Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
The game started, and conversation dropped away as we focused on the players. The first period was intense—Miles was having a hell of a night—and when the pizza arrived, we demolished a large supreme between us while working through a few more beers.
When the period ended and commercials flooded the screen, one of the first ads was for an athletic wear company. Sleek. Modern. Exactly the kind of brand we’d tried to build eight years ago.
My jaw tightened at the unexpected reminder. I glanced at Kurt, but he was typing away on his phone, seemingly oblivious. We never talked about the company. For my part, even thinking about it felt like pressing on a bruise that never fully healed. My first real failure. The first business I’d really poured my heart into, only to watch it crumble because I’d trusted the wrong person.
“You know, I saw Chuck a couple of weeks ago,” Kurt said suddenly, confirming that I wasn’t the only one with the past on his mind.
Chuck had been our third partner in that venture—older, more experienced, the one we’d trusted to handle production while Kurt and I focused on marketing and growth. We hadn’t stayed friends after everything fell apart.
“He was at an art gallery opening,” Kurt went on. “Hanging around some artist with his tongue practically dragging on the floor behind him.”
I would’ve laughed at the image if thoughts of Chuck didn’t make my blood pressure spike. “Did you talk to him?”
Kurt scoffed. “Hell no. I’ve got nothing to say to that dick.”
I shook my head slowly, the old anger stirring in my chest. “I still can’t believe what he did to us. To the company.” My voice dropped, rough with something I didn’t want to examine too closely. “I can’t believe I trusted him.”
We’d been young and hungry, fresh out of college with more ambition than sense. Chuck was a decade older, seasoned, with the kind of business experience that made him seem like a sure thing. We’d handed him the keys to production and quality control, confident he knew what he was doing.
Instead, he’d cut corners on materials to pad his own margins. Skimmed money off the top when he thought we weren’t looking. By the time we caught on, our reputation was already tanking. Reviews were brutal. Returns piled up. And our fledgling company—the thing we’d built from nothing—collapsed under the weight of his greed.
A bigger, more established business might have weathered the storm. We didn’t stand a chance.
“Same,” Kurt agreed, his voice flat. He finished his beer and stood. “You want another one?”
“Yeah.”
He headed for the kitchen while my thoughts lingered on Chuck and the sting of watching everything I’d worked for fall apart. I’d been so proud of that company. So certain we were building something real.
And then it was gone.
The memory made me think of Carla. Wasn’t that the same mistake I’d made with her? Trusting someone because of their experience, their credentials, their confident assurances—only to be blindsided by incompetence a second time?
“Well, I’ve learned my lesson now,” I muttered to myself, just as Kurt walked back into the room.
“What’s that?” He handed me a fresh beer and settled back onto the couch.
I leaned into the cushions, scrubbing a hand down my face. “Just thinking about how that old mess is still rattling around in my head.” I paused, then decided to just say it. “You know how I’ve had trouble keeping an assistant?”
Kurt’s expression shifted. “Don’t tell me you fired another one.”
I nodded. “Couple of days ago.”
He let out a low whistle. “Damn, Simon. It’s starting to seem like you’re sabotaging yourself.”
The defensive response rose automatically—high standards, inadequate employees, the same justifications I’d given Liam. But while all of that was true, I knew it wasn’t the real problem.
“I have a hard time trusting people,” I admitted, the words scraping against my pride on the way out. “In business, I mean. I can’t shake the feeling that if I don’t maintain total control over every aspect of the company, it’ll all come crashing down again. Just like last time.”
If anyone would understand, it was Kurt. We’d both lost our first business, both had our confidence shaken by Chuck’s betrayal. But Kurt had been in an even worse position than me. I had family money to fall back on—a trust fund that cushioned the blow. Kurt had invested everything he had. When the company went under, he lost it all.
He was doing well now, working as a wealth manager at a prestigious firm, but I knew those early years after our failure had been brutal for him.
Kurt was quiet for a moment, turning his beer bottle slowly in his hands. “You know what happened wasn’t your fault, right? Chuck screwed us over. That’s on him.” He met my eyes, his expression unusually serious. “But I’m going to be honest with you. If you keep firing assistants and trying to do everything yourself, you’re going to miss something. A detail. A deadline. And when that happens, when you inevitably drop a ball, that will be your fault.”