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The room was deadly silent when he sat down and Julia waited for someone, anyone to reprimand him. But no one did. She looked at Ferro and the glint in his eye could only be described as deadly.
She leaned in. “Let’s just make the presentation. He doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.”
They stood and she started saying her part, that she’d thankfully rehearsed enough that she only needed a quarter of her brainpower to focus on it. The rest could quietly panic and simmer in humiliation over what had just happened.
Then it was Ferro’s turn to talk about the technical specifications and he did, quickly, his voice getting rougher as he spoke until he turned to Scott Hamlin. “I’m not certain what sort of family values you ascribe to,” he said, addressing the man directly, making no effort to veil where he was directing his words. “But as far as I know, the sexual harassment of employees is not a family value. Furthermore, I don’t care what you think of me. I am everything they say and so much worse. What I had to do to survive on the streets is one long, ugly story, and it is my story. But if you dare to ever imply that Julia has somehow gotten to the position she’s in by any means other than hard work and her sheer brilliance, I will show you some other survival tricks I learned on the streets. And I can guarantee you won’t just walk away from that demonstration.”
The room had reached a new level of quiet. Julia could only stare, her face hot. With anger, with humiliation and with adrenaline. She was proud of Ferro. She wanted to kill Ferro. She couldn’t believe what had just happened.
He took her arm and started to lead her from the room. “Ferro…”
“Call us with your decision,” Ferro tossed over his shoulder as they walked out of the boardroom and into the hall.
“Ferro! You just…you probably just killed that deal for us.”
“They should not have let him say that,” Ferro spat, releasing his hold on her and walking ahead to the elevator. “They should not have let him say such things about you. Someone should have spoken up.”
“In fairness, it might look like I…with you…to get this…”
“Why should you need to? I need you just as much as you need me in this. To imply otherwise is insulting to you as a person and a businesswoman and I will not allow it.”
The elevator doors closed and Julia leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling very tired. “I’ve been insulted more than once in my life, Ferro,” she said “It’s why I don’t go around being all happy-happy joy-joy Julia all the time. It’s why I don’t talk about spaceships and games and my new processor in polite company. I can honestly say, though, that I’ve never been accused of using my body to get what I want. I suppose that’s what I get for having a sex life.”
“It’s wrong.”
“But I’m fine. I would have been fine if you would have just kept your mouth shut and made the presentation.”
He turned to her, dark eyes blazing. “But I wouldn’t have been.” He pushed the button on his phone she knew now called his driver.
The elevator doors slid open and Ferro’s breathing started to normalize, the color draining slightly from his face. As if he’d just realized what he had done. They walked through the glass and steel building, out onto the warm, sunny street.
“Perhaps you should stay at your own house tonight, Julia,” he said.
She nodded slowly. “Okay. I mean…if you really want me to.” She wanted to ask him to change his mind. Wanted to tell him she needed to be with him after a day like today. No one else would understand. But he would, not just because he’d been there, but because it was his life, too. His passion.
She wanted to sit on the couch with him and drink a glass of wine and talk about how horrible the whole thing had been. And then she wanted to spend all night making love with him.
But he wanted her to go home.
“I guess I’ll…” And she realized they didn’t have a reason to see each other again. “I guess I’ll see you,” she said. She hoped it was true.
He nodded once and walked to his car. Julia stuck her hand in her pocket and took out her phone, getting ready to dial her driver. She really should get Ferro’s stupid app because she didn’t want to talk to her driver, she wanted to call for him nonverbally so she didn’t have to say a word past the ache in her throat.
