Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
He didn’t ask how she knew. She always knew everything that happened in the building. It was like a superpower. ‘I did, actually. Thanks.’
‘And?’ Kim waggled her eyebrows at him. ‘Do I sense some gossip in the making?’
‘No!’ It came out too emphatic. ‘No,’ he said again, more calmly. ‘I had to apologise for spilling her coffee. And I said I’d help her with the crowdfunding project. No gossip.’
Kim leaned forward on her elbow, chin resting on her hand. ‘But would you like there to be? Do I sense love in the air?’
Ethan shook his head. Kim was always doing this. She liked to tease people, but she seemed to particularly enjoy teasing him. ‘You’re obsessed with matchmaking, you are.’
Kim shrugged. ‘Keeps me entertained. It’s not like I can shop around anymore, is it? Tell you what,’ she said. ‘I’ll put in a good word for you when I next see her.’
‘Please don’t-‘
The switchboard phone rang and Kim had to answer it. Ethan took the opportunity to go back to his office.
L&B Online Event Services had an office on the third floor. Unlike the tiny offices downstairs, these were intended for companies with three or more employees. In theory, this meant having space for three desks and a small meeting space. But Ethan used the meeting room to store the equipment, and Bradley’s desk was mostly used as a dumping ground for stuff that needed to be sorted out later.
Ethan sat down at his desk and tried to concentrate, but his thoughts kept circling back to his upcoming meeting with Bradley. It sucked all his energy, distorting his brain like a black hole. When Bradley walked in the door, it was almost a relief.
‘Hello, hello.’ Bradley surveyed the place as though he owned it. He already had a hot drink in one hand and a couple of biscuits in the other. He must have charmed those out of Kim. ‘Ethan. It’s been too long.’ He stopped beside Pete. ‘You must be Pete,’ he said. ‘I’m Bradley. It’s nice to meet you.’ He transferred his biscuits to the same hand as his mug and shook Pete’s hand. ‘How’re you finding working with this guy?’
Pete’s gaze darted sideways to Ethan. ‘Er … fine.’
Ethan stood up. Bradley had been back less than a minute and already Ethan wanted to punch him. Where was the easy-going guy that he’d gone into business with? ‘I’ve booked us a meeting room, Brad. Shall we?’
Bradley made a face at Pete. Ethan ignored it. To his quiet delight, Pete did too.
When they got into the meeting room, Bradley sat down and dipped his biscuit in his tea. ‘What’s all this about, Ethan?’
Ethan started to sit down, then changed his mind, leaving him for a second in an awkward crouch. He stood up properly. ‘I’ll get straight to the point,’ he said, exactly like he’d practised. ‘You haven’t come in to work for ages and things have to change.’
‘I’m here now,’ said Bradley, smiling.
‘Only because I asked you to be. And in all honesty, I’m surprised. I half expected you to ignore me like you normally do. I’ve even drafted a formal letter.’
‘Really?’ He shook his head. ‘There’s no need for that. You could have just called me.’ He dipped the second biscuit. ‘What does your letter say?’
‘It reminds you that the agreement we both signed includes a clause that says you will work for the company an average of three days a week. You haven’t done anything for over a year.’
‘Ah, but you don’t know that,’ Bradley said, with infuriating cheeriness. ‘I could have been pitching to loads of clients, for all you know. I don’t have to tell you exactly what I’m doing. You’re not my boss.’
Ethan felt the heat rising in his face. His heart raced. ‘I’m not your boss. But I am your business partner. And right now, I’m the only one doing any work here. Do you know how many balls I’ve had to pick up because you’d dropped them? How many suppliers I’ve had to smooth over because you didn’t process the invoices like you were supposed to?’
Bradley shrugged. He didn’t seem to be listening. ‘So, I slipped up a couple of times. Nobody’s perfect, Ethan. Not even you.’
‘I’m not …’ No. This was a distraction. Ethan sighed and sank into his seat. A change of tactic was required. ‘Look, Brad. I don’t want to have to come after you for breach of contract. This isn’t like you. Is everything okay?’
Something changed in his former friend’s posture. Oh. It sounded like a little sympathy was having an effect. ‘Brad? Are you in trouble?’
Finally, Bradley made eye contact. ‘In a manner of speaking, maybe,’ he said. ‘I … got into some debt. I couldn’t pay it off, so I picked up more freelancing work, which is going well, by the way. I get dividends from here anyway, so I focused on that for a bit.’
‘But that’s hardly fair,’ said Ethan. ‘And it’s also not what we agreed.’
‘It’s a tough world out there, Ethan. It’s not all fun times and video games.’
Ouch. Low blow. During his university years, his YouTube channel had become profitable enough for him to seriously think about making a living off it. As a result he had taken his eye off his degree and only scraped through the course that he should have aced easily.
Bradley spotted his discomfort. ‘I don’t think you’re in any position to lecture me about getting distracted from the important things, are you?’
Ethan struggled to recover his composure. ‘That was a long time ago. Since we started this company, I have given it my all and you know it.’
Bradley didn’t disagree with him. He couldn’t because it was true. Ethan could hear his pulse roaring around his head. Bradley, as usual, was calm and so bloody charming.
‘Tell you what,’ said Bradley. ‘I agree with you on one thing. This arrangement isn’t working. I don’t like doing this work and you don’t want me here, so why don’t we come to a compromise. Why don’t you buy me out?’
Ethan blinked. He hadn’t expected things to get to that quite so soon. It was a good suggestion. Although, it depended on how much Bradley was asking for. ‘It’s a bit sudden, but okay,’ he said. ‘Let me ask the accountant to run the numbers and we’ll come up with a figure.’
Bradley smiled and nodded. ‘It’ll have to be soon, though. So how about three weeks from now? If you can’t buy me out by then, I have another buyer interested.’ He stood up. ‘I think we’re done here.’
‘Hang on-‘ Three weeks wasn’t much time. Especially if he had to find extra money.
‘It was good seeing you again, Ethan. I’ll be in touch.’ He grinned and left.
Ethan stared at the door. Bradley had just walked out on him. His first thought was how rude that was. His next thought was that Bradley had tricked him. He had clearly come in planning to tell Ethan he was selling up. The three weeks was a sop; a way to make Bradley look like less of a bastard. He was banking on Ethan failing to raise the money in that time. Ethan fumed quietly. He wasn’t going to chase his former friend down the corridor. He wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
Whatever Bradley’s reasons for giving him three weeks, the opportunity to own the whole of the business was too good for Ethan to pass it up. Besides, if Bradley sold up to someone else, Ethan would have to share ownership with a stranger. That would be awful. Right now, he got to run the company – which was essentially just him and Pete – how he liked. If someone else got involved, things would change. He definitely did not want that.
Three weeks was hardly enough time for him to raise the funds he’d need to buy Bradley out. He had some idea what Bradley’s share was worth, and he didn’t have that kind of money.
Unless … Ethan slowly let out his breath. Unless he won SyrenQuest.
He sat with that thought for a few minutes. He was normally careful to keep his Blaze-related money away from the company. The YouTube money paid his mortgage and allowed him to live a decent life despite his company earning minimal profit. He didn’t have any slack there. He had savings, though it would take some time to release them. But SyrenQuest wasn’t factored into his budget. If he won that, he would have enough money to invest in his company.
Winning SyrenQuest would be a long shot. His partner in the competition wasn’t the greatest of players, but he was pretty good. From what he could tell after that single practice session, this game was more like an adventure quest than a shoot-’em-up. So the fact that Bravura wasn’t a good fighter might be less relevant. They hadn’t played together before, which made life difficult. Then again, none of the other teams were used to playing together either, so maybe his chances weren’t as bad as all that.