Chapter 2 Chris Donovan vs. Shane Lewis: There's no love like the first...Shaken!

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Damon Thomas-Reid was getting worried. The meeting he was in was a very important one. In fact, so important that, the great billionaire…Shane Lewis himself had decided to show up for the meeting. Damon had only seen the man once at a friend’s party. He’d gotten to know who Shane was because his friend had insisted on introducing them. That had been a very long time ago but Shane still looked his very imposing and charismatic self. To say Damon was surprised Shane had decided to show up for the meeting was an understatement. The man always stayed back and allowed his crew of impressive professionals to operate. Damon was however thrilled that Shane was actually attaching so much importance to their business…and naturally, Damon expected his crew to do the same. So why the fuck was Chris sitting down quietly like a mummy, Damon wondered furiously.

It was so unlike Chris to be quiet in a meeting of such importance. He was the professional banker for fuck’s sake. He needed to give his inputs. Damon felt so lucky that his lawyer seemed to have some knowledge of banking. He would have been fucked. He made a mental note to give the man a raise for saving his arse. In fact, it would serve his absent-minded, rich, banker friend right if Damon insisted he gave the lawyer a reward too. After all, the man was doing Chris’ work for him. Damon wished he could get his hands around Chris’ neck that very moment. Damon Thomas-Reid was pissed!

What surprised Damon, even more, was Shane Lewis’ silence too. When the guy insisted on attending the meeting, Damon had naturally assumed he was coming to contribute to the discussion. Not just sit quietly like a mute. Shane Lewis’ reputation preceded him. The guy took control of issues whenever he was around and every major player in the business world knew that. Hey, the man definitely didn’t get to where he was by being mute. Damon couldn’t help but notice the surprised looks Shane’s crew kept throwing their boss’ way. They were obviously as shocked as Damon was.

Wait a minute… Damon turned to take a good look at his equally uncharacteristically quiet friend and started getting worried. Chris looked like he’d seen a ghost. And if Shane’s demeanor was anything to go by, he was shaken as well and didn’t have any intention of speaking a word. Hell, he didn’t even look like he could hear a word of what was being said. Did Shane’s silence have anything to do with Chris, Damon wondered. Damon watched the two for a while, waiting for either man to say something…anything. But both Chris and Shane looked like they were not even in the conference room. And just like that, Damon knew he had to bring the meeting to a close. After all, the very important issues had already been tackled. Why not put both men out of their misery?

“Okay gentlemen,” Damon started in a booming voice, “I’m sure you’ll all agree with me if I say this meeting has been very successful as we’ve handled all the major issues. The secretary will mail the minutes to all of us before our next meeting in four weeks. That’s going to take place in Shane’s residence by the way, since he wants to show all of us a prototype of what we have in mind. Thank you all for coming.”

There were handshakes all over as everyone got ready to leave the conference room. Damon couldn’t help but notice how Shane greeted only him, murmured something about giving him a call later, and quickly turned to leave the conference room as though the hounds of hell were after him. Chris, on the other hand, remained seated, looking as though he didn’t even know what was going on. Damon closed and locked the door to the conference room behind the last person and turned to look at his friend.

“What the fuck is going on?” Damon bellowed without preamble, wincing when he saw Chris jump in his seat.

Damon got even more worried then. What the hell would make an over six feet fearless hunk like Chris be so out of it, he actually jumps at a raised voice? Damon was seeing a totally different side of the poised Chris. Out of all his seven friends, the squad, as they often called themselves…namely Dean, Cole, Matt, Chris, Kyle, Michael, and Ty, Chris was the most confident and assertive. To top that, Chris was smart and commanded respect like no other. He was the sole owner of two big investment banks and was a partner in a third one...his partners being his seven friends. Yes, they were all very well-to-do but were not uptight like most young rich guys.

In a way, Chris was the backbone of the group because whenever any of the guys had problems, Chris was always the last resort. He was the problem solver amongst the friends. He was also a lot of fun to be around…especially when the group of friends came together. But the Chris sitting in the conference room that very moment, was nothing like the Chris Damon knew and was used to. It looked like the problem solver needed his problem solved, Damon sighed as he went around the conference table to sit directly opposite his friend.

“Chris?” Damon’s voice softened. He waited till Chris looked up into his eyes with his grey eyes filled with so much desolation. “Talk to me man. What just happened?”

Chris cleared his throat as his eyes darted away to look at the seat Shane had been occupying. He still couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“Do you know Shane?” Damon asked and then almost kicked himself. Of course, Chris knew Shane. Who didn’t? Well, in his defense, most people had never seen Shane physically, Damon argued with himself. “I mean personally,” Damon added, hating the defeated look in Chris’ eyes.