Unexplainable [Original Version]

[chapter eighty: "that's one battle that has been won"]

As Bill goes on his spiel about being our new senior VP, Harvey keeps flickering his gaze between Kev and Russo. There's so much tension in this room that you could cut it with a damn knife.

Eric's completely silent through this whole thing, and I'm really curious as to what he did to piss the higher ups off. Since he's here right now, he's probably not been fired, but it seems like he's been severely demoted.

Did Joli's fight against him finally pay off? She's been doing everything in her power to knock him down a peg, but did she help make this happen? Joli's tried her damnedest to rally all of the ladies against him, even though 99 percent of them are too afraid to do anything.

Or fuck, did Eric piss someone else off? Maybe he finally said or did something to 'Billionaire Ted' that the head honcho didn't quite like? I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case, because Eric has been pushing his luck with Ted since the Monday Night Wars began.

That would explain why Eric's so fuckin' quiet. If he pissed Ted off, he's probably wanting to keep as low of a profile as possible, so that he can get his old job back. I mean, his old title is gone, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's coming after our new 'senior vice president.' Bill will be lucky if he keeps that job.

Eventually, our meeting comes to a close. People begin to leave the room as quickly as possible, but our little group plans to hang back for a minute. I know Kev wants to talk to Russo, and I'm sure Joli wants to throw down with Eric.

"The three of you would be better off just leaving like the rest of us." Bret comments as he walks by. "It's not too fun to be screwed out of your job though, is it?" He doesn't even give us a chance to respond, as he just keeps going.

Pussy.

"He's probably right, to some degree." Dallas chimes in. He had been sitting beside of Kimberly, who had been sitting on Joli's other side. "I don't think talking to Russo will go well for you, Kevin."

"I know." Kev chuckles dryly. "It's not going to go well at all, but I'm pissed. If he wants the job, he can fuckin' have it. I just want to know why no one talked to me about this before today."

"You've got every reason to be upset." Kimberly agrees. "It's not fair."

"Eric's out of power though, so that counts for something, right?" Joli asks gleefully. She's so adorably excited about this. "Bitch got what was coming to him."

"Well, I certainly don't want to be apart of this train wreck." Dallas tells us jokingly. He pats Kev's back and then grabs Kimberly's hand. "Kim and I are going to go get something to eat. We'll meet up with you fuckers later tonight."

"Later, guys!" Joli waves them off. Kev and I mutter farewells to the couple as they pass by.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, we're left alone in the room with Eric, Russo, and Ferrara. Ferrara sense the atmosphere in the room and he immediately leaves. I can't say I blame him, because I'm not sure I want to see this showdown.

"How long have you known that you were getting promoted?" Kev asks Russo as we walk over to them. Russo has this smug look on his face, but Eric remains expressionless. "A while?"

"At least..." Russo hums to himself as he pretends to think, "I don't know bro, at least three weeks."

"Three?" Kev scoffs. "There's no fucking way. Busch is the one that did this, and I know that it must've been a last-minute decision to demote this prick." He motions towards Eric with his hand. "I'd say you've known for more like a week."