Stuck with a Punk ✔

No. 2: Pissed off

The presentation goes well. The audience of businesspeople awards me with loud applause, and I give them a satisfied grin, which is all fake and polite. Bunch of mosquitos kissing my ass because of my terrific planning. I almost shudder at the thought, but I manage to contain the feeling for myself.

One of the CEOs, Lenart Wells, gets up from his seat, still clapping "Ah, my boy Nathan." He walks to me and turns to his maybe-soon partners "I hope we convinced you, gentlemen. If you still have any questions feel free to ask Nathan." When a few of the men lean forward, Lenart jumps to help "But do it over e-mail. Sleep on the idea, think about it, check its benefits, talk to your co-founders if you have any. Choices here have to be carefully made, so let's not rush to ideas." In the end, he clasps his hands together and leans a bit forward as he speaks "It's been a real pleasure talking to you, gents. Now, I will leave you to your work, meetings and discussions." They get up, packing papers in unusual polished leather cases and one by one begin to leave the office. "I am looking forward to hearing about your decisions." Lenart says while they are leaving through the door "And by all means, e-mail Nathan for unexplained and unclear details."

When they are finally gone, and their chatter about stocks considering other companies and comments of my idea can no longer be easily heard, Lenart's smile fades, and a merciless expression replaces it "Come with me to my office."

"Certainly, sir," I say and follow him like a puppy.

I walk with him down the hallway to his luxurious office. People give me a look of approval, nodding my way. I greet them all, but ladies get a special greeting and a dazzling smile from me. Sadly, I have no time to stop by them and reserve some special nights with them. Lenart lets me in his office and sits behind his large desk, leaning against his chair and looking like a cliche CEO.

I stand in front of him like a good soldier. Lenart has a thing for discipline, and I respect that. "Where is Jed?" I ask, quickly glancing towards the door of the office belonging to another CEO, the co-founder. Hether didn't show up to representation, so he must've been busy, and I wonder whether he's in his office because I can certainly hear voices coming from it.

Lenart sighs and rolls his eyes "He had to go to court this morning again, and now he has a meeting with his lawyer. One of his ex-wives put charges against him." I grit my teeth a little and give away a small shudder. Lenart chuckles at my reaction "Exactly."

I smile, and after a moment of silence, as Lenart pours us a glass of a ridiculously expensive Scotch, I say nicely "Sir, if I may, I'd like to thank you for saving me back there."

He smiles as well and hands me a half-full and heavy glass of whiskey "I know how you feel about men like them." He takes a sip and gets up, so he's on my level now "And I wanted to let you have your moment of glory. You deserved it. That was one hell of a presentation."

"Thank you, sir," I say and empty the glass before setting it down and hissing a little when burning liquid makes its way down my throat. "I worked hard for it."

He nods, putting the glasses and the bottle under a key, where they're safe until they are needed again. "I know. But for which part did you work so hard? For the whole creation of it or the speech you gave us?" I smirk in response, and he knows everything from just seeing my gesture. "You little devil. Ah, how successful I could have been if I had your way with words, charisma and a gift of speech."

I scoff "You're a CEO of one of the most important and widely spread companies around the world, and you feel sorry for not being successful enough? If that's what you're going to tell me, you better give me two bottles of that Scotch."

To my surprise, he brings the bottle back to the surface. Only a bottle "Have it, Nathan. As a reward for your hard work for speech."

"That's very gracious of you, sir." I take the bottle carefully and eye him a little "Is that why you called me here?"