Zack grabbed a clean cloth from beneath the counter and dampened it. Nolan could see part of his face in the bathroom mirror; a smile played on his lips before he spoke, not glancing up from his task at the sink.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry again. Want to get something to eat? Real food this time.”
“Sure.”
Nolan couldn’t look away as Zack returned, leaned down, and kissed him. He held his breath when Zack pressed the cloth to his stomach and began to clean up the come.
After a few minutes of careful but silent attention to Nolan’s hygiene, Zack passed the damp cloth off. “You rest for a few minutes while I check my email. Need to make sure the world isn’t falling apart while we’re gone.”
In a blink, Nolan was alone.
He stretched his muscles, actually enjoying the slight discomfort from where Zack had pounded him moments ago. It seemed less important than the vague anxiety starting to swirl around in his brain. Sure, his body was sated, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed at Zack’s sudden disappearance. It was reasonable for Zack to check in, and really to be expected given the time of day and how long they’d been incommunicado. Still, when Zack didn’t return within the specified few minutes, Nolan worried that Zack had forgotten about him. A short time after that, when Zack still didn’t return, Nolan’s concern turned from self-indulgent to genuine. Had something happened?
“You coming back?”
Silence was the only response. That wasn’t right. Not bothering to grab his clothing, he followed Zack’s path until he came to the living room. Zack stood in the middle of the room, naked and looking down at his phone.
“Hey . . .” Nolan walked over, wanting to touch Zack, but not sure if he should. “Everything okay?”
“No. Everything is not okay.”
It was only then that Nolan noticed the death grip Zack had on the phone. “What’s going on?”
“Samantha is.” Zack threw the phone across the room, smashing it against the wall.
“Shit, calm down.” Nolan stepped back, suddenly uncertain about what might happen next. He’d forgotten so quickly how volatile Zack could be, and how those mood swings affected him.
“I can’t fucking calm down. That bitch!” Zack marched over to the window, his arms bent up so the insides of his elbows pressed to his ears.
The peace was gone, and in its stead was panic. But Nolan forced himself to exhale, and focused on what was within his ability to control: he needed more information. “Tell me. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“All of our work, everything. None of it mattered.”
The hell? “What do you mean?”
When Zack turned to face Nolan, there was nothing hiding the rage he clearly felt. “She announced layoffs. She’d been planning it all along.”
Zack wasn’t used to being ignored, not even by his boss. So the fact that he’d been standing outside of Samantha’s office for the better part of forty-five minutes Monday morning had done nothing but allow his anger to grow into a raging beast. He’d given up sitting ten minutes earlier; it was either pace around the waiting room and glare at Samantha’s assistant, or run the risk of yelling at the poor woman who’d done nothing wrong.
Nolan would have his head on a pike if he did that.
God, Nolan. He hadn’t wanted to leave him and their escape on Friday, but they’d had no choice but to return to the office. Not that it had done Zack any good. Samantha hadn’t been around—no doubt she’d been hiding out, anticipating how he’d react when he got the news. Zack had sent Nolan away, amidst a flurry of arguments that he had nothing to do at home and was more than happy to stay and help all weekend. For a moment, Zack had been tempted to take him up on the offer, but there was nothing they realistically could have done, so they left.
This morning, he needed his anger to push him forward, to fuel his drive and ensure that this current bullshit would be dealt with. Get rid of ten percent of his team? Was Samantha insane? Not only was it unnecessary, putting needless hardship on the impacted employees, it would send ripples throughout the whole company. Morale and loyalty would crater, and everybody would start polishing their résumés and sniffing around for escape routes.
Samantha’s voice echoed through her closed door a moment before the handle turned. Zack ignored the assistant and got in the way the second the door opened. Nancy from HR was on the other side, looking more than a little pale. No doubt she’d been given a horrible assignment.
“Mr. Anderson.” Nancy glanced behind her to where Samantha stood glaring, before sliding past him.
Samantha might be many things, but easily intimidated wasn’t one of them. Holding Zack’s gaze for several long moments, she finally sighed. “Carm, can you please hold my calls?”
“Yes, Ms. Rollins.”
“Come in, Zack.”
He had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something that would get him immediately fired. It was Nolan’s advice he heard in his head: “Keep it simple and ask your questions, don’t get mad and it’ll all be fine.”
He crossed his arms and stared down at Samantha when she took her seat behind her desk. “What the fuck is going on?”
“And good morning to you too.” She laced her fingers together and gave her head a shake. “I’d ask what you’d like to discuss, but I don’t need to.”
“What was the point of me putting my staff through hell, making them spend nights for a week to cut expenditures so we could save jobs, when you never had any intention of saving them in the first place?” His voice had grown to a roar that left his body shaking.
No, he couldn’t lose his shit. It would accomplish nothing and would only serve to get him in trouble. Pulling in a long, slow breath, he counted to ten in his head. God, it was annoying that the voice he heard counting was Nolan’s.
Clearing his throat, he forced his arms to his sides. “Sorry, let’s start again.”
“Probably for the best.” Samantha leaned back, but gave no indication of how she was feeling.
“Good morning, Ms. Rollins. I received your email about the layoffs. I was hoping we could discuss the particulars.” You coldhearted backstabber.
“Have a seat, though there’s really only so much we can change.”
Fine. He’d handled situations and people as hard-nosed as Samantha before; he could do it now. Taking the guest seat, he spread his legs wide and lowered his chin to look directly at her. “Why is this happening?”
Samantha tapped the edge of her desk with her finger, a move she did when she was making a decision. “The board had a meeting. We’re going to be taking Compass public in the next six months.”
“That’s good. I’m surprised they hadn’t made that decision before now.”
“They didn’t because of what needed to happen first. The company needs to get lean. We need to streamline processes, costs, get the books shining so when we hit the market we’re poised to launch straight up.”
It made sense, and having this bit of information helped slot a lot of seemingly left-field requests from the past year into place. They wanted to clean house before their every move fell under investors’ microscopes. He bit back his first impulse—to pound a fist on the desk and demand to know why he hadn’t been looped in to begin with—and bought himself some time to think instead. “Okay. I see. So, the extra budget request, the layoffs . . .”
Samantha nodded. “All preparation. The board set a date, and we have to meet it, no matter what.”
A bubble of rage made it to the surface. “This is wrong. There must be another way to keep staff and still ensure the books are ready for a public offering.”
“Do you think we’re doing this for the hell of it? The severance packages will be there—it’s a financial weight that we’re not taking on lightly. We’ve cut and trimmed where we could, but this is more than just bookkeeping. It’s our opportunity to ensure we have the right staff in place to take us to the next step. Trim the fat. Surely you of all people can appreciate that.”
Zack leaned back and let his gaze slip from her to the city skyline behind her. He did understand. He hated it, didn’t want to be a part of it, but he understood. “How many do we need to let go?”
“We’re tackling new hires and those who have questionable performance reviews first. Once they’re gone, Nancy figures we’ll only need to have managers cut two percent of their teams. And they will have identified those candidates during this week’s budget reviews.”
Two percent. That would work out to be five or six people from his team. More than he would have liked, but not as bad as it could have been. “Packages?”
“Generous. Enough that no one will mind the early departure.”
In the corporate world, there were no guarantees, not anymore. It was hard to let people go, but ensuring they had a generous severance package eased the pain. Hopefully, it would give them enough time to find another job before the money ran out.
Zack pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “So the timeline in Friday’s email still stands?”