“I saw you talking to Yvonne,” he said instead. “How is she?”
Michael gave him a flat look. His tongue twisted in his mouth. “Yvonne? She’sgreat. She’s got everything she ever wanted. Told me she’s going to start having kids with that old bastard any day now.”
“Good for her,” Noah said carefully.
Michael snorted. “Sure. Anyway. Might’ve been another reason why I was so…”
He gestured aimlessly. Noah knew he meant the fight, which had been loud enough to make more than a few people stop and stare.
“Right,” Noah said. “Did that ruffle any feathers?”
“Nobody important.” Michael downed the rest of his coffee, smacking his lips. “So! We’re doing proper drinks later, right? This is nice and all, but not really my scene. We should go out! We haven’t been out together in ages. Have some drinks, hit the dance floor. Find someone who isn’t gonna scam you.”
“Sure,” Noah said, still fantasizing about throwing him into the table. “On me. And Mikey? About those Presley documents I keep asking you for?—”
Michael’s cup clicked noisily into its saucer. “Yeah?”
Noah blinked, pretending to look surprised at his tense reaction. “I was just going to say forget about it.”
Now it was Michael’s turn to be confused. It slid off his face fast enough, replaced by a sunny grin. Everything was working out for Michael Stern, once again.
“We really should go out,” he said as Noah sipped his coffee. “Or work out together! It’s been ages since we’ve pumped some iron. I’ve really missed you, man.”
“You too,” Noah said quietly.
The office was busier when they got back, the halls full of coworkers Noah smiled unseeingly at as he headed for Tia’s desk. She was standing behind it, polishing her glasses nervously.
“Hey,” he said. “Did you get that thing I asked for?”
Tia dragged him into his office, closing the door behind her.
“I found those Presley documents,” she whispered. “And… it’s not just Presley.”
“How many more are there?”
She made a face. “A… few.”
“How many is a few?”
Her wince deepened. “I’m still working on that. Someone came down the hall, so I had to get out. But I took photos! It’s enough to…”
She trailed off, most likely sensing that Noah didn’t want to hear exactly how deep the hole his big brother had dug for himself was.
“It’s enough to get him off Benji’s back,” she said hopefully. “For sure. So… are we blackmailing or are we telling the Board and getting him fired? Oooh, or both?”
Noah sighed. He could feel a headache starting, throbbing along his temple. He had a long day of meetings ahead and then a meeting with one of his least favorite investors, andthenhe had to work out.
“We need more evidence on Mikey, no matter what we do with it. If it’s as bad as it looks, he needs to atleastbe demoted. We can’t have him running the company like this.” He rubbed his forehead, the headache turning sharp. “My first meeting starts in three minutes. Can you bring me some aspirin?”
She gave him a small salute and sped off.
Noah checked his phone, ignoring the spike of pain it drove through his head at the bright light. Benji had replied to his text asking how his first night at the motel was.
good. bed’s so soft. not as soft as yours tho.
Then another text, five minutes later.
totally hate u for the Rule btw. woke up humping my bed. couldn’t do anything about it. wtf.
