Page 134 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
Chapter Twenty-nine
Nothing on Fazil’s screen madesense. He pulled his hair back with both hands and stared at the words. It was a freaking procedure. Steps. All he needed to do was read the damn thing and make sure it was correct.
Todd had written this one, though, so every word sounded like him, had his inflection, his lilt. With that voice in his head, Fazil wanted to close his laptop and find somewhere to hide.
He hurt. Every day, it got harder to push himself out of bed. Nothing had helped. Not pinball, not the Turkish club, not hockey, not lunch with coworkers.
It had been worse lately because that little thread of Todd he had via group e-mails wasgone. Todd no longer worked at Singularity Storage.
He had no idea what had happened. Couldn’t ask, either.
He’d run away from his best friend, from his love. Again. Because he couldn’t give up this job. Now Todd was gone.
And Fazil couldn’t do his job. Not when every word stabbed at his heart and ached his brain. He should have been through with these procedures days ago and putting the finishing touches on the project.
Sooner or later, Sam was going to call him on the carpet for not getting the Singularity work done.
Maybe Todd had been right. Heshouldtell Sam he was going to Seattle, call Todd, and beg him to take him back.
But the thought of stepping back into the corporate environment turned his stomach as much as all of this did. He hadn’t lied to Todd—thiswashis life. His career.
Fazil pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. At least everyone had given him space while continuing to coax him out of his. He was grateful for that. Yesterday at lunch, Sertab’s stories of her son’s antics with robots had teased laughter from him, and for an hour, he’d managed to forget about Todd.
But he’d come back to Todd in every sentence and every step of his tasks. Fazil muffled a sob, his gut burning with shame.
He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t finish this job. Sam was going to have his head.
When his IM indicator flashed and beeped, he glanced at the corner of his screen and bile rose to his throat. It was Eli.
Fazil, please come to my office ASAP.
Ohfuck. Fazil swallowed, his throat full of acid. That wasn’t good at all.
They didn’t have an HR department. Those duties were spread among Eli, Sam, and Justin. If he had to pick which would be the disciplinarian, that hat would fall on Eli. He also knewexactlywhat Fazil’s issue was and how much he’d screwed up in Seattle.
Eli had been sympathetic. He’d even had his own issues on the job, but even during the height of Eli’s difficulties with Justin, Eli had managed toget his job done.
With shaking fingers, Fazil typed a reply.
On my way.
Might as well get this over with. He stood and looked over the space he shared with Jen, Adam, and Sertab. The Ping-Pong table. The velociraptor sign. Might be the last time he’d see them as part of this team. Despite what Sam had said... two engineers who worked were better than one fucked-up one who couldn’t.
The trip down the hall to Eli seemed extra long today. Or maybe that was his lead feet. Before he took that last step that would bring him to the door, he paused and tried to get his fucking pulse under control.
Then he entered Eli’s office andstopped.
Eli stood, hands folded over his cane, wearing the biggest shit-eating grin Fazil had ever seen. That made no sense, not if Fazil was about to be fired.
At Eli’s tiny conference table sat Todd. Dark hair. Blue eyes. His smile wasn’t as large as Eli’s, but he was also wearing a suit.
Todd. He washere.
Fazil grabbed the doorframe and croaked. Despite knowing two languages, he couldn’t figure out how to speak in either one. There weren’t enough words to put his racing thoughts into sound.
A deep chuckle from Eli. “Get your ass in here, Fazil.” Something about the way Eli spoke made Fazil move.
Todd still sat in Eli’s guest chair, his eyes wide and his hands in his lap. “Hi.”
