Patricia to do something different.”

  “One of my accounts?” Matt was sure it couldn’t be. He was careful to make sure the brands he supervised offered varied designs, but as stressful as the past month had been, he might’ve overlooked something.

  But she shook her head. “No, not yours.” She sucked in a deep breath and sat back. “Unbeknownst to me, Wiltshire decided it was time to give his future son-in-law some real responsibility. It’s Steven’s account.”

  “You’re fucking lying.” Steven couldn’t handle the responsibility of sorting mail, and now he was getting whole-ass accounts to manage? And what, just blithely assuming Matt would rework his entire launch plan to accommodate him? He closed his eyes. In the end, Steven had an in with the boss that twenty-two years of service hadn’t given him. “When’s Steven’s account supposed to launch?”

  Nichole checked the computer. “Valentine’s Day.”

  “So they want my launch, which is scheduled for a month from now and is already in production, to come up with something else so another account, not set until Valentine’s Day, can have a similar design? No, Nicki.”

  She held her hands up. “I’ve already spoken to them. I’ve already said the exact same things, and Wiltshire is adamant,” she said, referring to her boss by his last name.

  “It’s not possible, and even if it was, it’s already in production. There is literally no time. Why wasn’t I brought in on this when the word came down?”

  “Matthew, I—”

  The door opened and Steven strode in like he owned the place, or at least like it had been bequeathed to him. “Nicki, I—” He stopped when he saw Matt. “Matt, hey.” If anything, the smirk factor had gone up by a thousand percent.

  “Steven, good to see you. I see you’ve been promoted in my absence. I wonder if they locked you out of my accounts, as is standard when that happens.” Steven paled slightly, and that was all Matt needed to see. “I’m glad you’re here, so I don’t have to repeat myself. I am not telling Kingsley to come up with a new design. If you want to kill this one, I’ll recommend they offer it to a competitor, and it’ll still launch before yours,” he said, speaking directly to Steven with his last words. “Yours will look like sloppy seconds, like a direct rip-off, and it’ll be your own damned fault.”

  “You wouldn’t.” That was Nichole, who looked at him like she’d never seen him before.

  “Nichole, have you ever known me to joke about my job?”

  “Those designs belong to Bernhardt,” Steven cut in. “They can’t offer them elsewhere.”

  Matt closed his eyes and tried not to laugh. Jaq had been such a hard-ass about that, about making sure the designs remained the intellectual property of Kingsley, and getting that concession from the higher-ups had actually been a large part of the delay.

  When he opened them, he could see the same light dancing in Nichole’s eyes. She remembered those fights too, and now they were his saving grace. “Actually, Steven,” she said, her voice dripping with glee, “Kingsley’s contract isn’t standard.” She looked up at Matt and smiled. “Why don’t you take care of things on your end and I’ll handle this?”

  Matt nodded and started for the door. “You’ll make sure he has no further access to my accounts, in any capacity?”

  Nichole dipped her head. “It’ll be my great pleasure.”

  Matt walked out, ignoring Steven’s threats behind him to make sure he never worked again. He wished that nepotism baby tried to blackball him in this industry. It was tempting to hop on the road and call from the car, but he’d hit enough dead spots in his time to not risk it. Diane was probably already furious, and even though he’d sent a text, she’d just claim it was one more instance of him choosing the job over his family.

  Matt closed the door and sat down. Now that he was alone, it was time to be honest with himself. He wouldn’t have risked incurring Diane’s wrath for any other company. A conference call while he was driving would’ve been sufficient until he’d handled family business. This, he’d done for Jaq, because he couldn’t stand the thought of Jaq not knowing what was going on. Business wasn’t the issue. Taking care of Jaq was, and that realization hit him like an anvil. He sucked in a few deep breaths before dialing Kingsley.

  Daria put him through immediately, and Patti’s voice barreled through the speaker. “Matt! What do we do?”

  “Good morning, Patti. Is everyone there?” Is Jaq there? is what he meant, and they both knew it.

  “Yes, the entire team’s here.”

  “Excellent. I spoke with my supervisor, and it appears there’s been some miscommunication. Your designs are still good to go, and there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  “You sure about that, Matt? Do we need to create a fallback plan?” That was Jaq, his voice all business, and still the sexiest fucking thing.

  “I’m sure. You guys go on, take care of your other collections, and I’ll be back up tomorrow.”

  Patti clicked off, and Matt received a text not a minute later.

  Jaq: Call me when you’re back on the road.

  He wasn’t surprised, but it still felt good. Jaq knew there had to be something underlying whatever the hell this snafu had been, and even in that short sentence, Matt could see how much Jaq cared. For him.

  Someone knocked on his door, and Nichole poked her head through. “You have a minute to talk before you hit t
he road?”

  He waved her in. “A minute’s about all I have. What the hell happened?”

  “I fucked up, Matt, and I’m sorry. I thought I’d sent the message to you. I got the call from Wiltshire and swore I’d sent it on. Hell, I’d thought you’d be here earlier, and that’s my bad.”

  Nicki was human and occasionally screwed up? Who knew? He waved a hand at her. “No worries. But what’s this about wanting to give Kingsley’s designs to Steven?”

  She blew out a breath. “Nepotism at its finest. Apparently he and Wiltshire’s daughter got engaged, and this is her dad’s present to them.”

  “So he’s gunning for my job, then yours.”

  “I’d say so.”

  This is what she’d been afraid of when she put him on the Kingsley account, and apparently for good reason. He was tired of this shit. Before Kingsley, he’d never imagined working in a personal politics-free zone, and he assumed there was some level of interpersonal gamesmanship even there. But this...whatever the hell Steven and Wiltshire thought they were doing? At his client’s expense, with a closer launch date? To give a brown-nosing, do-nothing, insipid fool a leg up? He was over it.

  He gathered his things and left the building. He needed to break a few laws to get down to Norfolk, and since that’d involve a whole heap of no fun, he needed something good first. And that meant calling Jaq.

  * * *

  Matt pulled into the lot of the hotel the wedding was being held at and scrunched his nose. Aside from the dip in temperature that made him wish he’d brought a thicker jacket, he’d never been a fan of the smell of the sea. Of fish, of the fresh catch of the day. He loved his scallops and shrimp and lobster as much as the next person, but he had no desire to smell it.