Daring his Passion

Chapter 3

3

"Get over here, loser." Dirk's gruff voice commanded into the phone.

"Did it ever cross your mind that I might be busy with something important?" I sounded a little huffy, but the way he always assumed I would jump when he called was super annoying.

"Hmm. Nope." Dirk made it sound preposterous that I could have something more important going on than whatever he wanted.

I slammed down the phone and walked across the hall to his office. "You know you could come see me."

He frowned as if that didn't make a lick of sense. It was a typical power play. We were equal partners in the tee shirt business we started right after graduation. It had been my idea to take some of the best memes from the internet, alter them to make them our own, and slap them on thick organic cotton tee shirts to sell at exorbitant prices. We had both invested our savings to start the company and Dirk's natural sales ability and charm had ensured that we grew exponentially. If sales remained steady, we were on track to become a million dollar company within the next year.

"Have a seat." Dirk used his palm to indicate the chair across from his enormous mahogany desk. The huge desk, which was much more ostentatious than mine, and the obvious ploy to have me sit across from him in the smaller chair were additional ways to make him seem superior. His tactics tended to work on me, even after all of these years.

"You bellowed?" I asked, opting to lean against his doorframe, rather than take his offered seat. I was trying not to indicate my raging inferiority complex.

"We're going to a conference," he announced. It would never cross his mind to ask if I thought it was a good idea, or if I wanted to go.

I raised my brows. "Is that so?"

"Oh, yeah. Everyone who is anyone in the industry will be there." He informed me.

I hated it when he slipped into his slick salesman routine. "Really?" I kept my tone droll, letting him know I wasn't impressed with his spiel.

"It's in Indy, too, so we won't even have to fly." Holding his pointer finger up as if he had just thought of it, he added, "But it's far enough away to stay in a hotel."

I was well aware of his ulterior motive for wanting to spend a night or two in a hotel room. He would no doubt spend the nights away from home banging some random chick that he picked up at the conference. The knowledge that he had someone as phenomenal as Cassie at home, yet he still looked for opportunities to cheat on her made my teeth clench together.

It was so galling not only that he got to be with the woman of my dreams, but that he would then take her completely for granted. There had been so many times that I had been tempted to tell Cassie about his philandering ways, but some odd sense of bro-code loyalty kept me from it. Besides, it's not like Cassie would come running into my arms, especially not if I was the one who revealed the truth about Dirk. I had already been covering for him for far too long to pretend that I was an innocent bystander.

One thing I know for sure, if I was ever lucky enough to earn the love of an amazing woman like Cassie, I sure as hell wouldn't look for ways to cheat on her.

Dirk was still selling me on the conference. "All the big name vendors will be there. We need to get our names in front of them, so they know we are the real deal. We'll let them woo us and compete for our business."

I nodded to acknowledge that this might not be his worst idea ever, but he went right on trying to sell me on it. "The major websites will be in attendance. We might schmooze our way into some terrific sss product placements or special promos."

I added a smile to my nod. Now he was talking my language. A sweet deal with sss could set us up for retirement.

"Oh," he added as if he had just thought of it. "There might be some hot babes there, too." He gave me a cheesy grin, but it fell at the sight of my glare. "For you, of course," he added, but I knew he would be on the prowl.

Needing some space from him, I said, "I'll think about it."

As I turned to leave, he yelled after me. "Well, think quick because we only have forty-eight hours to get a partial refund."

That prick already booked it. I slammed the door on the way back into my office, unsure why his outlandish behavior still surprised me. He hadn't been seeking my opinion about the conference, checking if I was available, or even asking if I wanted to go. He had been telling me that I was going––like I was his little b***h. The part that pisses me off the most is that we all know I will end up going.

Dirk always wins.