Page 98 of 6+ Us Makes Eight (Baby Makes Three)

“I think I found a good applicant,” I said, breaking the silence.

He glanced at me with a torrid look in his eyes. “If she’s some hot chick, we’re not hiring her. Last time was difficult enough.”

I laughed, knowing he was referring to some years ago when we brought in this intern—a typical hot blonde with a shit work ethic. She was somehow good at the job though, at least until she started using her body to get favors from every man in the company—weird, off the wall shit like rigging the overtime clock, filing stuff she hadn’t actually done, and falsifying post-meeting reports. She even hacked the security system so she could show up and leave whenever she wanted. Yet, no one did or said anything because she would just bat her eyes.

Obviously, women could and did work with us. It was just that when I got involved, I usually couldn’t help myself. After all, it wasn’t in anyone’s contract that there couldn’t be office relationships.

“She is a…well, she’s easy on the eyes, that’s for sure. But her application actually stands out,” I defended.

He shook his head and set his glass down. “Whatever. We can talk about that later. I came to talk to you about Hatchett.”

I frowned. If there was anyone or anything I hated more in this world, it was that damned Hatchett and his company. Our competitors. Our rivals. The company that rose with us, but somehow managed to always stay a few points ahead of us in stock value every quarter. They weren’t any bigger than us, and they didn’t have better owners. They just sold off a long time ago and rotated CEOs every year. We’d been around for eleven years, meanwhile, they’d had different board members every half-year. It gave them an edge over us, especially since Maverick and I were the only operating partners and owners.

“What about him?” I said through gritted teeth.

Maverick scoffed and leaned back, crossing his arms. “We went in on the same buy-in to that new tech start up with Hatchett four months ago,” he started.

I nodded. I’d hated that plan, but we’d needed to flood the market and we were the only investment firm besides Hatchett that went in on that new startup. Tech was a big deal now though, and social media ran everything. So it would have been foolish not to go in on it. In the past four months since, others joined and drove investment up to over seventy percent, giving more potential for return. It was a gamble but seemed to be working.

“Hatchett pulled out this morning,” Maverick said, deadpan.

“What?” I said blankly.

Maverick gave a single nod, knowing what this meant and knowing I was already putting the pieces together. “The market is already down five deviations. Our stock is down, and our initial percentage of investment just decreased in value,” he continued, spelling it out anyway.

I sat, reeling. The initial buy-in was ten million, but we weren’t prepared to go half-and-half with no contract, particularly not with a company we hated and didn’t trust. Their worth was that much higher, so we had let him take the fucking bit and went in seventy/thirty. Now, with them pulling out, everything shifted to cover that loss, putting us in place to lose three million if we didn’t figure it out.

The problem was, we hadn’t used company revenue for it. We hadn’t wanted to have to write it off and knew that if it went bad, we would have to recover company loss in the market as well.

“Fuck,” I said.

“Yeah. Fuck. I already started making calls. The other companies came in later with a lot less, so their losses will be dismal. But ours…”

“I mean, it’s only three million,” I said pointing out the obvious.

Maverick shot me a look. “I know, but we don’t need that dip in market right now. Besides, why would he pull out? This is bigger than losing three million. Hatchett is plotting. I knew this would be a fucking mistake.” He sighed in frustration.

I fought hard not to roll my eyes. Maverick was always frustrated over nothing. I knew it was a big deal, but still, shit could have been worse. “Relax man,” I said. “We don’t even have the facts yet.”

“What the fuck else is there to know? We’ve been played!”

“Possibly, but it’s just a bump. We can get a specialist on it. Or a new lawyer, as I was saying…”

Maverick sighed again, but he visibly relaxed a bit.

I clapped his shoulder. “It’ll be fine. Nothing we can’t handle. Look, we’ll hit the bar tonight. I think you just need to get laid.”

He laughed. “I don’t need to get laid. I need to not be fighting with some old fart.”

We both laughed. Hatchett was at least sixty-five, having gotten into the game late. I supposed that maybe he just hated young folks, which was why he made our lives so fucking difficult.

“Right. Well, look—we can have this interview and pick a good lawyer. I don’t like being unprotected.”

“You?” Maverick gestured to the tattoos peeking from under my sleeves.

I grinned. My suit usually hid them, but I didn’t care if anyone saw. I was the fucking boss. “Yeah, me. Anyway, her name is Henley Cates. She looks good. On paper.”

Maverick stood, shagging the cup and buttoning his suit. “Well, set something up then. I look forward to meeting her.”

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