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increasing Steve’s irritation.
    “I’ll ask you again, Steve. What the hell is going on here?”
    Steve audibly cleared his throat before he began to speak. “I've got problems with the building commission. It seems one of my sub-contractors used inferior materials on the Ojai project. I’m dealing with it. I thought I’d managed to keep the whole situation under wraps. Somehow Cox found out, now he’s threatening to make a statement to prove that we knew about everything and were willing to cut corners to make a profit. It gets worse. He’s also threatening to swear that corner cutting is almost the company’s motto, and that’s how we’ve managed to grow into a major player so quickly.”
    While Steve knew there was no truth in the accusations, in business, this type of mudslinging could stick.
    “That greasy, smug bastard! I want to know who’s pulling his leash, and I want to know now!”
    “I’m already on it. So far, I’ve drawn a blank.”
    “When were you going to tell me about this? For God’s sake, if things hadn’t changed, you would be on your honeymoon right now.”
    The mention of his aborted wedding irritated Steve further. Why didn’t Jason leave the subject alone? Why did he feel the need to bring it up at every given opportunity? Angered anew by thoughts of where he should have been instead of standing in Jason’s home office, Steve bit back on what he actually wanted to say, deciding that the best course of action was to deal only with the business they shared.
    “I already told you, I’m taking care of it. This right here is what I can’t stand about you, man. You can’t control everything. Leave me the hell alone to do my job!”
    “This is my company as much as it is yours, therefore, I have a right to know what’s going on, especially if it affects me. I trust you to take care of our day-to-day business, but not to keep far reaching matters from me when you feel like it. We're partners, and I have to be able to trust you to keep me in the loop, especially about something so serious.”
    “Fuck you, you egotistical shit!”
    “You can call me as many names as you like, Steve, but it still doesn’t tell me who’s behind this mess and I want answers. We’ve worked too long and too hard for some jumped up piece of shit like Percy Cox to pull the rug from under us!”
    “You think I don’t know that? Just back off, Jason. I’ve got this.” Looking at his watch, Steve straightened his tie and reached for his briefcase. “Look man, I’ve got to go. I need to get a handle on what Cox’s next move is going to be, and if I know that slimy turd, he already has a jump start on me.”
    Steve didn’t wait for a reply to his comment as he left the office. Never realizing that while Jason had spoken about them in terms of a team, he had referred to himself in the singular. His subconscious mind was already pulling away from Jason.
     

Chapter 5
    On the drive over to his office, Steve’s mind refused to stay on matters of business. The feelings around Hope’s betrayal were always in the forefront of his mind.
    Of all the men in the world, why did she chose Jason? She knew how he felt about his friend, what they had been through together and that Jason was the only semblance of childhood he had left. Steve wanted to understand, needed to understand. Throughout the night, he had reached for his phone countless times bent on calling her, demanding she tell him why .
    He had given her everything that he was, his all, and in return she had betrayed him, in a way he had never thought possible. The woman he was to marry had solicited his brother for sex. The thought still made him sick to his stomach, but Steve’s mind, an entity unto itself refused to move on.
    Pulling his car into the underground parking garage, Steve made a conscious effort to bring a sense of calm to his disjointed mind. The business of the day required his complete attention. Jason was right, it was time to deal