Which did not bode well for my dating life.
“Thanks, man.” I glanced up at the clockand grinned. “Got to go. The game’s starting soon and if I time it right, I’llcockblock Shane again.”
Eddie laughed. “You’re such an asshole.Have fun.”
Yes, I would. “Don’t dodge my messagesanymore, prick.”
Still laughing, he made no promises beforeending the video call.
He was probably right about being anasshole, but driving Shane nuts was the highlight of my week and really, atthis point, I had a feeling that Tanner was starting to like it. I also had afeeling that Shane’s omega liked drama and a bit of exhibitionism, even if helooked super boring most of the time.
I was just grateful that looks could bedeceiving.
Chapter 3
Bradley
Between research, phone calls, and justplain stupid questions, it felt like the day would never end. “Mr. Stein, Ican’t be any clearer. You are not authorized to withdraw any funds in thataccount or make any trades. If you call again, I will inform the courts.”
The asshole hung up, muttering somethingabout just wanting to make sure his mother’s money was taken care of, but Iknew it was time to call her lawyer again. Picking up my phone, I hit the mostused button on it.
“Yes, Mr. Lang?” Mary was probably pushingfifty and was one of the most boring people I’d ever met, but she’d never askedme a personal question in the five years she’d worked for me, so she was one ofmy favorite people at the office.
“Will you please call Mrs. Stein’s lawyerand let him know that her son is trying to access her funds again?” The huffshe made actually made me smile for the first time all day.
“Yes, sir. I will do that right now.” Thenshe disconnected the call.
Yep, her social skills were worse thanmine, but most of the clients liked her for some crazy reason. After meetingher, Austin said that the reason everyone liked her was that she was morepersonable than me.
He was probably right.
Going back to work, I finished up the lastfew calls that required my personal attention. By the time I was done, Mary hadleft for the day along with just about everyone else. Once the stock marketclosed, most people started wrapping up the day.
Normally I’d stay as late as I needed tobecause there wasn’t much to go home to, but today I was on a deadline. Thewalkthrough with Graham and Russ was within the hour and I had to head outsoon. But first…one last email.
Turning to my personal laptop, I brought upmy email account. I’d memorized the simple email address for the IT person whenAustin’s odd computer guy had first given it to me, so it only took seconds tobring up a blank email and get it set up.
I only used this email for highly personalthings and I’d been guaranteed by Austin’s computer guy that it couldn’t betraced back to me. He’d been right. So that didn’t explain why I’d put offemailing the web developer. Forcing myself to look at it logically, I had toadmit sharing the information about the club with a stranger felt wrong.
Even though I’d been assured this new ITguy was trustworthy, it still felt like we were putting a lot of faith in astranger. Unfortunately, none of us had the skills to put together a websitelike this, and even if we had, finding the time to do it would’ve been almostimpossible. Between real work, getting ready for the club, and some of the guysactually having a personal life, we were all putting in too many hours eachday.
And if I was admitting that, it really wasa problem.
I stared at the blank screen for too longbefore finally mutteringfuck itand just charging right in, hopefullypolite enough that Austin wouldn’t kill me if the guy blew me off. Afterwriting a quick, professional greeting, I got to the point.
Kind of.
I wanted to get to know him first before Ispilled everything about the club, so I explained I needed a business websitethat looked very simple, but that I needed hidden layers so only people whoknew how to access the real site would know how to find the true information.Since it sounded fishy even to me, I also assured him that while I wanted tomaintain the utmost privacy, it was not illegal in any way.
Since getting to know him was my primarygoal, I added a few questions at the end about his views on BDSM and if he had anypersonal biases that would make working with someone in the lifestyle an issue.The email sounded dry, but reading through it, I didn’t see anywhere that Icame across like an asshole.
Quickly sending it off, I finished closingup everything and slipping my personal laptop in my bag. The back office wasn’tpleased about my having a personal computer at the office, but after pointingout how many hours I worked and how much I was bringing in for the company, theannoying email lectures had magically stopped.
I was very careful not to use my personalcomputer for anything work-related and I made it clear they were crazy if theythought I was going to handle any personal business that came up during the dayon my work devices.
They must have been deliberating about whatto do behind closed doors. Several weeks after the lectures stopped, one of thebetas who worked in compliance had come over and asked me to sign a form that saidI understood all work-related correspondence had to go on my company computer.
Since he was one of the timidest betas I’dever met, I’d felt too bad for the guy to argue. He clearly had to have lostsome kind of bet to have been the one to come talk to me. And since it waslogical, I just signed it to get them to drop the concern.
