Just when I thought they were over, Justin appeared in my doorway.
Looks like you’re about to be summoned. Again.
“You have a few minutes?” he asked.
I leaned back in my chair. “Sure. What’s up?”
“Meeting. My office.”
Another one? Maybe they want to discuss the last one.
Since Justin was my boss, I wasn’t about to tell him I’d prefer to sit this one out, although it was the truth. So, when Justin headed down the hall, I got to my feet and followed.
When I stepped into Justin’s office, I found Zeke, Landon, Langston, and Ben reclining, chatting amongst themselves on the two couches that formed a comfortable seating area. While my office was larger than it needed to be, it wasn’t the size of Justin’s. Or any of the other partners’, for that matter. The amount of space they had would’ve allowed me to live in my office. Full-time.
“Looks like a party,” I said as I took the only available spot across from Ben.
“Not for a few more days,” Landon stated with a smirk. “I hear Halloween’s on at the club.”
That it was, but to be honest, Halloween was one of my least favorite holidays at Dichotomy. It didn’t seem to matter how much effort I put into it, there was always drama. I detested drama, hated it with a passion.
“So, I brought you here for a reason,” Justin said as he took a seat in the oversized lounge chair on the end. “As you’re all aware, Zeke recently brought Cav on for his department in an official management position. After some discussion, we figured it would make sense for Cav to handle the hiring and firing of employees in their division.”
“Not simply because Cav’ll do a better job,” Ben added, a teasing note to his tone.
“But he will,” Zeke stated with a devious grin. “He likes people. I don’t.”
“So you say.” Ben sobered, glanced around at the players in the room. “We’ve decided to bring Zeke on as a partner, heading up the global information security division of Chatter PR. The fact of the matter is, we wouldn’t have this division if it weren’t for Zeke. It only felt right to give him a stake in the game.”
Wow. That was … interesting news. “Congratulations,” I told Zeke, genuinely happy for the guy.
Zeke nodded his thanks.
“As you may know, we’ve also brought Ramsey on as a partner and he’ll be running the talent division on his own.” Justin’s eyes shifted to my face. “And we’re finishing off the expansion by offering you a partner position as well.”
Hold the presses. Is he serious?
“Me?” I was confused. “What are you talking about?”
“We’re a global company,” Langston explained. “Over the years, we’ve continued to grow, but we’ve limited ourselves when it came to size and portfolio. In the past year, we’ve focused on the management team in an effort to expand our clientele. Since then, we’ve promoted Jordan, brought Jane on in a management role, as well as Bishop when we expanded with a security division. And we’ve hired Clarissa, bringing our contract legal team in house.”
Please tell me there’s a point to this.
Justin kept right on talking. “We’ve got a lot of balls in the air and still not enough people to handle everything. In order to focus and not overwhelm, we’re branching out.”
“We need more people to carry our balls,” Zeke said with a smirk.
While I appreciated his attempt at humor, I couldn’t get past the partner portion.
“As you know, the four of us have always maintained our own portfolios,” Justin noted. “Landon and Langston are building and expanding the publishing division, while I’m sticking with new products, mainly in the toy industry. Ben will continue to expand the technology companies. Which means we’ll need someone to mainly focus on your area of expertise. Large corporations, not related to technology. Who better to handle that than the man who’s spent his entire career handling them?”
“But you don’t have a corporate division,” I told Justin.
Ben grinned, white teeth flashing. “We do now.”
“Really?”
“If you’re interested, that is,” Landon said.
I realized all eyes were on me, but my attention remained on Justin. Back before Chatter PR had existed, Justin and I had worked for the same advertising agency. We’d joked from time to time about venturing out on our own. One day, Justin decided to go for it. At the time, I wasn’t comfortable committing, so I’d politely declined. The man had been on me for years to come join his company. I’d gotten used to him calling me at least once a month to discuss when I was moving to his firm. I hadn’t regretted giving in.
Until now.
Justin tilted his head, studying me. “What? Did you not expect me to put you on the spot?”
“Would’ve been nice,” I replied.
He maintained a sober expression. “I figured if I wanted to avoid a decade’s worth of begging and pleading, this was the way to go.”
