Eric (Men of Honor 2)

I laughed at her stupid ass and hung up then too. Then she started pestering Tyler until the little shit came to me. “Your ex-wife keeps bugging me what gives?”

“She’s pissed that I’m getting remarried.”

“That sounds like a you problem; why is she calling me?”

“She’s your mother; you deal with her.”

“Hell no old man, you’re the one who married her, I had no say in the matter. Get rid of her, or I’ll have to change my number again.” The little shit would do it too; that’s what he did the last time she got on his nerves.

I have no clue where he gets his don’t give a shit attitude from. I’d say it was the change in our finances these last few years, but the truth is, he started acting this way the year after she left when we were still barely above dirt poor.

My eyes fell on the little calendar on my desk with the big red circle around today’s date. See, Janine can suck the joy out of anything. I came here thinking about my new kid and how I had maybe, just maybe planted her in my wife this morning and was filled with daydreams about all was I going to do for my little princess. Two seconds in the door and that hag had damn near wiped my mind clean.

I had a sudden thought that she might show up at my house since she’s been acting so erratic since the wedding. So far, I’ve been able to protect Justine from her shit, but what if she shows up when I’m not there? I picked up the phone to call home and give her a heads up but then put the phone down again. She had enough on her plate since her asshole ex has been acting up lately as well. Thank fuck he doesn’t live anywhere near us.

I calmed myself with the fact that Justine would have to let her through the gate for her to even get on the property, so there wasn’t anything to worry about, and went on with work. I only spent a few minutes in the office before heading out to the new job site where my guys, a crew of about ten men, were working on the new hotel on the outskirts of town.

This would be the fourth one I’m building for the same guy, the man who’d single-handedly taken me from rags to riches all those years ago. Had it only been seven years? Things have changed so much in that time that it seemed like it’s been forever.

I wasn’t surprised to see him there doing a walkthrough when I pulled up. He grinned and waved when he saw me and walked over to greet me. “Grey, I didn’t know you were coming today.”

“This is why you’re my guy, you didn’t know I was coming, but I was sure that you’d be here overseeing things instead of sitting behind your desk like a fat cat. You’re damn near a billionaire now, Eric, you don’t have to be so hands-on.”

We smacked palms and turned to look at what progress the guys had made in the last few days. “We’re coming in on time or just a little under.”

“As usual! Er…” Grey scratched the back of his head, looking uncomfortable for a second, something I have never seen him be in all the years I’ve known him.

The guy could buy and sell me a few times as down to earth as he is. I’ll never forget the first time we met. Not only because it was the moment my life had changed but because I’d seen in him what I someday wanted to be. He was moneyed, sure, but with a laid back attitude and a no-nonsense way about him even at his young age.

I’d been helping out another contractor at the time since things were so scarce on my end. It was only a few months since the divorce, and I was now finally crawling my way back out of the hole I’d gone into. It hadn’t taken me long on the job to realize that the guy I was working for was one of those cut corners types, and I’d lit into him for it.

We were working on a hotel, after all, a place where people would be coming and going, and the shit he was doing was way too dangerous. His answer was that the stuff that was needed was too expensive for his budget, and what he was using would hold up for at least five to ten years, at which time if shit went wrong, it would no longer be his problem.

I think I saw red that day. I couldn’t get over the fact that someone would be so cavalier about human life. I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of him and threatened to go to the owner with my complaints, something he did not take lightly. He threw out a few threats of his own that day, none of which fazed me one bit. I was over assholes like him, period.