The Mogul And The Muscle

We raised our glasses to Daisy’s accomplishment—and her Greek indulgence.

Finally, it was my turn. “I’m in the market for a new Chief Operations Officer. Noelle Olson turned in her resignation.”

“That’s such good news,” Emily said.

“I still wish you would have fired the dumb bitch,” Daisy said.

“This is perfect because I don’t have to look like the bad guy,” I said. Noelle might not have been behind the efforts to ruin my life, but she’d been a thorn in my side for a long time. I’d been ecstatic when she’d made her announcement a few days ago.

“Where’s she going?” Emily asked.

“An electronics manufacturer. She claims she wants to get out of aerospace and take her career in a new direction. Personally, I think her little stunt with that blogger backfired. It made her look like a traitor, and no one in our industry wants to touch her.”

“Karma,” Luna said, raising her glass. We all raised ours and drank to that.

“Oh, and thanks to a certain someone,” I said, winking at Jude and squeezing his thick bicep, “I no longer have to worry about that stupid sex tape, and I got to tell Aldrich that he’s an asshole to his face.”

“Yes, girl,” Daisy said, reaching across the table to give me a high five.

“His life has certainly taken a turn for the worse,” Derek said.

The others nodded and I felt like I was missing something.

“What do you mean?”

Emily’s eyes widened. “You haven’t heard?”

I glanced at Jude and he gave me a subtle shrug. “I wanted to let them tell you.”

“Apparently he has a thing for recording his sexual activities,” Emily said. “A video of him with a foreign model who’s barely legal got out. And from what I hear, it’s not flattering.”

“It’s not,” Daisy said. “It’s really, really not.”

“Not only that,” Emily continued, “When Reese Howard found out, they immediately fired him from their board of directors. He’s on so-called personal leave from his own company, and word on the street is they’re forcing him to resign.”

I gaped at her. “You’re kidding. No wonder he looked like shit this morning.”

“Indeed,” Derek said, idly stirring his drink with a straw. “He contacted my firm to help him sort out the crisis, but I’m afraid I had to tell him we’re far too busy to take on any new clients right now.”

“Oh, speaking of,” Daisy said, “I have an acquaintance who’s in a bit of trouble and she could really use Alpha Group’s help.”

“Of course. Have her give my office a call, I’m sure we can fit her in.”

I zeroed in on Daisy. “D. Why did you say the video isn’t flattering?”

Her mouth curled in a wicked grin. “I have a copy.”

Everyone leaned forward.

“Obviously you have to show us,” Luna said.

Daisy brought out her phone, housed in a gem-encrusted case. “You’re going to love this.”

She queued up the video and we all squeezed together so we could see. It opened in an expensive hotel suite. Aldrich lying on his back. He was undressed, but thankfully we couldn’t see too much. A young woman with a deep tan and porn-star-sized fake boobs started to climb on top of him.

She glanced down and her eyebrows drew together. “Is something wrong?”

Aldrich lifted his head. “No. Fuck, I don’t know what’s going on. That never happens to me.”

We watched with morbid curiosity and a healthy dose of horror as the woman tried to help Aldrich achieve an erection. She tried. He tried. But no matter what they did, he couldn’t get it up.

Finally, she got frustrated and told him off in a language that might have been Portuguese. She grabbed her clothes, and the phone doing the recording, and the screen went dark.

“Can you even?” Daisy asked, laughing so hard she had to swipe a few tears from beneath her eyes.

“I almost feel bad for him,” Luna said. “Almost.”

“Karma indeed,” I said. “That was an absolute train wreck.”

Jude sat back and stretched his arm behind me. He had that smug look in his eyes again.