He finished his rounds, then headed to the basement where the mail room was located. It was time for him to go home, and do some work.
* * * *
Ion slammed his door shut when he got back to his apartment. He had to do some research because he wanted to know more about the company Adrien had been talking about. He wasn’t angry about Patrick not telling him because it would’ve cost Patrick his job if he had said something.
He had an idea which business it was. Bellamy International had just acquired two new companies in the last month. Both of them were struggling, but from what Ion had overheard, only one of them was so bad, Bellamy was considering laying people off.
Ion turned on his computer before rushing to his bedroom. He changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, then went to the kitchen. While his computer finished booting up, he made two meatloaf sandwiches for himself. He was glad his mom had insisted he take some home the other night. It saved him from wasting time going to get something to eat.
As Ion ate, he continued to go over what he’d heard that morning. He kept track of all the companies Bellamy International acquired because the idea of buying struggling companies and deciding whether they could continue, or whether they needed to be closed fascinated him. Ion was privately proud of the fact that Bellamy rarely liquidated the companies they bought. Most of the time, they managed to find ways to make the enterprises viable again.
The only company that fit what Adrien had said was Huntsman Toys, a small family-owned business. Ion had a vested interest in the toy maker since his parents and his older brother all worked there. His parents had always worked on the assembly lines, and his brother was one of the toy designers.
Ion didn’t want them to lose their jobs, not when his parents were so close to retiring. Plus his brother had two kids to take care of. His family had been worried when they heard Huntsman was being sold to Bellamy. Ion had tried to reassure them that Bellamy was the best company possible to have bought them.
He’d tried to be upbeat for them, but Ion understood the economy and knew there might be no way for Bellamy to save their jobs. Finding any solution to the problem would help get rid of the knot in the pit of his stomach.
He dug through all the public records he could find. Ion lost track of time as he read and made notes every chance he got. As he worked, several ideas formed in his head, but by the time he was done, he’d discarded all but two of them. He wanted to present two workable ideas that didn’t include laying off all the workers to Bellamy on Monday. Yet it took a phone call to his brother, Bogdan, to cement his decision.
“Hey, Bogdan, how are you doing?” Ion leant back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.
“I’m doing well, Ion. Are you okay? I don’t usually hear from you when we’re going to see each other at Mother’s on Sunday.” Bogdan sounded tired.
Ion chuckled. “I’m fine. I needed to talk to you about something, and didn’t want Mother or Pop to overhear.”
“You didn’t get a girl pregnant, did you?”
Ion tried to ignore the eagerness in his brother’s voice. His family didn’t understand why he would be gay when there were some very lovely girls out there, just waiting for him to ask. No matter how many times he told them being gay wasn’t a choice for him, they still all openly hoped he’d change his mind.
“No, and for the one millionth time, I never will. I need to talk to you about Huntsman.” He stood, getting ready to start pacing. Ion discovered he thought best while he moved.
Bogdan sighed, then Ion heard him say something to Olive, his wife. “I’m going to go in the other room to talk to Ion. Don’t worry. It won’t take long, and I’ll be back before it’s time for the kids’ show.”
Ion heard Olive say to tell him hi from her. “Tell Olive, I love her, and I have a great new recipe I’m going to email her later.”
He listened to his brother deliver his message, then Bogdan said, “All right. I’m in the kitchen. What did you want to talk to me about?”
“I need you to tell me everything you know about Huntsman Toys, and any new ideas that might have been put on hold when the company was sold.” Ion glanced around to see where he’d set his notebook and pen.
Bogdan hummed softly for a moment. “I’m not sure I should be telling you this.”
“Did you sign any kind of confidentiality form or anything like that?” Ion didn’t want to get his brother in trouble.
“No. I’m not part of the Huntsman board. There’s no reason for me to sign one since I don’t know anything.” Bogdan seemed unsure what Ion wanted from him.
“Fine, then you can tell me everything you know without endangering your job. I’m trying to come up with a way to help you and your fellow workers.” He wasn’t going to say anything more than that until after he handed in his proposals.
He spent the next twenty minutes telling Ion everything he knew about the company and any designs that might have been in consideration before Huntsman Toys sold, and they were put on hold.
At the end of the time, Bogdan said, “I have to go. It’s time for the kids’ show, and they like it when I watch it with them.”
“Give the boys a kiss from me, and thanks.”
“If anyone can figure out how to save our jobs, Ion, you can.”
Ion laughed. “I have two nephews to spoil. I need to make good money.”
Bogdan chuckled. “True, and they always love seeing what you buy them next.”
“I know how to do things, Bogdan. You are in charge of their lives, and I’m not going to step on your toes. Go on and watch TV with your kids. I’ll see you at dinner on Sunday. Oh, by the way, don’t say anything to Mama and Pops about what we talked about.” Ion told his brother. “I don’t want to get their hopes up, then have it not work out.”
Because it might not, and Ion knew the chances of Adrien taking his suggestions seriously were a million to one, but Ion wanted to try. It was one of the reasons why he was working to put himself through graduate school. He was only a semester away from getting his MBA, and he had plans of getting a job at a Fortune 100 company as a troubleshooter. Finding a way to fix this problem would be a great step towards achieving his goal.
“I won’t say a word, Ion. I promise. Now try to get some sleep. You’re all excited, so I’m pretty sure you won’t be listening to me about this.” Bogdan knew him well.
“I’ll try, but I can always sleep tomorrow once I get this worked out. Have a good night, Bogdan.”
Ion hung up, and started incorporating the information Bogdan had given him into his proposals. He wrote up two separate suggestions, so Adrien and the board had options, even though Ion wanted them to pick only one.
When his cell rang, he glanced up to check the clock.
Holy shit!
It was one in the morning. He’d been working for over seven hours. He’d never worked that long on homework in school.
He picked up his phone when it rang again. Ion saw Patrick’s name on his screen, and thought about not answering it. Then he realised Patrick would probably keep calling him until he either turned his phone off or answered the damned thing.
“What do you want?”
“Oh, so you are still alive,” Patrick quipped.
“Yes, I’m still alive. Why would you think otherwise?” He frowned.
Patrick snorted. “Maybe because you were supposed to meet me at Harvey’s around eleven for drinks and some dancing.”
Ion slapped his hand against his forehead. “Shit. I’m sorry, Patrick. I got caught up in something, and totally lost track of time.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good enough excuse, unless you got caught up in bed with a hot man, and he tied you up or something.” Patrick joked.
“I wish,” Ion muttered.
“Should I grab some wine, then come up to see what got you so focused, you forgot about drinks?”
Ion thought about telling Patrick, but he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t get Patrick in trouble.
“How about you grab some wine, come to see me, and we’ll chat about the hot guy you left the club with last weekend? You haven’t said anything about him,” Ion suggested.
It was the best solution. This way he could still work on his project, then have a nice chat with his best friend. He was getting a little tired of hitting the clubs and picking up strangers to bring home, then kick out of his apartment in the morning.
“I can do that. I’ll get some of that white you really liked.” There was muffling noises as Patrick must have covered the speaker on his phone.
Ion didn’t pay attention to the faint words he heard. Patrick was obviously telling someone he was leaving. Was Patrick with the man he met last weekend or was it someone new? Patrick never seemed to settle down with any one person, and Ion was pretty sure Patrick was getting bored with the same old routine like Ion was.
“I can be there in thirty minutes,” Patrick told him.
“You have a key. I might even have some cheese and crackers for us to nibble on. Oh, and I have some of my mother’s meatloaf.”
He held his phone away from his ear while Patrick squealed. Ion had known that would be the true incentive to getting Patrick to come over. Patrick had an unholy love for Ion’s mother’s meatloaf.
“I’ll be over as quickly as possible. You better not eat the rest of it just to spite me,” Patrick warned him.
Ion chuckled. “Don’t worry. There’s plenty left. I had two sandwiches when I got home, but you know my mom. She sent me home with one whole loaf to myself, and as much as I like her food, I don’t need to eat that much of it.”
“Well, I do. See you.” Patrick hung up.
After ending the call, Ion tossed his phone onto the coffee table before he started to pace. Maybe he should have Patrick go over the project, to see if there was anything he could add that would make Adrien believe in what he had to say.
But Ion came back to the fact that he didn’t want Patrick risk losing his job because he’d leaked private company information to Ion. Of course, he hadn’t, but Ion doubted anyone would believe them if they said that.
He pursed his lips as he thought about it. There wasn’t anyone else he could trust to give him suggestions or anything like that. He would just have to turn the proposals in, and hope for the best.
After his printer spat the papers out, Ion sat down and went through every page, word for word, circling phrases and crossing some out. Patrick came through the door just as Ion finished the last page. He shuffled all the papers into a pile, then set them next to his computer.
Ion took the bottle of wine Patrick held out to him before heading into the kitchen. “You know where the plates are, and how to heat up the meatloaf. I’ll pour the wine. I can’t believe you only got one bottle of it. So I’m guessing this isn’t a get-drunk-and-regret-it kind of night.”
Patrick had his head buried in the refrigerator, and his words were muffled.
“What did you say?”
“I said no, it’s not. I have an all-day shopping excursion with my sister tomorrow, and I can’t be hung over while I deal with her.” Patrick pulled out the container holding the meatloaf.
Ion cringed at the thought of having to do anything with Patrick’s twin sister, Patrice. She was even higher maintenance than Patrick, and twice as hyper. Ion had spent many a day following the two of them from store to store, and hauling bags full of clothes for them. Both of them were fashionistas, so Ion tried to always be busy when they were doing one of their monthly shopping days.
“Good idea, man. She can be a little unnerving without a hangover.” Ion popped the cork before pouring out two glasses of wine. He stuck the bottle in an ice bucket, then carried it out to the living room, along with his glass. “Grab your glass when you’re on your way out here.”
He flopped onto his couch, staring up at the ceiling while he waited for Patrick to join him. Sipping his wine, he turned his mind off from the project he’d worked on all night. He’d go back, clean it up, then get it printed at a professional printer. He was going to make it look as perfect as he could.
“Humph…your mother’s meatloaf…hmmm.” Patrick wandered in as he stuffed the forkful in his face.
“God, man, you sound like you’re making love to that.” Ion burst out laughing, holding his sides as he doubled over.
Patrick flipped him the bird, but didn’t stop eating. When he finished, Patrick almost licked the plate clean before curling up next to Ion on the couch.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe I ate that much. Why didn’t you stop me?” Patrick rubbed his flat stomach.
“I wasn’t about to come between you and Mother’s meatloaf. Dude, you would’ve taken my arm off or something.” Ion took another drink of wine, then patted Patrick’s arm. “Tell me why you decided to come over here instead of staying at the club. Don’t get me wrong. I’m always glad to hang out with you, but staying in on a Friday night without sex being involved has never really been your thing.”
Patrick slowly slid to the side until his head rested on Ion’s shoulder. “We’re getting old, aren’t we?”
Ion blinked, not used to Patrick talking about his age or sounding so sad. “Yes, we are. I’m twenty-seven, and you’re twenty-six. We were never going to stay young forever.”
“I know, but honey, I was hoping we would. I’m getting bored with the whole scene. I guess I realised hanging out, drinking wine with my best friend is more fun than wedging myself up to a bar in a crowded club where most of the men don’t want a relationship. All they’re looking for is a one-night stand.” Patrick sighed.
“We were like that at one time,” Ion reminded his friend.
Patrick closed his eyes, and kept his head on Ion’s shoulder. “So true, and now we’ve become those old men we used to make fun of.”
Ion rested his cheek on Patrick’s curls. “We’re still hot. Just more discriminating in our tastes.”
“Or pining away for an unrequited love, hmm?”
“Don’t start on that, Patrick. You tell me to ask Adrien out all the time, but talk about the flower wishing for the sun. He’s way out of my league, and why would he want to go out with a mailroom clerk when he could have any man he wanted?” Ion shook his head, then emptied his glass.
He dislodged Patrick gently before pouring out more wine.