Spring It On Me

by Weston Parker

  “Can I help you?” she asked him with a giant smile that nearly split her face in two.

  I quickly joined him, staring at the woman.

  “I’m here to see Mr. Nelson,” Ashton said in a smooth voice.

  “Ah yes, Mr. Wolfe?”

  He nodded without smiling. “I am.”

  “I’ll take you back. They’re in Conference Room B.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes. Conference Room B, like they had so many they had to name them. She came around the corner wearing a skirt that was so tight, I worried about her circulation. Her heels were something that a stripper would envy. “Follow me please.”

  I looked up at Ashton, wanting to see his reaction. I expected to see him drooling over the perfect ass swaying in front of us. He wasn’t. He looked bored. It gave me a very odd sense of satisfaction. I hid my smile and followed along like a trained puppy dog.

  We were led into a conference room with a massive oval table. There were pitchers filled with ice water every few seats. I wondered how many people they were expecting to show up.

  “Mr. Wolfe,” a jovial man said, stepping forward from where he was talking with two other men.

  “Mr. Nelson?” Ashton said.

  “Yes, call me Ted. These are my partners David and Glen.”

  “Call me Ashton and this is Willow.”

  “Have a seat. Can I pour either of you some water? We’ve got tea or coffee as well.”

  “I’m good, thank you,” I answered, taking a seat. I was doing my best to look fancy.

  Ashton took the seat next to me. His presence was so powerful. I looked at the other men. All three of them had taken seats directly across the table. It immediately felt like we were about to go to war. I sat up straight. All the men towered over me.

  “Thank you for making the trip over,” Ted said with a smile so fake, I expected his face to crack.

  “Sure.”

  The men didn’t waste any time getting right down to business. I quietly listened to their spiel. I didn’t have a degree in business, but I wasn’t an idiot. I listened and watched Ashton as he occasionally nodded and asked a question here and there.

  “Here are the projections and the timeline we are proposing,” Ted said, sliding over a pack of papers in a pretty little folder.

  Ashton opened it, scanning the numbers before he casually slid it over to me. I liked that he was including me in the business. It made me feel special.

  Something caught my eye. I pulled the paperwork closer and studied the figures a little closer. I flipped through the pages and suddenly felt ill. Ashton started to say something about how good it looked. He was looking at the dollar signs without really reading the information.

  I gently touched his arm to get his attention. He scowled at me, quietly telling me not to say a word. I couldn’t stay quiet.

  “What percent of the company would remain in Mr. Wolfe’s name?” I asked, doing my best to keep it professional. “How much equity will he own?”

  “Percent?” Ted asked, looking to his left then right. He looked at me and offered me a condescending smile. “What do you mean?”

  “Yes, percent,” I said, leaning forward. “I don’t see the figure in here. Did I miss it? Mr. Wolfe is considering a merger, but that’s not what I see presented here. Of course, I’m not wearing a suit and tie and I don’t have the experience you do at screwing people over, but I can assure you, I can read. I can smell a rotten deal just as well as the next guy. This is a rotten deal.”

  I slid the paperwork back to Ashton. There was a very tense silence in the room.

  Ted’s smile slipped. I knew I wasn’t eloquent, and I didn’t have a bunch of ten-dollar words in my vocabulary, but I knew scoundrels. Ted was a snake and he thought he was going to screw over Ashton. Over my dead body.

  He cleared his throat. “There is nothing rotten about this deal and I would never insult your intelligence Miss, uh, Willow was it?”

  I wanted to bitch slap him. He was going to attempt to mansplain his shitty deal to me. “You can call me Miss Patting, and don’t try and shush me and pat me on the head before you send me back to the kitchen. I’m not that kind of woman.”

  He chuckled, his little buddies laughing alongside him. Ashton made a noise as he flipped through the paperwork. I was buying him time to read the entire proposal, something I didn’t think he had done prior to the meeting. Or worse, they had fleeced him. They flashed pretty words and big dollar signs just to get him in the door.

  “I apologize, Miss Patting,” he said, his voice stiff. “Mr. Wolfe would not own a percentage of the company. He is selling us the company. We will absorb the brand under our umbrella. We would own all intellectual property as well as the brand, the business, and all inventory. We would be closing the stores and selling the remaining product, if possible. We already have a manufacturer on standby, ready to begin production.”

  “Excuse me?” Ashton growled. “I’m not selling you anything. My designs aren’t produced. Every suit is custom made.”

  “Not anymore,” Ted answered, his fake kindness disappearing for a brief moment. “That’s not how we will be running the company.”

  “You will be running the company?” Ashton questioned.

  “Did you think we were investing?” Ted smirked.

  “I don’t need investors. My company is very liquid at the moment. I am doing you a favor by letting you offer me a deal. I don’t need you or anyone else.”

  I could feel Ashton bristling beside me. The coiled rage was obvious to me, but I wasn’t sure the other men realized it. They’d be fools to continue provoking him.

  “What did you think this was going to be?” Ted asked.

  “When I spoke with you, you mentioned merging. This is not a merger. This is a buyout. What would give you the impression I wanted or needed to be bought out?”

  His tone was stone cold. I was almost afraid for the three men across from us. I was seeing a different side of him. A scary side. I watched Ted’s forced smile fade. He obviously picked up on the tone. I watched the other two. They leaned away from the table like they wanted to get away from Ashton. I was glad everyone was sitting. If the men had been standing, I was sure there would be some shoving.

  “I’m sorry you misunderstood,” Ted replied.

  “I didn’t misunderstand. Don’t you dare talk to me like that. Don’t you dare look down your nose at me.”

  “We’re offering you a very generous settlement. We are offering more than the current value of the company.”

  “A company that has a projected growth rate of another twenty percent in just the next quarter,” I chimed in.

  “And double that by the end of the following quarter,” Ashton said.

  One of the men tapped Ted on the shoulder. The three of them had a quick huddle before Ted cleared his throat and looked at Ashton. “We’ll increase the offer by ten percent, but that’s our final offer.”

  Ashton looked at me. “Ten percent? That’s your final offer?”

  “It is. It is more than generous.”

  Ashton rubbed his jaw. “What kind of sales does your company do in high-end men’s wear?”

  Ted shrugged. “It’s a very small percentage of our sales right now, which is why we are looking to expand it.”

  “You offer off the rack. You don’t do couture or custom.”

  Ted shook his head. “No, we don’t. We don’t see that as a necessary part of the equation. We can sell them at a lower cost and still give consumers a quality product. We’ll sell more volume for a slightly lower sale price and get more men looking sharp.”

  I wanted to vomit. The guy was a step above a used car salesman. He was slimy and thought he was being so slick. It wasn’t getting past me, and I knew Ashton wasn’t falling for it.

  “You are an idiot,” Ashton said and almost sounded amused. “A damn fool. Every one of you. The three of you sit there, wearing your off-the-rack suits and are going to try and compare what you
have to what I have. It’s a joke. You’re a joke. My suits will never grace the low-rent outlet mall stores you guys run.”

  “Excuse me?” Ted said, his face turning red.

  I got to my feet. “I think you heard him. You can take your offer and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. His suits are far too good to be on you or in your stores.”

  Ashton got to his feet. “I hope you’ll lose my number.”

  “And what he really means is you can all politely fuck off,” I said with a smile.

  The men sputtered, jumping to their feet.

  “Pardon me,” Ted said with a lot of bluster.

  “I don’t think there are any excuses for you,” I shot back. “Don’t bother walking us out. We know the way.”

  Ashton opened the door for me. I walked out, my chin held high as I made my way back toward the elevator. My heels clacked against the hard floor. Ashton was right beside me, but neither of us spoke as we moved. I felt invigorated, like he and I were superheroes. In my mind, I was imagining my hair blowing in slow motion.

  Adrenaline rushed through my veins. I didn’t even give the people watching us the courtesy of looking at them. They didn’t matter. Their fancy office didn’t mean shit. Ashton could have all the bells and whistles, but he had more dignity and class than any of those men in that office. He had class, and that didn’t require a lot of flash to get across.

  I was proud of my boss.

  Chapter 23

  Ashton

  I was so angry, my skin felt like it was on fire. I was keeping my cool by a very tenuous thread. It was Willow’s presence that allowed me to focus on something other than the betrayal I felt. Ted had set me up.

  I couldn’t believe they thought I would sell my company. They treated me like I was a newbie, a young buck with no sense. They tried to take advantage of my inexperience in the business.

  I wasn’t that young, and I wasn’t that inexperienced. “That was some bullshit,” I said in a low voice as I pushed the button for the elevator.

  “You can say that again. I can’t believe they were trying to pull a fast one. That was scandalous.”

  I turned to look at her. “You were on fire back there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you angry. I don’t think I thought you had it in you.”

  She nonchalantly shrugged. “I might look sweet and innocent, but fuck with someone I care about, and shit gets real.”

  I was shocked. “Wow.”

  “I’m sorry. That was vulgar.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you’re on my side.”

  She grinned. “You should be. What you saw in there was nothing.”

  “I believe you,” I told her.

  She shook her head. “I cannot believe what they tried to pull. How dare they?”

  The elevator arrived and the doors slid open. I put my hand on Willow’s elbow and stepped inside. I didn’t want to show too much anger. That would be a sign of weakness in my opinion. I wanted to walk away with my dignity intact. “As if I would ever let my company be run by a bunch of sloppily dressed yahoos. They would ruin the image.”

  “Ah, that’s why you always look so good,” she said.

  I hit the button for the ground floor and looked over at her. She was flirting. Did she know she was flirting?

  “Thanks.”

  “I am sorry that they did that,” she said.

  I shrugged. “It happens. I’ve been offered buyouts before. I don’t ever see myself selling my company. I worked too hard for too long to build it.”

  “I think it should be taken as a compliment,” she commented, her eyes looking directly into mine. “You’ve built something so amazing, they all want it.”

  The elevator stopped, allowing for someone to get on. Willow and I stopped talking. I didn’t want there to be any gossip about the meeting. If there was even a hint that I had been considering selling my company, it could hurt my sales.

  When the doors opened on the ground floor, Willow and I stepped off. I was ready to get the hell out of there, but she wasn’t.

  “Can we walk around first?” she asked. “This place has been on the news. I want to see it in person.”

  I shrugged. “May as well. I was offered a chance to move our offices here.”

  “Oh lord, I can’t imagine the rent in this place. Not to mention it’s kind of out of the way.”

  “Out of the way of what?” I asked.

  “I don’t live far from where we are now,” she said.

  I nodded, wanting to know more. She gave fewer details about her personal life than I did. “And you don’t like commuting?”

  She looked like she was going to say something but quickly shook her head. “It’s a waste of time. You sit in your car, doing nothing. I like to get in the car, get to work, and do something.”

  “I agree.”

  We walked the opposite direction of where we had come into the building from the street. The ground-floor lobby area was huge. It looked so much bigger than other buildings of equal sizes because of the layout with high ceilings and few walls. I could hear water, like a gurgling creek.

  “Oh my god,” Willow exclaimed. “It’s like a rainforest.”

  There was a coffee shop inside what very much looked like a rainforest. It reminded me of a Rainforest Café but more subtle. It looked more natural, like one was just stepping into a calm rainforest with soothing sounds of water and the occasional bird call.

  “This is cool,” I agreed. “Are you sure you don’t want to move our offices here? I know there are still lots of vacancies.”

  She slapped at my chest. “No way. I could never afford to buy coffee from a place like this anyway. It’s just really cool.”

  We meandered along, taking note of the small meeting spaces neatly arranged around the ground floor. I couldn’t imagine the upkeep on the white sofas and chairs. It looked great, but how often would they need to replace the furniture to keep it that pristine white? I was always thinking about costs and overhead. It was the way my brain worked. I had struggled for so long, it was hard to think of myself and my company as wealthy.

  There was an offshoot from the main lobby. I assumed it was likely the bathrooms and possibly maintenance closets and not worth inspecting. “Let’s go this way,” I directed.

  Willow smiled. “Do you think any of this artwork is real?” she asked.

  There were several pieces of abstract art on the walls with modern art pieces scattered about the lobby. It almost felt like we were in an art gallery rather than the lobby of a corporate building. “I’m sure it is. I don’t know if it’s from any famous artists, but I would guess they are all local artists. They buy the art for cheap, screwing over the artist, by promising them lots of exposure.”

  “That is awful,” she said, shaking her head. “What’s over there?” She pointed to what appeared to be meeting rooms.

  “I would guess those are rooms that can be rented by the hour by the public,” I told her.

  She made a choking sound. “I can only imagine how much that would cost.”

  “Exactly. Someone would have to be desperate to do that.”

  We strolled around the area, taking in all the little details that made the place so amazing. The massive pillars were painted in a silvery white that added to the overall grandness of the space. It really was remarkable. I used to think I wanted to one day be in a building like the one we were standing in, but I wasn’t so sure now. It all seemed so much. So much waste. So much cost. So much.

  “Hey,” she whispered, pulling me to a stop.

  “What is it?” I asked, looking around to see what had her whispering.

  “Want to check out one of those vacant office spaces?” she asked.

  “Where? There are none down here.”

  She nodded her head at another bank of elevators. “Let’s see what the other floors look like.”

  I grinned. “You’re very naughty.”

  Her eyes flashed, and I suddenly realized exactly w
hat it was she was proposing. Oh, hell yeah.

  I practically shoved her into an elevator that opened up. I scanned the buttons and pushed number fifteen. When the elevator opened, it was clear the offices had not been filled yet. There was still plastic hanging over one wide open space and the smell of paint was strong.

  “Is this what you had in mind?” I asked in a husky voice.

  She grinned and walked away, moving around the space that would likely be host to a large firm. It was too big for my small office staff, but I imagined a law firm or maybe an accounting or insurance firm taking up residence. There were offices along one wall with only plastic for walls right now but would likely be glass doors once it was complete.

  “Do you think there are security cameras up here?” she asked.

  “Probably.”

  I watched her walk, her arms going out beside her as she twirled, touching the plastic. “Do you think someone, somewhere is watching us right now?”

  “I doubt it. Why? Is that what you like?”

  My long strides had me catching up with her in no time. “No, definitely not, but I was thinking maybe we can take advantage of the privacy an empty floor offers.”

  With Willow, I was never entirely sure what she was talking about. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions if I was way off base. “How exactly would you like to take advantage of the empty office space?” I asked.

  She stepped away, reached out to move some plastic out of the way, and stepped behind it. Her arm emerged and reached for me. “I’ll show you.”

  She pulled me into the large corner office that had a killer view of the bay.

  “What are you planning to show me?” I asked.

  She turned to face me, standing close enough for me to smell the fruit scent of her shampoo. “I was thinking we could let them know exactly how we feel about being used—or attempted to be used—by using their big fancy building.”

  I reached up, stroking my fingers over her cheek. “You want to use their building?”