by B. B. Hamel
“This sucks,” he says.
“Yeah, it really does.”
Another short silence before he sighs. “Who else are you telling?”
“If you mean mom and dad, fuck no. Not until I can’t hide it anymore and maybe not even then.”
“They’ll notice sooner or later.”
“We’ll see about that.”
He chuckles. “Well, I’ll help however you want. I’m sorry this happened, kid.”
“I am too.”
“And if you want me to kill Aaron, just shoot me a text.”
“Thanks,” I say, smiling and tucking that piece of info into the back of my mind. Maybe one day I really will want Aaron dead.
We finish up the call not long later, and I actually feel better. I mean, I haven’t solved anything, but I’ve finally told someone that isn’t Aaron.
Davis knows and the world hasn’t ended. Part of me thought I’d just explode or maybe drop dead as soon as he found out, but I’m okay. He didn’t take it great, but at least he took it and he’s not flying out here to murder anyone.
I put my hand on my belly, almost by instinct. I have this little miracle growing inside of me, and all I can think about is how it’s going to change my life for the worse. I’m so selfish and fucked up, and I don’t know what to do about it.
Tonight, I’m not doing anything. I kick my feet up on the coffee table, turn on the TV, and decide to push my problems off into the future. That’s the healthy way to handle all this, obviously.
Chapter Six; Aaron
6
Aaron
The eight old guys in front of me have no clue what the fuck I’m talking about. I’m used to that, but it’s particularly frustrating when they’re all your bosses.
“This is the magical part,” I say, gesturing at the slide on the screen. “This here is the battery. It’s going to increase storage capacity tenfold.”
One of the members, a pale man with jowls down to his belly button, clears his throat. “Wouldn’t that be bad for business? If they can store energy, they won’t need more panels?”
I try not to cringe. It’s incredible how out of touch these men are with their own business. They clearly barely even understand how solar panels work.
“Batteries are an essential part of the solar panel network,” I say to him. “On days that aren’t sunny, and at night, the batteries kick in to provide much needed power. Consumers are able to still get the benefits of solar without having the sun shining perfectly all day long.”
The man nods a bit, although I can tell he’s not buying it completely. I turn back to my slide, explaining more of how the storage system is going to revolutionize the whole industry, but I can tell by the glazed-over expressions on their faces that this isn’t working as I intended. I had hoped that they would see how miraculous all this technology is, and vote unanimously to dump even more funding into Riley’s pet project.
Instead, they look bored. I’m losing them and I know it.
I stop talking and turn to the group. I fold my hands in front of me and take a breath, looking from face to face. “Gentlemen, the technology that I’m describing is revolutionary. It’s life-changing. It’s brilliant.”
Another board member raises his hand. This one’s an older woman with sharp eyes and a tight brown bun on the top of her head. “Forgive me, Aaron, but we’ve heard all of this before. What makes this different?”
I nod slowly, understanding. The solar industry has been full of incredible, world-changing leaps for years, but they never seem to pan out. They need to see how this is different.
“I could show you all, but I have a better idea. Please, if you’d be so kind as to give me a moment.”
Without waiting for permission, I leave the room and practically sprint through the office. I dodge people walking casually along, doing their jobs, and I get more than one ugly look. It doesn’t matter, considering everything hinges on this moment.
I find Riley in her cube again. She looks up like she wants to throw me off a bridge. “Come with me,” I say, a little out of breath.
“What?” she asks, cocking her head. “Did you run here?”
“The board meeting. I need you.” I’m practically panting. Shit, I need to run more often.
She stares at me before understanding blooms. “You want me to talk to the board right now?”
“Please,” I say. “It’s important.”
“Hell no. No way, Aaron. I’m not prepared!”
“Trust me, you need to do this. I’m losing them.”
Maybe it’s my expression, or maybe it’s just the fact that I ran here like a moron, but she stands up and walks with me. I hurry the pace along, although we’re not running, and I explain to her what she needs to do.
We stop outside of the door. “Can you do this?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “No fucking way.”
I push open the door. “Good. Let’s go.”
“You were incredible.” I laugh as I pop open a bottle of champagne and Riley gives me a surprisingly open grin.
“Thanks,” she says. “I just did what you told me and answered their questions.”
“But you got the dinosaurs to actually listen,” I say, laughing again. I pour two glasses and hand her one, forgetting for a second that she’s pregnant. She arches an eyebrow at me and I groan. “Shit, sorry.”
“It’s fine.” She puts the glass down on my desk. I hesitate a second. “Go ahead.”
I down my glass with a grin. “Listen, I know it seems like that wasn’t a huge deal. But you seriously turned that around for us.”
She waves me away a little bit. “Come on, it’s not that big of a deal. I just answered their questions and explained what they weren’t understanding.”
“Riley, seriously.” I come around my desk and sit in the chair next to her. “Those guys, they don’t want to listen to anything new. Just getting them to hear you is a huge win. You really can’t see how huge this is.”
I love the way she smiles at me, like she’s happy despite herself. I hope I can help her with that, make her see that she has a lot to be happy about, a lot more than she probably realizes.
“I guess I just figured out how to dumb it all down.”
“It makes sense, doesn’t it?” I say, leaning back in my chair. “I mean, you designed a lot of this stuff.”
“Sure,” she says, shrugging. “I guess I understand it better than most.”
“So it makes sense that you can explain it better.”
She shrugs a little. “Yeah, okay, so what? You want to drag me to a bunch of conferences now?”
I give her a look and her eyes go wide. “Oh, hell no,” she says.
“We already have the designs,” I point out.
“There’s still so much work to be done on them!”
“All of which can be handled by our engineering team.”
“Aaron, no, they’re a bunch of—”
“Careful,” I say, smirking at her. “You don’t want to insult your coworkers, do you?”
She glares at me but she doesn’t finish that sentence.
I laugh again and get up. I refill my glass and sip it while watching her glare at me in sullen silence.
“Look, I’m not making anything happen yet, okay?”
“You really make it hard to help you, you know that?”
“I know that,” I say, smiling huge. “I just can’t help myself.”
“What, not be an asshole?”
“No.” I lean toward her. “I just can’t help but want to try and be around you all the time.”
She blushes slightly and looks away. “Cut it out. We’re at work.”
“No kidding.” I sit back down at my desk. “You know what the best thing is after a major win like that?”
“What, champagne?”
“No. I find that sex is the best after an adrenaline rush.” I cock my head as she gapes at me. “How about we clear off this desk?”
“I’m leaving,” she says, standing.
“Go ahead, walk out,” I respond. “I’m already happy with your work.”
She grumbles a little bit and heads over to the door. She looks back over her shoulder and hesitates. “Seriously, Aaron. You’re not going to pull me from engineering, are you? I mean, can you do that?”
“Maybe I can, maybe I can’t.”
She stands there a second before shaking her head. “Asshole,” she mutters, and she leaves the room.
Truth is, I don’t know what I can and can’t do. I have Mitchell’s trust for the moment, but who knows how long that’ll last. I think he’ll give me her if I ask, but do I really want to piss her off even more than I already have?
Still, the prospect of making her mine is too tempting. I reach out for my phone while pouring a second glass of champagne.
7
Riley
I don’t hear anything new from Aaron for two weeks, and I start to think I’m safe.
But I know I shouldn’t feel that way. The bastard is going to get his hooks in me, I can already feel it. I mean, he knocked me up, and now he wants even more. He wants the baby and he wants me, and he’s not being shy about any of it.
He should be shy. He’s ruining my life, screwing with all my plans, turning me into a glorified salesman. He wants me to explain my designs to a bunch of old white heads instead of doing the actual work to make my designs a reality.
I get two weeks without him, and every single day that passes within hearing anything just makes my anxiety grow more and more. Grow like the baby inside of me.
I can almost forget that I’m pregnant, at least until I get home and want to drink a glass of wine, or when I’m nauseous or overly tired or any of the million little nagging annoyances that come with being pregnant. I wish men could go through this, there’d be free birth control on every freaking street corner if they could. Not that free birth control would do anything for my situation.
It’s almost two weeks to the day when my boss calls me into his office. I feel like I’m walking to the hangman as I pass through the cube farm, my fellow engineers looking up at me like I’m marching to my death. Harold, my boss and the head engineer, has a tiny little closet of an office next to the break room. I knock once and enter, stopping dead in my tracks when both Harold and Aaron look up at me, Aaron grinning huge and Harold looking vaguely annoyed.
“Riley, take a seat,” Harold says.
I slip into the room and sit in the only open chair. I glare at Aaron and he just smiles back impassively, as if he doesn’t know he’s ruining my fucking life. “What can I do for you, boss?” I say to Harold.
“Been talking with Aaron here,” Harold says, gesturing at him. “He has some… interesting ideas.”
“Ideas Mitchell Trainor would very much like see implemented,” he adds, still smiling that serene little grin.
It makes me want to scream.
“Absolutely not,” I say before anyone can explain.
Harold sighs. “Just listen, okay?”
“No, Harold, you listen. I am absolutely not working with this guy. I mean, come on.”
Harold grimaces and looks at Aaron, but he doesn’t seem to mind. “Don’t worry, it won’t be forever,” Aaron says. “I know the engineering department needs you.”
Harold sighs. “Aaron here believes you’ll be of use to him in teaching prospective clients on how our technology is better than our competitors.” I go to interrupt, but Harold speaks louder. “Now, I know, these are mostly your designs, but we don’t need you sitting around here doing grunt work anymore, Riley. The team can implement what you’ve created while you’re on the road.”
I stare at the two men, Aaron grinning like an angel and Harold looking gloomy and annoyed. “Is this really happening?” I ask.
“Yes,” Aaron answers. “It’s happening. I’m sorry, Riley. I know it isn’t what you want, but trust me, this is for the good of the company.”
Harold practically rolls his eyes at that. “It’s only temporary,” he says. “A few months at most.”
“Months?” I feel like my world is crumbling down. This is my biggest nightmare coming to life. I thought Aaron would let me go after what he already did to me, but clearly I was wrong. He doesn’t care about anything but his own projects. He doesn’t give a crap about my own ambitions.
Although he wants to raise my baby…
I banish that thought as soon as it appears. No weakness, no pity. I don’t care how handsome he is and how willing he is to raise this baby. I don’t care how much he wants me. I have to think about my future.
“I won’t do it,” I declare. “I’ll quit.”
Harold groans. “You can’t quit,” he says.
“You can,” Aaron interrupts him. “Actually, whenever you want.”
I blink. “I can?”
“Of course,” he says. “Legally, we can’t stop you.”
“Oh, well, good,” I answer, gathering myself up. “If you force me to do this—”
“But if you do quit,” Aaron speaks up, interrupting me. “We retain all rights to your design. All your hard work will be for nothing, because we keep the panel technology, and you’re just another random engineer on the job market.”
I sit there, mouth hanging open. Now Harold looks outright hostile, but he’s not saying a word in my defense, probably because everything Aaron’s saying is true.
I look back and forth between these two men and my anger flares hot and dark. I’m sick of this bullshit, sick of being bullied by Aaron and backstabbed by other men in my life. I designed these panels, I did all the work, and now they want to tear me away and force me to do something I don’t want to do? I thought I was important to this company, but clearly not. I’m just someone Aaron wants to fuck, a breeder he wants to use, and when this is all through I bet he’ll just discard me or some crap like that.
I stand up suddenly. “I won’t do it,” I say, turning away from Harold’s desk. “Sorry, but I won’t.”
I pull open his office door and storm out. I hear Harold say something behind me, but I don’t stop. I don’t care. I can’t bring myself to turn back and face what I’ve just done. Maybe I’m torching my career and making a horrible choice but it doesn’t matter. This is the choice I’m making. I’m standing up for my principles, even if I really don’t want to.
I get back to my desk, and I hear a pair of footsteps hurrying to catch up. “I don’t want to hear it,” I say to Aaron as he approaches.
The cocky grin is gone. He holds up his hands. “I come in peace.”
“The hell you do. I told you I didn’t want to get involved in that stuff, and now you’re forcing my hand. You’re an asshole, Aaron.” I realize that I’m speaking loudly, practically yelling, but I can’t stop it. “You’re a salesman, a slimeball, and you’re a dick. I won’t help you. Do it yourself, asshole.”
Everyone’s staring at us now, but I’m too angry to feel ashamed. Aaron’s face is a little embarrassed, but mostly he just sighs and shakes his head. “Riley, listen. There’s more in it for you than you realize.”
That makes me pause. “What the fuck is in this for me?” I snap at him.
“I did some negotiating. I’m not going to just yank you away from what you want to do without offering something first.”
I pause. “And if I turn it down?”
“Then fine, you turn it down. I won’t force you. I’m not going to make you quit.”
I blink and slowly all my rage dissipates. “Really? You’re not forcing me?”
“No,” he says, laughing a little bit. “I’m not a fucking monster. Although I am a little slimy.”
I look away, down at the floor.
“Come on, let’s talk. Just for a second, okay?”
I sigh. I feel bad about lashing out at him now, although he did deserve it. “Fine,” I say. “Let’s talk.”
I follow him into the break room, everyone’s eyes still on us. Harold’s
standing in the doorway to his office, and he gives me a pained look. I try not to meet anyone’s gaze as I hustle in behind Aaron.
He sits down at a table and I join him. “Okay, what are you offering me?”
“First of all, holy shit, Riley.” He laughs, shaking his head. “You really lost your shit.”
“Asshole.”
“The office is going to talk about that one for years.”
“Okay, I get it.”
“I mean, seriously—”
“I bet it,” I snap at him, anger coming back. “Do you exist just to piss me off?”
“Yeah,” he says softly, smiling less now. “I think I do.”
I groan and lean back. “Okay, just tell me what you’re offering.”
“Two percent share in all proceeds for ten years,” he says, his smile coming back in spades.
I stare at him, eyes wide. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” he says, nodding. “Apparently the board thinks you’ll have ground to sue them in the future over ownership.”
“How? I thought I signed it all away?”
He shrugs, grinning. “I don’t know. I think someone convinced them otherwise.”
I sigh but can’t stop the smile. “You asshole.”
“Yeah, but you like it when it’s used in your favor.”
“So if I do this, you’ll make sure I get that two percent?”
“Yes,” he says. “And that’ll be a lot of money.”
“A lot of money,” I echo. “And all I have to do is spend a lot of time with you.”
“Pretty much,” he says. “Could be worse.”
“Maybe,” I say, smiling, but I have a strange feeling in my chest. I don’t know what it is and can’t really explain it, but I think it’s dread.
All I have to do is work with Aaron. It won’t be forever, and it won’t destroy my career. On the contrary, I’ll be getting credit for my innovations plus a whole lot of money. This could set me up for life.
All because of Aaron. I don’t really know what he gets out of this deal, other than time with me. I don’t know how he managed this, but I suspect a lot of lying and charm was involved. I’m not going to question him about that, since he’s right, I like that he’s an asshole when it works out in my favor.