Part 12. Thursday afternoon.
"You know, Will, Belinda wants me to convince you to make amends with Karen," Steven said. "She's quite upset about it." He grabbed his water and took a sip, casting a quick glance at the departing hostess.
The ladies of our group had gone en masse to the restroom as soon as we entered the restaurant. I originally thought that behavior was exclusively for high schoolers, but had been proven wrong far too many times over the years.
"No offense to your Belinda, but my relationship with Karen is my own to determine," I replied.
"Yes, which is exactly what I told her," he said, smiling slightly and nodding his head. "She may not like it but she knows all about men with strong convictions."
"Jaycee and I had a big row about it yesterday, complete with yelling and throwing things," I admitted.
"And yet you and Karen are still on the outs, meaning that you didn't give in to your woman."
My woman? I guess that was as good a term for Jaycee as any. As much as I hated labels, they certainly were a desirable tool to help smooth understanding, including to myself. I'd love to be able to determine just what Jaycee meant to me and how she fit into my life. I've been using the term slave all week, but the more I used it the more unsatisfied I became with it.
"So you never give in to what a woman wants?" Aaron asked him. It was just the opening Steven needed to enter his lecture mode.
"Men are all barbarians at heart. Women force civilization upon us. But the more successful men are those who have learned to tap into and direct that inner barbarian. We want to conquer and control. Women, as much as they hate to admit it, are attracted to that. It's all biology. They are looking for the mate most capable of giving them the healthiest offspring. Back in caveman times, that was the strongest and biggest, and part of that deep-seated evolutionary longing is still there. But in this day and age, health has probably more to do with financial resources than physical strength. And think of the type of people who can succeed in today's modern economy. They are educated, driven, dedicated, ambitious, and innovative. Those types of people aren't the type to easily change their mind. No, they have made it their specialty to change other people's minds, or circumvent people who cannot be convinced in order to get what they want. So when it comes to our romantic alliances, there's a pull and push within every relationship which becomes more one-sided with men like us. We aren't going to bend to as many of a woman's demands. In fact, we're going to force them to bend to our will many more times than they'd like. But it has to be that way or we wouldn't be who we are, and they wouldn't be so damn attracted to us in the first place. So stay true to yourself. It's why Will here is going to be so successful. His girl may be upset with him right now, but she'll come back around before he knows it."
The first of the women returned to our lunch table at that point and the conversation fragmented into small groups and moved on to different subjects.
"Is that what you think, too, Will?" asked Aaron. "That you don't have to ever give in to a woman?"
As much as I wanted to agree with Steven, my legal training kicked in, forcing me to immediately see both sides of every issue and to find nuance and distinctions where before there were broad statements of principle.
"I know that Steven's little speech there sounds appealing," I said. "And I agree that no one, man or woman, should have to give in on their core principles. That's why I haven't just forgiven what Karen did no matter what Jaycee, or I guess Belinda now, would like. But life is filled with compromises no matter what form of relationship, whether it's romantic or professional or even a chance encounter amongst strangers."
"I don't know," Aaron said. "Mister Beck is a really impressive guy. It's hard to see him not getting his way on anything."
"If Steven really did his own thing and never did what Belinda wanted him to do, then he wouldn't have even brought up Karen in the first place. His telling me of Belinda's complaints was his half-measure compromise. He wasn't going to tell me to fix the situation, but he was letting me know that my actions were making his Belinda upset and thus causing him some headaches."
Aaron didn't look like he believed me. "Says the guy with his own sex slave," Aaron quipped. "Alex kept talking about it all morning. So that's still going on? She's really following through with the bet, huh?"
"You know, it's funny. I give Jaycee orders, and she follows them. But the more she follows them the more thought I put into the orders to make sure they are things that she's going to like."
"Huh?"
"I don't know. I guess I'm just saying that I wouldn't like it if Jaycee didn't enjoy following my orders. It's because she gets off on it that I'm enjoying it so much."
"Damn," said Aaron. "It sounds like you've got the perfect girl then. Susan always had to get her way or she'd turn into this incredibly whiny brat. I'd just give in to shut her up."
"Let me tell you something, Aaron. Susan wasn't the only person in your relationship who spent a lot of time whining."
"What the fuck does that mean?"
"Oh Will, she still hasn't slept with me. Oh Will, doesn't she know how much I care for her? Oh Will, why can't she give me this one little thing when I give her so much of what she wants already?" I mimicked.
"Shit," Aaron grumbled. "Was I really that bad?"
"Yeah," I sadly told him. "Maybe even worse."
"That's pretty pathetic," said an eavesdropping Paula. Ouch. It's one thing for a bro to say that to another bro, but Paula just figuratively mashed Aaron's testicles. I quickly tried to put the best possible spin on the situation I could come up with.
"Everybody should have a relationship like that," I told her, "so long as it ends soon enough. That way you have a strong memory to motivate you not to get in such a one-sided relationship again."
"Unless you get off on one-sided relationships," Paula said.
"Sure," I agreed. "There's an exception to every rule. But really that isn't so one-sided. Both sides are getting something they want, else they wouldn't be in the relationship."
After lunch, the group agreed to go back to Aaron's office and look into luxury condominiums. Too bad the Ajax Building wasn't completed. That had promised to be the nicest residential high rise in the South before the financial crisis came and the project lost its funding. The building had been sitting half-constructed and open to the elements for three months now, a rusting eye sore on the city skyline.
Billy and Siri agreed to make a detour and drop me off downtown for my meeting with Glenda. I'd get there a few minutes early. I took the opportunity to make some calls to arrange a special night for Jaycee the next night since I didn't want to make them while Jaycee was around. Once that was done I looked over the offer from my old firm.
I was less than impressed. Sure it was possible to get a seven figure bonus, but barely. I'd make exactly one million dollars if I quintupled the business I got from Beck and succeeded in stealing every single one of Glenda's clients, including the ones I didn't even work with. But the way the bonus was structured I'd only get the bulk of that money if I came close to meeting those goals. If I moved up to New York and worked harder than I ever had in my life, became wildly successful but still realistic in getting the office's former clients to stick with me I'd probably only get a quarter mil bonus. A much more realistic expectation was half that. That was still good money, on top of my base salary. But nowhere near what I would likely make working directly for Beck.
Glenda still hadn't shown up. I decided to check in at home.
"Allison, how's it going?" I said into my phone.
"Fine, sir. You've got a couple of workers here installing a new glass door."
"Excellent. There's some cash in an envelope on the kitchen counter. Give that to them once you're satisfied they've done a good job, will you?"
"Of course. Ok, I see it. I'm glad you called. I'm having trouble with the list of lawsuits in which Atlantic Financial is currently a party."
"Oh? What's the problem?" I asked.
"There are so many, and I have to dive into the details to find out the dollar amounts, if they even list a dollar amount," she explained.
"Then start with litigation where the opposing party is a large corporation, particularly financial institutions, or the government. I especially want to know what Uncle Sam thinks Atlantic is doing wrong."
"Ok, that sounds manageable," Allison said sounding relieved.
"Have you heard from Jaycee?" I asked.
"Jaycee? She called me around mid-morning. Why?"
"She ran off with an emergency. I was just wondering." I saw Glenda walk in to the coffee shop. "Ok, I've got to begin my meeting. I'll be back home straight after."
"Ok, sir. Good luck!" Allison said.
Glenda got herself a large drink that sounded overly complicated to order. I waited patiently at a table in a secluded corner where we could talk. Finally she came over. I was still pissed over Reynolds phone call to Allison earlier. Let's see if I could use it to throw Glenda on the defensive.
"So apparently I've already agreed to your offer." I opened.
"Pardon me?" Glenda replied.
"Do you remember Allison Grimsley? She worked as a paralegal in our office? Reynolds told her this morning that I was on board with whatever the two of you are doing. That's awfully presumptuous of you, don't you think?"
That knocked Glenda off her game a bit, but I could only tell because I'd worked with her closely for years. The slight widening of her eyes and the sudden stillness of her body were her tells. Anyone else would probably have described her as unfazed.
"Yes. Presumptuous is the appropriate descriptor. I apologize, and I will speak to Michael about it promptly," she said.
"Thank you. Now why don't you tell me what the two of you are up to?"
"We're joining with three partners from Plimpton and Covey and a former partner from Bocksington to start a new firm. All of us have a significant book of business that is complementary to each other that we are confident will be able to expand upon during the foreseeable economic turmoil."
"You put that together in three days?" I asked, surprised.
Glenda shook her head in the negative. "Michael has been working on this for some time. Since I had been working so diligently to save our office he decided not to approach me with it until last week, but it's the scenario I would have created for myself as the next best solution to saving the office."
