AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grabbing my shoulders, he growled. “It won’t fucking change.”
I tried for a smile, but pretty sure it came out as a grimace. “Keep your options open. You never know what you’ll find.”
He pushed back angrily, grabbed his bag, and stormed out.
The moment I heard the garage door close, I let it all go. Tears streamed down my face. The shame of believing that the person in the world I let get the closest to me even before we slept together wouldn’t understand how important it was to me to share our status with his brother. With his family, our family. The shame of believing that he would actually want me. The shame of realizing how I must have looked to him when I was naked. It hit me like a two-ton weight.
I grabbed a few blankets from the closet, snatched a pillow, and went down to the basement. Grabbing a box of tissues and the remote, I stepped into the world of happily ever afters for other people. Deciding to live vicariously through them, I curled up in a stack of blankets shutting out the rest of the world. I’d try to accept my fate as being loved as a friend and fuck buddy without ever being more another day. But for now, it was time to wallow. Letting the humiliation wash over me, I mopped up tears and watched as fictional women with perfect figures found happiness.
30
RANSOM
“What do you mean she isn’t with you?” I asked Kiley through gritted teeth. “Where the fuck is she?”
Ilya must have grabbed the phone. “I know you wouldn’t talk to my wife that way if something wasn’t wrong, but you’re on thin ice, Pierce.”
I took a deep breath and scrubbed at my beard. “I can’t find Phoebe. She hasn’t answered my calls or texts since last night. Do you know where she is?”
He growled. “No.”
I tore my hand through my hair. “Would you help me find her? I’m out of town. Please!”
He paused and let out a breath. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do, but Pierce, don’t you ever curse at my wife again.”
Trying Phoebe’s phone one more time, it rang out. I disconnected, turned down the volume, then pushed through the fifth-floor conference room doors.
Dominic and Aunt Lori were already inside. Aunt Lori was on the Board of Directors along with Jamarion’s mother, Mary Platt. There were a few other members of the board as well, but we were a mostly family-owned and operated company which is part of what made us different. Part of what was supposed to make us better than other companies.
Since I was the CEO, I took my seat at one end of the table while the Chairman of the Board, Martin Schilling, took his place at the other end. He was one of the non-relatives who had a good business background and had been loyal over the years, and as an avid surfer had a vested interest in cleaning up the oceans.
Everyone took their seats.
Jamarion gave me a strange look while he passed out the agenda. When I received my copy last, I realized why. “A vote of no confidence?”
Jamarion rolled his chair as far away from me as possible until he was practically in Aunt Lori’s lap.
But Lori Pierce was a mighty force in a small package. She glared at Jamarion until he moved away from her. With her eyebrow lifted and her bright blue eyes fierce, she gave me the eye. “What is all this?”
I shook my head. “I wish I knew. I’ve left the best people I knew in control of the day-to-day operations. People I thought I could trust. Now I’m not so sure.”
The Chairman led the Board through the list of allegations, then let Jamarion speak to them. With a nod to me, it was my turn to speak.
I smiled. “I categorically deny the allegation that I am not properly running this company. I do respond to emails. Often by making phone calls. On the micros, R&D is too expensive right now. What kind of CEO would I be if I said yes to an expensive new R&D project when our main source of income was down? That would be irresponsible.”
Jamarion huffed.
I sighed. “Maybe the problem is your location, J. It sounds like you want to be a scientist, working with other scientists to get paid to figure out the ocean’s problems. If you want to go work with a foundation to clean up the ocean, I’m not stopping you. Mary, what do you think?”
Jamarion turned a bright shade of purple in his embarrassment at me speaking directly to his mother.
Mary turned to me, then to Jamarion. “Baby, is that what you want? Look at these projections! You can’t take on a big-money research project right now, so if that’s what you want, you need to reconsider where you work.”
The Chairman nodded. “Production is so low it almost looks like we need to consider a layoff.”
I raised my hand. “Look, Dominic has been actively recruiting more people to help with the collection of plastic. He was just in Bali and Iceland. What did you get, Dom?”
Dominic leaned on one hand. “One new contract in Iceland. The people in Bali are thinking on it, spending a few days collecting to see how much there would be to know if it would be worth their while. I have a trip to Europe next week, one to the Caribbean the week after. We could find more contractors and instead of paying them a salary, we could start with commission if that would be better. Pay per pound instead of by the hour. At least until we see how much they collect.”
