Page 128 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
Chapter Twenty-seven
Todd should have known something was up when people stopped talking to him at the coffeepot. Still, when he read the e-mail from Stephen, his hands went numb. Hell, his whole body alternated between cold and burning.
What the fuck was this shit?Couldn’t say it out loud. Wanted to scream it, though.
He cursed under his breath and scrolled back through all the babysitting e-mails from Stephen. He’d doneeverythingthat had been asked of him. He’d also been following the new procedures, the ones Stephen had signed off on. He’d been careful to toe the line and keep his head down.
And now there was a meeting invite to discuss his lack of progress during his probationary period in his inbox.
Nathan was already off probation, which galled Todd to no end. As far as he could tell Nathan’s “probationary period” had been a week of paid vacation. Nice reward for being a racist asshole.
Todd pounded the mouse button when he clicked accept and bit his tongue to keep the string of profanity inside. He had a half hour to prepare, but the cards were stacked against him. He couldn’t win against the bank.
All this because Nathan had seen him with Fazil at the club.
There had been no issues with his sexuality before, not from Stephen or anyone else. Why was being gay such a big deal now?
He blew out his breath and dug up the documents he needed to prove his progress. A half hour later, he entered Stephen’s office and closed the door.
“Todd. Please have a seat.” Stephen’s frown seemed etched into his face.
Great. He lowered himself into the guest chair and folded his hands over the printouts he’d brought.
After fiddling with a stack of paper of his own and moving a pen around, Stephen finally looked up, his face pinched. “This isn’t personal.”
Todd shifted in his seat. “It’s not professional, either.”
Stephen’s brows jumped into his hairline. “Excuse me?”
He dropped half the stack of papers onto Stephen’s desk. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked.” He plopped down the other half. “And then some. So why am I here?”
Maybe it was the wrong tactic, but he didn’t care anymore. No job would go well with no Fazil. Life wasshit.
Stephen focused on the stacks. “It’s not your work that’s an issue. It’sneverbeen your work.” Vehemence in those words. “The problem is this.” He waved his hands at the papers. “Your attitude.”
Hisattitude? “You’re saying I should be a racist homophobe like Nathan?”
Stephen sat back, his mouth a thin line and his body tense as stone. “This isn’t about Nathan. It’s about you.”
Anger nearly had him on his feet, but screaming at his boss wouldn’t help. He let out a breath. “I don’t know what you want from me.” He gestured at the papers again. “I’ve performed. I’ve kept quiet. I’ve worked long hours.”
“You’ve shown no remorse.”
Todd stared at Stephen. “What?”
“Your relationship with the contractor. You’ve shown no remorse. What’s going to stop you from...” Stephen trailed off. “We bring people in here all the time. We can’t have you going after them.”
“You think I...?” Well, hehadgone after Fazil, but it had been mutual and they had a long history. “He was my best friend, my boyfriend in high school. This wasn’t some random guy.” He looked at the papers. “No one said anything when Eric started dating that temp receptionist last year.”
Stephen’s huff was ugly and derisive. “You’re making my point for me. All excuses. No remorse.”
He didn’t regret falling into bed with Fazil, not even now that it was over. He missed and ached for the man, but felt no guilt for hooking up. “I’m trying to figure out why it’s a big deal.”
Stephen rubbed his forehead. “The thing with Eric and Becky... She wasjusta receptionist. Didn’t understand our tech. Wasn’t going to do anything with it.”
That was one big-ass assumption. He’d known plenty of women in tech who’d taken temp work to pay the bills. “I thought the Anderson team signed nondisclosures.”
“They did.”
