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My brows shoot up in faux surprise. “A litigatoranda paralegal. Is this a secret deposition? I thought you needed a subpoena for those?”
“Charlie’s here to represent my interests,” Pax says smoothly.
I arch a brow at him—“stay abreast of things” huh?—before turning my gaze on Stapleton. “And you?”
He lazes back in his chair as though he’s a king who expects the world around him to bow down to him. “I’m the money,” he says, arms held out as though presenting himself as a generous offering. “Pax told me there was a new venture happening at BCN and thought I might be interested in the investment opportunity.”
I offer a bland smile. “How generous of you. I has no idea you’d taken an interest in news broadcasting.”
He shrugs. “I like to keep different avenues open.”
If Sullivan Stapleton is looking to personally invest in a news program then I’m a fucking flamingo. There’s no way someone as financially savvy as this guy would take that risk in what is essentially a dying market. My guess is he’s trying to work out just how vulnerable Grimco is, and whether BCN could be ripe for the plucking sometime soon. I’m sure he has a few clients who’d love to get their hands on such a prized asset.
As for Greenwood? I honestly have no clue. Maybe he genuinely is worried that the changes will ultimately result in him being pushed aside or something like that, but this definitely isn’t the way to handle that. Work it out in contract renegotiations, don’t bring it into my boardroom.
I let out a sigh and pin Pax with a level look. “Paxton, I realize you’re a drama major, but I’m really not in the mood for a Shakespearean farce today. It really wasn’t necessary to bring the Dream Team here torepresent your interests, because, frankly, you don’t have any interests here. If you’d like to provide some productive ideas, then by all means we’d like to hear them. But whatever we implement will have no bearing on you or your program. And as for the poorly disguised Trojan horse here,” I say with a wave in Stapleton’s direction, “BCN is not for sale, so you’re wasting your time sniffing around.”
“I don’t really look like a Trojan horse do I? Stapleton grumbles to Pax.
“Just your ass,” Pax says with a smirk.
I run my eyes back down the foursome and land on Skyler, who’s no longer even trying to hide his amusement. The second he feels my eyes on him, though, he jolts to attention and makes himself look as though he’s been jotting down notes the whole time. “You’re a paralegal?” I ask him, as if I don’t already know all the details of Deacon’s friends’ lives. “Full-time, or are you studying?”
He blinks up at me for a moment, then says, “Almost done with law school. Take the Bar next year.”
I nod and then gesture to Charlie. “Are you planning to keep working for him once you graduate?”
Skyler casts a sideways glance at Charlie and shrugs. “That’s the plan.”
I click open the briefcase I’d set down on the chair in front of me when I first came in, and locate a crisp white business card in the index sleeve. I reach across the table to hand it to Skyler. “Here’s another option. If you want some actual legal experience, that is.”
“What the hell, Grimsay? You’re poaching my employees now?” Charlie demands.
“Well you’re not exactly using him, are you?” I say with a shrug. Then I turn my gaze on Marion and Carter, who have been relatively quiet while I said my piece to the interlopers. “I think I’m going to leave it here. Unlike these three, apparently, I don’t have endless time in my day to waste. RJ can fill me in on everything.”
I give a brief nod to everyone and start backing out of the boardroom.
As I exit the room, I hear Skyler say, “Can we go back to the part about Pax being a drama major?”
When I get into the hallway, I see RJ has followed me. “Sorry about that—I thought Joseph was going to warn you…”
“He tried,” I say wryly. “I didn’t let him finish.”
RJ nods. “That explains it, then. You want me to come get you once those idiots have left?”
I shake my head. “It’s fine. You can get me if there’s anything really crucial that comes up but otherwise I’m okay for you to handle it. You know where we stand on everything.”
He gives a brief nod and slips back into the meeting, while I return to my office. I start pacing my office, forcing my brain through the monotonous boxing-up exercises to clear out the mess. I think I handled myself pretty well in there given the unexpected circumstances, but it could have easily gone the complete opposite way. I could have completely broken down…over absolutely nothing. Nothing major, anyway. And now I can’t stop thinking about whatcouldhave gone wrong; how Imighthave fucked up. In front of a boardroom full of some of New York’s most influential business people. I would have been a laughing stock. This whole corporation would be.
Why do I always feel like I’m hanging on by a tether?
Box it up. Put it away. Clear it out. Box it up. Put it away. Clear it out.
“Hard at work?”
I pause in my step and glance up at the sound of the familiar voice, finding Charlie Campbell at the threshold of my office, a wry smirk on his face.
I arch a brow at him. “You don’t pace when you’re trying to work out a problem?”
