Better Than Home: Better Than Good Novella

I rescued my cell from my discarded cum-stained trousers and swallowed hard as I read the text from Trey Hughes’s secretary.

Hello, Matt. Mr. Hughes has requested a Zoom meeting with you this morning if your schedule allows. Please confirm your availability, and I’ll arrange the virtual call ASAP.

Well, that wasn’t a bad thing. It could even be a good thing.

But I’d keep this to myself until I knew for sure.

My cell vibrated on my desk later that morning. I glanced at the text that popped up at the bottom corner of my monitor and read it three times before buzzing my secretary.

“Hi, Colleen. Block out the next half hour for me, please. I don’t want to be disturbed.”

“No problem.”

I swiped my sweaty palms on my suit pants and dialed the code on my cell. A moment later, my boss’s face popped up on my screen.

Trey Hughes was a good-looking man in his early fifties. He was the youngest of the original partners, but he was the smartest by a landslide. Some said he was a prodigy—a quick thinker with a photographic memory and a master at negotiating high-profile contracts. He was also a gay, black, married man with two kids. Or maybe three now.

He was my mentor and hero at the firm. I’d been seriously bummed when he’d relocated to Southern California. Thankfully, he had no plans to leave the firm. In fact, he’d kept his clients in DC and branched into writing entertainment contracts, which had proved to be a lucrative business. Or so I’d heard.

And that was the thing—I rarely spoke with Mr. Hughes nowadays. I was far enough up the ladder that I was the one mentoring new associates now, and I was too busy to reach out for random social niceties with bosses who lived three thousand miles away. I was sure that went both ways.

So, yes…I was curious. And nervous.

And I hoped like hell this was about the partnership—the ultimate pot of gold at the end of the rainbow I’d been chasing since day one. Fingers crossed, I pasted a professional smile on my face and sat up tall in my chair.

“Good morning, Mr. Hughes. You’re up early. What time is it in California?”

“Six a.m.,” he replied with a laugh. “I always operate on Eastern Standard Time. How are you, Matt?”

“I’m well, sir. Thank you. How are you?”

Ugh. I sounded too stiff. But Hughes didn’t seem to notice or mind. He talked about the weather and the new Batman movie he’d seen last night as if we were old buddies who checked in with each other every once in a while.

I assure you…we were not.

By the time he finally got down to business, my palms were clammy as hell.

“Listen, I know you’ve got a lot on your plate. I don’t want to needlessly take up your time.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I’m—”

“I was calling about the partnership contract,” he intercepted in an unreadable tone.

“Oh?” My mouth was dry now too.

Fuck, I needed water.

Mr. Hughes fixed me with an intense unsmiling stare for what felt like a mini lifetime. And just when I thought I might pass out from holding my breath, he grinned.

“I have good news, but I’m going to give you the bad news first. The official announcement and partnership contract have been delayed, but the salary increase is effective immediately. We want you to know you’re a valued employee. We have exciting projects on the horizon, and you’re an integral part of the firm’s future.”

Okay, that’s good.

I licked my lips and nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“You deserve it, Matt. I’ll send over the new compensation contract now. I was the last to sign it because I wanted to personally assure you that we aren’t jerking you around. I made them up the ante and add a little extra to the package to prove it.” He named a hefty salary increase with a bonus as though he were casually reciting the price of milk, adding, “Read through it and sign when you’re ready. By the end of the week would be nice.”

“Um, yes. Yes, of course,” I sputtered.

“Excellent. Did I show you my new pool? We finished it last week. This has been on our kids’ wish list since we bought this house. Check it out.”

The screen went blank, then blurry before it crystallized with a pristine pool and a cliffside view of Los Angeles in the background.

I made the appropriate noises, congratulated him on the pool and his obvious success on the West Coast, but I couldn’t wait to get off the phone.

Yes, I was thrilled at the salary increase and I trusted Hughes. If he said the partnership contract was coming, I believed him. But something felt…off. And I wasn’t sure why.

Nah, I was probably overthinking.

This was good.

2

Okay. I misjudged how tedious house hunting could be. And soul-crushing.