Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)

Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)

Tymber Dalton




Chapter One



Only nine thirty on a Monday morning, and already Susan Costello’s day had turned into complete and utter shit.

If they don’t haul me out of here in handcuffs or a straight-jacket by the end of the day, it’ll be a miracle.

Right now she was rubbing at her forehead, trying to stave off a tension headache as her service manager, Tom, ranted about some bullshit her brother-in-law had pulled on Saturday while she wasn’t at the dealership. It figured, the one freaking Saturday she’d taken off in a couple of months, and Jack had decided to strut his stuff in front of a friend of his.

It’s looking more and more like handcuffs.

“Now, I stayed on because I loved working for John,” Tom said. “And I love the heck out of you, Susan. But Jack-off needs to butt the hell out of my service department and leave my crew alone, or you’re going to be needing to hire a lot of damn techs. We’re sick of his bullshit.”

“Jack-off” was one of the nicer nicknames most of the employees at Costello Luxury Motors had for Jack Costello. Who, at twenty-nine, had apparently made being an * his major mission in life, since he’d pretty much failed at everything else.

“I’m really sorry, Tom. I’ll have a talk with him.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me,” Tom said. “Everyone knows he’s an * and none of us blames you. We know you’re kind of stuck with him for now. But we’re done putting up with him, seriously.”

Once Tom had left, Kristin walked in with a cup of coffee and handed it to her. Her administrative assistant wore a knowing smirk. “I didn’t spike it with bourbon, if that’s your question.”

“Why not? I thought you loved me?”

“Because you want to be stone-cold sober when you go and confront Jackass.”

“True.” Susan sipped the coffee, her third cup of the morning.

At this rate, she was thinking about spiking it with some of her leftover Xanax.

“He’s not in yet, anyway,” Kristin offered.

“Figures.” Susan settled back in her desk chair and slowly shook her head. “I’m sick and tired of him.”

“Want me to see if I can find a hit man?”

“He’s not worth jail time.”

“Hence why I kept you sober this morning.”

“You’re too good to me.” Susan smiled up at the older woman, who’d been her husband’s assistant when he’d run the dealership. “Have I told you ‘thank you’ lately?”

“Every day, sweetie.” Kristin settled into a chair in front of Susan’s desk. “The lawyer get back to you?”

“Yeah. No, I can’t outright fire Jack without risking a lawsuit from him or his parents, if they want to fight it.” She smiled. “But I can reassign him. And if he refuses to do the job assigned to him, that is considered failure of duties. Then I can fire him. The will doesn’t guarantee him a particular position or a specific salary, only that he should be offered one. And it doesn’t specify that I can’t move him into another position. If he refuses to do whatever job I give him…” She shrugged.

Kristin grinned as she leaned forward. “Oooh. Tell me more.”

“He gives me any bullshit today, he’s going to become the newest lot wash guy.”

“Ha! I don’t think Jack can wipe his own ass, much less wash a car.”

Susan’s husband never anticipated the manner or timing of his death, or she knew damn well he wouldn’t have left his will set up the way he had. He’d had it drawn up right after they’d gotten married and he’d opened the dealership, when his younger brother was still just a kid. He’d willed a very small percentage of the company, only a two-percent share, to Jack. His parents already owned a third of the shares. Susan owned fifty percent, and a couple of other people, some of them relatives who’d invested when John had started the dealership, owned the rest of the shares.

When John died two years earlier during an accident while on a fishing trip on Jack’s boat, if it hadn’t been for the fact that several of John’s friends had been there, too—who also nearly died as a result of Jack’s stupidity—Susan would have pressed for a manslaughter investigation.

Susan had stepped into her husband’s role at the dealership, as per his will. The fact that she’d helped him build the business and knew every aspect of it from the ground up as well as he did helped her greatly.

Something else that pissed off her in-laws to no end, when they realized they couldn’t just slide right in and take it out from under her.

Susan sipped her non-spiked coffee. “Jack’s going to learn I won’t put up with his bullshit. It specifically states in the will that Jack’s only ‘guaranteed’ a position for thirty months following John’s death. We’re getting close to that now. If he quits at this point, or fails to perform, I’m not obligated to give him another job if he asks for one after that window shuts. John never intended for Jack to sit on his ass and earn a paycheck for doing nothing while pissing people off in the process. He wanted to make sure Jack had a chance he could earn a living. Key word there being ‘earn.’”