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Without uttering a word on this subject, Sam opened the manila file before him. “Good. On to the next item on the agenda then. Finances. I reviewed the payment breakdown you sent and I am in disagreement with the figures.” He pulled out a paper and slid it towards Joe across the table.
“Impossible. I worked on those numbers myself.” Joe was confident enough in his calculations to not even glance at the paper.
“No doubt about that. I know well enough you’re a meticulous human calculator. Still, there is a flaw with the final payment amount we each receive.”
This time, Joe did check the paper. “They’re an equal split. How could that amount be flawed?”
“That’s exactly my point. Since my company is bigger than yours, there will be a bigger team involved from my side and I’ll be using more resources than you. Therefore, I say fifty-fifty is just not good for me.”
Joe scoffed. “Fifty-fifty is never good enough for you. You always want more.”
“Sam’s got a fair point, Joe.” I offered.
Joe snickered at me. “Of course you’d think so. You’ll second anything your new boyfriend says.” He turned to face Sam. “Yes, Samuel, I know you’re fucking. She told me.”
Well, surely not in those exact words.
I cleared my throat. “Joe, my personal relationship with Sam would never hinder this collaboration. You know it wouldn’t. Just like my relationship with you wouldn’t either. And why did you even have to bring that up? You didn’t seem too fazed with it when you found out. You understood the situation.”
“I did not say that. I just didn’t disapprove. For the sole reason that it is not my place to.”
Sam chuckled with forced sarcasm. “Figuredthattone was anything but understanding.”
Joe broke the ensuing tension by picking up the paper again and focused back on scanning the figures. His hand rubbed at his chin. “Fifty-fifty is only fair for both. You’ve got the resources but I’m the one who secured Zimmerman.”
“If that’s your reasoning, then I’m afraid I have to pull out of this project.” Sam pushed back his chair.
“Wait,” Joe called, clearly against his wishes. I saw him mouth a curse beneath his breath. “How about forty-sixty?”
“Deal.” Sam agreed immediately.
“Deal? That’s it, that easy?”
“Yes.” Sam moved his chair back to the table and sat straight in his seat. “You must have known that I’d never pull out from a big project like this. It would have been a terrible decision.”
“Still selfish, huh. You just have to take everything.” Joe accused him.
I couldn’t stop the eye roll. “Not again, boys.”
Joe’s glare at Sam shifted at me, then back at Sam. That was when I realised that Joe’s last comment was directed at Sam’s relationship with me.
“Are you still talking about percentages here?” Sam must have noticed the same thing I did because now he was looking between Joe and me.
This was turning awkward. Both men stared at me like I was in the middle of a standoff.
Sam leaned forward, elbows on the desk as he faced Joe. “Me, selfish? I’m not the one who begged a client to get him on board, even if that meant resorting to working with your nemesis.”
“It’s just good business. I certainly did not do it for this shit.”
Sam stood up. With his hands thrust in his pants pockets and head held high, his stance was the definition of superiority. “You know what the funniest thing is, Parker? I accepted to this team-up because I thought I could be the bigger person and forget the past. I thought this way, I could help you.”
“Help me? How could you possibly help me?”
“Come on, Joe. You know what I mean. You don’t have to lie or hide behind your finger. We run in the same circle of people, remember? It shouldn’t surprise you that I know.”
There was no backfire answer from Joe this time. Joe wiggled in his seat, suddenly a bit flustered as he fidgeted with his pen. Sam’s words had somehow hit a sensitive nerve.
Sam’s gaze remained on Joe. “Still too proud to admit your failures, huh. I know you hijacked this project from me because it’s your last plausible chance to save your company from plummeting to rock bottom. You need the money. You desperately need it or you won’t even be able to cover all your employees’ salaries much less stay afloat.”
