Page 95 of Thorn Evermore
KYSON
“Thanks for meeting on the fly,” Neal says to all of us as we stuff ourselves into his office.
Douglas is here on his day off, the front-end managers, and me. He also invited Sandra, Manny, and Kelly, one of our receivers. I have a plate with two slices of cheese pizza, but honestly the greasy smell is turning my stomach. It’s just that I love pizza, and everyone knows it. Maybe I can feign nerves because of the impromptu meeting.
He clears his throat, shifting in his seat. His cheeks are red, his brow creased. His unpleasant scent only adds to my discomfort.
“Uh, I’ll just get right to it. I have to go on medical leave.”
Sandra gasps softly.
“I’m having surgery. It seems I have a blood clot on its way to my heart. It hasn’t killed me yet because of the blockage in my artery, but I’m in danger of a major cardiac event. I’ll be out for a while.”
“Shit,” Douglas whispers.
“As a result, uh…” He pauses, sniffing, but then blood drips from his nose, dotting the paper on his desk. He grabs for a tissue, but my gums throb.
Eww, not now, beast. Gross.
“What’s wrong?” Sandra asks.
“What?”
“You just, like, growled or something?”
“Uh, no. The nerves are getting to me and seeing his blood grossed me out.”
Manny tries to help him, but he pushes him off. “I’m fine. Thanks.” He dabs his nose with a tissue. “Side effect.”
We all sit in silence, waiting for more.
“So you’re probably wondering who will run things while I’m gone. I’ve suggested two names to Corporate, Douglas and…” His eyes settle on me. “Kyson.”
I pull my head back. “Oh no. Can you withdraw me, please? Douglas can handle it and he wants it. I don’t.”
“It’s a good opportunity for you to show your skills,” Neal says. “Don’t you want to move up?”
“As we’ve discussed a thousand times, no, I do not. You’ll be back anyway, right?”
He pales slightly. “I’m not sure. My condition is… serious.”
“Damn,” Kelly whispers. She scoots her chair back, accidentally knocking over Neal’s backpack. Out of it, a small clear package tumbles. It’s filled with white, powdery substance.
I know what it is immediately. I narrow my eyes at Neal as he scrambles to hide it from the others. “I thought you were done with that.”
The look he returns is cold and hard. “It’s none of your business anymore. Besides, it’s harder than it seems.”
I snap my mouth shut, but I’m seething. He’s always flirted with recreational drugs, but when I caught him doing coke, I drew the line. I know he was off it for a while. He let me check his belongings and his desk. Obviously, he went back on it at some point.
“I’ll let Corporate know that you’re not interested,” he says, his tone filled with disappointment.
There was a time that would’ve bothered me so much, but I’m completely free of it right now. Incredible.
“A bag of money was found this morning,” Neal continues. “With a note that it had been returned. No indication who was stealing or how it got back here with nothing on our security cameras, but other than about thirty dollars, it’s all there. We’ll consider it a resolved issue unless it starts up again.” He taps his fingers on the desk. “Unless someone wants to confess.”
No one says a word.
“Fine. My leave starts tomorrow, hence the urgency of the meeting. I’ll be going into surgery as soon as possible, but I have a few pre-op procedures first.”