Chapter 66
JEREMIAH
“Hey jackass, over here,” Bart called out when Stephanie and I arrived at Lucky’s, the local bar I always went to with my friends. Bringing a girl along was a new development for me, a big step. This was our place, a place we could be ourselves and relax.
Since Stephanie felt like a vital part of myself to me, it felt right to have her here. Bart, Shawn and even Tanner were already in our regular booth, all smiles as we wound our way through the after-work crowd.
It didn’t look like having Stephanie here bothered them either. She stayed tucked closely behind as I sidestepped a few people who were already double stepping a little and guided her to our table.
The guys all stood to shake my hand and give Stephanie quick hugs. I didn’t like seeing other men touching her, but since these guys were like my brothers I sucked it up and told myself to stand down.
“It’s so good to see you guys,” she said, sliding into the booth when Tanner stepped aside to make space for us. “And I really needed to get out. Thanks for having me.”
“Always a pleasure,” Shawn said.
I bumped my shoulder against his before he could slide into his spot opposite her. “I invited her, you can’t take credit for it.”
He laughed and shrugged. “But we were okay with her coming along to our tradition.”
“Not everything is a tradition,” I shot back, taking my seat beside Steph. She smiled and twined her fingers with mine beneath the table.
Bart looked at me, to Stephanie and back again. “Not everything is, but this is. It’s good to have you with us though, Stephanie. I thought for sure Jer would’ve fucked it up by now.”
“He tried,” she said teasingly. “I wouldn’t let him.”
“Good girl,” Tanner said, hooking his arms around the empty glasses in the center of the table and hauling them closer to him. Shawn handed him the full pitcher of beer the waitress delivered. “You’ve proven yourself worthy. You may now have one of the sacred boys’ night beers.”
Rolling my eyes at his theatrics, I laughed. Stephanie smiled and accepted the beer when he handed it to her. “Thank you, kind sir. Your generosity is appreciated.”
Tanner poured beers and passed them around while the rest of us got settled and caught up. Steph was sitting right up against my side, my arm around her shoulders. The whole week, we’d rarely been more than an arm’s length apart.
And as it turned out, we made for a kickass team that way. Only four days after my getting us fired, we had office space and the lawyers were drawing up the job descriptions and contracts I promised to those who wanted to join us.
We’d also ordered office furniture, held meetings with what felt like half of the city and were divvying up key areas of interest into different divisions.
Neil and Steph were godsends with going over all the different areas I was already involved in or wanted to get into and organizing it all under one corporate umbrella.
Nothing was off limits for us at the moment, except for oil, property development, and a handful of other areas Williams Inc. were involved with. We were looking at software development, digital marketing, and online education, among other things.
We weren’t there yet, but we’d made a lot of progress for four days in. I was amazed at how things were falling into place with us pushing and prodding in exactly the right places at exactly the right times.
Shawn grabbed my attention when he leaned across the table and said to Stephanie. “We heard there was a showdown at Williams Inc. Please tell me you have a recording of Jance’s head exploding.”
Throwing her head back, Stephanie laughed and shook her head wryly. “Sadly, I don’t have a recording of it. I heard Jeremiah handled it admirably though.”
“So you’re really doing this?” Bart asked me, peering at me over the rim of his glass. “You’re going out on your own?”
“I’m not going out on my own—I am out on my own,” I said, then glanced at Stephanie. “Well, not on my own. With her, but in the context you’re talking about I’m on my own. No Jance, no influence from him, and none of his stronghold industries.”
Tanner whistled under his breath, raising his glass to mine. “Well done, bud. I must say, I wasn’t sure you were ever going to break that cord, but I’m glad you did.”
“It was time,” I said. “I would venture so far as to say way past time, but rather late than never.”
“You’re never on time anyway,” Bart said, clinking glasses with us all. “Congratulations you two, you’re going to do great.”
“This calls for a celebration,” Shawn said, signaling to the waitress and ordering a bottle of champagne instead of another pitcher of beer as he usually would’ve.
The waitress told him they weren’t the kind of place which stocked the expensive stuff, which triggered a round of hollers from my friends, but Shawn smiled and assured her anything would do.