Office Politics (Chapter 9)
Summary - AU/AU Jack is a trainee architect at a company owned by Mitchell Del Mar and his cousin Ennis. A light hearted office romance - nothing too angsty or dark in this establishment.
Big thanks to hesamathgeek for the beta :)
Feedback - yes please! And a Happy Boxing Day to you all!
Last chapter recap - Jack made the decision to look for another job, had a rather steamy solo session in the shower, a chat with Mitchell and then spent a night downing beers with Scott...
On with the story!
****
The following morning, Jack was in a foul mood. Not helped at all by the pounding headache he was experiencing-courtesy of the one too many beers he had consumed with Scott the night before. He rolled over in bed and groaned when the strip of light through his window landed on his half open eyes. He pulled the covers further up over his head and tried to pretend that it all wasn’t happening.
“Jack!”
The loud thumping on the door was painful. Jack snuggled further under the blankets and ignored Scott’s voice.
“Jack! JACK! Get up, you lazy ass, you’ll be late for work!”
Jack grunted out an incoherent reply as his door flew open and Scott skipped in, only to sit on Jack’s bed and start bouncing up and down violently.
“Come ON! Get up.”
“Urgh,” Jack grumbled and wiggled one foot free to kick Scott off the bed. “Fuck off.”
“Can’t, dude. We have to be in on time today. Important visitors. Don’t you remember? The staff meeting yesterday? Everyone has to dress to impress!”
Jack lifted the covers and cracked open one eye to see that Scott was indeed wearing a suit, shirt and tie. Looking very sharp, too. He’d even brushed his hair. “Goddamn it,” Jack muttered and clutched his head as he sat up. “Get me some Tylenol or something, would you? Fuck. I feel like death warmed over.”
“Sure thing. Back in two.” Scott bounced up off the bed and disappeared into the living area, reappearing moments later with some pills and a glass of water.
Jack eyed him suspiciously. “How come you’re so cheery today, huh? Why am I the only one in pain here?”
Scott laughed and patted Jack on the shoulder. “Man, you were the one knocking back the all the vodka shots last night. I tried to warn you, but no, you wouldn’t listen.”
Jack swallowed the pills with a grimace. “Great.”
“You’ll feel better after a shower and food. Come on, get your ugly self up and we can grab some triple espressos and donuts at Starbucks. My treat.”
“You must be in a good mood,” Jack muttered, but slowly slid out of bed and walked gingerly to the bathroom, scrubbing his hands over his stubbly jaw.
Scott watched in amusement. “And don’t forget to shave!” he called after Jack.
****
The office was a hive of activity when Scott and Jack arrived. Jack had finally managed to drag himself out of bed and throw on a suit, together with a new pale blue shirt. He thought that the blue of the shirt made the color of his eyes pop, but what he was hoping to achieve with that, he didn’t really want to dwell on. The Tylenol and coffee were working their magic and Jack had finally started to feel human again.
Candy was busy typing away when they reached the tenth floor, her long nails making a click, click, click sound as they scurried over they keyboard. “You’re late,” she said as they stepped out of the elevator with steaming cups of coffee.
Jack flicked his wrist over to look at his watch. “Well, technically we’re actually on time.”
Candy gave them a withering look as the phone rang on her desk. She shooed them away with one hand and picked up the phone with the other, a fake smile plastered on her face, “DMC & Associates, Candy speaking, how may I help you?”
Jack rolled his eyes and took a long swallow of coffee. “So, tell me again why we’re dressed like this?” he murmured to Scott.
Scott pushed open the glass doors and they made their way to their office, dodging people hurrying around like worker bees. “Industry chiefs,” he said, “were you paying any attention at all at the meeting yesterday?”
“Not really,” Jack confessed, “I kinda had other things on my mind.”
“Well, don’t let on to anyone else you’re looking,” Scott advised. “If the wrong people find out, then, well, you know. The proverbial could hit the fan, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jack said as they entered their office. He shrugged off his suit jacket and hung it on the back of his chair. He smoothed down his tie, ruffled his hair and struck a pose in front of Scott, hands on hips. “So, do I look respectable enough, huh?”
Scott snorted, “You’ll do.” He straightened his own tie and pouted at Jack, one eyebrow raised, “How about me?”
Jack snickered and was about to respond when a rap of knuckles on the door had them both swinging around. Mitchell stood in the doorway eyeing them both in amusement. “Guys, boardroom 3 in five minutes, please.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Scott saluted Mitchell with one hand.
Mitchell shook his head and backed away to round up the rest of the staff.
****
After the first meeting of the day, Scott and Jack found themselves in presentation after presentation, talk after talk. Some recent regulatory changes had been passed and there was a lot of technical ground to cover. Just before lunch Jack’s head started to pound again, and not just from the hangover. During a short break, he grabbed some more medication from his desk and headed to the kitchen area for a glass of water. Thankfully, the kitchen was empty. He downed two more pills and then rested his forehead against the cool glass of the window. It had started to rain and he stood there motionless for a couple of minutes, watching the water trickle patterns down the pane, an inch away from his nose. A soft touch to his shoulder made him jump. He swung around to come face to face with Ennis.
“Are you ok?” Ennis asked in concern.
Jack stuttered a laugh and rubbed his hand self consciously over his forehead, knowing that he probably had a very attractive red mark there from the window. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Ennis dropped his hand and his brown eyes held some concern as they flickered over Jack’s face. Ennis nodded at the bottle of Tylenol in Jack’s hand. “Really?”
“Oh.” Jack quickly shoved it into his pocket and shrugged, “Self-inflicted. My own stupid fault. I’ll be fine.”
“If you say so.” Ennis’ gaze lowered to briefly to take in Jack’s formal clothes. “So you do actually own a suit then?”
“What? Oh, yes.”
“Good. I was beginning to think you only wore jeans.” Ennis’ eyes lingered on Jack’s torso, “That’s a nice shirt.”
Jack looked down at his brand new blue shirt and plucked it away from this chest. “What, this old thing? Something I just threw on.”
“Right.” Ennis wasn’t fooled.
“Ok, well, you know, maybe it only comes out for special occasions.”
“I thought so,” Ennis nodded with a smile.
Jack was slightly caught off guard by this new, friendly Ennis and smiled back. Neither of them said a word, just watched each other. Jack felt his cheeks start to burn and his pulse escalate. He really couldn’t do this here. Not any more. He dropped his eyes and ran the toe of his shoe across the tiled floor. “I guess you have to be going somewhere?”
Ennis shuffled his feet and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his pants. “I sure do. Lunch. Want to join me?”
Jack’s eyes snapped back up again and for a second he thought he caught Ennis looking at his mouth. “What?”
“Lunch. They’re serving sandwiches in Boardroom 2. We’ve got a busy afternoon and you probably ought to eat something after that.” Ennis looked pointedly at the bulge in the pocket of Jack’s slacks.
Jack followed Ennis’ gaze downwards. The bottle of pills was lying dangerously close to his crotch. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Ennis smiled again and cocked his head towards the door. “Come on, then. Follow me,” he said briskly, turning to leave the kitchen.
That smile really was deadly. It should be illegal, what it did to Jack’s insides. Your wish is my command, Master, Jack thought with a grin.
“Jack? You coming?” Ennis’ voice came from outside in the corridor.
“Sorry! Yes. Of course.” He forced his feet to move and hurried after Ennis.
****
That afternoon, Ennis and Mitchell, plus some of the more senior staff, had a series of meetings with the industry big shots. After an hour or two, Jack and Scott were relegated back to their office with a stack of papers to read.
“God, I hate all this crap,” Scott moaned as he flicked through the pile of paper. “Regulatory shit. Books. Reading. Blah, blah, blah. Can’t we watch a DVD or something? That would make it a lot more fun.”
Jack mulled it over. “I guess we could suggest it? Maybe we can all take a section and present it in a fun way-a news report, funny sketch or something. ‘Ten things you never knew about x, y and z’. Would make it a heck of a lot more bearable.”
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea, you know,” Scott said, punching holes aggressively in the papers to file. “Who says that we always have to do stuff the boring way?”
“Uh huh. Mitchell might be up for it; maybe if we…”
Jack’s thoughts were cut off when his phone rang. Ennis’ deep velvety voice caressed his ear. “Jack, can you come in here for a moment, please?”
“Uh, sure.”
Ennis hung up and Jack sighed, pushing himself to his feet.
Scott looked up from the papers he was attacking. “Was that Ennis?”
“Yeah. Wish me luck.”
Scott grinned, “You’ll be fine. Just turn on that famous Twist charm.”
“No point. He’s immune,” Jack replied.
Whatever his brain told him, Jack’s stomach was still tied in knots as he rapped lightly on the door to Ennis’ office.
“Come in, Jack.”
Jack opened the door and immediately his eyes snagged on Ennis’. Mitchell was also sitting by the desk. Jack was aware of someone else in the room, but the man was sitting behind Mitchell so it was hard to get a good look.
Ennis stood up and walked around the desk towards Jack, beckoning him over. “Jack, I’d like you to meet Avery Brice.”
Whoa. Jack knew that name. This was the guy who had designed the amazing new baseball stadium that everyone had been talking about. The one he had read about in the magazine the other day. A real big hitter in the world of architecture, you could say.
Jack tore his eyes away from Ennis and looked down at Avery, who was sitting in one of the office chairs. He was a dark skinned man in his mid thirties, possibly Cuban or Puerto Rican. He was wearing a very elegant suit but had a definite aura of fun about him.
Avery stood up and extended a hand to Jack. “Hi, Jack,” he said with a wide smile, brown eyes twinkling.
“Avery is an old friend of mine and Mitchell’s.”
The Del Mars sure had friends in high places. Jack shook Avery’s hand and tried not to stare.
“Avery, this is Jack Twist; he’s the one who did Friday Bridge with Mitch and recently finished working with me on Saturday Bridge,” Ennis continued.
“Hi. Pleased to meet you,” Jack replied, wondering what was going on and feeling a little in awe of Avery. He risked another look at Ennis. Ennis nodded to the spare seat in front of his desk and Jack sat down, hands in his lap, waiting for whatever was coming next.
Avery sat back in his chair and leaned backwards, crossing one ankle over the other knee, arms behind his head. “So, Ennis tells me you’re pretty hot stuff,” he said with a grin.
Jack’s eyes boggled and Mitchell put a hand over his mouth as if he were trying to hide a smile.
Ennis cleared his throat. “Jack, Avery runs a firm across town. Very cutting edge, very dynamic. They do more commercial projects than us.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jack turned to face Avery, “I loved what you did at Baskerville Park. That place is just awesome.”
“Thanks.” Avery smiled and shifted in his seat. “Thing is, Jack, we’ve just won a couple of great contracts. Exciting contracts. We’re a young firm and we need young, bright people to get us where we need to go.”
“Ok,” Jack nodded, still confused.
“Would you be interested in working with us for a while?”
“Me? But I already have a job.” Jack looked at Mitchell and Ennis in surprise. “Don’t I?”
“Sure,” Mitchell spoke up, “this would just be a temporary thing. We sometimes exchange staff with Avery on a short term basis, if it suits everyone involved. But only if we feel you could gain from it and would represent our firm well. It’s great for building up contacts and different experiences when you’re training. You’d still technically be employed by us, you’d just work out of Avery’s offices.”
Avery nodded his agreement.
Jack didn’t know what to say. Work with one of the best brains in the industry? Someone whose work he had admired for ages? Gain some great commercial experience? It was an easy decision, but he still struggled to find the words. He shot a look at Ennis. His eyes were steady, watching Jack’s reactions, and he nodded slightly in encouragement.
“Oh, wow. I don’t know what to say.” Jack was flattered that the Del Mars had singled him out to recommend to Avery, but he didn’t know if there was another underlying reason behind it. He mentally kicked himself for being so damn paranoid. So what if there was? Why shouldn’t he take advantage of this offer?
“Take a while to think it over,” Mitchell added, “let us know by the end of the day.”
“I don’t need to think about it,” Jack said quickly, looking over at Avery, “I’d love to work with you.”
Avery grinned again and stood up to slap Jack on the shoulder. “Excellent! Good decision!” He shook Jack’s hand once more and sat back down. “Excellent, excellent. So, I suppose we have to sort out all the tedious admin details now, right?” He addressed this to Ennis and Mitchell.
Mitchell shook his head with a smile. “Nah, Ennis and I’ll have a chat with Jack later and let you know when, where, and so on. Is that ok?”
Avery laced his fingers across his chest in satisfaction. “Perfect. Thanks.”
Jack was stunned, in a good way. How the hell had this happened? “I…I look forward to working with you,” he said to Avery as Ennis stood to show Jack out.
“Me too, Jack, me too,” Avery replied. “I’ll bust your ass, but you’ll thank me for it,” he added with a wink.
Ennis smothered a cough as he opened the door for Jack. “We’ll speak later,” he said.
“Sounds good,” Jack replied as he brushed past him lightly and headed back down the corridor to his office.
TBC
A/N - thanks to Zhouhua for the inspiration for a certain scene in this chapter :)
Big thanks to hesamathgeek for the beta :)
Feedback - yes please! And a Happy Boxing Day to you all!
Last chapter recap - Jack made the decision to look for another job, had a rather steamy solo session in the shower, a chat with Mitchell and then spent a night downing beers with Scott...
On with the story!
****
The following morning, Jack was in a foul mood. Not helped at all by the pounding headache he was experiencing-courtesy of the one too many beers he had consumed with Scott the night before. He rolled over in bed and groaned when the strip of light through his window landed on his half open eyes. He pulled the covers further up over his head and tried to pretend that it all wasn’t happening.
“Jack!”
The loud thumping on the door was painful. Jack snuggled further under the blankets and ignored Scott’s voice.
“Jack! JACK! Get up, you lazy ass, you’ll be late for work!”
Jack grunted out an incoherent reply as his door flew open and Scott skipped in, only to sit on Jack’s bed and start bouncing up and down violently.
“Come ON! Get up.”
“Urgh,” Jack grumbled and wiggled one foot free to kick Scott off the bed. “Fuck off.”
“Can’t, dude. We have to be in on time today. Important visitors. Don’t you remember? The staff meeting yesterday? Everyone has to dress to impress!”
Jack lifted the covers and cracked open one eye to see that Scott was indeed wearing a suit, shirt and tie. Looking very sharp, too. He’d even brushed his hair. “Goddamn it,” Jack muttered and clutched his head as he sat up. “Get me some Tylenol or something, would you? Fuck. I feel like death warmed over.”
“Sure thing. Back in two.” Scott bounced up off the bed and disappeared into the living area, reappearing moments later with some pills and a glass of water.
Jack eyed him suspiciously. “How come you’re so cheery today, huh? Why am I the only one in pain here?”
Scott laughed and patted Jack on the shoulder. “Man, you were the one knocking back the all the vodka shots last night. I tried to warn you, but no, you wouldn’t listen.”
Jack swallowed the pills with a grimace. “Great.”
“You’ll feel better after a shower and food. Come on, get your ugly self up and we can grab some triple espressos and donuts at Starbucks. My treat.”
“You must be in a good mood,” Jack muttered, but slowly slid out of bed and walked gingerly to the bathroom, scrubbing his hands over his stubbly jaw.
Scott watched in amusement. “And don’t forget to shave!” he called after Jack.
****
The office was a hive of activity when Scott and Jack arrived. Jack had finally managed to drag himself out of bed and throw on a suit, together with a new pale blue shirt. He thought that the blue of the shirt made the color of his eyes pop, but what he was hoping to achieve with that, he didn’t really want to dwell on. The Tylenol and coffee were working their magic and Jack had finally started to feel human again.
Candy was busy typing away when they reached the tenth floor, her long nails making a click, click, click sound as they scurried over they keyboard. “You’re late,” she said as they stepped out of the elevator with steaming cups of coffee.
Jack flicked his wrist over to look at his watch. “Well, technically we’re actually on time.”
Candy gave them a withering look as the phone rang on her desk. She shooed them away with one hand and picked up the phone with the other, a fake smile plastered on her face, “DMC & Associates, Candy speaking, how may I help you?”
Jack rolled his eyes and took a long swallow of coffee. “So, tell me again why we’re dressed like this?” he murmured to Scott.
Scott pushed open the glass doors and they made their way to their office, dodging people hurrying around like worker bees. “Industry chiefs,” he said, “were you paying any attention at all at the meeting yesterday?”
“Not really,” Jack confessed, “I kinda had other things on my mind.”
“Well, don’t let on to anyone else you’re looking,” Scott advised. “If the wrong people find out, then, well, you know. The proverbial could hit the fan, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jack said as they entered their office. He shrugged off his suit jacket and hung it on the back of his chair. He smoothed down his tie, ruffled his hair and struck a pose in front of Scott, hands on hips. “So, do I look respectable enough, huh?”
Scott snorted, “You’ll do.” He straightened his own tie and pouted at Jack, one eyebrow raised, “How about me?”
Jack snickered and was about to respond when a rap of knuckles on the door had them both swinging around. Mitchell stood in the doorway eyeing them both in amusement. “Guys, boardroom 3 in five minutes, please.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Scott saluted Mitchell with one hand.
Mitchell shook his head and backed away to round up the rest of the staff.
****
After the first meeting of the day, Scott and Jack found themselves in presentation after presentation, talk after talk. Some recent regulatory changes had been passed and there was a lot of technical ground to cover. Just before lunch Jack’s head started to pound again, and not just from the hangover. During a short break, he grabbed some more medication from his desk and headed to the kitchen area for a glass of water. Thankfully, the kitchen was empty. He downed two more pills and then rested his forehead against the cool glass of the window. It had started to rain and he stood there motionless for a couple of minutes, watching the water trickle patterns down the pane, an inch away from his nose. A soft touch to his shoulder made him jump. He swung around to come face to face with Ennis.
“Are you ok?” Ennis asked in concern.
Jack stuttered a laugh and rubbed his hand self consciously over his forehead, knowing that he probably had a very attractive red mark there from the window. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Ennis dropped his hand and his brown eyes held some concern as they flickered over Jack’s face. Ennis nodded at the bottle of Tylenol in Jack’s hand. “Really?”
“Oh.” Jack quickly shoved it into his pocket and shrugged, “Self-inflicted. My own stupid fault. I’ll be fine.”
“If you say so.” Ennis’ gaze lowered to briefly to take in Jack’s formal clothes. “So you do actually own a suit then?”
“What? Oh, yes.”
“Good. I was beginning to think you only wore jeans.” Ennis’ eyes lingered on Jack’s torso, “That’s a nice shirt.”
Jack looked down at his brand new blue shirt and plucked it away from this chest. “What, this old thing? Something I just threw on.”
“Right.” Ennis wasn’t fooled.
“Ok, well, you know, maybe it only comes out for special occasions.”
“I thought so,” Ennis nodded with a smile.
Jack was slightly caught off guard by this new, friendly Ennis and smiled back. Neither of them said a word, just watched each other. Jack felt his cheeks start to burn and his pulse escalate. He really couldn’t do this here. Not any more. He dropped his eyes and ran the toe of his shoe across the tiled floor. “I guess you have to be going somewhere?”
Ennis shuffled his feet and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his pants. “I sure do. Lunch. Want to join me?”
Jack’s eyes snapped back up again and for a second he thought he caught Ennis looking at his mouth. “What?”
“Lunch. They’re serving sandwiches in Boardroom 2. We’ve got a busy afternoon and you probably ought to eat something after that.” Ennis looked pointedly at the bulge in the pocket of Jack’s slacks.
Jack followed Ennis’ gaze downwards. The bottle of pills was lying dangerously close to his crotch. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Ennis smiled again and cocked his head towards the door. “Come on, then. Follow me,” he said briskly, turning to leave the kitchen.
That smile really was deadly. It should be illegal, what it did to Jack’s insides. Your wish is my command, Master, Jack thought with a grin.
“Jack? You coming?” Ennis’ voice came from outside in the corridor.
“Sorry! Yes. Of course.” He forced his feet to move and hurried after Ennis.
****
That afternoon, Ennis and Mitchell, plus some of the more senior staff, had a series of meetings with the industry big shots. After an hour or two, Jack and Scott were relegated back to their office with a stack of papers to read.
“God, I hate all this crap,” Scott moaned as he flicked through the pile of paper. “Regulatory shit. Books. Reading. Blah, blah, blah. Can’t we watch a DVD or something? That would make it a lot more fun.”
Jack mulled it over. “I guess we could suggest it? Maybe we can all take a section and present it in a fun way-a news report, funny sketch or something. ‘Ten things you never knew about x, y and z’. Would make it a heck of a lot more bearable.”
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea, you know,” Scott said, punching holes aggressively in the papers to file. “Who says that we always have to do stuff the boring way?”
“Uh huh. Mitchell might be up for it; maybe if we…”
Jack’s thoughts were cut off when his phone rang. Ennis’ deep velvety voice caressed his ear. “Jack, can you come in here for a moment, please?”
“Uh, sure.”
Ennis hung up and Jack sighed, pushing himself to his feet.
Scott looked up from the papers he was attacking. “Was that Ennis?”
“Yeah. Wish me luck.”
Scott grinned, “You’ll be fine. Just turn on that famous Twist charm.”
“No point. He’s immune,” Jack replied.
Whatever his brain told him, Jack’s stomach was still tied in knots as he rapped lightly on the door to Ennis’ office.
“Come in, Jack.”
Jack opened the door and immediately his eyes snagged on Ennis’. Mitchell was also sitting by the desk. Jack was aware of someone else in the room, but the man was sitting behind Mitchell so it was hard to get a good look.
Ennis stood up and walked around the desk towards Jack, beckoning him over. “Jack, I’d like you to meet Avery Brice.”
Whoa. Jack knew that name. This was the guy who had designed the amazing new baseball stadium that everyone had been talking about. The one he had read about in the magazine the other day. A real big hitter in the world of architecture, you could say.
Jack tore his eyes away from Ennis and looked down at Avery, who was sitting in one of the office chairs. He was a dark skinned man in his mid thirties, possibly Cuban or Puerto Rican. He was wearing a very elegant suit but had a definite aura of fun about him.
Avery stood up and extended a hand to Jack. “Hi, Jack,” he said with a wide smile, brown eyes twinkling.
“Avery is an old friend of mine and Mitchell’s.”
The Del Mars sure had friends in high places. Jack shook Avery’s hand and tried not to stare.
“Avery, this is Jack Twist; he’s the one who did Friday Bridge with Mitch and recently finished working with me on Saturday Bridge,” Ennis continued.
“Hi. Pleased to meet you,” Jack replied, wondering what was going on and feeling a little in awe of Avery. He risked another look at Ennis. Ennis nodded to the spare seat in front of his desk and Jack sat down, hands in his lap, waiting for whatever was coming next.
Avery sat back in his chair and leaned backwards, crossing one ankle over the other knee, arms behind his head. “So, Ennis tells me you’re pretty hot stuff,” he said with a grin.
Jack’s eyes boggled and Mitchell put a hand over his mouth as if he were trying to hide a smile.
Ennis cleared his throat. “Jack, Avery runs a firm across town. Very cutting edge, very dynamic. They do more commercial projects than us.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jack turned to face Avery, “I loved what you did at Baskerville Park. That place is just awesome.”
“Thanks.” Avery smiled and shifted in his seat. “Thing is, Jack, we’ve just won a couple of great contracts. Exciting contracts. We’re a young firm and we need young, bright people to get us where we need to go.”
“Ok,” Jack nodded, still confused.
“Would you be interested in working with us for a while?”
“Me? But I already have a job.” Jack looked at Mitchell and Ennis in surprise. “Don’t I?”
“Sure,” Mitchell spoke up, “this would just be a temporary thing. We sometimes exchange staff with Avery on a short term basis, if it suits everyone involved. But only if we feel you could gain from it and would represent our firm well. It’s great for building up contacts and different experiences when you’re training. You’d still technically be employed by us, you’d just work out of Avery’s offices.”
Avery nodded his agreement.
Jack didn’t know what to say. Work with one of the best brains in the industry? Someone whose work he had admired for ages? Gain some great commercial experience? It was an easy decision, but he still struggled to find the words. He shot a look at Ennis. His eyes were steady, watching Jack’s reactions, and he nodded slightly in encouragement.
“Oh, wow. I don’t know what to say.” Jack was flattered that the Del Mars had singled him out to recommend to Avery, but he didn’t know if there was another underlying reason behind it. He mentally kicked himself for being so damn paranoid. So what if there was? Why shouldn’t he take advantage of this offer?
“Take a while to think it over,” Mitchell added, “let us know by the end of the day.”
“I don’t need to think about it,” Jack said quickly, looking over at Avery, “I’d love to work with you.”
Avery grinned again and stood up to slap Jack on the shoulder. “Excellent! Good decision!” He shook Jack’s hand once more and sat back down. “Excellent, excellent. So, I suppose we have to sort out all the tedious admin details now, right?” He addressed this to Ennis and Mitchell.
Mitchell shook his head with a smile. “Nah, Ennis and I’ll have a chat with Jack later and let you know when, where, and so on. Is that ok?”
Avery laced his fingers across his chest in satisfaction. “Perfect. Thanks.”
Jack was stunned, in a good way. How the hell had this happened? “I…I look forward to working with you,” he said to Avery as Ennis stood to show Jack out.
“Me too, Jack, me too,” Avery replied. “I’ll bust your ass, but you’ll thank me for it,” he added with a wink.
Ennis smothered a cough as he opened the door for Jack. “We’ll speak later,” he said.
“Sounds good,” Jack replied as he brushed past him lightly and headed back down the corridor to his office.
TBC
A/N - thanks to Zhouhua for the inspiration for a certain scene in this chapter :)