“He’s right,” Marin added. “Your behavior right now is simply more justification for releasing you.”
“And who are you?” Johnny sneered in response.
“I’m Jaime Marin and it’s my company’s name that you’re tarnishing with your online antics.”
When Marin identified himself, Johnny calmed somewhat, a schmoozy smile instantly taking over his face.
“Jim. Man to man, you know how hard it is to speak your mind without all the softies out there getting all riled up over every little word. You understand what I tweeted isn’t that big of a deal, right?”
“No. I don’t.”
Marin’s no-nonsense answer made it clear that he wouldn’t be taking Johnny’s side on this. When Johnny realized that, the schmoozy expression dropped from his face as fast as it had appeared.
“Do you know how many customers I brought to your company?” he shouted. “You’re going to miss the sales I gave you!”
“Probably not as much as you’ll miss my brand sponsorship paychecks,” Marin coolly replied.
Johnny’s face went so red with rage, Mike thought he’d explode like a cartoon stick of dynamite.
“Fuck this company!”
Johnny turned to storm back out, but Leo was right behind him. Rather than going around, he roughly shoved the assistant out of the way. Leo stumbled and fell into the corner of the file credenza next to the door. He cried out in pain, clutching his hip.
Fury pulsed in Mike’s temples. He knew better than to activate his power but he vaulted over his desk and caught Johnny before he made it out of the office. A quick grappling hold and flip had the influencer face down on the floor. Cursing, Johnny rolled over, but he didn’t make it farther than that. Before he could get up, Mike had a foot pressed to the downed man’s throat.
“You will apologize to Leo,” Mike furiously snapped. “And you will wait for him to decide if he wants to press assault charges against you before you make a single move.”
The room went dead silent while Mike stared Johnny down. Johnny blinked first. He turned his head slightly to speak to Leo.
“I apologize for pushing and injuring you. I was out of line.”
“Leo? Do you want to press charges?” Mike asked without taking his eyes off Johnny.
Leo released his hip, but there was still a pinch of pain between his eyebrows. “He’s fired, right?”
“Yes,” Marin answered. “Marin’s Outdoors won’t work with this trash ever again.”
“Then that’s enough for me.”
Once Leo gave his answer, Mike took his foot off Johnny’s throat.
“Get up and get out of my building,” Marin said. “And be out of that hotel room my company is paying for by the end of today.”
Johnny scrambled to his feet. Without making eye contact with anyone, he ran from the room, making sure to give everyone in his path plenty of space as he passed them.
Mike moved to check on his assistant. Leo insisted he was fine, but Mike sent him home for the rest of the day and the next to recover from the incident.
The confrontation over, Marin cleared his throat. “As I was saying, you did the right thing in releasing him.”
With a dry laugh, Mike dropped back into his desk chair. “Definitely made the right decision.”
∞ ∞ ∞
After work, Mike called Aiden from his truck. He’d barely spoken two words when Aiden broke in to ask him what was wrong.
“You sound tense.”
This wasn’t the first time Aiden had picked up on his tension without him mentioning it. He loved the way Aiden easily read him. “Yeah. Had a tough day at work,” he answered.
