2. Kick In The Ass
2
KICK IN THE ASS
“ H ow can you eat that?” Ryder Fierce asked his college best friend, Hyde Person.
“What?” Hyde asked. “It’s just a burger.”
“It’s a burger with so much sauce and other sides on it, that every bite drops more onto the wrapper than ends up in your mouth.”
Hyde took a bite of the loaded burger, and some secret sauce and a pickle fell onto the paper it’d come wrapped in when he’d ordered it at the cafe in the building. He’d picked up lunch for him and Ryder and they were currently eating it in the small cafeteria.
“But it’s good,” he said, around a mouthful.
“And clogs your arteries,” Ryder said. “My wife would kill me.”
Hyde laughed.
His ride-or-die in high school and college was not only married but had three kids.
He’d never thought he’d see the day.
Or maybe he was so jealous over the fact that Ryder settled down, that he tried to change his ways and see if he could find it too.
“Got to stay strong and healthy to keep up with Tommy,” he said of Ryder’s oldest, who was in middle school now.
Hyde shouldn’t have been shocked to find out Ryder had gotten his girlfriend pregnant in college. Only that Ryder didn’t know it’d happened for nine years.
The truth was, it could have happened to either of them with the reputation they had with the ladies.
Hyde changed that a few years ago though.
He spent his time proving it over and over and obviously didn’t do that great of a job with Shana.
Those were regrets he’d have for the rest of his life.
“Don’t you know it,” Ryder said. “But if you keep eating like that, you’re going to get soft and then have a hard time picking anyone up.”
He snorted. He wasn’t so sure he’d get soft because when he wasn’t working, he was working out.
No amount of sweat, pain, and tears could bring Shana back, but he sure the hell was burning through the calories trying to get rid of the guilt.
“Not anything on my radar,” he said.
Ryder gave him a sympathetic look, but he pushed it off and took another bite of his burger and then chased it with some fries.
Very few knew what brought Hyde back to Durham and applying for an engineering job at Fierce.
He was cocky enough to know he’d be hired and still set out to prove he had what it took to be employed here, not just because he all but grew up in the Fierce household, but that he was smart and took his career seriously.
He hated to start over and thought for sure he’d be doing that. He didn’t come in at the bottom, but not a project manager either like in his last job.
It seemed like everything in his life was starting over and it was the kick in the ass that he needed.
“Used to be what controlled the dial,” Ryder said.
He knew his buddy was joking. “Times change,” he said. “Look at you.”
“Good point,” Ryder said, finishing his chicken sandwich and then having a few chips. “Got any plans this weekend?”
“No,” he said. “Why?”
Ryder shrugged. “No reason. I was thinking about trying to get out on the golf course. Drake mentioned he and Noah were going to go. We could have a foursome if you don’t mind golfing with your boss.”
Hyde snorted. “I don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “As long as he doesn’t care I might beat him.”
“Why do you think I’m asking you?” Ryder said. “I rarely beat Drake and Noah. Now I’ve got a fighting chance.”
“Glad to know I’m good for something,” he said, smiling. It wasn’t even forced like most of his other smiles had been in the past four months since he moved here.
“Gentlemen,” Grant Fierce said. “It’s like looking into the past, seeing you two sitting here eating lunch together.” Grant looked at Hyde’s messy pile of food. “Not much has changed, has it?”
“Nope,” he said to Ryder’s father. “Other than this burger isn’t nearly as good as yours.”
“Don’t be sucking up to your big boss,” Ryder said.
“I like to hear it,” Grant said. “Keep it up. My son rarely says nice things to me.”
“Cut it out, Dad,” Ryder said.
Hyde ate his last fry, balled up his wrapper and the mess left of his food, then stood up, Ryder following.
He wanted to get away from Grant before he asked him about his personal life or dropping women’s names around him.
He knew what the Fierces did on the side.
They set people up.
He thought it was a joke when Ryder told him years ago, until he discovered how many office couples had been secretly matched.
Too many to count, but he wouldn’t be adding to that number.
“Don’t run from me, Hyde. Was it something I said?” Grant asked innocently enough, then ruined it by laughing.
He smirked, as it was a game the two of them were playing with each other.
“Nope,” he said. “Just need to get back to work.”
Ryder and he walked out together and then down the hall.
He noticed Ryder’s sister-in-law, Raina, walking out with another woman and it had his head swiveling fast enough that he might have tweaked a muscle.
“What’s going on?” Ryder asked him.
They moved to Ryder’s office. “Who was that woman that was walking out with Raina?”
“Tori?” Ryder said.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Is that her name?”
Ryder grinned. “That’s Raina’s best friend, Tori Miller. Why? Do you think she’s hot? She’s single.”
He snorted so loudly he thought snot might have flown out of his nose, which only caused Ryder to laugh.
“That’s the chick that told me off at the bar last month.”
His confession to Ryder shocked him, but he felt terrible and desperately needed help.
He’d gone to his parents enough in the past year and didn’t need another lecture on what a dick he’d been.
He thought Ryder would understand and his friend had.
“You had it coming to you,” Ryder said. “But that is surprising coming from Tori. She’s not like that. Just to give you a warning—you might see her more than you want. She works on the second floor.”
“Shit,” he said. So it’s not like he could just pretend it never happened and he wouldn’t see her again.
“She comes up here to have lunch with Raina a lot,” Ryder said, all but rubbing it in even more.
“Meaning I should go apologize,” he said.
“That’s your choice,” Ryder said. “Just letting you know.”
“Thanks,” he said, moving to his office to get to work.
He didn’t even want to think about that incident last month when he’d had too much to drink.
His plan had been one beer, maybe two, but that turned into three glasses of whiskey straight up.
When he got to his car, he was smart enough to not drive and called an Uber to come get him.
Returning the next morning to get his car before work just amped up his embarrassment more over what he’d said.
There were a thousand other ways he could have brought it to her attention that she should watch her drink in a bar, but instead he snapped out an insult and she gave it right back.
Maybe he noticed how attractive she was.
And that she was flirting with the bartender who was doing it right back.
Did the guy want a bigger tip at the end? Probably.
But Hyde hadn’t been thinking straight for a few days, as the anniversary of Shana’s death recently passed and he was struggling to cope.
Not an excuse, just his truth.
But his truth was sucking.
“What’s going on with Hyde?” Grant asked Ryder an hour later when he walked to his son’s office.
“Nothing,” Ryder said. “Why?”
“Come on now,” he said. “He’s been off since he started working here. I’ll admit that he’s somewhat like he used to be, but there is something hidden or closed off.”
Grant remembered the wild child that gave his son Ryder a run for his money, in both behavior and women.
Now Hyde was all but a responsible adult, coming into the office early, staying late, offering to work on any projects needed.
Sure, he loved the initiative. But not from someone he’d known most of his life and felt was acting differently.
“Leave him alone, Dad. If you’re thinking of setting him up, I’m telling you now, he’s being polite on several levels.”
Grant smirked. “Because I’m his boss.”
“No,” Ryder argued. “It’s not that. He’s got a lot of stuff going on in his life. He just wants to do his job and prove that he can.”
“Ryder, I know they fired him from his last job. I’m not stupid.”
Though he’d known Hyde as a kid, what he knew of him wasn’t someone all that responsible. Didn’t mean people didn’t change because his youngest son sure the heck did.
But he checked references just like any responsible business owner did.
He didn’t need to worry because Hyde had been honest with him.
“Yep, he was,” Ryder said. “But you were also told that he was a great employee prior to the previous six months. He had some personal issues and they were affecting his job. He went in hungover a few times, but nothing that you haven’t done in your life either. Or me.”
“That’s right,” he said, smiling. “But that was when I was in my early twenties, not mid-thirties.”
“I know,” Ryder said. “He’s got his shit together, but that still doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff going on in his head that he’s working through. Work won’t be affected. You’ve seen that in the four months he’s been here. Right?”
“I have,” he said.
“Let him go and work it out on his own. He doesn’t need you and Uncle Garrett shoving women in his face. When he’s ready to start again, he will.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened to him and his ex?” he asked. “I’m not asking as his boss, I’m asking as the father of his best friend.”
Ryder looked at him. “I wish you didn’t put the guilt on me like that. Shana died a year ago. He didn’t handle it well. That’s all you need to know.”
Which he wished his son had told him months ago when Hyde applied for the job!
“Why didn’t you tell me that when it happened?” he asked.
“Because I didn’t know then,” Ryder said. “We’d lost touch for periods and then would reconnect. When he texted me he’d lost his job and was moving home, I called to find out what was going on and got the story then. It’s up to him if he wants to share it further. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.”
Normally he wouldn’t let his son dismiss him like that, but in this situation, he was proud of the loyalty he’d just witnessed.