Page 21 of Until You're Breathless

“Not in a million fucking years.”

She scoffs. “Don’t be stupid, Jagger. She’s your best candidate. Aside from the ancient past you had with her, she’s the perfect partner for you. Everyone else will be second fiddle.” Stevie says numbly, as though everyone else in the world is aware of it, and it’s old news.

That’s when I start to see the end of this meeting come. “Stevie, I’m not bringing her aboard my ship. I’ve already told her that and she took it like she saw it coming. It’s a done deal.” I rise and walk to the door.

“I see Axl’s back at it. I had a bet with one of my colleagues. I won.”

“Fuck you, Stevie.” I say as I leave. I salute the receptionist on the way out. She knows the drill. Almost every conversation ends with one of us spurting an expletive to the other. As I walk out the front door my cell phone rings. It’s Axl. It takes everything in me not to throw the phone across the lawn.

“Axl. Not in the mood today, buddy.” I answer with as I enter my car and connect to Bluetooth.

“Ah, so you saw my face on that rag, did you.”

“What is with you, man? Ever heard of getting head at home? What’s the matter? Is your place getting fumigated, because I was just there.”

He chuckles, pleased with himself. “What are you getting all bent out of shape for? It’s not what it looks like.”

“Really? What it looks like is that you were getting head from a whore in the back seat of a limo. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Well, I wasn’t getting head.”

I’m frustrated and I’m not interested in getting into this with him. “What can I do for you, Axl?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering if you’ve made up your mind?”

“About what?” I start driving to the office. Halen’s meeting me there shortly. I wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth what the real story was with Bowie and Boston, hence the trip to see Stevie.

“About Bowie. If she comes crawling over to your neck of the woods.”

“Why is everyone so fixated on this?”

“I told you, man. I’m bored. Put me to work and I’ll stay out of trouble.”

Half of me wants to take him up on the offer, but the other half is screaming no. Axl has a lot of smarts, and I’d love to collaborate with him, but he’s got to get his shit together. I want a partner, not a fucking project. “So, go design engines with Boston, Axl. It seems like you and him are made for each other. I gotta go.” I hang up on him. I don’t have the time or the patience to deal with him right now.

I can picture him grinning, pleased with himself, and I know that he’s the type of guy to get over me hanging up on him fast. The dude knows that I’m busy and half the time he’s just amusing himself by calling me. Either way I don’t have time for bullshit today, and I need to get back to the office for Halen. When I arrive, he’s already in my office. “Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s cool. I knew you wanted to see Stevie, so I knew that would be short.” He chuckles knowingly.

“Yeah. She checks out. The story with Bowie and Boston is true. It’s not a charade.”

“But you knew that already.”

“Okay, how the fuck did you know that?”

He smirks. “Steve just told me. I just hung up to her.”

I tousle his hair. “Fuck you, man.”

He chuckles. “Fuck you, too.” I sit at my desk while he pulls out his laptop. “So, how did it go?”

“You mean the awkward, ever-so-scripted, bullshit impromptu meeting I just had with my ex? It went well.” I frown, nodding.

“What did she offer you?”

“In a nutshell? A great bargain if she wasn’t just freshly scorned by my closest competitor.”

“What was the offer exactly? Does she want to take over as CEO?”

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