Page 26 of Fool’s Gold

He came without touching himself, without warning. His orgasm erupted from him, and he shouted with joy and shame as he spilled all over his belly. The sound only seemed to spur Jack on, and his thrusts sped up until he too came with a shout.

He collapsed on top of Matt for a moment, sweaty and sticky. Then he pulled carefully out and disappeared into the bathroom. He came back a few seconds later with a warm, wet cloth to clean Matt up with.

They lay together for a few long moments, limbs twined together under the covers until they eventually dozed off. Matt could feel Jack’s heart beating against his back, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t feel incredible. With everything going on around him, the welcome embrace of a man—someone who didn’t hesitate to hold him close despite the taint of the company—felt like the warmth of the sun after a long cold winter.

It couldn’t last. Matt didn’t expect it to. Jack wasn’t the kind of guy who stuck around. That wasn’t fair—Jack might or might not be the kind of guy who wanted to stick around. The fact was, Jack was here to do a job, and once the job was done he would disappear. He didn’t even like Matt, but he’d been willing to sacrifice this bit of himself for the moment. Matt took what Jack was willing to give and was grateful for it.

* * *

Monday arrived too soon.Matt could have stayed in the comfort of home forever, lazing around with Jack and basking in the hazy promise of a future.

The CDC was pointing to a time when the stupid Besse flu wouldn’t be a problem, or at least wouldn’t be more of a problem than the garden variety seasonal flu. The board had given the green light to Matt’s most important proposal, which meant he was coming closer to the end of his term as CEO. Maybe someday he’d be able to escape the taint of association with Besse and find a partner, someone who wanted him for himself.

Jack would be the perfect candidate, except for the whole bit where he already held the Besse thing against him and had no intention of being anywhere near Atlanta again.

He pushed the thought out of his mind as he got ready for his work day. Jack was here now. He would take it for what it was, live in the moment, and practice gratitude.

He and Jack headed to the office, just as always, but they weren’t going to stay there. They had press conferences at each of the colleges taking on the research and development function.

Matt couldn’t help the bounce in his step as he went about his morning, getting coffee for Jack and Husniya and even pacing as he took his morning calls. Today brought him that much closer to the end of all this and a peaceful life.

A car showed up to bring him out to Morehouse first, because that was important to him. HBCUs got overlooked for a lot of the big research opportunities. Matt would be damned before he would be part of the problem.

He didn’t expect an overly receptive crowd. He represented a pariah, and plenty of people would suspect him of having a white savior complex as well. He hoped his speech would help mitigate those concerns. If not, the program’s performance would have to do it for him.

The dean of the medical school introduced him. A few people applauded. More people booed. He ignored them as Jack escorted him to the podium.

He took a deep breath and began to speak. “A few months ago, the company I work for, Besse Pharmaceuticals, did something unforgivable. We unleashed a genetically engineered super flu onto the country in the hopes of testing an influenza treatment. I was the CFO at that time, I didn’t know anything about it, and I was just as disgusted as anyone else.

“I’ve never been a big fan of running away from my problems, and when the board of directors asked me to stay on as interim CEO to help put things right, I agreed—on condition that we implement stringent controls to ensure this never happens again. Today, I’m beyond pleased to announce that the board accepted the first and largest of my proposals.

“Besse will now outsource our entire research and development process to three colleges and universities in Georgia. It was important to me that we stay in the state because I’m a Georgia boy myself, and I wanted to keep as many jobs here as I could.

“The schools were also carefully chosen. University of Georgia because they’re my alma mater and also because they’re a state school. Emory, for obvious reasons. And Morehouse School of Medicine. Now, some people are going to have some things to say about political correctness and whatnot. And sure—it’s not a secret that HBCUs are often left out of research opportunities and internship programs, so I’ve got no problem not participating in that exclusion.

“But it goes beyond that. When it comes to medicine, whole demographics get left out of the process from the brainstorming phase on down. There are two ways to fix that—diversify hiring practices and diversify research. Besse intends to do both going forward.

“We screwed up, and we admit that. We’re taking the steps necessary to make sure what happened never happens again. Because we’ve got three schools working on research, we can have a different school manage the testing process than the one that did the original research, which dramatically lowers the risk of incenting someone to behave the way we did in the super flu case.

“And while we’re getting on the right path in regards to that aspect of our operations, I see no reason why we can’t take the opportunity to improve every other aspect of our operations as well. Including Morehouse is inourbest interests because it will make our medicines work better foreveryonewho needs them. And that, my friends, is why we’re in business.”

Everyone cheered this time. It wasn’t the rousing cheer that might have gone with a proper motivational speaker, but Matt didn’t need that. He’d take acceptance.

His speech at Emory was a little different. There, he highlighted the opportunities for students a little bit more. Having their names attached to an approved, useful drug would be a huge resume builder and would serve them well going forward in whatever path they chose. As he explained how the process would work, a flicker of movement caught his eye.

Someone in their early twenties, dressed like any student, vaulted onto the stage. He had a heavy pipe in his hand. He charged the podium, screaming, “You killed my mom, you son of a bitch!”

Matt ducked down as Jack tackled him. He jumped in to take the pipe before the assailant could bring it down onto Jack’s head, bringing his knee down on the man’s wrist as Jack punched him in the jaw.

All it took was one punch from Jack to knock the man out. Matt didn’t want to admit that was hot, but it was.

Jack had zip ties in his pockets, because of course he did. Matt opted not to ask questions but helped to flip the unconscious attacker over so Jack could secure him. A murmur rose up from the audience as people tried to figure out what to do.

Uniformed Atlanta officers appeared on the scene to dispose of the attacker. Matt let himself be ushered away as well. Disappointment rose up in him like bile. At least the day had started off well.

CHAPTERTWELVE

Everyone but Mattagreed that Tuesday would be a work-from-home day. Even Norah agreed that he would stay home on Tuesday, and in the end, Matt acquiesced with something close to grace. Jack took what he could get. He knew Matt well enough by now to know he wasn’t the type to just roll over and accept anything.

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