Green Card

16 Ass Man (Lucas)

I shouldn't be texting in a meeting. I definitely shouldn't be texting the sexiest woman in the world about her ass and "other assets". She'd stopped responding about half an hour ago after one last message that she was "hopping in the shower" and I hadn't for the life of me, been able to think about anything but said shower since. Something was wrong with me. Seriously, insanely wrong with me. I'd been sitting in this room listening to Arthur Silver, Danny Abadìa, and everyone else on the board pick apart Valencia's budget for the last two hours and had hardly been able to focus on a single bit of it. Not that it mattered. She was doing a fine job of defending her work on her own with minimal input from me. But this was going on long enough and I was becoming frustrated in an entirely different way from the way my wife had begun.

"Enough," I said suddenly and Danny stopped in the middle of his question, turning to me in surprise.

I hadn't spoken loudly. I hadn't needed to. I'd said so little the past two hours that I imagined they had forgotten I was there. But I was here. And I was running out of patience for the men who made it their mission to constantly question both the work of my employees as well as of me. I rose slowly at the table, leaning over and bracing myself with both hands on the cool glass.

"Why don't we dispense with the bullshit?" I asked and the board members all raised their eyebrows, looking around at each other in apparent shock, as if they didn't know exactly what I was talking about. I stood up straight, striding to the front of the room, buttoning my jacket as I went and gesturing for Valencia to take a seat. She did so, relieved. "For months now, you have called me into this room nearly every day for hours at a time to discuss the same numbers, the same budgets, the same projections, over and over and over again. I understand that you all have a stake in this company, that you have all invested heavily in our ventures and feel a personal attachment to them. That's good. It means this matters to you. But it matters to me too, maybe even more than it does to you. I will remind you that I own this company, that I built it from the ground up, from nothing. Retribution was my idea. Expanding into virtual reality was my idea. Every successful venture we have ever had was my idea, worked on tirelessly by people like Valencia and Nate. And yet, you question us. Constantly, questioning us. So much questioning that we cannot work on ventures like new games and advancing technology because we are stuck in these bullshit meets making you feel better about the waves we're making in the industry. I appreciate the capital that you have contributed, the attention that you've brought to our products. But you signed onto this company because you believed in it, because you believed in me. So let me do what I do and get the fuck out of my way."

I finished, standing up straight and fixing my tie, waiting for the explosion to come. Valencia's jaw was dropped, Nate was grinning like a fool, Danny's face was bright red, and everyone at the table was staring at me in open shock. But then, someone started clapping. My eyes snapped to Arthur Silver who was grinning from ear to ear as he rose, clapping and chuckling. The other board members glanced at one another uncertainly before standing as well, joining in on the applause. I watched them warily.

"There he is," Arthur announced, voice booming over the noise of the room. "There's the Lucas Vega I know. Dogged and determined. It's nice to have you back, son."

I stared at him in surprise. Danny huffed and stood, grabbing his legal pad and storming from the room. A few of the board members followed him. I watched them go.

"I just lost a couple of investors, didn't I?" I asked Arthur in hushed tones.

"Sure did," he answered, though his tone was pleasant, light. "But Danny Abadìa isn't as much of a big shot as he thinks and the sales from Retribution 2 will cover the cost of them pulling out."

The other board members were filing out now as well, nodding at me in a friendly manner as they went. Apparently, Arthur had somehow called the meeting to an end. Valencia and Nate were locked in conversation but I followed Arthur from the boardroom, striding down the hall together towards my office.