The Boss(hole) by Penelope Bloom
Adrian
Noah Galladay and Travis Longwood sat across from me in the hotel lobby. Of course, they were currently using different last names, but I hardly used those. The three of us had gone to high school together and been thick as thieves ever since. We’d all played on the same baseball team, but only Travis and I kept it up through our college days. Noah pursued other interests, like starting up a tech company that made him one of the youngest billionaires in the country.
Four years later, I started a company and brought Travis and Jordan in to help. I’d named it Terranova Holdings. Our path to money wasn’t as quick and seamless as Noah’s, but we’d made it there all the same. We started with small local businesses as consultants who helped them optimize business practices to increase profits. Once we’d earned enough, we started buying the companies, turning them around, then selling them for a hefty profit.
We’d eventually teamed up with Noah and his software systems to help supercharge the business. He’d streamlined his own business to the point that he was happy to have a side project.
Ten years ago, we’d all agreed it was time to put our talents to use elsewhere. We’d been learning to demolish companies of increasing size ever since. Of course, part of our work was investigating and figuring out which companies deserved to be demolished. Coleton was by far the largest fish we’d ever tried to fry, but I was still confident we were going to make it work. We had to make it work.
It was early morning before the sun had come up and the three of us were in a secluded corner of the hotel lobby in New Orleans. A TV across the room played local news and shitty hotel music was playing over the speakers. But we had privacy, which was all that really mattered.
Noah threaded his hands behind his head and sighed. He always looked a little like Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent, to me. He had the black glasses, well-groomed hair, and smooth-shaven look. I hadn’t been blowing smoke up his ass when I told Jules he was a genius. Noah didn’t always seem human to me with how quickly he could process and solve problems. “I’m still trying to figure out how that worked,” he said. “She really met with Krause by herself and pulled it off?”
I nodded. “Somehow.”
“Suspicious, don’t you think?” Noah asked.
“Get the microchip out of your ass, dude,” Travis said. Travis had a talent for people. When he wanted, he could turn on a level of charm that was downright supernatural. He probably could’ve talked his way out of a maximum-security prison and got them to throw him a “going away” party to top it off. “The girl pulled it off. Simple as that. Krause is probably a perv and thought she was cute. But who cares? She got it done. Problem solved.”
“Careful,” I said.
Travis looked at me. The only hope of getting something past Travis was hoping he wouldn’t bother to pay attention. In that moment, I knew I’d just showed him my hand. His eyes narrowed and he grinned, showing his dimples. “Oh, fuck,” he said. “How long have the two of you been sleeping together?”
“Wait, what?” Noah asked, jerking his head between Travis and I. Noah may have been a savant with all things digital, financial, and logical, but people sometimes eluded him.
“Stop,” I said. “It’s not like that. I kissed her. And there were a few unusual encounters. But we’ve both established a very concrete boundary between work and our personal lives.”
“Does she know who you really are?” Noah asked.
Travis was ignoring him, clapping his large hands together and laughing. “Man. Of the three of us, I can’t believe it was fucking Adrian Terranova who jeopardized the mission for a little pussy first. If either of you would’ve taken my bet, I would’ve had money on me. I mean, how hard is it not to fuck around with employees, right? They’re around you all day.”
“Does she?” Noah repeated.
“No,” I said. “But I’m considering telling her. I think she could be part of the team we bring with us to Coleton Central.”
“You’re not really qualified to make that call anymore,” Noah said.
“He’s got a point,” Travis added. “I mean, it’s got to be hard to see clearly with your head between her legs.”
I glared at him. “Careful.”
“Relax, Adrian. I’m fucking with you,” Travis said. “But Noah does have a point. I say we take a vote on whether we bring her in, and he who lacks dick discipline forfeits his vote.”
I sighed. “Okay, well, what do you two think? I say we tell her the truth. Tell her everything and let her decide what to do. We haven’t actually done anything illegal yet. We’re all just playing the part of good little employees and waiting until we’re close enough to the kill switch to pull it. Sure, Noah has been collecting information we’ll need, but that’s part of his job at Coleton.”
Noah nodded. “If she went to the police or the press right now, she’d essentially have a story about how these guys she met said they want to destroy Coleton Industries from the inside. It’d be he said, she said. But we’ll be freshly promoted to Coleton Central at that point. A rumor like that might be more than enough to ruin us.”
Travis grunted. “He’s got a point.”
“Noah always has a point,” I said, irritation leaking into my words. He did, of course. Having Jules on the team would be a luxury, not a necessity. And jeopardizing everything we’d worked for to gain a luxury at this point was idiotic. It was the sort of thing people did when they lost sight of their real goals. “We should still talk to Jordan. Maybe she’ll have another angle on this.”
“An angle that lets you keep fucking your personal assistant?” Travis asked.
“I told you. We’ve kissed. Once.”
“Yeah,” Travis said. “And when someone sets a delicious chocolate cake down in front of me, I start with one bite.”
I hated when both of them made good points. It was one of the hazards of working with capable people. If I wanted to pretend I couldn’t see the truth staring me in the face, I knew these assholes would shove it in my eyes until I couldn’t deny it anymore.
I made a mistake when I hired Jules. I was making an even bigger mistake by taking things further. And bringing her with us to Coleton Central would be the final nail in all our coffins.
I couldn’t tell her who I was, and I couldn’t bring her with us on the final leg of this journey.