~~~~
Maddox was not a man to be messed with, I discovered.
We sat at a white table cloth restaurant in distracted silence; he emailed and texted and called, while I wondered why I bothered in the first place. The company's business wasn't necessarily MY business. I fiddled with the table cloth until I had pep talked myself into an annoyed state- who did he think he was anyways, this is a lunch, not an office. "Mr. Maddox!" I snapped quietly. His eyes flashed to mine in surprise. He probably wasn't used to being called out. "Look, I just want to know your intentions with this company. Tommy may trust you, but this deal has fish stink all over it! What's really in this deal for you?"
Maddox took a deep breathe as he continued to watch me under thick, furrowed brows.
"Ms. Wellington, as I'm sure you're aware, there are different sides to every story. In business, there are different motives to every deal. Unfortunately, I am not able to share those motives with you today," He leaned forward as he delivered a winning smile. "Do keep trying to figure it out, little detective. I'm curious to see just what you'll dig up." Maddox said as he gracefully stood, dropped a few large bills onto the table, and strolled out of the restaurant like it was nothing.
Personally, I couldn't decide what I wanted to uncover more: whatever deal Maddox was working on, or the man himself.
*********
Later that night, I sat in my bed on my laptop, finishing up a last minute report for Tommy. The way Maddox acted today at lunch was still bugging me, something was definitely off about all this. Something was wrong, and he was doing his best to hide it from me. Too bad for him, work had been a tad slow recently and I was desperate for something new.
Or at least, thats what I told myself to explain my insistent interest in this blip of a business deal.
