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Of course, there was still lots of work to do, but at least this trip to the West Coast hadn’t been a waste. Within the next hour, I would have a much better understanding of how Faceframe had a design that looked almost identical to Hooked’s.
The SUV dropped us off at a café several minutes before the scheduled meetup. David and Grayson grabbed themselves a coffee while I waited for them at a table. I didn’t need any more caffeine in my system. I was already wired enough, even though I’d been up all night.
Knowing how badly Drake was hurting had prevented me from even closing my eyes.
So I’d spent time researching.
Investigating.
Carving out the remaining steps of my plan.
San Francisco was only our first stop in California. We still had one more to go before we flew home.
When David and Grayson joined me at the table, they silently drank their coffees, waiting.
The time ticking.
The anxiousness inside my body coming to an all-time peak.
We’d spent all morning in my suite, going over today’s possibilities, how the upcoming conversation needed to be shaped. What type of additional proof we had to gather to make our case.
That was why I felt prepared when the door opened and the motherfucker walked in. He took off his sunglasses, his long, shaggy hair falling into his eyes as he scanned the café’s interior. He first connected stares with David.
Then Grayson.
And finally me.
As the door closed, the bell above it chimed on a bit of a delay. But it was that sound, that high-pitched ring, that set off every alarm inside me.
I expected him to walk over. To sit. To look at us as though we meant nothing to him.
That was what had happened.
I just didn’t expect him to laugh while doing it.
“What do you want?”
Those were the first words that Brennon spoke.
The guy who, at one point, had been our close friend. Had partied with us in Boston. Had been one of the founding coders of Hooked.
Had left because we couldn’t afford to pay him what he’d asked for.
“I think you know what we want,” I replied.
He ignored me and looked at David, the laugh now turning more sinister. “I thought you were coming here for an interview. That you were finally ready to join the team that you should have been a part of a long time ago.” He hissed out some air, scratching the side of his thick beard. “I should have known you didn’t have the balls to leave Hooked. Just like you didn’t have the nerve to ask them for more money.”
“He didn’t have to ask. We gave it to him anyway,” I countered.
“And they would have given it to you too,” David said to Brennon, “if you’d just waited until the company grew a bit more and could handle that kind of salary bump.”
“God, you’re fucking gullible,” Brennon barked. “You’ll literally believe anything they tell you, won’t you? Meanwhile, we designed that whole fucking app. We barely slept for six months. We worked day and night, doing everything they asked. For what? A shitty fucking salary? A mention in the developer description?” He rolled his eyes. “Such bullshit.”
“If you’d stuck around, you would know that your loyalty would have earned you a lot more,” David said, pushing up the tiny frames of his glasses. “More money, more benefits, and more perks than you’d ever dreamed of. But you had one thing on your mind, and you were too impatient to wait for it.”
This wasn’t part of the conversation we’d prepped for.
This was David sticking up for us all on his own.
