Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
“You need to see that your investment’s a sound decision,” Keyes finally answered.
Alec’s chair quietly squeaked as he sat forward.
“I know it’s a sound decision. I’m the one who asked you to keep the investment opportunity in our home. We’ll make a lot of money.” Alec’s voice rang with certainty. His hands splayed out as if to drive the belief home. There might have been an unspoken dumbass implied in the tone.
Alec’s declaration was new information. He hadn’t known that Alec actually wanted to be their only investor. To set up a proper machine shop would take hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Now, he wondered if he should have figured out a lie and tossed in some of his own cash. Play the investment game that he didn’t understand, but with a smart guy like Alec seeming so sure of their success, maybe he should invest too.
But first things first. Dev needed to participate in all this attitude bouncing around the room. He dropped his brows, shifting his expression to irritation. He directed his question to Keyes. “You made me do all this crap, spend time away from my family, and you knew for sure he was ponying up all the dough?”
“It wasn’t a bad idea to put your plan to paper,” Alec started, circumventing the impending argument between Dev and Keyes. “It’s what I asked you to do. The focused planning helps propel the shop forward while anticipating any obstacles that might arise, but I personally don’t need this style of presentation. Send me the business plan, and I’ll forward it to Larry Sprung, my financial guy at Miltin. You’re familiar with him, Keyes. He’ll make sure the right team’s in place and the plan is properly executed.”
Alec seemed to believe that was some form of an answer. It wasn’t.
Dev swung his head toward Keyes. “What the fuck, Dixon? We could already be turnin’ our blueprints into sleds.”
Keyes slanted his head toward Dev and muttered, “We gotta do this right...”
“You have blueprints already?” Alec interrupted, confused, staring between the both of them. “Why haven’t I seen them?”
Shit. He’d said too much. Keyes was really going to be pissed off.
After the briefest pause, Keyes continued as if Alec hadn’t spoken. “I’m not takin’ money from Alec until I know we have it all down and ready to go. He’s too important to me.”
“What if Alec loses his money?” Dev and Keyes said in unison. He’d heard Keyes’s mantra so many times over the last few months that he repeated the question verbatim.
This time, there was no question in Keyes’s expression. He was angry.
Of course Dev didn’t give a single shit. Most people looked at him that way.
As he opened his mouth to pop something harsh and crude off, Alec took the curve, swerving the argument off course. “How about I look over the business plan before I send it off to Larry tonight? If I have questions, I’ll ask.”
“Ask me,” Keyes said a second faster than Dev. If Alec did ask Keyes, it’d take days for Keyes to comb through every piece of gathered data to ensure his response was consistent with their plans.
Consistency and preplanning weren’t Dev’s way. He wanted to get this bitch underway already.
“Will do,” Alec said, getting to his feet. Alec fastened his suit jacket then reached for the paperwork and folder on the table. “Have you decided on a name for the shop?” Even as proud as Dev had been while printing the PowerPoint materials, he had to admit, they appeared amateur at best.
Neither he nor Keyes had spent much time in front of a computer screen. Typing the business plan and resulting presentation had taken so much longer than necessary with the way one of them pecked at the keyboard while the other watched for misspellings and errors. The latter had honestly been the most difficult job.
“Yeah,” Dev said, tossing the clicker back on the table. “The one I think we settled on is The Devil and The Key.”
“When we get to the point of mass producin’, we’ll name the different frames after different demon names. At least that’s what we think right now,” Keyes added, shutting the lid to his new laptop. The presentation screen went dark.
Alec started around the table only to stop and question that decision. “You’ll be limiting your customer base with such a name.”
“Thought about that,” Keyes answered confidently. “Then we decided they’re not our target audience, so it shouldn’t impact anything.”
The explanation must have made sense because Alec nodded and started back toward Keyes again. “Okay then, give me a kiss goodbye.” Alec tucked the folder under his arm and lifted his lips, coming to stand within an inch of Keyes’s broad chest. Alec was taller than Dev but still inches shorter than Keyes. “I’ve got a meeting. I’m late.”