Ducky had that same look of concern Dallas had seen for the last couple of days now. “Dylan wouldn’t want to meet with us if he hadn’t found some backing, right?”
“Either way, Dylan’s helped us out a lot. Thanks to you.” Dallas turned away, tired of the worry on his little brother’s face. “I scheduled a re-run for the one o’clock class. I’ll make it up tomorrow on my day off from the gym.”
“Dallas…” Ducky started.
“Let it go. I have.” Dallas let the door slam shut behind him, resolved to pull his shit back together.
Chapter 13
“I can’t be any clearer. You’re one hundred percent wrong,” Greer announced, stopping the crazy man’s prattle on the other end of the phone. He came to an abrupt halt in the middle of his office, dropping his head between his shoulders, staring up at the light gray ceiling, asking for patience from above. “We’re not doing it. Big tech is entirely divorced from reality. They’re overvalued and have damaged the broader economy. You know how I feel. I’d rather you turn to cryptocurrency than move toward big tech.”
Kailey opened his office door, sticking her head inside. She gave Greer a momentary reprieve from listening to one of his biggest investors—a guy who’d had very little when he first came to Greer five years ago. He looked over his shoulder. The frustration of such a jackass phone call so early in the morning had him pinning her with his gaze, willing her to stay quiet. Luckily, she did. Well, as much as Kailey ever could. At least she whispered. “Dylan’s here. The brothers are pulling in. Should I put them in the conference room?”
He’d tried to split his attention between the call and his sister. It didn’t go well. “Dammit, Richard, stop flooding me with a bunch of unfounded bullshit philosophies that aren’t going to change my mind, and hold the fuck on.” Greer stalked toward his desk, punched the button to mute the call and ripped the earpiece from his ear. “Have Dylan get them started in the conference room. The presentation is set. Show him how to work the remote for the slideshow, or hell, have him just explain the terms to them. They’d be fools not to accept. I’ll be in as soon as I can. I put the contracts in a folder on the credenza.”
She nodded and closed the door tightly behind her. Greer took a deep breath, centering himself, and forced his blood pressure down as he refocused on the matter at hand.
Remember, you hold the cards. The contract is ironclad.
Yeah, Richard Tenney could suck it. Asswipe.
Tenney’s board was pleased with Greer’s leadership and direction. Whatever was up the man’s ass… Who the fuck cared?
The self-lecture helped. Greer rolled his shoulders, releasing the tension that had formed there. He pushed the earbud back in his ear and unmuted the call. He didn’t immediately speak. Instead, he took two steps to the window overlooking the driveway. He released a deep heavy breath.
This wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. Somewhere along the way he’d lost the momentum. Greer sensed the change inside. Not with his activism, which would take the biggest hit, but with the rat race of chasing after the capital. He felt like a traitor for even thinking such a thing. He tucked his chin to his chest at the realization of how badly he could hurt so many organizations who counted on him to survive.
“I can hear you fucking breathing, Lockhart.”
Greer lifted his head to see the Reigns brothers leaving their older model sedan. They were all eerily similar yet completely different. Ducky and, he guessed, Donny were inches shorter than Dallas, but still tall men. They all wore dark suits and had the same look with that chestnut hair. Ducky’s curly out of control locks seemed to have been tamed, or at least an attempt was made. Donny had a military-style buzz cut. Dallas had the flip over that was so popular today.
Dallas. The temptation hadn’t diminished as he stared down at the handsome man. Maybe the most gorgeous man he’d ever seen, at least to Greer’s heart.
Greer’s gaze riveted to Dallas as he took in his long, confident strides up the front porch steps. Dallas called to him in just the same way as he had at the club. Greer’s mouth actually watered as if Dallas were a delicious morsel made just for him. His stomach twisted as he followed Dallas all the way to the front door. With Dallas’s hand on the doorknob, Greer started to turn away, but Dallas stopped before opening the door. Dallas ducked his head and let go of the knob. Donny seemed oblivious to whatever was going on with his brother, pushing past Dallas to step inside. Ducky made it up the steps and stopped beside Dallas, looking inside the office, but not moving forward.