Post by Roger Wright on Nov 15, 2023 20:24:09 GMT -6
I thank you for all the lives you've led
I thank you for every word you said
There is a saying, if you forget the past you are doomed to repeat it. There is also a saying to not live in the past. Which all leads to everyone’s favorite concept, balance in life. Look there is a reality here, your past is a ghost, destined to haunt you no matter what you do. Run from it and it will find you, drag you back, embrace it and it will drive you crazy leaving you destroyed and wondering about what could have been. So what do you do?..I guess that is the question that we all must figure out…or not…in the end does it really even matter?
TWO MONTHS AGO
The ax swung down, cutting the cold air with a swish before slamming into the log, splitting it almost instantly before striking the wood stump and becoming lodged, both halves of the log falling to either side with a thud. The ax jerked back from the stump before a hand grabbed a half log and placed it vertically standing on the log. Again the ax swung with a swish and split the half log further in half before becoming lodged in the stump. Once more the ax jerked away from the stump and a hand grabbed the remaining half piece of wood placing it vertically. Again the ax rose up and swung down knifing through the cold air and splitting the wood in half, then becoming lodged into the stump.
A hand reached down and retrieved a piece of the split wood, then another, and another until all four were picked up. Out of the corner of view a man placed the wood on top of a pile of wood stacked along a wall before moving across the wall to the far end and disappearing around a corner. From the cover of a bush emerged a small man wearing a black hoodie, the hood up, and black pants, with a camera around his neck. The man moved quietly and quickly through the open area to the wall of the house, placing his back flush with it. She slid along carefully to make no noise and peered in through the window that overlooked the kitchen sink, where he saw some dirty blonde hair dangle before him as someone washed their hands.
With a tremble in his hands, the small man raised up the camera, steadying it best he could and took a quick snapshot through the window. With the speed of a snake the hand snapped back and turned a view of the image preview before the small man's view. He smiled wide, and slithered back along the wall, through the clearing and into the brush he had hid. From the window the blonde haired man dried his hands and took a glimpse of the man vanishing into the shrubbery, he had seen the man from the moment he approached through the brush.
A battle had raged in the man's head over how to proceed when he first saw the intruder, the ultimate decision to simply let it go, winning out. Running off trespassers and the curious hiker had long since become nothing more than a bore, so this time he let it go, let the man pass, a mistake he would soon learn was bigger than he had ever dreamed.
I bite down a little harder
My blade's a little sharper
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
ONE MONTH AGO
“You are one tough son of a bitch to find.” Jesse Style’s words floated on the cool air, his words clearly meant to garner some kind of response from the man that sat on the porch sipping a drink. “Come on, after all this time, the years, you are really just going to sit there and ignore me?” Jesse stopped and opened his hands palms out in front of him as if to gesture that he deserved some sort of response.
A silence almost as chilling as the cold air filled the area, Jesse returned his hands to his side and furled his brows at the man. “God dammit, after all we have been through, all the things, this is how you are going to treat me?” Jesse huffed but stopped as the man raised a hand, took a puff of something, raised his hand in with the universal signal to stop, then exhaled into the cool air. The dense smoke hung on the porch nearly obscuring the man as he sat and raised a bottle to his lips, pulling gently from it.
“The scrawny pale guy with the black hoodie?” Jesse stepped back at the directness of the man's tone as he asked the question. If one were asked to describe how it sounded, unemotional would sum it up to the fullest.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Once more Jesse stepped forward but halted at a raised hand.
“Ten years ago I would have believed you, five years ago I would have forced myself to believe you, things have changed. Utter a word of truth for once in your life.” The man pulled another puff from his pipe, took a swig from his bottle, then exhaled another dense cloud into the air.
“The truth? You fucking bailed on me, I gave you everything, because of me you can live the life you always wanted, you got the fame, got the rewards, I gave you the chance to be everything you ever wanted. That is the god damn truth!” Jesse’s voice rose as he spoke until he stopped as a door swung open from the other side of the man.
“Everything okay dad?” The young girl asked. Her dark hair pulled back into a tight pony, her overalls dirty in a been playing kind of way.
“It is fine peanut, go inside, just another misguided fool at our doorstep.” The man's gaze never left Jesse as the door swung back open and the young girl stepped into the house. “Look around, there is no one here, no one to grand stand for, unless your friend is in the bushes with a video camera. So lower your tone, or walk your ass back the way you came.” Another pull from the pipe and swig from the bottle followed.
“What happened to you?” Jesse asked, a true genuine concern filling his voice.
The man’s voice never wavered, no emotion came through, it was stoic, monotone and uncaring as he spoke. “The fame you gave me happened. The money you allowed me to make happened. The rewards you allowed me to have happened. For years I asked myself the very question you pose but in the end it all came down to you Jesse, you happened to me. You are like a walking disaster, leaving a wake of destruction behind him. Everything you touch turns to ash, everything you love dies, every beautiful thing in your life just withers to nothing. I am a product of you Jesse, a product of your touch, a touch you have infected the world with, just another victim of the Styles curse.” Another Puff, swig from the bottle, and a dense cloud to fill the air came.
“For Christ sakes Roger, just admit your own mistakes, don’t lay them at my feet. Don’t act like you are innocent in all of this. You chose to buy part of OPW, you chose to make that mistake. At no point did I ever tell you it was a good decision. You lost your business in Texas to that ungrateful friend of yours, Shane. Annika left you for Johnny because you are a bitch, not because I told her too, and Candace, well showing a woman your weakness doesn’t make them want you, they want men not bitches.” Roger’s gaze never left Jesse, even when he finished speaking. For a moment in the silence that followed Jesse’s words there was an unnerving discomfort that filled the air.
Showing still no emotion Roger again spoke in a monotone even response. “Yeah I know my mistakes Jesse, I have moved on from them. I have accepted who I am, what I am, and become what I needed to in order to survive.” Roger stood up and ran his hand through his hair pulling it back and tucking it behind his ear before rubbing his shoulder length beard. “What brought you here?” Roger asked point blank.
“New Edge…”
“No.” Roger cut Jesse off before he could finish. “Never again, I will not be your puppet, will not be the fan's puppet, there are no strings on me anymore.” He stepped forward to the railing of the decking and leaned on both forearms, his gaze focused on the trees in the distance.
“Contract.” Jesse said as he pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. “When I closed New Edge the Last time, your contract triggered a clause, your one year you had left was reduced to two matches in the event New Edge ever opened.” Jesse held out the document for Roger to take but Roger never moved, just continued to stare.
“I know the clause.” Roger said before pulling on the pipe and taking a swig of his bottle. Roger released the smoke into the air and let out a sigh before continuing. “You won’t be getting the man you want.” Placing both hands on the railing Roger pushed away and turned to lean against the top of the rail.
Jesse shifted as Roger moved, almost flinched, and out of the corner of his eyes caught the glimpse of something moving through the brush. “What was that?” Jesse’s eyes moved away from Roger and scanned the shrubs.
“Out here? My guess would be a deer.” Roger stepped forward and came to stand directly next to Jesse.
“Shit!” Jesse stepped back startled by the sudden realization Roger was standing next to him. “Look, two matches, that’s all you have to do. Just say yes, sign the match contract, and you will already have one done.” Jesse produced a rolled document and held it out for Roger.
Roger dumped the contents of his pipe onto the ground and slipped it into his pocket. With the now free hand he took the paperwork and stepped to the railing, producing a pen from his pocket and signed the document. “Remember, you reap what you sow.” Roger said as he handed the document back.
“Aren’t you curious about who it is?” Jesse said, slipping the rolled document back into his pocket.
“Johnny.” Roger took a swig from the bottle and set it on the railing. “Why else would you want me back so bad? Need a big draw for the first show back. Same old mistakes from the same old Jesse, it’s okay though, you can’t possibly fuck it up this time, can’t possibly hurt anyone else.”
“Fuck you!” Jesse said with a smile on my face. “I got what I wanted, the fans get what they want, and NEW gets what it needs.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Roger turned to look at Jesse with a hint of a smile on his face. “Now take your ass back home the way your fucking came.” Roger waved Jesse off with the back of his right hand before turning and entering his house.
Swimming in the mud, never coming clean
I thank you for nothing in between
Yes, I thank you for leaving
FIVE HOURS LATER
The engine cranked but wouldn’t turnover. Snow had begun to fall, the white dust beginning to cover the windshield, sticking to the branches of the trees overhead. Frustration filled Jesse as he slapped the steering wheel. “Fucking rental car!” Jesse yelled as he slung his shoulders and arms around in anger. A light reflected off the side mirror and Jesse stopped, a car approached its headlights bouncing up and down as the vehicle made its way along the degraded road.
Jesse swung the drivers side door open and raised both hands over his head waving for the driver to stop. As the vehicle approached it became clear the vehicle was a tow truck, and a smile crossed Jesse’s face, clearly thinking his bad day had turned lucky. The truck lurched to a stop, the lights blinding Jesse, he couldn’t see the door open, or the man as he slid out of the driver's side. “Can you turn the lights off?”
“Got some kind of trouble here?” The man asked over the rumble of the tow truck.
“Won’t start!” Jesse yelled back.
“Cold can cause all kinds of problems with these new fangled cars. I can load her up and take her to the nearest shop, it's gonna cost a bit though, $10 a mile, $250 for the hook up, the nearest station is about 150 miles out. Gonna need cash up front, along with a finders fee for stopping on the side of the road to help you out.”
“Fucking Christ thats like $2,000 dollars, who carries that much on them?” Jesse barked back over the engine of the truck.
“Well good luck getting a signal, and the walk is nearly two hours from here. The snow is getting worse, so ya might want to get started on that walk.” The man said as he began to turn.
“Wait.” Jesse held out his hand. “I can give you $500 now and the rest when we get there, just need an ATM.” Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled the rolled contract out, along with his metal slim wallet. He counted the $100 bills and stopped at five, removing them from the wallet, slipping it back into his pocket and dropping the document on the ground.
“All or nuttin!” The man yelled.
Jesse huffed as he grabbed the contract from the ground. On the back of the page he noticed some writing. ‘JUST PAY THE MAN!’ it read, and below it the words. ‘We all make mistakes, some of us just keep making the same ones. You aren’t getting what you want, and it begins tonight. Safe ride in the truck, and just pay the man, I know you have the cash.’
“Son of a bitch!” Jesse yelled. “Who sent you out here?”
“No one, always drive this road every night, gotta get home from town. Now ya got the money, er not?” the man yelled back.
“Yeah I’ll pay, but tell me, did Roger send you?” Jesse yelled back.
“Who?” The man yelled as he climbed into the truck and pulled forward to begin the process of loading it up.
I'm stronger than I ever knew
I'm strong because of you
I hit back a little louder
Fuck you a little harder
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
MONDAY MORNING
The door of the office swung open and Shane burst through with a coffee in his right hand and a big smile on his face. “Morning Cheryl.” He said with a dismissive wave and pointed to the airpod in his right ear. “Yeah, it was great man, the bitches on the boat, hot damn and that blonde…Yeah the one with the big ass titties…Oh you know I did man, made her scream for a deity she doesn’t believe in…Hell yeah I did…” Shane pushed open the door from the office waiting room to his office and froze in place.
“I have to go…” Shane said as he pulled his phone from the pocket of his suit jacket and hung up. “Help you?” He asked, staring straight at the chair behind his desk, the chair occupied by a blond haired man that was turned and facing the large window that overlooked the town.
The door closing behind him broke the silence and gave Shane a bit of a startle, a startle that pulled him back to reality and refocused his mind. Slowly he began moving towards the desk to set down his coffee. “Look, I don’t know how you got in here, but it is time to go before I call security.” Shane set the cup down and the chair spun around.
“Had a key, should have changed the locks.” Roger said, his voice flat and unemotional.
Shane’s face turned pale white. “I…I…I thought…”
“I was dead?” Roger asked as he stood up, straightened his suit jacket and tie. “I guess the rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated.” With his right hand Roger gave him a pat on the shoulder before gliding past him to the far window.
“Look, I don’t know what possessed you to come back, but…”
“I am not here to take the company from you, in fact you have done a great job. Reality: I don't even want the money I am owed.” Roger put a hand on the window and stared out across the town, his farm in the distance, the dirt plowed, nothing growing this time of year.
“I mean there is no money, you were declared dead, your shares were sold when the company went public.” Shane sat down in the chair and grabbed his coffee. “Honestly, you don’t own any shares, or any interest in the company anymore.” A smirk crossed Shane’s face as he took a sip.
“Is this what you always really wanted, to take my company from me?” Roger never moved his gaze from the window. “Was that really the goal the whole time, why you didn’t want Ani around, why you didn’t like Candace, why you always pushed me to let you run the business while I wrestled?”
“Look, this hurts to say but the great Roger Wright, he lost. Bested by a man in a suit who was always one step ahead. Now if you don’t mind, I have a business to run and you are trespassing.” Shane reached for the phone but the lines were all busy. “What is going on?...” Shane’s gaze snapped to Roger.
“Phone problems?” Roger asked. “Might want to ask the majority shareholder to look into that for you, but then you are sitting in his chair.”
“Excuse me?” Shane stood up and pressed both fists against the desk. “I am the majority shareholder, the 30% you gave me makes me the majority shareholder.”
“Are you sure?” Roger’s gaze turned to Shane. “What if businesses were to buy up all of my shares, would the owners of those businesses then be the owners of the shares?”
“Well yeah, but there were 196 different businesses that bought your shares, and none of them own 31% of the shares.” Shane moved for the computer and tried to log in but received an error stating the user is unknown. “What the fuck is going on?” Shane smacked the table.
“Hypothetically if someone bought all of those small companies, would they then own the majority shares of this company?” Roger stepped forward and raised the round metal paper weight off the table and rolled it in his hand as if studying it’s design.
“I mean…” Realization dawned on the face of Shane. "There is…It would…”
“Take a very coordinated effort to miss yours and the board's watchful gaze?” Roger smiled as he set down the paper weight. “Or maybe it all just closed at the end of business on a friday before a huge yacht party out on the Galveston Bay? The kind where phone service doesn’t work, and people miss calls all the time.”
“I..”
“Lost.” Roger spun the chair around and slipped down into the seat.
“But I have shares…”
“You have frozen assets, assets that will no doubt be stripped by the board and distributed amongst the shareholders.” Roger raised the phone, dialed a few numbers and a dial tone came over the handset. He pressed the intercom button. “Cheryl, please have Shane escorted out, and make sure he doesn’t take the company car with him.”
“Yes sir.” Came her reply.
“But we..”
“Had a good thing.” Roger said as he spun around in the chair just as the door to the office swung open, two men entered and took Shane by the arms, to escort him out of the building. The last look on his face was of shock and surprise.
I thank you for every word you said
I thank you for walking away
I thank you for the promises you broke
For always watching, watching while I choke
I thank you for teaching me
Yes, I thank you for your hurting
There is a saying, if you forget the past you are doomed to repeat it. There is also a saying to not live in the past. Which all leads to everyone’s favorite concept, balance in life. Look there is a reality here, your past is a ghost, destined to haunt you no matter what you do. Run from it and it will find you, drag you back, embrace it and it will drive you crazy leaving you destroyed and wondering about what could have been. So what do you do?..I guess that is the question that we all must figure out…or not…in the end does it really even matter?
TWO MONTHS AGO
The ax swung down, cutting the cold air with a swish before slamming into the log, splitting it almost instantly before striking the wood stump and becoming lodged, both halves of the log falling to either side with a thud. The ax jerked back from the stump before a hand grabbed a half log and placed it vertically standing on the log. Again the ax swung with a swish and split the half log further in half before becoming lodged in the stump. Once more the ax jerked away from the stump and a hand grabbed the remaining half piece of wood placing it vertically. Again the ax rose up and swung down knifing through the cold air and splitting the wood in half, then becoming lodged into the stump.
A hand reached down and retrieved a piece of the split wood, then another, and another until all four were picked up. Out of the corner of view a man placed the wood on top of a pile of wood stacked along a wall before moving across the wall to the far end and disappearing around a corner. From the cover of a bush emerged a small man wearing a black hoodie, the hood up, and black pants, with a camera around his neck. The man moved quietly and quickly through the open area to the wall of the house, placing his back flush with it. She slid along carefully to make no noise and peered in through the window that overlooked the kitchen sink, where he saw some dirty blonde hair dangle before him as someone washed their hands.
With a tremble in his hands, the small man raised up the camera, steadying it best he could and took a quick snapshot through the window. With the speed of a snake the hand snapped back and turned a view of the image preview before the small man's view. He smiled wide, and slithered back along the wall, through the clearing and into the brush he had hid. From the window the blonde haired man dried his hands and took a glimpse of the man vanishing into the shrubbery, he had seen the man from the moment he approached through the brush.
A battle had raged in the man's head over how to proceed when he first saw the intruder, the ultimate decision to simply let it go, winning out. Running off trespassers and the curious hiker had long since become nothing more than a bore, so this time he let it go, let the man pass, a mistake he would soon learn was bigger than he had ever dreamed.
I bite down a little harder
My blade's a little sharper
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
Strike back a little harder
I scream a little louder
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
I'm stronger than I ever knew
I'm strong because of you
I hit back a little louder
Fuck you a little harder
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
ONE MONTH AGO
“You are one tough son of a bitch to find.” Jesse Style’s words floated on the cool air, his words clearly meant to garner some kind of response from the man that sat on the porch sipping a drink. “Come on, after all this time, the years, you are really just going to sit there and ignore me?” Jesse stopped and opened his hands palms out in front of him as if to gesture that he deserved some sort of response.
A silence almost as chilling as the cold air filled the area, Jesse returned his hands to his side and furled his brows at the man. “God dammit, after all we have been through, all the things, this is how you are going to treat me?” Jesse huffed but stopped as the man raised a hand, took a puff of something, raised his hand in with the universal signal to stop, then exhaled into the cool air. The dense smoke hung on the porch nearly obscuring the man as he sat and raised a bottle to his lips, pulling gently from it.
“The scrawny pale guy with the black hoodie?” Jesse stepped back at the directness of the man's tone as he asked the question. If one were asked to describe how it sounded, unemotional would sum it up to the fullest.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Once more Jesse stepped forward but halted at a raised hand.
“Ten years ago I would have believed you, five years ago I would have forced myself to believe you, things have changed. Utter a word of truth for once in your life.” The man pulled another puff from his pipe, took a swig from his bottle, then exhaled another dense cloud into the air.
“The truth? You fucking bailed on me, I gave you everything, because of me you can live the life you always wanted, you got the fame, got the rewards, I gave you the chance to be everything you ever wanted. That is the god damn truth!” Jesse’s voice rose as he spoke until he stopped as a door swung open from the other side of the man.
“Everything okay dad?” The young girl asked. Her dark hair pulled back into a tight pony, her overalls dirty in a been playing kind of way.
“It is fine peanut, go inside, just another misguided fool at our doorstep.” The man's gaze never left Jesse as the door swung back open and the young girl stepped into the house. “Look around, there is no one here, no one to grand stand for, unless your friend is in the bushes with a video camera. So lower your tone, or walk your ass back the way you came.” Another pull from the pipe and swig from the bottle followed.
“What happened to you?” Jesse asked, a true genuine concern filling his voice.
The man’s voice never wavered, no emotion came through, it was stoic, monotone and uncaring as he spoke. “The fame you gave me happened. The money you allowed me to make happened. The rewards you allowed me to have happened. For years I asked myself the very question you pose but in the end it all came down to you Jesse, you happened to me. You are like a walking disaster, leaving a wake of destruction behind him. Everything you touch turns to ash, everything you love dies, every beautiful thing in your life just withers to nothing. I am a product of you Jesse, a product of your touch, a touch you have infected the world with, just another victim of the Styles curse.” Another Puff, swig from the bottle, and a dense cloud to fill the air came.
“For Christ sakes Roger, just admit your own mistakes, don’t lay them at my feet. Don’t act like you are innocent in all of this. You chose to buy part of OPW, you chose to make that mistake. At no point did I ever tell you it was a good decision. You lost your business in Texas to that ungrateful friend of yours, Shane. Annika left you for Johnny because you are a bitch, not because I told her too, and Candace, well showing a woman your weakness doesn’t make them want you, they want men not bitches.” Roger’s gaze never left Jesse, even when he finished speaking. For a moment in the silence that followed Jesse’s words there was an unnerving discomfort that filled the air.
Showing still no emotion Roger again spoke in a monotone even response. “Yeah I know my mistakes Jesse, I have moved on from them. I have accepted who I am, what I am, and become what I needed to in order to survive.” Roger stood up and ran his hand through his hair pulling it back and tucking it behind his ear before rubbing his shoulder length beard. “What brought you here?” Roger asked point blank.
“New Edge…”
“No.” Roger cut Jesse off before he could finish. “Never again, I will not be your puppet, will not be the fan's puppet, there are no strings on me anymore.” He stepped forward to the railing of the decking and leaned on both forearms, his gaze focused on the trees in the distance.
“Contract.” Jesse said as he pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. “When I closed New Edge the Last time, your contract triggered a clause, your one year you had left was reduced to two matches in the event New Edge ever opened.” Jesse held out the document for Roger to take but Roger never moved, just continued to stare.
“I know the clause.” Roger said before pulling on the pipe and taking a swig of his bottle. Roger released the smoke into the air and let out a sigh before continuing. “You won’t be getting the man you want.” Placing both hands on the railing Roger pushed away and turned to lean against the top of the rail.
Jesse shifted as Roger moved, almost flinched, and out of the corner of his eyes caught the glimpse of something moving through the brush. “What was that?” Jesse’s eyes moved away from Roger and scanned the shrubs.
“Out here? My guess would be a deer.” Roger stepped forward and came to stand directly next to Jesse.
“Shit!” Jesse stepped back startled by the sudden realization Roger was standing next to him. “Look, two matches, that’s all you have to do. Just say yes, sign the match contract, and you will already have one done.” Jesse produced a rolled document and held it out for Roger.
Roger dumped the contents of his pipe onto the ground and slipped it into his pocket. With the now free hand he took the paperwork and stepped to the railing, producing a pen from his pocket and signed the document. “Remember, you reap what you sow.” Roger said as he handed the document back.
“Aren’t you curious about who it is?” Jesse said, slipping the rolled document back into his pocket.
“Johnny.” Roger took a swig from the bottle and set it on the railing. “Why else would you want me back so bad? Need a big draw for the first show back. Same old mistakes from the same old Jesse, it’s okay though, you can’t possibly fuck it up this time, can’t possibly hurt anyone else.”
“Fuck you!” Jesse said with a smile on my face. “I got what I wanted, the fans get what they want, and NEW gets what it needs.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Roger turned to look at Jesse with a hint of a smile on his face. “Now take your ass back home the way your fucking came.” Roger waved Jesse off with the back of his right hand before turning and entering his house.
I thank you for the hole you dug in me
Filled it with cement, sunk me in your sea
Thank you for being so obscene
I thank you for never facing me
Swimming in the mud, never coming clean
I thank you for nothing in between
Yes, I thank you for leaving
FIVE HOURS LATER
The engine cranked but wouldn’t turnover. Snow had begun to fall, the white dust beginning to cover the windshield, sticking to the branches of the trees overhead. Frustration filled Jesse as he slapped the steering wheel. “Fucking rental car!” Jesse yelled as he slung his shoulders and arms around in anger. A light reflected off the side mirror and Jesse stopped, a car approached its headlights bouncing up and down as the vehicle made its way along the degraded road.
Jesse swung the drivers side door open and raised both hands over his head waving for the driver to stop. As the vehicle approached it became clear the vehicle was a tow truck, and a smile crossed Jesse’s face, clearly thinking his bad day had turned lucky. The truck lurched to a stop, the lights blinding Jesse, he couldn’t see the door open, or the man as he slid out of the driver's side. “Can you turn the lights off?”
“Got some kind of trouble here?” The man asked over the rumble of the tow truck.
“Won’t start!” Jesse yelled back.
“Cold can cause all kinds of problems with these new fangled cars. I can load her up and take her to the nearest shop, it's gonna cost a bit though, $10 a mile, $250 for the hook up, the nearest station is about 150 miles out. Gonna need cash up front, along with a finders fee for stopping on the side of the road to help you out.”
“Fucking Christ thats like $2,000 dollars, who carries that much on them?” Jesse barked back over the engine of the truck.
“Well good luck getting a signal, and the walk is nearly two hours from here. The snow is getting worse, so ya might want to get started on that walk.” The man said as he began to turn.
“Wait.” Jesse held out his hand. “I can give you $500 now and the rest when we get there, just need an ATM.” Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled the rolled contract out, along with his metal slim wallet. He counted the $100 bills and stopped at five, removing them from the wallet, slipping it back into his pocket and dropping the document on the ground.
“All or nuttin!” The man yelled.
Jesse huffed as he grabbed the contract from the ground. On the back of the page he noticed some writing. ‘JUST PAY THE MAN!’ it read, and below it the words. ‘We all make mistakes, some of us just keep making the same ones. You aren’t getting what you want, and it begins tonight. Safe ride in the truck, and just pay the man, I know you have the cash.’
“Son of a bitch!” Jesse yelled. “Who sent you out here?”
“No one, always drive this road every night, gotta get home from town. Now ya got the money, er not?” the man yelled back.
“Yeah I’ll pay, but tell me, did Roger send you?” Jesse yelled back.
“Who?” The man yelled as he climbed into the truck and pulled forward to begin the process of loading it up.
I bite down a little harder
My blade's a little sharper
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
Strike back a little harder
I scream a little louder
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
I'm stronger than I ever knew
I'm strong because of you
I hit back a little louder
Fuck you a little harder
My roots, my roots run deep into the hollow
MONDAY MORNING
The door of the office swung open and Shane burst through with a coffee in his right hand and a big smile on his face. “Morning Cheryl.” He said with a dismissive wave and pointed to the airpod in his right ear. “Yeah, it was great man, the bitches on the boat, hot damn and that blonde…Yeah the one with the big ass titties…Oh you know I did man, made her scream for a deity she doesn’t believe in…Hell yeah I did…” Shane pushed open the door from the office waiting room to his office and froze in place.
“I have to go…” Shane said as he pulled his phone from the pocket of his suit jacket and hung up. “Help you?” He asked, staring straight at the chair behind his desk, the chair occupied by a blond haired man that was turned and facing the large window that overlooked the town.
The door closing behind him broke the silence and gave Shane a bit of a startle, a startle that pulled him back to reality and refocused his mind. Slowly he began moving towards the desk to set down his coffee. “Look, I don’t know how you got in here, but it is time to go before I call security.” Shane set the cup down and the chair spun around.
“Had a key, should have changed the locks.” Roger said, his voice flat and unemotional.
Shane’s face turned pale white. “I…I…I thought…”
“I was dead?” Roger asked as he stood up, straightened his suit jacket and tie. “I guess the rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated.” With his right hand Roger gave him a pat on the shoulder before gliding past him to the far window.
“Look, I don’t know what possessed you to come back, but…”
“I am not here to take the company from you, in fact you have done a great job. Reality: I don't even want the money I am owed.” Roger put a hand on the window and stared out across the town, his farm in the distance, the dirt plowed, nothing growing this time of year.
“I mean there is no money, you were declared dead, your shares were sold when the company went public.” Shane sat down in the chair and grabbed his coffee. “Honestly, you don’t own any shares, or any interest in the company anymore.” A smirk crossed Shane’s face as he took a sip.
“Is this what you always really wanted, to take my company from me?” Roger never moved his gaze from the window. “Was that really the goal the whole time, why you didn’t want Ani around, why you didn’t like Candace, why you always pushed me to let you run the business while I wrestled?”
“Look, this hurts to say but the great Roger Wright, he lost. Bested by a man in a suit who was always one step ahead. Now if you don’t mind, I have a business to run and you are trespassing.” Shane reached for the phone but the lines were all busy. “What is going on?...” Shane’s gaze snapped to Roger.
“Phone problems?” Roger asked. “Might want to ask the majority shareholder to look into that for you, but then you are sitting in his chair.”
“Excuse me?” Shane stood up and pressed both fists against the desk. “I am the majority shareholder, the 30% you gave me makes me the majority shareholder.”
“Are you sure?” Roger’s gaze turned to Shane. “What if businesses were to buy up all of my shares, would the owners of those businesses then be the owners of the shares?”
“Well yeah, but there were 196 different businesses that bought your shares, and none of them own 31% of the shares.” Shane moved for the computer and tried to log in but received an error stating the user is unknown. “What the fuck is going on?” Shane smacked the table.
“Hypothetically if someone bought all of those small companies, would they then own the majority shares of this company?” Roger stepped forward and raised the round metal paper weight off the table and rolled it in his hand as if studying it’s design.
“I mean…” Realization dawned on the face of Shane. "There is…It would…”
“Take a very coordinated effort to miss yours and the board's watchful gaze?” Roger smiled as he set down the paper weight. “Or maybe it all just closed at the end of business on a friday before a huge yacht party out on the Galveston Bay? The kind where phone service doesn’t work, and people miss calls all the time.”
“I..”
“Lost.” Roger spun the chair around and slipped down into the seat.
“But I have shares…”
“You have frozen assets, assets that will no doubt be stripped by the board and distributed amongst the shareholders.” Roger raised the phone, dialed a few numbers and a dial tone came over the handset. He pressed the intercom button. “Cheryl, please have Shane escorted out, and make sure he doesn’t take the company car with him.”
“Yes sir.” Came her reply.
“But we..”
“Had a good thing.” Roger said as he spun around in the chair just as the door to the office swung open, two men entered and took Shane by the arms, to escort him out of the building. The last look on his face was of shock and surprise.
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