by Bru Baker
“Staff meeting in five, Pike,” she said, patting his knee. “Look sharp.”
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:21 PM): Taken at today’s R&D staff meeting.
AnnaFaulk has started a file transfer: ParkerlovesMason.jpg
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 3:27 PM): Har freaking har, Anna.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 3:27 PM): So he liked it? He wore the bracelet?
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:35 PM): You haven’t heard from him? ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 3:37 PM): …. AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:38 PM): A sofa, Parker? Really?
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 3:39 PM): The old one was disgusting.
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:41 PM): You’d never even seen it, Parker. Mason told me what that was about.
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:43 PM): The reason in question starts a C and ends with an S, and by all accounts was a fabulous lay.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 3:45 PM): Anna! AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:47 PM): You really are no fun, you know that? Yes, he loved it. And the bracelet. Though where you got an EpiPen without a prescription… really, Parker. What did you do, visit a back-alley drug dealer?
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 3:50 PM): I got it from the pharmacy, you harpy. Jill wrote me a script for it.
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:52 PM): Now you’re bringing poor sweet Jillie into your illegal activities?
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 3:56 PM): She came to check on Mason in the hospital, vulture. So technically she COULD write him a prescription.
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 3:57 PM): That still doesn’t explain how it came to be in your possession, jerk.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:01 PM): Someone had to fill it, didn’t they? ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:02 PM): And he obviously can’t be trusted to carry it with him, so can I be blamed if I filled it and got one to carry myself too?
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 4:05 PM): Oh, Parker. Did you really get one to carry? ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:07 PM): Don’t get all mushy over it, Anna. I can hardly have an Anderson employee dying on my watch, now can I? The paperwork would be horrendous.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:15 PM): OK, fine. Yes. I gave one to him, and I have one to keep in my office and one to keep in my car. Happy?
AnnaFaulk (09/10/2012 4:16 PM): Rapturously. My dear little Parker is finally growing up and falling in wuuuuv. <3 <3 <3
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:18 PM): I can have you fired, you know.
AnnaFaulk(09/10/2012 4:20 PM): I’d like to see you try.
ANNA had told him Mason had been called into a meeting with Richard after the R & D meeting, which left Parker at loose ends. Luke had cleared his schedule the day before, since Parker had been too much of a wreck to get anything done, and it looked like he’d left the rest of that afternoon open as well.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:45 PM): Entertain me.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 4:47 PM): Some of us have work to do.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:48 PM): How can you have work to do if I don’t have work to do? You work for me. Ergo, if I have no work, you have no work. Now get in here.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 4:49 PM): As tempting as that sounds—and has anyone ever told you your grasp of logic leaves much to be desired?—I can’t. Someone has to pick up your slack, your highness.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:51 PM): What do you mean, pick up my slack? LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 4:56 PM): You had two reports due to Richard. Do you think he let you out of them? No. I did one, and Anna did the other.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 4:57 PM): You forged reports? LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:01 PM): Don’t sound so surprised. A trained monkey could do your job, Parker.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:03 PM): Good aim. ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 5:05 PM): And don’t you forget it. There’s more where that came from.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:07 PM): If you have time to make rubber band balls to pelt me with, then you probably have time to go over the final numbers on the Century report.
LukeJacobs has started a file transfer. Century_financials_3rdQ_2012.xls
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 5:30 PM): You did all this?
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:31 PM): My competence knows no bounds.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 5:32 PM): Really, Luke. These are insightful and spot-on. Good job. ParkerAnderson(09/10/2012 5:33 PM): Don’t let it go to your head, though.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:37 PM): Be still, my heart. You’re so effusive with your praise. LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:37 PM): And don’t worry, your head is plenty big for both of us. If I had one too, we’d need a bigger office.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 5:39 PM): Why does everyone keep making jokes about the size of my head? I have a perfectly proportional head.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:41 PM): Too bad you don’t have an ego to match.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 5:45 PM): I should fire you. LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 5:51 PM): You should. Then maybe you’d appreciate how much I do around here.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 5:59 PM): Touche. ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 6:15 PM): Want to get a drink?
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 6:17 PM): Mason still hasn’t called?
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 6:18 PM): What makes you think that?
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 6:20 PM): You have glass walls, Parker. I can see you pacing.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 6:31 PM): Liam says Mason’s still in Richard’s office. ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 6:32 PM): Still?!? ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 6:32 PM): And you and Liam gossip like girls.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 6:33 PM): So I guess
you don’t want to know that Mason left the meeting an hour ago, went to his office to fetch the binder that held your presentation on Johnson & Co., and went straight back into the inner sanctum?
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 6:40 PM): I hate you. LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 6:54 PM): You’d be lost without me. Mason’s still in there. Liam gave Abby your cell number to give to him when he gets out. Let’s go for that drink.
ParkerAnderson (09/10/2012 6:55 PM): I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about you. You are a knight among men.
LukeJacobs (09/10/2012 6:57 PM): Yeah, yeah. You ready? Liam’s on the way down.
TWOhours later when Mason still hadn’t called, Parker had already had too much to drink. They’d called Greg, and the four of them had taken up residence at their usual table at their usual bar and proceeded to do their damnedest to drink each other under the table.
“Jill wanted to know how your friend was,” Greg said in a lull in the heated debate they’d been having about that season’s football opponents. Their team was in the lead at the moment, with only three games to go until the end of the season.
Parker swatted at Luke and Liam, who were both making exaggerated hand motions to stop Greg from talking. They dissolved into drunken giggles, swatting back until the two of them were engaged in what looked like a catfight between a pair of preteen girls.
“Mason. He’s doing well, I think.” “You think?” Greg tipped his pint back, pouting a little when he realized it was empty. He signaled to the waitress, who shook her head but headed back to the bar all the same to get them another round.
“I haven’t seen him. Anna did, though, and she said he was fine.” “He was,” Liam slurred, slipping an arm around Parker’s shoulders. “Is. Is fine. A fine specimen of a man, with an ass that—”
“I’d prefer that you not speculate on the state of my ass, Liam,” someone said from behind them, and Liam dissolved into another fit of giggles as he turned around on his stool and saw Mason. Only Parker’s quick grab kept him from falling off the seat altogether.
“It is a very nice one,” Parker said contemplatively, his head cocked as he stared at Mason, who had started to blush.
“Maybe I should go,” Mason said, eyes narrowing as he watched Liam tighten his hold on Parker, all but draped over him.
“No, stay,” Parker slurred, letting go of Liam. He pushed off him off the bar stool, sending Liam tumbling under the table. Ma
son winced at Liam’s pained shout, but Parker ignored it and patted the now-empty seat and smiling invitingly at Mason.
Liam’s head thwacked against the bottom of the table as he tried to stand, nearly upending their freshly delivered pints. Everyone aside from Mason laughed uproariously at it, including Liam, who was helped to his feet by Greg and then propped on an empty stool on the other side of the table.
“As tempting as that is, I’m exhausted,” Mason said, a strange look on his face as he studied Parker. “How did you know we were here?” Luke asked, using the sleeve of his oxford shirt to mop up the spilled beer on the tabletop.
“Abby. I called Parker’s cell, but he didn’t pick up. She said this was a favorite haunt for you.” Mason looked between Parker and Greg, and Parker realized he was being extremely impolite for failing to introduce them. Before he could rectify that, though, Mason did it himself. “I’m Mason,” he said, holding his hand out.
With surprising coordination for someone so drunk, Greg shook his hand.
“Greg.”
“Greg is Jill’s,” Parker said, not noticing when Mason frowned in confusion. “You’d probably know her as Dr. Smith,” Luke offered, and Mason nodded in comprehension. “She’s Greg’s girlfriend.”
“I see,” Mason said, taking a step back. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Parker. Liam, Luke.” He nodded at the two men. “Nice to meet you, Greg.”
“Well, that was rude, wasn’t it?” Parker groused as Mason disappeared into the crowd, headed for the door. “Didn’t even stay for a drink.”
“I think he probably wanted to talk to you alone, Parker,” Luke said, clearly the most sober of the four. “Well, then he should have said, shouldn’t he? ’M not a mind reader,” Parker huffed, taking another drink.
(09/11/2012 8:11 AM): Is he in yet? He’s not logged in.
Chapter Five
MasonPike (09/11/2012 8:11 AM): Is he in yet? He’s not logged in. LukeJacobs (09/11/2012 8:11 AM): It’s Saturday. Why would you assume he’s here? Or that *I’m* here?
LukeJacobs(09/11/2012 8:12 AM): He’s in with Richard. MasonPike (09/11/2012 8:12 AM): Shit. Tell me when he’s back, yeah? I meant to talk to him before Richard did.
LukeJacobs (09/11/2012 8:13 AM): If you know something….
MasonPike (09/11/2012 8:14 AM): I know a lot of things. You’ll have to be more specific.
LukeJacobs (09/11/2012 8:15 AM): Do I need to call Anna?
MasonPike (09/11/2012 8:17 AM): I have her with me. Let us know when he’s back, all right? LukeJacobs (09/11/2012 8:17 AM): Will do. AS IT turned out, Luke didn’t need to call Mason when Parker was out of Richard’s office, because the first thing Parker did was track down his cousin, who was sitting on the luxurious new sofa in Mason’s cramped office.
“What the fuck, Anna?” Parker bellowed when he’d slammed the door behind himself hard enough to rattle the diplomas Mason had hung on the neighboring wall.
“I trusted you. And you,” he yelled, rounding on Mason. “You. You said you recommended my proposal, you lying little sneak!”
“I did!” Mason yelped, nearly falling off the armrest when Parker moved to stand in front of him, radiating menace. “I did. You had the best ideas about how to incorporate Johnson & Co.’s latest breakthrough into Anderson’s operations. I tried to talk to you about it last night, but—” Mason let the sentence die, his gaze fixed on Parker’s shoes.
“But you were too shit-faced to talk to him,” Anna finished, glaring at Parker. “You could have given me a heads-up, Anna,” Parker said, but instead of sounding angry, his words just sounded tired. His shoulders slumped, and she scooted over to make room for him to collapse on the sofa.
“Honey, I didn’t know until he called me in this morning, and you were right after me,” she said, running her fingers through Parker’s hair when he laid his head against her shoulder. Mason watched silently, his fingers caressing the leather of the MedicAlert cuff Parker had gotten him.
“I just—I thought it was my time, Anna. He’s been dangling that promotion in front of me for months, and I really thought I’d get it. And instead, I hear that he’s giving it to you, who I didn’t even know wanted it.”
“I don’t,” she said, and Parker bucked her hand off and sat up, staring at her in incomprehension. “I’m going to turn it down, if it’s any consolation,” she said, but Parker could tell the words were hard for her to say.
“No, don’t,” he murmured, taking both her hands in his. “Don’t, Anna. You’ve worked for it too. Maybe he’s right. You have the R and D experience. Maybe you really would be the best one to lead Anderson into a new age.”
Anna shook her head, the line of her lips twisted into a bitter grimace.
“You don’t understand,” she said, her voice thick. “He’s only giving it to me to keep it away from you.”
Parker frowned. His father had never promised him anything. He’d never gotten any special favors for being the CEO’s son. If anything, he’d been forced to work longer and harder to get ahead, since his father’s expectations for him were harsher than for anyone else. But he’d earned the promotion. There wasn’t anyone in the company, except for perhaps Anna, who was more qualified to replace Geoffries.
“Catherine’s been pressuring him to retire,” Anna said quietly. Parker bristled at the mention of his stepmother. She’d married his father when Parker was in college, and Parker had never liked her. “She’s such a harpy.”
Parker brightened a little. If his father was thinking of retiring, maybe he’d name him CEO. Maybe denying him the promotion to president was a step in that direction. The tension in his chest eased a bit, but Anna shook her head, following his train of thought.
“He’s going to sell, Parker. He’s going to sell Anderson out to Century. And one of the conditions of the sale was that you no longer be a part of the business. Richard didn’t give you the promotion because Century wouldn’t buy the company if you were president. Century’s CEO plans to fire you the first chance he gets, and he’d have a harder time doing that if you were in the top slot.”
Parker’s head was spinning. His father was planning to sell Anderson Industries? Richard had built it from the ground up. Parker couldn’t believe his father would walk away from it so easily.
“Tell him the plan,” Mason urged, and Parker’s head snapped up. He’d forgotten Mason was there.
Anna’s hands tightened around Parker’s, drawing his gaze back to her.
“Anderson’s a family-held business. Your father owns more stock than anyone else, but you own some, and so does my family and the board.”
Anna’s father had invested most of their family’s fortune in Anderson Industries back when it was Anderson Solutions, a two-man venture with Richard and Geoffries. After Ambrose had died, his share of the stock in the company, which had risen dramatically by then, had shifted to Valerie. She’d been happy to sign her voting rights over to Richard, never in the last twenty years exercising her own vote.
“Your mother—” Valerie thought Richard walked on water. Even when he’d all but abandoned Parker, she’d thought her sister’s husband could do no wrong. Parker had privately wondered if his father and his aunt had ever had an affair, but Anna had put paid to that when they were teenagers. She’d told him that Valerie desperately missed her sister, which meant she was more than willing to wholeheartedly embrace all that was left of her, meaning Parker and his father.
“My mother signed voting rights for her stock over to Margaret about twelve hours ago,” Anna said, her small smile growing at Parker’s shocked expression. There had been bad blood between Margaret and Richard for years. Margaret blamed him for her father’s death, claiming that had Ambrose not invested all his money with Richard, he’d have been happier and not had to work so hard. In her mind, her father had turned to affairs only when things had become too much of a strain at home, due to both their general lack of liquid wealth and her mother’s unfailing loyalty to Richard.
Parker did the math, shaking his head slowly. “With you, me, and Margaret, we only have about 40 percent of Anderson’s holdings. It’s not enough for a buyout.” He couldn’t believe he was saying the words. They felt like treason—a betrayal of the worst imaginable magnitude.
“Richard wants out of Anderson Industries, and he wants his money. Why does it matter who he gets it from?” Mason asked, earning himself a sharp look from Parker.
“And I suppose you have millions of dollars lying around your bank account, do you?” he snapped, his mood lightening a bit when Mason responded by sticking his tongue out.
“No, of course not. But we already have 40 percent, so that lowers the buyout drastically,” Anna said casually, as though she was talking about buying a $200 dress at Macy’s and not a multimillion-dollar business deal.
“Well then, that’s settled,” Parker said, closing his eyes and flopping back on the sofa cushions.
“What’s settled?” Mason asked, still worrying at the leather band around his wrist.
“You’re both obviously in the throes of some paranoid delusion, and since I’m here talking with you about it, I must be going crazy as well.”
Anna’s peal of laughter had Parker cracking one eye open to glare at her from his recumbent position.
“I’m glad that the death of my career is so amusing to you, cousin.”
“Oh, Parker. You’re just so adorable,” she said, tweaking his cheek. He bared his teeth at her. She laughed, standing and tugging at his hands. “Up. I think it’s time you met Nancy.”
“GREG,yeah, it’s Parker.” He held the cell phone away from
his mouth as he furiously hissed at Anna to keep her eyes on the road. “Sorry. No, I’m in the car with Anna.” Mason cleared his throat, and even though he was in the back and couldn’t see Parker’s face, he was sure Parker rolled his eyes.
“And Mason. Yes, that Mason. No, it’s not the time, Greg. Listen— Gregorios. Well, I had to get your attention, didn’t I? Yes, I know you hate to be called by—damn it, listen. I need you to draw up some documents for me. I’m going to the bank tomorrow, and I’ll need my lawyer with me.”