Namely, the reality that there was no getting out of this without at least a little mud on Eddie’s face. He really,reallydidn’t like that reality, apparently.
CJ leaned forward, a little closer to Dolores. “You have any thoughts, since they can’t keep themselves under control?”
She shook her head, lips pursing taut. “My thoughts aren’t exactly popular with the board.”
“The board’s occupied. And Eddie over there isn’t exactly popular with me. I doubt you’re going to say anything more offensive to me than what I had to see in his DMs.”
She blew out a harsh breath, then finally leaned in herself, keeping her voice low. “Eddie’s a piece of shit, and the company would be a hell of a lot better off if we just cut our losses.”
That line sank through CJ, piercing easily and lodging in his chest. Not cold or shocking in any way. Like…someone finally saying something worth a damn in this meeting. A complete severing was certainly on CJ’s list of potential options, but no one had shown any interest in such a thing. Until now. “Why aren’t you in charge, here?”
She smiled again, a little less tight and controlled, and certainly not hiding behind her hand this time. “I ask myself every day. Mostly it’s because I’m the artsy one, not the money-having one.”
CJ nodded. “You really think Sidewinder doesn’t need Eddie?”
She shrugged. “After this comes out? Hell no, we don’t need him. He’s got some great ideas, and those ideas made us some good money.” She leaned even closer, barely whispering even though certainly no one would be able to hear anything over the continuing argument. Hell, even CJ could barely hear her. “He’s been coasting for at least a year and a half. Recognizable enough name to bring us some extra money, but we’d be putting out the same quality of projects with his ass out on the street, peering through the windows.” Her eyes darted his way, but apparently she didn’t see anything worth stopping. “Worst case, we might not be able to publish anything he claims is one of his IPs anymore. But I’d bet Daniel and the legal department have that all locked down tight. If not, we don’t need Flame of the Monarch Six. Five is plenty of installments.”
CJ nodded, spinning that through his head. He didn’t have to spin it long, though. It was easy to agree with someone who agreed with him. He pushed his chair back, rising slowly, then stepped toward the door.
As soon as it opened, the argument quieted to nothing. Daniel cleared his throat. “I suppose we got a little heated.”
“Get heated all you want. Not my concern. But I don’t need to sit here and say nothing.”
“That’s what you’re getting paid for,” said Eddie.
“No, I’m getting paid for a PR strategy. And since I don’t think you’re all that ready to listen to my strategy right now, I’m going to go back to my hotel room. When you’re fully ready to listen, you have my number. I’m not leaving town until we get this taken care of. Or the reporters get tired of sitting on the story and everyone finds out what went down.”
Norman lowered himself back into his seat, swiping his sleeve across his forehead. Daniel stepped back to his chair, leaning on the back instead of sitting back down. Eddie stayed unmoved, but he’d at least shut his mouth at long last.
Daniel cleared his throat, then chimed back in, the anger still faintly lacing his voice. “I’m ready to listen if you have a plan you think is going to work. Eddie will…listen. Quietly.”
The last word ended on a growl, but it had the desired effect. Eddie finally sat back down himself, arms crossed over his chest. He glared at CJ, but didn’t say a word.
So CJ let the door close, but stayed near it. The decision was pretty obvious, at least now that someone else had laid it out for him. He couldn’t guarantee that Sidewinder would want to take it. But a new option should at least shock them out of all this angry inaction they were currently locked in.
“You didn’t like my first plan, where we minimize damage to everyone. So try this one on for size: fire Eddie. Clean break. Make a public statementimmediatelythat his actions were brought to your attention and you couldn’t, in good conscience, continue the relationship with him.” No one responded, not even Eddie, so CJ kept on. “That only works if you get out ahead of the news leaking out to the public. Very latest, the next day after it hits the news. You wait too long, you’re going to get a bunch of damage to the company.” He opened the door again, with a nod and brief smile to Dolores—one she returned, however briefly—and waved to the board. “If you can act like grown-ups, reach out. After you’ve taken the time to consider what I’ve said. I do think it’s the best option for your company at this point. It’ll do the most damage to your pet homophobe, but I could even spin it to try and make you come out smelling like fucking roses.”
Still no response, so CJ slipped out, closing the door behind him. As he reached the elevator, a roar of conflict hit him. Muffled enough that he couldn’t make out any words, but…well, they probably weren’t going to resolve anything before the end of the day.
And CJ didn’t feel so heavy or gross as he pressed the button to go down to the ground floor.
Chapter 13
Percy had definitely spent too much. Not too much to the point of needing to worry about his bank account, but enough that most of the cash CJ had insisted on giving him had gone into the coffers of the mall. Definitely a little overindulgence in mall food: boba tea, cinnamon rolls, more boba, a giant pretzel, and he was currently sucking down even more boba. Plus, although he hadn’t ended up with fine foods or candles for CJ, he’d taken the somewhat rare opportunity to buy some for himself. Nothing major, but some passionfruit vinegar and a couple seasonal candles. His house would smell like pine trees and cloves and cranberry for the rest of the month, and most of January if he rationed everything out right.
Also, he’d taken advantage of the anchoring department store to pick himself up a pack of underwear, some socks, and some T-shirts. Basic stuff, but cheaper than buying it local.
The door opened and Percy took a quick glance around the room, just to make sure there was no incriminating evidence. The gift bag, he’d tucked away in the back of the largely unused closet as soon as he’d finished packing it up, but his breath hitched when he saw the pack of tissue paper still on the bed.
There was no clean way to get that shoved into the closet before CJ walked in, so Percy jumped up out of the office chair and put his butt directly on the package. He had to keep his legs together, but he was able to totally cover it.Now I just can’t move. At all. Hopefully he needs to pee.
CJ stepped through, and an almost imperceptible tension lifted from Percy’s chest. He must have been expecting a sad or distant or upset CJ to greet him. But there was a smile on his face, and he had his jacket slung lackadaisically over one shoulder. A spring in his step, a high set to his shoulders.
Percy couldn’t help but smile himself. “Better day at work? You’re back earlier than I was expecting.”
CJ nodded, tossing his coat on the hutch next to the TV, then stretched his arms up high above his head, shirt riding up to show off his belly button and a flash of abs. “I talked to the only reasonable board member over at Sidewinder, and once she laid out her opinions, I thought they made the most sense.”
“That’s kind of vague.”
