I had to agree with her. I liked Mark. He was a nice guy, but he certainly wasn’t the type of guy I would see Tiffany with in the long run.
She smiled dreamily. “He’s good. He came over last night.” She grinned widely. “We spent some time studying.”
Did I mention Mark O’Conner was a professor at the school? Well, he was, and Tiffany was enjoying the time she spent with him.
“Of course you did.” I wrapped up the other half of my sandwich, tucking it back into the bag. I would save it for dinner since my classes ran late on Monday night.
“When are you going back to the club?”
I shrugged, finished off what she left me of the chocolate shake. “Don’t know.”
“Are you seeing Master Edge again?” The way she said his name all breathless made it sound like a taboo relationship.
“He wants to get together,” I explained. “To assess whether or not I’m a good fit for his training class.”
Tiffany slapped her hands on the table. “Shut. Up.”
I giggled, loving her reaction.
“You’re gonna be a submissive?”
I offered another shrug. “Not sure yet. He has to make that decision.”
“Oh, my God. You’re so lucky.” Her eyes shot across the food court to the clock on the wall. “Damn it. I have to get back.”
When she started to gather up the trash, I waved her off. “Go,” I insisted. “I’ve got this.”
Tiffany nodded, grabbed the Coke as she stood. “You’ve got class tonight, right?”
I nodded.
“Text me tomorrow. We need to get together with Jonah so you can give him all the juicy details. He’ll go nuts.”
“I will,” I assured her as she was walking off.
As I watched my friend leave, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, my thoughts drifting back to Edge and Cav, to Friday night. I’d heard from Cav on Saturday, a few short texts completely innocent in nature. I’d been thinking about texting him again but figured I didn’t want to appear too eager.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t heard from Edge yet. I was waiting, hoping. Strangely, I was enjoying the anticipation, because for the first time in a very long time, I had something to look forward to.
CAV
ZEKE LAUTNER WAS A GIANT OF A man. Six foot eight, probably close to three hundred pounds of solid muscle, not to mention the sinister glare that seemed to be his default expression. I could see how he intimidated people.
However, since I was on the path to working for the man, my main objective was to keep us on an even keel. I wasn’t the sort who was easily intimidated, and I think he figured that out early on in our interview when we’d engaged in a few minutes of small talk. What did I think of the Chicago traffic? It sucked. How long had I been back? A couple of days. Was I interested in working for Chatter? Yes, I was.
Since then, we’d moved on, but I could sense this was the part of the interview Zeke wasn’t all that comfortable with. As of yet, he hadn’t delved too deeply into my past experience, but I got the feeling he was trying to work around to it.
“You ever manage people?” he asked casually, leaning back in the leather executive chair.
We were sitting in a conference room that held at least fifteen people, just the two of us. He had prefaced the interview by telling me I’d be meeting with a couple of the partners, but I had yet to see anyone other than him.
“I have,” I told him, although he would’ve seen that if he’d looked at my resume.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“Managing people?” I asked, more to give me time to formulate an answer than from a need for him to clarify.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t mind it.”
“How many have you managed?”
“A team of five was the largest,” I admitted.
“How do you feel about fifteen?”
Before I could answer, there was a quick rap on the door. It opened without a response from Zeke. We were joined by a well-dressed black man with a bald head and eyes that were bright against his dark skin. I recognized him instantly.
“Ben Snowden,” he introduced himself, not bothering to wait for Zeke to say anything.
I pushed to my feet, shook his hand. “Nice to see you again.”
Ben studied me momentarily, then grinned, his white teeth flashing. “Cav. I didn’t recognize you without the hat.” He motioned toward my chair as he moved around the table. “Please. Sit.”
Straightforward and efficient, that was how I remembered Ben. Seemed he was still that way.
I eased back into my chair, dividing my attention between the two of them as they sat across from me.
“Sorry I’m late,” Ben said. “I had a meeting that ran long.”
“We were talking about him managing people,” Zeke explained. “Said he can do it.”
Ben smiled, staring down at a sheet of paper in a folder he’d brought with him. A quick peek at it told me he was looking at my resume.
