Page 56 of Go Deep (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)
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Slade
It wasthe Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and we had our pitch to present. Our meeting ended up happening a lot later than most of the other students, but Dr. Taylor was fine with that. Thanks to Cassidy, we had a meeting with the owner of The Pet Adoption House. I couldn’t remember whether I had ever thanked her for carrying all that weight while I was working. I needed to remember to do that.
I was also wound up because the course, and the semester, was almost over.
The semester-long sentence of busboy indentured servitude to my landlord had become a nightmare, with work eating into school and sleep. Up until now, it caused so many fights between Cassidy and me, primarily because I hadn’t told her the reason for my frequent disappearing acts. She was not the jealous type, so she never went all crazy lady on me. Although, she did admit to wanting to set one of the frat house groupie chicks on fire. Thankfully she’d only said that once, and in jest—I hoped.
With the semester coming to a close, the SEC Championships less than a week away, and our final semester of our undergraduate college career lurking right around the corner, that meant thatourfuture was uncertain too.
I showed up at Cassidy’s dorm room in my best office attire. I went with a sleek black suit with a white shirt and a midnight blue tie. It made me look and feel like I was trying to sell something. And I was. I always was. She opened her door and greeted me in a skirt suit and a pair of patent leather black heels that made her legs go on for miles. She also went with the sharp black and white look. Together we looked fierce and dominating. We were ready to walk into that meeting and make them pay attention until they wanted what we were offering.
Cassidy didn’t say anything when she opened the door. She looked me up and down before clicking away to her desk to grab our speaking notes, paperwork, purse and a USB.
“Let’s run through it one more time,” she said, not looking up from her notes.
“Do you think we need to?” I asked. “Again?”
“Yes, I do.” She still didn’t look at me.
“Hey, are you still upset about what happened with Shawn over the weekend?”
“Yes…no…I don’t know,” she said, disheartened for a split second. “Let’s focus on the pitch.”
I sighed. We hadn’t talked about the incident. She was avoiding it at all costs, so I wasn’t really sure of my footing with her, other than we were seeing each other, sleeping together and on more or less good terms. From what I could tell when Shawn came back into the house, their little talk hadn’t gone so well, but I still didn’t know what that meant for us.
The tightness I felt in my stomach was not over the meeting. It was about us. I’d left it alone long enough, and even if the timing wasn’t right, I wanted some answers.
“Just tell me what you want, Cassidy.”
She stood up straight and looked at me. “I want you to get it together and go over this pitch with me one more time before we head into our meeting,” she said in a hard professional tone, making it clear there was no room for anything else at this particular time.
“You know, this is close to the end of the project. What does that mean for us?”
“That means we’ll be done with the project,” she snapped. “Look, Slade, I don’t have time right now to worry about all the rest of it. You probably haven’t even touched the final write-up yet, and we’ve got to hand it in next Monday. You’re lucky it’s not due until after the SECs. It counts toward our grade so it needs to be really good. We may have screwed things up royally with your brother, but I’m not screwing up this course.” She looked at her phone. “We’ve only got a few minutes. Start talking.”
We read the pitch to each other, going over our individual parts just like we’d discussed. I was impressed with the way it turned out. Together we sounded professional, knowledgeable and persuasive. We at least had this together, if nothing else.
Gladys met us at the door when we walked into The Pet Adoption House an hour later. “Welcome back, y’all,” she said in her friendly tone. “You’re early, and so is Mr. Lewis. He’s up in our boardroom, so follow me.”
We took the stairs to the second floor, and walked down a hallway leading us away from the animals and to a more modern section of the house where the staff had a few offices. At the end of the hall was a wide doorway to a small meeting room. Inside, there was a classic wooden boardroom table, with seating for six or seven people. One wall had two side-by-side whiteboards, and the wall that seemed to be the front of the room was already set up with a projector screen.
Mr. Lewis sat behind a large wooden desk in front of a large window. He was a lot younger than I expected, probably in his late twenties. When he stood up, I realized from his muscle tone and build that he had to be some type of athlete or possibly a fitness professional. He was wearing a white shirt and black slacks, and walked around the table to greet us.
“Thank you, Gladys,” Mr. Lewis said, nodding for her to stay. “It’s good to meet you Ms. Greyson.” He turned to me. “I hear you’retheSlade Clark, the great hope for football in the south.”
Nice. He had a clue about football.
“Yes, sir,” I answered.
“Great. I’m Matt Lewis. I’m the owner at The Pet Adoption House, but I’d say it’s in name alone. Gladys and her team are the real owners and operators here. I’d prefer to call myself a benefactor of the shelter. So yes, if your pitch has a funding implication, I’m the man, however I rely heavily on Gladys to guide me in all aspects of decision-making. I should also mention that I happen to be a colleague of your professor, Dr. Taylor, so I’m here out of genuine interest after what I learned from them both. Everything’s set up, right Gladys?”
“It is.”
“Great. You can start whenever you’re ready.”
“Excellent. Thank you for having us today,” I started. “As you already know, we’re here today to share a business plan and proposal which can streamline and transform the way pets in Baton Rouge shelters are matched to forever homes in the area. Out of curiosity, do you know how many animals in Baton Rouge are not adopted during their shelter stay and end up having to be euthanized?”
