Mr. Mitchell Billionaires' Club Book 2 - Raylin Marks Page 0,167
Alex, ignoring Collin. “We’re just trimming the fat.”
“This is because you lost to Brakken, isn’t it?”
“Partially, but I couldn’t have won that battle no matter how hard I tried. We need to take a step back some.” I nodded at the spreadsheet he held in his hand from the data I’d sent him, “Those businesses are not developing as well as we thought they would. We’ll be throwing money away soon enough.”
“Kicking some businesses out of the nest and letting them learn to fly on their own, eh?” Collin chimed in.
Alex glanced up from the paper and looked at me, “Some of these poor little birdies won’t figure it out before they hit bottom.”
“I’m not that big of an asshole, despite what most might believe, Alex,” I said. “I’m not dropping anyone. We’ll cut back, and either they’ll work harder to increase growth, or they can find a new company that is more suited to help them.”
“I get it.” Alex nodded in agreement. “Some of these have lost buyers’ interest, and some are flat out bad with reviews.”
“The hotel chain with multiple bed bug complaints?” I sighed. “I’m not dying on that hill. This is why we need to either be more invested or pull back completely. We can only help so much. They need to be willing to do the rest.”
“It’s pretty much five o’clock,” Collin said. “I left the office early to ensure my shit was done and over.” He glanced over at the spreadsheets Alex held. “Unless I’m on your little blacklist and have to learn to fly on my own.”
“You’re good. When we go to launch, I have a feeling this will be the best introduction to medical science since Jake’s heart institute.”
“Having cameras in the room while he instructs on his surgeries—it’s Jakey’s dream come true.”
I smiled at Collin’s remark. “If we can get you to do the same, I have a feeling Saint John’s will officially be on the map.”
“Slow down, cowboy. I thought you were taking things slow.” Collin laughed, standing up and walking over to my office fridge and pulling out a bottle of water. “Speaking of which, now that we have your complete attention, you realize that if you back out on Saturday, Jake’s going to wipe the floor with your ass, right?”
“Fuck,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “I had planned to go through more—”
“A man who despises excuses,” Alex leaned back in his chair across from me, “is about to drop one on his poor brother. It’s the only thing Jake wants to get out of his way before little junior gets here in two weeks.”
“Hasn’t he considered the fact that our lame-ass bike ride up to Big Sur is potentially dangerous for a soon-to-be father?”
“Oh, hell,” Collin said, taking another drink of his bottled water. “You know?” He looked over at Alex. “I’m confident Jake hasn’t considered the death rates of taking his street bike up the coast with his brother and friends.”
“I’m serious,” I said. “We did that shit before Jake was about to have a kid. I’m pretty sure Ash would like to—”
“Save it, Jim,” Alex said. “Don’t go into the dangers of taking out our street bikes. I think we should focus more on the dangers of you being glued to work and hardly even going out with us at all for over a month now. Jesus.”
“Yeah,” I said, not daring to allow the topic of Avery to come up. Everyone had left it alone, and that’s exactly how I wanted it. “What time and where are we meeting up?”
“Jake’s house at six in the morning tomorrow.” Collin stood. “I’ll see you there. I feel like I haven’t slept in weeks with all these lined-up surgeries and neurology consultations. It seems like I’ve been busier this month than I was during my entire residency.”
“You look like hell.” I smiled as I stood and started to pack my shit into my bag. “I just didn’t want to insult you after you drove all this way to make sure I wasn’t lying when I texted that your documentary was good.”
“I don’t trust texts.” He smirked. “A chick tried to dump me over a text, and when I went to see her, she said she didn’t mean it.”
“What the hell?” Alex laughed.
“Dead serious,” Collin said, turning to leave. “I told her that maybe she didn’t mean it then, but I meant it now. Anyway, I’m out,” he said, waving and leaving my office the way he’d waltzed in.