“That means we’ll be done with the project,” she snapped. “Look, Slade, I don’t have time right now to worry about all the rest of it. You probably haven’t even touched the final write-up yet, and we’ve got to hand it in next Monday. You’re lucky it’s not due until after the SECs. It counts toward our grade so it needs to be really good. We may have screwed things up royally with your brother, but I’m not screwing up this course.” She looked at her phone. “We’ve only got a few minutes. Start talking.”
We read the pitch to each other, going over our individual parts just like we’d discussed. I was impressed with the way it turned out. Together we sounded professional, knowledgeable and persuasive. We at least had this together, if nothing else.
Gladys met us at the door when we walked into The Pet Adoption House an hour later. “Welcome back, y’all,” she said in her friendly tone. “You’re early, and so is Mr. Lewis. He’s up in our boardroom, so follow me.”
We took the stairs to the second floor, and walked down a hallway leading us away from the animals and to a more modern section of the house where the staff had a few offices. At the end of the hall was a wide doorway to a small meeting room. Inside, there was a classic wooden boardroom table, with seating for six or seven people. One wall had two side-by-side whiteboards, and the wall that seemed to be the front of the room was already set up with a projector screen.
Mr. Lewis sat behind a large wooden desk in front of a large window. He was a lot younger than I expected, probably in his late twenties. When he stood up, I realized from his muscle tone and build that he had to be some type of athlete or possibly a fitness professional. He was wearing a white shirt and black slacks, and walked around the table to greet us.
“Thank you, Gladys,” Mr. Lewis said, nodding for her to stay. “It’s good to meet you Ms. Greyson.” He turned to me. “I hear you’re the Slade Clark, the great hope for football in the south.”
Nice. He had a clue about football.
“Yes, sir,” I answered.
“Great. I’m Matt Lewis. I’m the owner at The Pet Adoption House, but I’d say it’s in name alone. Gladys and her team are the real owners and operators here. I’d prefer to call myself a benefactor of the shelter. So yes, if your pitch has a funding implication, I’m the man, however I rely heavily on Gladys to guide me in all aspects of decision-making. I should also mention that I happen to be a colleague of your professor, Dr. Taylor, so I’m here out of genuine interest after what I learned from them both. Everything’s set up, right Gladys?”
“It is.”
“Great. You can start whenever you’re ready.”
“Excellent. Thank you for having us today,” I started. “As you already know, we’re here today to share a business plan and proposal which can streamline and transform the way pets in Baton Rouge shelters are matched to forever homes in the area. Out of curiosity, do you know how many animals in Baton Rouge are not adopted during their shelter stay and end up having to be euthanized?”
Both the investor and Gladys shook their heads.
“The answer is too many. Now, a few shelters have higher adoption rates, such as The Pet Adoption House, which was what led us to you on our first visit. Part of the reason is that you have a higher than normal marketing and advertising budget than most, and dedicate much of that to adoption campaigns and other public awareness initiatives. My question to you is this. What if you could cut that budget in half and still end up increasing your pet adoption rates?”
The investor raised an eyebrow. I had him.
We worked our way through our presentation, and our two-person audience was engaged from beginning to end. The adrenaline of closing the sale coursed through me. I read their responses and made adjustments as I went and Cassidy aced her pitch as well by wowing them on the analytical side. We were a solid match, and I could tell that whatever we were selling, they were ready to buy. There was always logic to improving the bottom line especially when it was paired with cutting cost with no loss of quality outcomes.
At the end, Mr. Lewis looked over at Gladys, nodded and stood up to shake our hands. “Thank you for taking the time to do your homework, and also to focus on such a worthy project. I enjoyed your presentation. Gladys will head back to her office and take a few minutes to fill out the evaluation form for your professor if you’d like to wait downstairs for it.”
“Of course. Thanks. Yes, we’ll wait.”
“I’ll take you back down to the main waiting area.”
On our way down the hallway, he reached into his pocket and handed both of us his business card. It was a classic, simple and of high quality stock. It read, Matt Lewis, CEO, Lewis Holdings Incorporated, New York.
“I just wanted to tell you again that I was impressed by your presentation. I’m headquartered in New York, but Dr. Taylor and my late father were good friends. I help run a few national retail chains which have departments devoted to pet brands. Some of what you presented has direct application potential for us there, and could also help other shelter communities across the country. Just so you know, retail is not my specialty.”
“Do you mind if I ask what you do full time?” I asked. I had to know what the guy did. He may have been the only non-NFL player I’d seen with guns like that. I was pretty darned impressed.
“I’m a firefighter.”
That was interesting.
“Getting back to this initiative, I can connect you with my VP of Stakeholder Relations if you’re serious about making a go of your business idea.”
“Yes! Thank you,” Cassidy replied. “We’d love to look into this further.”
I nodded politely. It was an interesting proposal, but I was on the NFL track. I couldn’t begin to look at starting a real business for at least a few years, even if this pet adoption thing was originally my idea.
“No problem.” He nodded and looked back and forth between us. “I have to head back to New York today, but if either of you are ever looking for opportunities after you graduate, give me a call. Dr. Taylor spoke highly of you both, and you won me over with your passionate and polished presentation.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lewis.”
With a nod to each of us, he pushed through the front door and walked down the steps.
I held up my hand to give Cassidy a high-five. “Nice job, Cass. You impressed him. Maybe this can turn into a decent entry-level job for you.”
“You impressed him too.”
“True.” I held up the card to the light. “See that guy? He’s loaded. This is probably the best business card stock I’ve seen. And he thinks our adoption drive business would be great.”
Cassidy was glowing. “You do understand that he just offered us both jobs, right?”
“Yeah, I know. I can’t think of that right now, for obvious reasons. But you should look into this company. I have a good feeling…you could turn this into something big.”
It was hard to suggest that to her. After all, I could end up on pretty much any NFL team, the way things were going. If we had a chance to turn what we had into something more I’d want her all to myself, and close, not all the way in New York if I ended up somewhere else. Still, what kind of guy would I be to screw up her chances to make something of herself, especially so early on?
A few moments later, Gladys came out with her evaluation form for our project.
“You two did really well,” she said. “I’d really like to see this project get off the ground. It’s a viable idea, and frankly, you two could start a business just doing pitches, the way you did today. You’re a fantastic team.” She handed Cassidy the form. “Here you are, dear. Thank you for coming in today, and please let me know if you want to take this idea further. Good luck to you both.”
She shook our hands and we left on a high.
“You hear that?” I said, nudging Cassidy’s arm. “We make a great team. Maybe Dr. Taylor knew what he was doing by pairing us up.”
“Maybe,” she agreed as we walked through t
he front door.
We were so pumped when we left there. Cassidy was beaming, and it hit me that before today, she hadn’t smiled like this since before Thanksgiving. What happened with Shawn had really left her bummed out. I needed to try a bit harder to get her past that, and hopefully win her over again.
23
Slade
We pulled away from the curb, and on the way back to campus, I glanced over at Cassidy a few times. She had a preoccupied look on her face. I couldn’t tell what was bothering her, but I had two or three good guesses.
“Hey, I’ll take care of finishing the write-up,” I told her, starting with the easiest one to discuss.
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. If you haven’t done it yet, I don’t mind taking care of it.”
“No, you’ve done enough. I said I’ll do it, and I will. I made good headway with it over Thanksgiving. I can send you what I did so far, but you know me. I like to make a good impression with a finished product. Don’t worry. It’ll be top notch. It’s the least I can do after bailing on meetings and leaving you with so much of this to do on your own.”
“When will it be ready?”
“This Friday.”
“It’s due this Friday.”
“And I’ll have it ready.”
Cassidy stared over at me. “I’ve heard this before, you know.”
“Yes, I know, but you need to trust that I’ll always come through when I give my word. I’ve told you a couple of times not to worry about it. I mean it. I’ve started the work, and I will finish it. I. Will. Finish. It. Got that? End of discussion.”
I meant it the last couple of times, too. It would probably take all night this Wednesday and Thursday to get it completed. I knew if I really needed to, I could probably swing an extension because Saturday was the SEC Championships, and I really didn’t have a whole lot of free time before that. Cassidy would freak, though, so I left that alone. One thing for sure was it would get done. By me.
“Only if you’re sure,” she said.
“End of discussion.”
“Okay.”
“You’ve been great. You know that?” I rested my free hand on her knee and squeezed it gently.
“Thanks.” She placed her hand over mine and looked over at me. “You and Miranda have been a big help, getting me through the last couple of days.”
“Shawn will come around. If he doesn’t, I’ll knock some sense into him over Christmas. If that doesn’t work, I’ll drive to Harvard and beat the shit out of him.”
“You don’t have to do that, but I appreciate the thought.”
“You’re wrong, Cassidy. I have to do something. No one gets to hurt you, mistreat you or disrespect you like that and get away with it…not even my brother.”
“I don’t want to talk about Shawn right now.”
“Fine with me. Want to grab a bite before we get back on campus?”
That smile returned to her face. “Sure. Something really greasy and unhealthy. We earned it.”
“We did.”
She slid her hand up my arm to my shoulder and into my hair before leaning over to kiss my jaw. “Make it takeout.”
She didn’t have to ask twice. My hunger for her went up a notch as she nibbled on my neck on the way through the nearest drive-thru. She had me hard in seconds. I didn’t have to ask her to come to my place when we made it back to campus, not with her fingers sliding up and down my thigh like that. I drove past her dorm and went right to the frat house. Neither of us had to make it to practice today because of this afternoon’s pitch meeting. Coach gave me a pass because it was the only practice I had to miss this entire semester. This gave us the rest of the evening and all night to celebrate. Like she said, we’d earned it.
The house was dead quiet when we got in. No one was sitting on the porch drinking, and the only noise inside came from the TV in the front room downstairs. The house was always like a ghost town around exam week, and when we weren’t partying. We ate quickly in the kitchen, then climbed the stairs to my room.
All the need and desire that had built up during the day had somehow changed for both of us. Cassidy and I climbed into bed, and she snuggled into my side, kicking off her pumps before placing a hand on my chest.
“I’m going to close my eyes for a bit, okay?”
“Sure.” I rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head.
We both dozed off, and when I woke up again, she was still curled up beside me, her chest rising and falling as she slept. It was nice that we didn’t have to rush tonight. I wasn’t in a hurry to see her go, and somewhere in that hint of a thought, this image of losing her created a lump in my throat that wouldn’t subside. I didn’t know what that was, other than a sinking feeling that I needed Cassidy. The realization chilled me to the bone, and all my instincts were telling me to stop right there and put a heap of distance between us.
I think my body froze like a statue, because Cassidy woke up just then. She looked up at my face and ran a hand along my stomach.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I have a lot to do to prepare for SECs,” I stammered. “And the write-up. I should probably get some sleep.” That was so full of shit, even for me.
“I guess I should go, then?”
“Yes.” She stood up and stretched, then found her shoes and bag. I got up and grabbed my car keys.
“I can walk,” she protested.
“No. I’m driving you.” It was the least I could do, getting her home tonight so I could go back to when things were simpler, when I didn’t need anyone but myself.
24
Cassidy
The day after our pitch, we were back to our usual swing on the Slade pendulum. I made it to practice and he wasn’t talking to me again. It seemed like every time we had even a touch of closeness, Slade would avoid me afterward. He was nothing if not consistent.
I went through our routines with the other cheerleaders, and when they took a break to watch the football players practice, I stood there acting a little resentful. We were going all out with our practice as we had to look our best for the SECs, so there wasn’t much downtime at all. It was in those moments that we got the reminder that it was best for us not to distract from the real reason we were all there—football.
During one of the few breaks we had, Miranda came by, looking really nervous.
“Hey,” I said cautiously. “What’s wrong?”
“Not much. Everything okay with you?”
“Slade’s acting strange with me again. I have no idea what I said or did.”
Miranda shrugged. “Slade is just being himself. The usual… hey, I’ve got something to tell you, and I don’t want you to get mad.”
That was never a good way to start a conversation. I gave her a cautious look. “You’re scaring me, but okay. Tell me everything.”
She took a breath and then blurted out, “I’ve been talking to Shawn.”
I took a second, but then smiled, remembering how well they had hit it off over Thanksgiving. Then I put two and two together. “So you’re talking, or are you like, talking?”
She was already blushing so I took that to mean they’d been getting to know each other, probably romantically.
She nodded. “Yes…we’ve been talking and texting a lot…we actually had a few really long talks while you were hiding out from everyone over the weekend after the blow-out.”
Shawn and Miranda? Hmmm. I liked it already, knowing that Shawn was a really sweet guy, and Miranda had found someone who shared some of her same interests. The people we knew who weren’t doing the same major would treat her like some kind of freak, and that was before she opened her mouth. Once she started talking about local legends, they’d get that look in their eyes, like at any time they could break out the torches and pitchforks.
“That’s great, hun! Shawn may be pissed at me right now, but he’s a great guy.”
“Thanks. I’m so relieved to hear you say that…um, so, there’s more.�
��
“Oh?”
“We’ve been talking about getting together when he’s back here for Christmas break. And by that I mean maybe going out for a couple of dates. I just wanted to talk to you about it first before I told him yes.”
I smiled. This was so sweet, probably the best thing I’d heard all day. It was so flattering that she needed my blessing to go on a date with Shawn. “Miranda, love. You don’t need my permission. I’m thrilled you two are hitting it off. Just promise me you won’t hurt him, and if he ever talks to me again I’ll tell him the same for you.”
She grabbed me and wrapped her arms around me. “Gosh. Thanks hun! I’ll tell him.” After a second, she pulled away and ran over to her bag. Her phone came out in a hurry. Wow, she was really excited about this.
The team captain called us all to end the game, and we were back to it. After practice, as the boys were coming off the field, I tried to catch up with Slade. It was the perfect opportunity. I could corner him in person instead of having to wait for him to answer his phone.
“Slade,” I called to him.
He nodded at me. “What’s up, Cassidy?”
“You got a minute?”
“Not really,” he said, just before a handful of groupies swarmed him and pulled him away with the guys toward the locker room. “I’ll call you, okay?”
“Sure,” I said to no one in particular as he left.
“Hey, are you coming to the party?” Miranda asked.
“They’re partying tonight?”
“You know what it’s like this week. They’ll be going wild on a booze binge until Thursday night, then chill all day Friday until the SEC game is done. You should come.”
“No, I don’t feel up to it.”
“It’ll get better soon.” She hugged me and bounced off into the building to change.
I grabbed my bag and didn’t even bother changing before going back to the dorm. Later that night after a bit of distracted studying, out of sheer boredom and loneliness, I sent a text to Slade.
Go Deep: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Page 15