by Maine, Miley
“Ah,” I said. “I have it. How about white-water rafting?”
He grimaced, but then thought more about it. I saw him coming around a bit. “Really? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Yeah, but not as dangerous. I mean, you know how to swim? You will have a life jacket on. The rest is all just riding the waves and getting tossed around. And you should take up surfing, speaking of waves.”
“We live in Los Angeles,” he said. “You’re right. I should know how to fucking surf. It’s ridiculous that I don’t. And yes, I know how to swim. I’m not great at it, and I’m not sure I can learn to surf since I have no balance whatsoever. But I’m down with this white-water rafting thing. Let’s set that up sometime soon.”
“Sure thing,” I said. “You want to finish this game?”
“No. My ankle is killing me,” he said. “Also, I need to get to work and get started on some stuff anyway.”
“Ok,” I said. “I need to get going, too.” I had plenty of time, but I wasn’t going to play anymore racquetball. Maybe I would take a few minutes to get a quick round on the heavy bag to practice my Muay Thai. That might be great for a pump. I loved a damn pump first thing in the morning. People wondered why they spent half the morning trying to wake up. It was because they barely moved all day. So, the body still felt asleep. Get up and get a sweat going and that will awaken thyself.
I left the racquetball court after saying goodbye to Quinton and then I made my way down the hall to where the dojo was set up. The entire first floor of the building was setup for various forms of exercises. Mostly it was employees and their families who would drop by to use any of them first thing in the morning before they got anything else done for the day. I was happy to see that so many of them had adopted my philosophy.
I wished that my father had. He died at the age of fifty of a massive heart attack. He worked a hundred and twenty plus hours a week. He barely slept. He also did nothing for him or his health. He smoked like a chimney, and he drank like a fish. I don’t know if he ever saw the inside of one of these rooms. This was all my idea, my baby. I had revamped a lot of it in the years right before his death and even after when I had taken over as the CEO of Caplan Tech Industries. I loved what I did, but the business part of things was not really all that I was about. I made sure to keep time to pursue other things. I had to have some fun. I worked hard and I played harder.
It had been a huge burden having to curtail some of my activities and take over the company when I was so young. I’d only been twenty-five when I had become the CEO. It was in the cards that I would take over for my father Roy when the time came, but I never anticipated that time coming for a long time. And then when it happened, it all hit me at once. It was a pretty vicious blow to be dealt. I loved my father. I missed him all the time.
But I had managed. I had a great team who took me under their wing and showed me exactly how the business worked and then I applied my own skills to take things even higher. There was nothing out of our reach. I wanted us to become the biggest global company on the planet. I wanted our reach to stretch into everything.
I kicked a few rounds on the heavy bag and followed up with some speed bag drills to work on my punching technique. As usual, all the employees working out there kept watching me. It had to be weird having the boss there working out with you, but I’d tried time and time again to get them to relax with all that stuff. I’m a pretty normal guy. They didn’t need to fear me.
I finished my workout and then I hit the showers. I was ready to tackle the day. I could hardly wait to get started. It was Monday, which meant that I had a full week worth of fun and exciting events to get through. There were meetings, there were parties, fundraisers, public appearances, international conference calls, etc. It was never ending, and I loved it that way. I had been born into it.
“Hey, Tony,” Jill Mathers, my secretary said when I came through the doors. She let her eyes linger too long on me as she usually did, and I ignored it as always. Jill was attractive, but I had never really wanted to mix business with pleasure. I’d done so on several occasions, but it was not an ideal scenario for me. It was in fact downright dangerous, which might have been why it was so appealing.
I’m honestly not sure why I’d never asked Jill out for dinner. It was tempting and maybe one day I would do it, but it just didn’t feel right. Maybe she was too close to me. She was my personal secretary. That was kind of a sticky issue for me for some reason.
“Hey, Jill,” I said. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I walked by. I was looking good, even if I did say so myself. I was decked out in my three-piece Armani suit and my hair was combed back perfectly. I purposely stopped checking myself out in the mirror and directed my attention back to Jill. I really did not want to be one of those fucking vain weirdoes who were obsessed with themselves.
“You are here bright and early,” she said.
“So are you. The last to leave and the first to show up. I’m wondering when you sleep.”
She giggled. “I sleep just fine…”
I decided not to go near this line of flirtation. “What do you have for me today?”
“The first thing you should do is call Alan Eisler back.”
“Ah, ok. He is finally ready to talk.”
“It sounds pretty urgent. You have a few more minutes to catch him before he leaves the London Office for the day, I think.”
“Ok,” I said. “Anything else?”
“Yes, you have an eight o’clock meeting with the intern you hired,” she said. “Julie Ashby.”
I groaned. “I’m sure I can let someone else handle that meeting.”
“Yeah, but she is part of that program that you helped sponsor. You should probably do it. Otherwise, what will people think?”
I sighed. “You are right. That is why I need you so badly. You really are like my work-wife.”
She giggled and blushed. “That would make me your only wife.”
“True,” I said. “Or my only female significant other, but that is heading down the lonely territory I wish not to pursue right now. Thanks, Jill.”
I felt her eyes watching me as I walked down the hall to my office.
I hurried into my office and sat my things down. I sat down on the couch and reached for the phone, but then decided I would wait and bide my time. After all, that son of a bitch had been dragging his feet for months about finally getting on board with the new software we were producing. It was ready to go into the second phase already, but we were waiting on the capital from Alan’s group to go ahead with this. I could have thrown my own money at it, and I would probably have to, but it was far easier and more profitable to use someone else’s money. That’s the way it always was. Alan just didn’t see how it was profitable to him directly. He was older and he just didn’t understand the way that these things worked nowadays. Business happened much faster now than it used to. It was a changing world and you had to get with the program, or you would be left behind.
I pulled up SportsCenter on the television and waited for my meeting.
2
Julie
“Yes, this is the outfit I want to be buried in.”
I looked at the horrible thing I had just put together that was supposed to pass for a nice ensemble for my first day interning at Caplan Industries, and I wanted to hurl. It was mostly black. What was I mourning for? My new job if I didn’t put together the right thing.
I quickly took off the ridiculous outfit and scanned through my closet to find something else. I was not finding anything remotely close to what I wanted. Everything looked either too old or too young, too formal or not formal enough, too big or too tight, or too bright or too dull. What was I looking for? I had thought to buy something new for this, but then I figured it would be a silly thing to waste that much money on.
I finally settled on a mixture of red and black. It was eye catching enough without being too ostentatious. That was my thinking anyway and anyway I was so damn
sick of rifling through my outfits. I just wanted to get there already and begin my first day of work.
I was supposed to meet with Tony Caplan first. He was going to welcome me aboard and show me where I would be working and what I would be doing. The previous rounds of the process had included a thorough round of interviews and background checks. I was ecstatic when I found out that I had actually been chosen. Me, of all the people. I couldn’t believe it at all. I was thrilled.
And everyone else was jealous as shit. Everyone at school tried to make my life a living hell, especially the girls. They all wanted to get close to Tony Caplan and working for a company like that as an intern would open up so many amazing doors in the business world. If I did well, I could even climb from within and go as far as I could see. That was the dream.
It was enough to make your head explode. And mine was about to blow at any moment. I felt like my brain was swelling and I couldn’t breathe; I was so damn nervous. I had to get a break. I needed to chill out. It was just a job. That was it. Tony had a reputation for being a fun, chill kind of a guy, but he also had a reputation for being a cutthroat businessman who didn’t take shit from anyone. He would absolutely throw me to the wolves if I pissed him off.
What was I going to do to piss him off, though? That was a crazy line of thinking. I finished getting ready and when I thought I was as pretty looking as I could be without overdoing it, I decided to quit. I felt like I was sweating already from the amount of work I’d put into this. Did I need another shower now? Shit.
My phone rang just then as I debated this. It was Lizzy Sypes, my best friend. “Hey, what’s up?” Lizzie asked.
“Hey, I’m in a rush to get to that interview.”
“Ah, so how’s that going?” she asked not taking the hint.
“Not very well. I’ve spent the past hour trying to put together the perfect outfit.”
“Yeah, that is not ideal. You look fine, I’m sure. Stop thinking so much about this.”
“You know what this means,” I said. “You know what I’m up against. If I don’t do well in this internship, they will give it to someone else and my shot is ruined.”
“You place way too much emphasis on having a career,” she said. “You need to breathe. It’s just a job. Relax.”
I sighed. “It isn’t that simple. And yes, I do place a lot of emphasis on it. This is my life.”
“No, it’s your potential to get rich, but who wants to be rich? You realize if all this works out then you are going to be working like a hundred hours a week for the rest of your life. That’s what it takes to be rich in corporate world. It’s insane.”
“I guess we all aren’t following the passion over money,” I said.
“Yep. You said it. I’m happy with my life as it is. I see no reason at all to put all that work and stress myself. There are far greater things to do.”
“Ok,” I said. “To each their own. Look, this is very important to me. I’m running late. Can I talk to you later?”
“Yeah, but first you should send me a pic of what you are wearing. I’ll tell you what I think.”
I sighed. “Ok.” I took a quick picture and I sent it to her.
She took a moment to evaluate. “Damn, girl. You look fine. You got the cleavage going, and the legs… wow… I have never seen you look so hot. I’ve never switched teams before, but you make me think about it.”
I blushed and giggled. “Thanks. But do you think it’s too much? You said cleavage. Am I really showing too much cleavage?”
“No. I think it is just enough to get Caplan all hot and bothered. That is the point, right?”
“No. It is not the point. The point is to look professional—ah hell. I don’t have time. I have to go. I should have left fifteen minutes ago.”
“Ok. Love you. Hope you do great.”
“Thanks.”
I finished the call and headed out the door to my Chevy Impala. The car was ten years old, had way too many miles on it, and was really going to die at any moment. But I couldn’t bear to give it up. I felt like we’d been through a lot together.
I started the engine and headed away from my apartment building. The drive to Caplan Industries was about fifteen minutes depending on traffic. And of course, the traffic was far more extreme than usual. I hated living in Los Angeles sometimes. There were far too many cars on the road at any given time. You were always stuck in some sort of traffic jam. Maybe we would eventually all take up walking like New Yorkers. Then we could get rid of the disgusting smog. It was so grimy and nasty looking overhead blocking that beautiful sunshine half the time.
I turned on the radio hoping a fun song might calm me down, but I was really so nervous that nothing was going to help me at this point. I would be fine once I was there in the meeting with Tony Caplan. Do I call him Tony? Mr. Caplan? What was the etiquette at that company? Fuck.
I was fiddling with the knob on my Sirius XM trying to find a good station when I remembered I was driving, and I should probably be looking in front of me. I jerked my head up just in time to see a car slamming on his brakes right in front of me. I followed suit and then I felt a light bump on the back of my bumper.
Shit.
I’d been hit.
I parked the car and got out to look. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw there was no damage at all to either car. The car behind me was merely resting on my bumper a little bit. It was just a little tap. I smiled and praised the Heavens, but the driver of the other car was not so happy.
He got out and began screaming at me. He was about six feet four and towered over my five feet seven and he was skinny. I would have said gaunt, even. And pale. So pale it was like he’d never seen the sun before. Well, that was the smog for you… making people paler by the day.
I tried to focus on what he was saying, uh, screaming at me. “Are you fucking crazy? What the hell? Watch where you are going. Why did you slam on your brakes? Don’t you see what a fly ride this is? Are you going to pay for those kinds of damages? Ah, you are damn lucky! Damn lucky you did not scratch my fucking ride!”
I felt the anger welling inside of me just then. I was done being nice. The day had already pushed me past the limit and now this jerk was taking it to another level.
“Shut the fuck up!” I screamed.
The look on his face was so priceless. He stumbled back a step, surprised by my sudden outburst.
“Your ride is a piece of shit, just like mine. No damage is done. Now stop riding my ass and pay attention to what’s in front of you. Fuck!”
I left him standing there and got back into my car. I slammed the door, put it in gear and drove off down the road since the traffic had suddenly started moving again. I was still going to be late to this interview, but I did feel less nervous than I had a few minutes ago. Now, I was just royally pissed off. I would have loved to slap that prick’s mouth shut.
Surprisingly I arrived at Caplan Industries about fifteen minutes early. After my little issue with that annoying driver, the traffic seemed to thin out a bit and I was able to make up some time. Of course, several traffic laws were broken, but I was in too big of a rush to sweat the small stuff.
I turned the engine of the car off and sat there staring blankly ahead for a good ten seconds. I tried to control my breathing and push my breath out in a shallow, easy manner while I closed my eyes and prayed that I would somehow make it through this without any problems. Hey, maybe I might even impress the man. Maybe in the few minutes from my car to the elevator and to the top floor waiting area I might actually become a much suaver and more charismatic individual. It would be like some Hollywood movie. I would release my alter ego.
I snapped back to reality and realized just how sweaty my palms were at the moment. Damn. I was wasting time. Taking a swig from my bottle of water, I slipped out of the car and closed the door behind me. I pressed the lock button on my key fob with authority and then I marched towards the building and what I felt was probably impending doom. H
e might dismiss me the moment he laid eyes on me.
When I made it to the reception area upstairs, an annoyed woman who looked as if she had far too much work and a nicotine addiction that needed satisfaction right now glared up at me. I tried not to pay any special attention and put on my best smile. “Hey,” I said. “I’m Julie Ashby. I have a meeting with Tony Caplan.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just hold. I’ll let him know you are here.”
I stood there a moment as she picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Jill. A Julie Ashburne is here to meet with Tony.”
I didn’t bother to correct her on the name. It didn’t seem to matter. She would probably bite my head off at any moment if I asked the slightest thing of her. Some people hated their life. I prayed that would never be me. If I hated a job, then I would just find something else. And I would actively seek it out as if that was my second job. Most people stayed put and did nothing but bitch about their circumstances. I really hoped I would never find myself following down that road at any point in my life.
“Ok, they are running a bit behind. Just have a seat,” she said to me after she hung up the phone.
I didn’t say anything. I sat down in a chair and waited. There was no one else waiting but me. The room was a large one, about the size of a doctor’s office waiting room with rows of chairs all around, but I was the only one there. I wondered how often these chairs were actually full of people, or even a fifth of the way full. How many people had to wait to speak with Tony? I imagined that a lot of people were always pitching him ideas for business or new products, and he had to meet with some of them at some point.
I waited… and I waited some more. I soon realized I had been waiting for fifteen minutes. It was five minutes past when we were scheduled to have our meeting. Ok…no biggie. The guy was pretty busy. He was probably often behind schedule. That was fine. I didn’t have anywhere else to be today. I was just nervous and excited. And I was still agitated over that shit with that other driver. I had never experienced true road rage before. I felt like I should post it all over my social media or something.