CHAPTERONE
Silas
“You’ve got to be careful,” Julian says, waving his hands at me from across the desk.
We’re sitting in my penthouse office, one wall composed of a window, looking down at the city. It can make some people feel nervous standing at the edge as if the glass isn’t there, but I enjoy it.
It makes me think of jumping out of a plane.
Julian’s my CFO, business partner, and oldest friend.
We met in college but dropped out together to start our action sports business. We have been into dirt biking since we were kids…and we spent half the college semester learning how to base jump.
He leans back, running a hand through his black hair.
He’s the same age as me, forty-one, but I turned silver years ago.
“We’re acquiring a media company, Silas, not an action sports company.”
“I know that, Julian,” I say, putting emphasis on his name the same way he did with mine.
He grins, resting his forearms on the desk. He’s wearing a suit, his black beard flecked here and there with grays, as though proving the serious bastard is human after all.
“It makes the shareholders nervous, seeing you leaping out of a plane. What if the parachute failed? What if something went wrong?”
I stand, picking up a tennis ball and tossing it from hand to hand.
Buster perks up from the other end of my office. The carpet is earth-colored and nice and deep for Buster’s pads. He’s a medium-sized German Shepherd with keen eyes and the fastest tail wag in the city.
“It’s never failed before.” I throw the ball into the air, pacing, and Buster catches it and returns it to me.
“It’s not like I was doing anything silly. I wasn’t wing suiting through the city. It was in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t even know Shelly was recording.”
“So, have you punished her?”
I throw the ball again, admiring how quickly Buster’s mouth can snap around it. It’s like a piston, the way it fires.
“We built our business on showing us living what we were selling. We used to say that all the time.” As I speak, I throw the ball, falling into a rhythm with Buster as his tail goes into overdrive.
“And I know this is the best move we could’ve made. There’s a reason I went after this deal.”
“Like a dog with a bone,” Julian chuckles. “There would be no deal without you. That’s why I don’t get it. Why jeopardize everything? You must’ve known Shelly was recording.”
It’s like I can feel the walls pressing in around me.
There’s all that dark stuff from long ago. It’s really sad that a man in his forties is letting it creep back in.
I kneel, stroking my hand through Buster’s fur, scratching the back of his neck. He opens his mouth and hangs his tongue out, his butt wiggling from side to side.
“I don’t want to lose who we are,” I tell Julian. “That’s what happens to almost everyone in our position. We built this company through our personalities. I hate interviews. So do you. How many have we done over the years? And the TV shows?”
I stand, turning to find Julian standing behind his chair. He grips the back of it, working his hands back and forth. “And the stock price will probably go up for us. But soon, we’re going to be beyond that. We’ll have video game studios, TV,film…we’ll be everywhere.”
“And we’ll make a shit ton of money,” I say, nodding.
Buster walks at my side as I approach Julian.
“But we have to be careful too. Think of all the pitfalls along the way. There are lots of traps we need to avoid. I won’t screw over the customer in any of this, Julian. Not a single transaction in any kind of media.”