Page 48 of Havoc
“Does he know you’re dating?” Kieran asked. “That will probably send him the message.”
“He does now,” Remy responded.
“Speaking of dating,” Alijah started. “I’ve gotten everything together for the trip. Once the five of you give the okay for the group activities, I’ll send an email with all the information and payment link.”
“I can guarantee you we’ll be fine with what the four of you have chosen to do. You can go ahead and send it to me,” Remy replied. He’d rather get the payment out of the way since they were set to leave in a few weeks.
They spoke for a few more minutes before he returned to his floor. He was staying a bit later today and tomorrow since he planned on taking Wednesday off to pick his parents up from the airport. Staying a couple of hours later than usual would mean he’d get to leave a bit earlier on Thursday and Friday.
He’d been in his office for fifteen minutes when an email came through from Alijah. The subject told him it was the vacation information. Opening it, he scrolled to the link, clicked on it, and paid for his and Lawrence’s trip. He would remember to look at the itinerary at a later date.
He exited the email and returned his attention to the operation reports of all regions for the previous month.
“Why are you giving him to me again?” Mary, Lawrence’s office neighbor, asked. She worked directly under him like everyone on their side of the sales floor. He’d already told her once, but the woman was nosey, and if she sensed there might be a reason other than the one given for something, she didn’t mind asking as many times as possible to get the answer.
“I’ll have more than I can juggle on my books when he signs next year. It also gives you more experience dealing with high-demand clients and larger orders.”
Neither of those reasons was false. Lawrence had several clients lined up for the first two quarters of the following year when their contracts with other companies expired. Mary also usually stuck with clients who ordered right at their minimum. He wasn’t sure if that was what she preferred or if it was all she thought she was capable of, but this would give her a different experience. The main reason he was passing John Cross on was the obvious.
Lawrence had no desire to do business with him personally, but he wouldn’t cause the company to lose out on the contract because of it. Once he had it signed, he’d transfer him to Mary as the contact person.
He could admit he’d been a little surprised when he’d received the email from the other man informing him that he would be switching to their company when his contract with his current supplier ended. At first, Lawrence thought it was some ploy to get close to him or that he hadn’t taken Remy’s threat seriously for whatever reason. However, the last line of the email stated that all future correspondence should be in writing. Lawrence figured the other man didn’t want to miss out on what was offered.
“Okay. Thank you for thinking of me.”
Lawrence could have put John with anyone, but he thought Mary would be the best fit. She was a people person and could handle any type of person. He didn’t anticipate John giving her issues, but she would be able to handle him with grace if he did. Lawrence had witnessed her do so with other clients.
“You’re welcome. I’ll get the contract drawn up with the effective date and send it to him. Once I get it back, I will send you all the information you need,” Lawrence responded.
Mary thanked him again before exiting his office. The end of the workday was approaching, and he had a couple of emails to respond to before he left.
Lawrence walked through his front door as his phone notified him of a text. He placed his satchel by the door and pulled it from his pocket.
Mom:Hey, honey. I was thinking about you. I wanted to check and make sure that client wasn’t hassling you anymore.
Lawrence had been on the phone with his mother one of the days John called, and before he’d realized it, he’d groaned aloud at the prospect of having to speak to the man. He’d asked reception to ask if he could call him back, though he knew the other man would phone again before he ever got the chance to if he’d been inclined. When his mother asked if everything was okay, he gave her a quick rundown on John asking him out and how he had been constantly contacting Lawrence.
Lawrence:Hey, Mom. He hasn’t bothered me since that week. We ran into him at an event, and Remy put fear in that man.
Mom:What happened?
Lawrence gave his mother the cliff notes version of what happened when they ran into John. After that, he hadn’t heard from him for a couple of weeks until he sent the email that morning wanting to go forward with the switch. He’d spoken to his mother since the event, but neither of them had brought the other man up.
Mom:Wow. To be a fly on the wall. Speaking of Remy, send me a picture.
Lawrence:No, that’s weird. You’ll see him when the two of you meet.
Mom:If you say so. Well, I have some vacation time put in for October. It’s the week after your trip.
Lawrence:Great! You’ll get to meet him then.
Lawrence placed his phone on the coffee table and went into his bedroom to remove his tie and dress shirt. He put the tie on the rack inside of his closet door with the other ones, folded the shirt, and put it into the bag he took his dry-cleaning in. He’d placed his shoes in the closet when his phone began to ring. He returned to the living room as Remy’s name flashed across the screen.
“Hey, baby,” Lawrence greeted.
“Hey, babe. How was work?”
“The same for the most part, but I did get an email from John Cross. He still wants to sign the contract and make the switchwhen his current one is up.” Lawrence wanted to get that bit of information out in the open. “But I’ve already spoken to one of my team members and told her I’d be assigning him to her once he signed. He also requested that we only correspond via email. I won’t have to speak to him directly.”
