Page 7 of Nothing to You (Nothing to… #7)

FIREFLY: I’m meeting my colleagues for breakfast. Stay away from me.

HOTSHOT: That’s the difference between the successful and their minions, breakfast is brought to me.

FIREFLY: Pride is a deadly sin, you know.

HOTSHOT: Deadly sin is what I eat for breakfast, Babycakes. How did you know?

FIREFLY: It’s that glint in your eye.

HOTSHOT: Grateful I broke the seal now? told you, I’m a guy who gets what he wants.

FIREFLY: To a point.

HOTSHOT: Haven’t found a limit yet.

What a dick. Her best friend was a complete jackass. She should cut him off cold, prove to him he had a limit, that she’d give him one. Except their game was too much fun. He enjoyed being cocky and arrogant, and she enjoyed shouting him down.

They were as bad as each other.

Entering the breakfast room, she scanned for her colleagues. It was difficult to miss Myles and Franco because they leaped up to gesture her over. Offering a brief wave, she went to pour coffee before joining them at the table.

“Where’s Helena?” she asked, pulling in her chair.

Usually, Helena was prompt. A model employee. Always on time. Always impressive. Either the woman was concealing an inferiority complex, or she was eager to rush up the ladder. Back in the day, Helena would’ve been the teacher’s pet, a role she’d never got along with herself.

Deference just wasn’t in her nature. No wonder she struggled in personal relationships. They often suffered because she worked so hard to keep herself in check in professional environments. By the time she got home, she just couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“We don’t know,” Myles said. “We went by her room; no one answered.”

They went by Helena’s room but not hers? Interesting.

“You don’t know if she’s in there or not.”

“True,” Franco said. “Maybe she’s in trouble. Maybe she fell in the shower or something.”

Was that the hope? If they had to go in and check on her, naked would probably be the guys’ preference.

Sipping her coffee, she appreciated the heat of the java.

“Did you try calling her?” Neither of them spoke; they just looked at each other.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Her phone was already in her hand.

She scrolled to Helena’s name and pressed call only to be greeted by a recorded message.

“Hmm… voicemail.” Putting her phone on the table, she looked from Myles to Franco.

“Are you two on top of those numbers? Whenever she shows up, that will be her first question. You’ve got to give her hope. ”

“We were going to go over them again after breakfast,” Franco said. “Do you really think there’s still a chance for us on See It Through?”

“Unless we can’t figure out how to give the panel more accurate numbers.”

“I think until someone says otherwise, we work off the assumption there’s a chance,” she said, resolved not to ask Hotshot for help. “Get the numbers immaculate. Helena and I will work on getting them in front of the pertinent eyes.”

She could do it without the help of Xavien Rourke. Her independence meant everything to her. She’d never relied on a guy for anything and never would.

Franco’s phone rang. “Helena,” he told them before answering. “Helena…? Uh huh. Yeah… They’re here… Okay. Yeah.” He hung up. Expectation hung between her and Myles. “She wants us to go to the room we waited in before the pitch yesterday.”

Franco was quick to stand up. Myles wasn’t far behind.

She took her time sampling some more coffee. “Why?”

If there were going to be revelations or disappointments, she’d need as much caffeine as possible. If something was going on, there was always the chance of Rourke being behind it. With the way he’d come into her life, he’d proved he was capable of anything.

“She didn’t say,” Franco said. “She wants the three of us there as fast as possible.”

And from the men’s actions and expressions, they were willing to follow orders.

Don’t rock the boat. Be amiable. Okay, this would be tough. Maybe she should just stay silent. She almost scoffed aloud. Yeah, that was likely.

She took another couple of slugs from the mug, then got up to join them on the jaunt to the boardroom. The guys may be in a hurry, she was less dutiful.

Some part of her was skeptical. Almost expecting Rourke to appear from around any corner, she kept her wits high. What was happening? He hadn’t told her to keep their friendship a secret. If she walked in there to him tossing his weight around, she’d be ready and wouldn’t be shy.

The previous day, with him saying almost nothing to her, she’d been full of fire. If he actually opened his mouth, he’d get both barrels. She took no prisoners. The adrenaline high wasn’t all her fault. Something about him provoked her. Not that she hadn’t had cause.

Franco was the first to arrive. He hurried in with Myles close behind. The latter held the door for her, but both men fixated on Helena, seated beside a basic desk at the other side of the room.

“I was right,” Helena said, dropping a pointed finger to a small stack of documents on the desk.

“Right about what?” Franco asked. “The numbers? We cleaned them up. Give us an hour, you’ll see your face in them.”

Another suck up. Maybe she should take lessons from those closest to her.

“We’re out of See It Through,” Helena said. “We won’t progress any further.”

“What the hell?” she said before she could think if it was smart to speak out… again. “They can’t do that. They haven’t heard all the pitches! If the rest of them are—”

“We’ve been offered a contract,” Helena said, silencing her.

It was only then she noticed the glitter behind the woman’s cool eyes. Whatever she was trying to conceal was right there, just behind the fragile shade.

For a moment, no one said anything. The guys were probably, like her, expecting their colleague to continue.

Myles broke first. “What kind of contract? A contract for what?”

“They want to buy the idea,” Roux said, anticipating a ruthless response. “The higher-ups have decided they like it and want to cover their asses by offering us—”

“They want us to develop and institute Huddle Hope,” Helena said. “Not as part of the SIT scheme, completely for real, everything all the way.”

She couldn’t believe it. The guys were cheering, and Helena was on her feet. They hugged and gushed, and she was just… astounded.

“What do we have to do?” Myles asked. “What’s our operating budget?”

“Another team had a similar pitch,” Helena said. “We’ve been asked to work with them on a feasibility study.”

“Another team?”

“Yes, and they want us to get to work as soon as possible,” Helena said. “We’ll be based on the executive level of MHQ. The squeeze will be tight at first, but we’ll need to keep the top brass in the loop every step of the way. We’ll be working very closely with the highest level of management.”

“Here?” Franco asked. “In California?”

“Yes,” Helena said, dialing back a little.

“We were prepared to move if we progressed in See It Through. I told Mr. Cornish that wouldn’t be a problem.

” Moving to the Golden State. Relocating her entire life.

She’d been willing to do it before. Why did it seem like such a big step now?

“We’ll get a moving bonus. There are employee apartments on the Mosaic compound.

It’s like its own little village. We’ll live there until we decide we want to get something of our own somewhere else. ”

“What if we don’t want to move away from the Mosaic Village?”

“I don’t know,” Helena said, returning to lay a hand on the paperwork.

“I haven’t got through everything yet. They’re flying in a lawyer for us…

I can’t believe this is… it’s like a movie.

” She laughed then took a deep breath. “We’re still employees of Huddle.

So our employee contracts don’t exactly change.

These are just add-ons to cover what it means to work with Mosaic.

We have a meeting set for tomorrow morning.

If we’re a go, they’ll transport us to Mosaic HQ, and we’ll have the weekend to settle in. Work starts Monday.”

“Just like that?”

“I think so. We’ll have to go home to get our things. They said someone would do that for us, but I’d rather get my own things.”

Why? If it was as simple as giving someone a list, she had nothing to hide.

“This is incredible…” Myles said, falling into a nearby chair.

“He said Mr. Rourke is like this, he’s a really decisive leader,” Helena said.

“I didn’t meet him. Leon Cornish from the panel yesterday came to me.

He said Mr. Rourke only takes such bold steps when he’s certain.

But it’s a minefield of an area. That’s why so many social media platforms shy away from anything like Huddle Hope.

If we can crack it, with the help of this other team, we could make a big difference in millions of lives. ”

“He gave you the hard sell, huh?” Roux asked.

“This was your idea, Roux,” Helena said, frowning. “Why aren’t you jumping for joy? You didn’t screw it up. Huddle Hope will happen… despite your outburst yesterday.”

“Maybe because of it,” Franco said. “I’ve heard Xavien Rourke likes passionate people.”

“One thing we know for sure, Roux is passionate,” Helena said on another laugh. “This is everything. For all of us. Executive level management stuff… overnight. We could never have got here with any other company or going out on our own.”

She was right. The opportunity was undeniable. A new life in a new place with a new job… maybe even a raise, she’d be a fool to say no. Who would say no?