by Lila Moore
“Your car, sir,” he said.
I glared at him. It was the worst possible timing.
“I thought you said you didn’t own a car?” she said.
Words failed me. This lunch had started off promising then quickly gone to shit. Just then my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID. It was my father. I hit Ignore.
“Can I give you a ride back to work?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“No. My office isn’t far from here, and my bike won’t fit in your car.”
My phone rang again. It was my dad. Again, I hit Ignore.
“You should answer that,” Sage said. “It might be important.”
“It’s not.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s my dad.”
She raised an eyebrow. Sage probably had a good relationship with her parents. Must be nice.
“Would you like to go to a movie tonight?” I asked. “We could get dinner afterwards? I know a great Italian place.”
“I don’t think so. I’m really busy right now. I’m swamped with work.”
“I could bring takeout over to your place later? We could watch a movie?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’ll call you later.”
“I had fun hanging out with you last night, and lunch was great, but I’m really busy, so…”
Sage was trying to let me down gently. This was not good. I’m the one who lets girls down easy when I’m tired of them. Now the tables had turned and I did not like it at all.
I could not-would not-accept defeat.
Sage squeezed my arm, like we were acquaintances. This was a major step backwards. She’d greeted me with a hug, now she was saying goodbye with a friendly pat on the arm. I had to salvage this.
My cell phone rang for a third time. I was about to throw it across the street. I tried to keep my temper in check. I turned my phone to silent, then focused on Sage. The only thing I could do was humble myself before her and hope she’d forgive me.
“Today was a kind of a disaster, wasn’t it?” I said with a smile.
She returned my smile and said: “Yeah.”
“Let’s hit Rewind. I lied to you about my car because I wanted you to like me. It’s stupid, I know. When I see a beautiful girl, I turn into an idiot. I’m sorry.”
Sage looked away shyly. I could tell she had no idea how gorgeous she was. Probably because she spent so much time around the nerd herd. They’d rather call her a bitch than tell her how beautiful she was.
“Let’s start over,” I said. “Meet me tomorrow at the smoothie shop, same place we first met. Let’s pretend like we’re meeting for the first time.”
“I don’t know…”
“No pressure. Just two friends getting together to talk. What do you say?”
I knew I sounded desperate. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be too turned off by how pathetic I sounded.
“Okay,” she conceded. “Tomorrow at noon?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you there.”
She turned and left without giving me a goodbye hug. This wasn’t good, but all hope hadn’t been lost yet. I slid behind the wheel of my car and pulled away from the restaurant. My cell phone started to buzz in my pocket.
“For fuck’s sake, what?” I yelled out loud. I pulled out my phone and answered it. “Yeah?”
“Knox! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning, son. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
“What do you want?”
I didn’t have the patience for his nonsense today. The last time I’d received an ‘emergency’ phone call from my dad it was because he wanted me to cover for him while he was with his mistress. I’d refused to lie to his second wife about his whereabouts and he got caught cheating yet again. Eventually, they divorced, but not before he put her through years of bullshit. I’ll never understand why any woman would marry him.
“I need you to come into the office.”
“Why?”
“It’s an emergency shareholder meeting. You’re on the board. I need you to vote on a merger.”
“Fine. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“How are you, Knox? We don’t get to talk much. You’re always so busy,” he said with a laugh.
My dad knew my life consisted of the gym, drinking and girls. I suspected he was jealous.
“I’m pulling up to the office. Bye.”
I hung up the phone before he attempted to ask me anymore questions. My date with Sage had gone horribly. I needed to go home, think and regroup. The last thing I wanted was to get sucked into a boring board meeting, but I had no choice.
I walked into the lobby and rode the elevator up to the top floor. The secretary stopped me when I tried to walk into my dad’s office.
“You can’t just walk in,” she said. “Do you have an appointment?”
She was new. She had shiny red hair and big brown eyes. My father had good taste in women. He had a hard time holding on to secretaries. He always hired the prettiest girls, slept with them, then they’d quit.
“I’m Knox,” I said. “I’m here to see my father.” She stared at me blankly. “My father owns the company.”
“Oh! Sure. Go on in.”
She seemed a bit slow. My father always valued beauty over brains. I walked into his office. My father looked uncharacteristically disheveled. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows; his tie was loose. His desk was a mess of paperwork.
“Good to see you, son,” he said, not looking up from his papers. “I need you to vote yes. That’s all you have to do. Just say yes. Can you handle that?”
“No,” I replied sarcastically. “Explain it to me again.”
He looked up at me from his paperwork. “Normally, I wouldn’t call you in, but this merger is important. The board is split down the middle. I need you to cast the deciding vote. It will make the both of us a lot of money.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
My dad stared at me for a long moment. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking; I didn’t care. I wanted to get this over with.
“Can I vote now?” I asked.
“You have to wait to vote in the meeting. Have a seat.”
I didn’t want to talk, but I had no choice. I sat down in his seat behind his desk and spun the chair around. He had one of the best views of the city.
“I see you have a new secretary,” I said. “What happened to the old one?”
I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it.
“She didn’t work out. The new girls not too hard on the eyes though, is she?”
I hated it when he tried to talk to me like we were buddies. Locker room talk nauseated me. Suddenly, my conversation with Sage popped into my head. She was a smart girl. What would happen if she got a job at my father’s company? She’d probably be stuck as a secretary even though she was capable of so much more. She’d be subjected to my father and the other men who worked here hitting on her.
“How many women work here?” I blurted out.
“I don’t know. I’d say about a third of the employees are women.”
“How many of them are executives?”
“I don’t know… a couple.”
“Do they make the same as their male counterparts?”
“Have you turned into a feminist on me?” he asked with a laugh.
“You should hire more women,” I said. “Smart women-not just hot women.”
“We hire the most capable people we can find.”
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t believe him. “When is this meeting?”
“You got somewhere you need to be?”
“As much as I love these father son moments, I’d like to get out of here.”
“What’s your problem? Why do you always get such an attitude with me?”
The fact that after all these years that my dad still didn’t get why I hated him made my blood boil. He didn’t understand or care how his actions affected other people. Being married to him wa
s hell on my mother. The only thing he cares about is money and getting his dick wet. I was trying to think of a way to express this hatred for him, but I was cut off by his secretary. She walked into the room and announced that the boardroom was ready.
“Thank God,” I said.
I jumped up and followed her into the adjacent office. I wanted to get this over with and leave. Several members had already taken their seats. I sat down in the first empty chair. They were all old men wearing perfectly tailored suits. They appraised my gym clothes with looks that ranged from disdain to amusement.
“Good of you to join us today, Knox,” the man to my right said. I’d met him before but I couldn’t remember his name.
“Are we ready to vote?” I replied.
“Not quite. There are matters to discuss.”
“There’s nothing to discuss,” my father said, cutting him off.
“There’s a lot to consider. This merger will shut down half of our offices. Thirty thousand people will be laid off. That’s no small thing.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, “we’re laying off thirty thousand people?”
“It happens all the time,” my father said with a wave of his hand. “The numbers are negligible. They will find new jobs. What’s important is that the company will be stronger than ever. We all stand to make quite a bit of money, you included. You’re one of the majority shareholders. You’ll make more money off this deal than you could spend in a thousand lifetimes. So do the right thing. Vote yes.”
There was more back and forth debate. I tuned it out. Thirty thousand people would be laid off just so we could get richer. I already had more money than I knew what to do with. I didn’t need more.
“Let’s vote,” I said.
The men opposed to the merger sighed. They’d already assumed they were going to be defeated. We went around the table. My father strongly voted yes. By the time the vote came to me, the decision was split fifty-fifty. I was the deciding vote.
“No.”
“What?” my father demanded.
“I’m not going to put anyone out of work just so I can collect a couple million dollars.”
“A couple? We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars.”
That gave me pause. Then I thought of Sage. She would be disgusted by all this. “I’m not changing my mind. My vote is no.”
“Listen here, you spoiled, entitled brat. You’re going to vote yes because if you don’t-”
“What?” I said cutting him off. “You’ll take my money away? You can’t. It’s in my name. You’re powerless to do anything.”
I stood up and turned my back on the room. I knew they were all watching me. My father was fuming mad. I walked to the door, then stopped. I turned back to face them.
“As one of the majority shareholders I’m entitled to know a few things.” Or so I assumed. I had no idea what my role at the company was. “I want a detailed report on the wages of our employees based on their gender. Things are going to change around here. I’m going to drag this company into the twenty-first century if it kills me.”
The businessmen stared at me like I’d just taken a shit on the middle of the conference table. Maybe it was a good thing they were disgusted with me. For the most part, these men were greedy, bigoted and out of touch. Being hated by them was not necessarily a bad thing.
I walked out of the room and headed down the hallway. When I reached the elevators I felt a hand on my arm. I swung around expecting to see my father. I didn’t want to fight with him, but if I had to I would. To my surprise, I saw one of the men from the boardroom.
“Damn fine job back there,” he said. “I agree with what you said. We’ve got to modernize. This merger was a disaster that would have hurt a lot of people. I’m glad to see there are still a few people left with a sense of decency in this business.”
“Thanks. I meant what I said. I know I haven’t taken a very active role in the company, but I want things to change.”
“I’d be happy to help you. Get in touch with my office. My name is Desmond Harrington. You can call my secretary. She’ll set up a meeting. We’ll do lunch.”
I nodded and shook his hand. I was surprised my father didn’t run out to scream at me in front of everyone. I suspect I’d left him a bit shell shocked. I’d never defied him in matters of business. By the time I made it back to my car, I felt amazing. I’d used my power for good instead of evil for once. I wished Sage was with me. I pulled out my cell phone and started to call her. We’d only just left a disastrous lunch together; calling her now would look mental. I did it anyway. She answered right before the call went to voicemail.
“Sage! Sorry to bother you at work, but I just had to tell somebody about what just happened.”
“I’m really busy right now, Knox.”
“I know. It will only take a second.”
“Can we discuss it tomorrow?”
I suddenly realized I’d fucked up again. I shouldn’t have called her while she was trying to work. I didn’t want to get her in trouble with her boss.
“Of course,” I said feeling a bit defeated. “I’m sorry for bothering you at work. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I hung up. I felt good about what happened in the boardroom and I had no one to share it with. I flipped through my contact list. I had the numbers of hundreds of girls. As I scrolled through their names, sexual encounters flashed through my mind. I couldn’t remember having a single interesting conversation with any of them. I tossed my phone aside and drove home. I’d never felt so lonely before.
5
I skipped the gym. I didn’t want to show up to my date with Sage looking sweaty and stinky. I wore a black t-shirt and jeans with boots. I checked my watch for the hundredth time. She was late. I’d become terrified that she wouldn’t show up. What if she’d changed her mind and decided to ghost me out of her life?
Screw the bet. I didn’t care about it. I needed to see Sage again.
I was debating whether or not to call her when she walked into the smoothie shop. She was wearing a plaid skirt, dark tights and a t-shirt that showed off her pierced bellybutton. She looked hot, but I couldn’t help wondering what kind of office lets their employees dress that way. I’d heard the gaming industry was a lot more laid back. They wanted to pretend like they were above corporate culture by letting their employees dress however they wanted. Sage seemed to like it.
I stood to greet her then paused. Ansel was hot on her heels. When he saw me his face twisted into a grin. He looked like a demented goblin.
“Hey!” Sage said brightly. “Sorry we’re late.”
“It’s cool. I was going to order a drink for you, but I wasn’t sure what you like.” I was hoping for a hug, but Sage kept her distance. “Can I get you something?”
“Yeah. I’ll have the berry blast,” she said.
“I want an extra-large pina colada blast with extra coconut and a vitamin c shot,” Ansel said.
I started to snap at him. I wasn’t offering to buy his drink. I bit my tongue though. He was Sage’s friend. If I insulted him in front of her, she’d side with him. I went to the counter, ordered the drinks and paid. While they were being made I sat back down. I was disappointed to see that Ansel and Sage were sitting next to each other.
“So nice of you to invite me,” Ansel said.
“I didn’t,” I replied drily.
“Boys, don’t fight.”
“So, what’s the big news?” Ansel asked with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“What?”
Sage cleared her throat. “I told Ansel that you had big news to tell me.”
I wondered why Sage thought it was a good idea to bring Ansel along when I had something important to tell her. I didn’t want to share my moment of victory with Ansel. He’d just ruin it. Besides, I doubt he’d appreciate what I’d done at the company. He’d probably call me an idiot for not taking the money.
An idea started to take shape. I could expose Ansel for the greed
y, selfish prick he was. For once and all, Sage would see the real Ansel.
“I had a board meeting yesterday,” I started.
“Wait, what?” Sage interrupted. “A board meeting? What do you do for a living?”
Shit. Sage had no idea my father had secured a job for me on the board of his company. She’d probably think I was a corporate prick. I tried to downplay my job.
“I’m on the board of my father’s company.” I spoke nonchalantly, as if this was a common job held by many. She raised her eyebrows. Clearly, she wasn’t buying my casual attitude. “Anyway,” I said, “I got called into a big meeting yesterday after we had lunch.”
I glanced at Ansel. I wanted to rub it into his face that Sage and I had a private lunch yesterday. Judging by the look on his face, she hadn’t told him about it. Good.
“The board wanted to sell the company. Tens of thousands of people would have lost their jobs. I put a stop to it.”
“That’s great,” Sage said.
Ansel looked skeptical. “How could you put a stop to something like that? That’s not how corporations work.”
“What do you know about the way corporations function? Mergers have to be approved by the board. I was the deciding vote. The decision was on me. I put a stop to it. Making a little money is not worth putting all those people out of jobs.”
‘A little money,’ was seriously downplaying the wealth I’d walked away from. Not that it mattered. I already had more money than I knew what to do with. Then I remembered that I needed to bait Ansel into making an ass of himself.
“To be totally honest, it wasn’t a little money,” I said. “It would have made the shareholders billions.”
Ansel’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. “Billions?” he said. The word sounded strange coming from him. “Are you trying to tell me you turned down billions of dollars just to save the jobs of a few measly people?”
“I wouldn’t have personally made billions, but my cut of that money was substantial. That’s not the point, though. The point is-”
“The point is that you’re an idiot. Those people would have found new jobs eventually. Who the hell turns down billions just to save a few jobs?”
