Her hands were going where they didn’t belong, but they’d been doing that all evening. Jason Ward did his best to move away, but if he moved any farther, he’d fall out of his seat.
“I love a man who knows what he wants,” Stephanie Armstrong said, as she purred loudly. She reminded him of a hungry feline ready for mating season. She was an attractive older woman whose husband was a possible key investor. Jason’s partner, Dennis Collins, had put him in charge of keeping her entertained for the evening, but she only had one thing on her mind. And this wasn’t the first time. He didn’t know why the wives seemed to be drawn to him. Dennis laughed and said that, along with his good looks, he had a raw, hungry ambition their husbands lacked that sparked their interest. For a brief moment Jason thought of how he’d had to kiss up to many of them over the years, when he’d been younger and just starting out. He didn’t mind the perks that came with getting a lucrative business deal, but right now he wasn’t in the mood. He seized her wrist as it came too close to his manhood. His eyes met hers, and he saw them light up.
“I can make sure my husband gives you everything you want.” She bent forward, giving him a clear view of her ample cleavage.
He shoved her hand away. “I’m not that desperate. Excuse me.” Jason began to push his chair away. She extended her jeweled hand and placed it firmly on his forearm.
“You don’t want to make me unhappy,” she said in a low warning voice.
Jason took a napkin that was lying nearby and scribbled down a number, then handed it to her.
She grinned. “That’s more like it.”
He stood and left. Dennis saw him heading for the door and walked over to him. “Did I just see you give your phone number to that Armstrong woman?”
“No. I gave her a number, but it wasn’t mine. It’s for an escort service.”
“Does she know that?”
“She’ll find out when she calls them.”
Dennis swore. “Couldn’t you just flirt with her a little bit? I’m the brains and you’re the—”
“The what? The stud?”
“No, I’m just saying that you need to be a little more suave in your approach to people like that...”
“Who treat me like a boy toy or some kind of sex slave they’ve purchased for their private use?”
“She’s an attractive woman.”
“Just like all the others,” Jason said, bored. “You know my policy. I don’t sleep with wives.”
“No one is asking you to sleep with her.”
“You weren’t at the table—her hands were saying a lot.”
“We need this deal.”
Jason knew that. He and Dennis, his best friend, were partners in a software development firm they had created several years earlier. Due to major cost overruns they had incurred developing innovative cyber-security software they had recently launched, they had discovered that their chief financial officer had been embezzling some of the funds. He had hired his girlfriend as his bookkeeper—only at the time he didn’t let anyone know she was his girlfriend—who had fixed the books. Now the company was facing bankruptcy, but he and Dennis were the only ones who knew. To rectify what had happened, they had invited several key investors and speculators to a “wine-and-dine” weekend at a fancy golf retreat that cost them a fortune; but they were willing to spare no expense to get back on track. They had dismissed the CFO but desperately wanted to keep any knowledge of what had happened a secret, and had agreed not to file any criminal charges as long as he signed a nondisclosure agreement.
But somehow a rumor was spreading that the company was facing financial difficulty, and the two of them had decided they needed to make sure the investors were not nervous and felt secure with the direction the company was going. In order to avoid bankruptcy, Jason had recently forged a high-risk venture, which he hadn’t revealed to the board of directors yet, with hopes it would come through in time.
Jason looked around him and swore. What was he doing? He was tired of “entertaining” wives and significant others, just to get a couple of bucks. He never wanted to be like his investors. They wore their fine tailored suits along with their weak ethics and kissed up to him when it suited them, but he knew they’d drop him in an instant. It was all just business. He knew he was in a shark-infested ocean and needed to make sure to keep his teeth sharpened.
“You know, man, you make people nervous,” Dennis said.
“Are you still referring to Mrs. Armstrong?”
“No. I mean, people in general.”
Jason shrugged. “So what?”
“One day, someone may want to teach you a lesson.”
Jason tugged on the cuff of his jacket. “I’m already well schooled.”
“The company is in trouble. Bankruptcy is not something to toy around with.”
“I know why we’re here. Remember, I helped build this company with you, and I won’t see it fail.” He walked away.
* * *
Dennis watched him go and sighed. He was wrong. He wasn’t just the brains—Jason was, too, but no one would know it by the way he acted. He had the body of a wrestler and the brash manners of a street fighter. It wasn’t just his intimidating build that put people on edge; he had a certain disdain—especially for individuals he could tell were only after the bottom line, no matter the cost—which he didn’t mind showing. His eyes cut through them. What had once been an asset, his ability to fearlessly face whatever problem they had, was now a liability to the growth of the company. And Dennis knew the board was thinking of removing him.
“The man’s a damn gorilla,” one stockholder said. He could get away with saying such things in public since he was one of the biggest shareholders.
“He’s jeopardizing the image of the company.”
“He’s also made this company rich,” another said, one of the few who still believed in Jason. “He’s the reason SENTEL, Incorporated is in existence.”
“And he’ll be the reason it fails if we’re not careful.”
Dennis looked over and saw Jason arguing with Mr. Hansen, one of the key members of the board of directors. He gripped his hand into a fist and then released it. He wanted the company for himself. It was time. He no longer wanted to be overshadowed by Jason’s brilliance or crass behavior. They’d risen higher than they’d both imagined, but Dennis felt that Jason was now a risk to that dream. Dennis hadn’t grown up on the streets of Baltimore the way Jason had, but he’d tolerated Jason’s rough ways because he made him money.
Now his usefulness was coming to an end. With the release of the new software, and the profits that would follow, Dennis felt ready to rule on his own. But he wished Gwen Duggin were here. She was the one person who knew Jason. How he thought, and why he acted the way he did. After her death, Jason had buried himself in work and buried the man he used to be. Dennis had little interest in resurrecting that man. He just wanted to find a way to remove his old friend so that he could be free of him forever.
Stephanie approached him. “You said he was a sure thing.” Annoyance and hurt were clear in her voice.
“I was wrong,” Dennis said, guessing from her tone that she had called the number Jason had given her.
“I don’t like being made a fool of.” She moved in closer to him, and he could smell the wine on her breath.
“Neither do I.”
She arched