Sean sat at his desk, reviewing some numbers for Dell. He wasn’t actually on the account, but John wanted him up to date in case they were having a hard time pulling it off. It put extra work on Sean’s desk, but he wanted his name on all the big accounts, so he agreed to it without a struggle.
At five past five John came barreling in, his suit jacket long gone and looking harried. “Why didn’t you call when you got back to your desk?”
Sean put down the spreadsheets and leaned back in his chair. John was the most extreme micro-manager Sean had ever worked for. It was almost laughable, and also intensely annoying.
“I knew you’d come down about now anyway. I figured I’d just wait.”
“I like to know things as they happen. I need to be in the loop. You know that.”
“You just got out of Dell.”
John grunted. He was deciding if it was worth the fight. Finally he did a quick pace and switched to the next plan of attack. “How’d it go?”
“We’re in. I could have sold it by myself.”
John did an air pump then smoothed his greased back hair. “Good! Good. We’re in! That’s great news. What was the final number?”
“We are fifteen percent over what we hoped to get.”
“Fifteen percent, huh? Wait—over?”
“Exactly. With just me sitting in a room, I could have sold it for our original price. That Research girl came in, though, and threw them numbers and figures and spreadsheets—she had them eating out of her hand. There was no negotiation.”
“No shit, huh? Krista, you mean? The hot little blond?”
“Yes.” Sean didn’t like the look in John’s eye when he talked about Krista. John was exactly the man Krista thought Sean was. He was sleazy and nasty and talked about women like they were animals. He disgusted Sean at every juncture, but he also thought Sean was the same caliber. He thought they were bosom buddies—the “hit it and quit it” type of guys who would never settle down. They’d live life free and go down on a motorcycle somewhere in Tucson, or some other stupid cliché John saw in a movie. Sean sold the image because…well, he needed John on his side to get that Junior VP title. He sold it, but he didn’t like to hear it.
“You’re sure they’ll be bought out?” Sean asked, easily changing direction. It wasn’t hard—John had the attention span of a moth.
“Oh, yeah. They’re starting now. You need to get in position to jump in. We’ve gotta get your team assembled. Who’ve you got in mind?”
“Ray, Judy, Marcus and Krista.”
“Just three staffers and a Sales?”
“That’s all we need so far. I have faith that those four will get the job done to get us in position. After that, we’ll see.”
John grabbed a chair, pulled it two feet to the left so he was sitting directly in front of Sean on the other side of the desk, and sat down in a whoosh. “Judy is a yes. We’ll pull her off Dell. She’s exactly the experience level you need.”
Sean nodded.
“Marcus, though… He has one bad idea for every good idea. No, I’m not buyin’ it—what about Rachelle?”
Sean shook his head and leaned back. Negotiations had begun. Sean would get his way, though. Of that he had no doubt.
“Rachelle is obsessed with me. I can’t have that distraction with a team member. Marcus has one mediocre idea for every five brilliant ideas. We just can’t find a way to get numbers on those ideas—yet. But he’s gold. He’s what I need.”
“A brilliant idea unexplored might as well be a bad idea. What about Tommy?”
Sean shook his head again. “Tommy is great with color and design, but we have Judy for that, who is better. We need an idea man. We need someone who gives us something unique. Our big fish will want something no one else can give them. That’s the only way they’ll look at someone as small as us.”
“Okay, but Marcus will need someone in Research to get info on those unique ideas. And Krista is a definite no. She’s hot, don’t get me wrong. Sexy as all hell. I’ve been trying to figure out where she hangs out so I can meet up with her, but she is brand new. She has absolutely no experience. None with our company, and none from anywhere else. She’s small potatoes. Plus, she’s a chick that likes dick—you’d have the same problem as Rachelle.”
Sean steepled his fingers, ignoring the language. “She is good at what she does. Based on today, I’d even say great at what she does. She’s smarter than the rest of her department, a harder worker, more insightful, and she can charm any client, man or woman. You should have seen how those men watched her; she had them hypnotized.”
“You’ve never met Tory, but let me assure you, he won’t be transfixed by a nymph, no matter how pretty, and he won’t go starry-eyed, no matter how sexy. Plus, she won’t work all that hard when you get tired of screwing her.”
Sean shifted position. “She won’t let me anywhere near her. I throw her a line, she runs the other direction. I guarantee she won’t let her job suffer because of a man. Much as it pains me to say.”
John leaned back with a sly grin. “So, you can’t get in her pants, huh? She’s too hot for you—that’s obvious—but you have a way. I thought if anyone could close the deal, you could. But she’s outta your reach, huh? How’s that taste?”
Not great. She was out of his reach. Out of his reach and out of his league, but for all that, he was a man. Men didn’t give up, their egos wouldn’t allow it. He should know, he was all kinds of proof. Plus, he still made her nervous. In a good way, though she didn’t agree. She liked him. Or at least was affected by him. One day she’d let her guard slip and give him a chance. He just had to keep close to make sure that happened.
To John though, he still had to play the game. “No one is out of my league.”
John laughed and stood up. “Well, bring Marcus on, but have someone pulling back up just in case his ideas don’t pan out. Make sure someone can step in immediately, if needed.”
“Not many people are going to want to do the extra work.”
“To work with you they will. I’m sure you already have someone in mind.”
“Two people. I’ll just have to smile a little more.”
“Then do it.”
“But I want Krista.”
“So do I. Under me butt-assed naked. But this is work and we need someone who knows the job.”
“Look, I’ll tell ya what …” Sean was about to gamble. He hated gambling. It was too unpredictable. He liked to be sure of the outcome before he put his neck out. It was why he hadn’t asked Krista out yet. He didn’t like when people said no. “I pissed her off today. She’s going to take it all kinds of wrong—“
“What’d you do?” John sat down again, his grin back. The guy couldn’t sit still.
Sean shrugged. “There’s a list, actually. All in the best interest of the presentation, but I doubt she’ll see it that way. Anyway, because I know she cares about her work, and her job, and how she is received, I bet you she’ll be in here Monday to bitch me out.”
“The way I hear it, when she gets in a foul mood she bitches everyone out.”
Sean laughed. It was true. He’d witnessed it a couple times when she’d had a bad date, or James Montgomery was being particularly stodgy. In the early morning she let her bad moods get away from her. Sean loved watching the fireworks. She could make the old ladies scurry out with a look.
“True, but she does it in the break room. I bet she’ll seek me out to yell at me.”
“What if she catches you in the break room?”
“She’ll probably try, so I’ll come straight here.”
John looked at Sean for a while, weighing. Unlike Sean, John lived to gamble. He was in high-roller status in three different casinos in Las Vegas. You had to know your mark.
Finally John jumped up with a nod. “Fine. But she has to come down, to this office, in person, before 12 o’clock. She does that, to bitch you out, mind, not to flirt, and you can have her. But…” John raised his finger in warning, “If she does a shitty job, for any reason, she’s out. She’s off the team and I’ll find someone else to take her place.”
Sean stood and shook John’s hand. “Deal. I’ll enjoy proving you wrong.”
“Yeah, right,” John said, leaving the office.
Sean hoped he knew Krista as well as he thought he did. He didn’t want to hire in, and he sure didn’t want to use someone else from Research.
~*~*~*~
The high-pitched wail of her alarm clock seeped through the fog of her dreams. She came slowly awake, her head feeling thick and sluggish. She opened her eyes miserably, hating that morning had come so early. Also hating what the day would bring. She knew she’d have to confront Sean in a few hours. She’d known it all weekend. She had an ulcer from worrying about it. She’d also had too much wine last night, fretting about it.
As if the day wasn’t going to be hard enough, now she would have to face it hung over. She was an idiot.
She closed her eyes again, desperately wishing away the headache that was pounding on the inside of her too-tight skull. She needed Tylenol. And water. And to call in sick.
Sighing loudly, she lugged herself up. It was going to be a long, long day.
Unless she got fired. Then it would be a long, long week.
She had a slow morning of misery getting ready. She didn’t put much flair into her appearance even though she probably should have. She just couldn’t care that much—she hurt too badly. The wine residue was holding her prisoner.
On the large, old, shabby train headed to work, the announcer informed everyone that the doors were on the fritz. The Muni was at a full stop, on the tracks, and they were advised that they could either wait for a Muni crew to fix it, or disembark and catch another train. The crew in this establishment was neither fast nor competent, so like most of the other disgruntled morning commuters, Krista lumbered off, half thinking she might throw up, and sought out another ride to work.
The day was sublime with soft sunshine, a cool ocean breeze that tickled her face, and a lovely hint of spring. It was too bad the sunshine made her head pound, because she would’ve really liked to enjoy the brisk morning.
The pack of commuters trudged into the West Portal station where they would wait in a tightly packed horde for another train to come. They stood in a big glob, occasionally being jostled as people vied for better positioning. As the next train pulled up, people started to crowd in. That was when the foul play started.
As Krista stood, feeling miserable, waiting patiently for the hopefully working doors to open, some old Asian man, probably half her height, came barreling through, pushing her to the side and throwing her an elbow to keep her there. Once he had the advantage, he stepped in front of her. She didn’t have time to be indignant. He saw another opening and pounced, knocking a man as he’d done Krista. The man didn’t move nearly as far, but the old dude didn’t need a big opening. He stepped in front of yet another waiting patron, working his way to the very front.
Krista didn’t have the energy to be put out about it.
Then the doors opened. She’d thought waiting in a tightly packed group of people, with all the different scents and odors, was bad. As it turned out, it was heaven compared to the press she went into as everyone waiting started to squeeze through the door. Arms, elbows, briefcases and bags surged through the narrow passageway into any opening a body could fit. Krista felt like she was a napkin in a washing machine.
What was worse than a hangover? A hangover in a stuffy, enclosed space with a crowd of people. Krista spent the entire ride doing her best not to throw up on the business man she was facing. He was taller, so at least she would have gotten his chest instead of his face, but it definitely would have ruined his day, not to mention his expensive-looking suit.
She hoped he couldn’t smell the wine from the night before.
Miraculously, she walked into work on time. It was a good thing, because there was no way she was hurrying today. No running. She wouldn’t even bother with a brisk walk. Basically, a zombie-lurch was as much as she could do without kneeling over and giving up on life in the middle of the sidewalk.
She dumped her crap next to her chair and headed toward the break room for coffee. She didn’t give a damn about seeing Sean today. She had to eventually anyway, so why not when she was in the worst mood to date?
There were two people present when Krista made the entrance into the break room. They looked up when she walked in, which meant they were probably gossiping. When they didn’t continue talking, it probably meant they were gossiping about her. She didn’t care.
She stopped behind the one with tight curls on the top of her head in an ugly hair thing.
“Nice clip,” she said, being nasty but hiding it behind the compliment. Basically, that was her kicking the dog.
The woman—she was from Client Retention—gave her a weird look and shuffled out of her way with her cup half full. The two ladies left shortly after. Krista didn’t care.
She got her java and skulked back to her cube with a raging headache. She had no phone messages and no emails, so if she was getting fired, the meeting wasn’t scheduled yet. Mr. Montgomery wasn’t in yet, either—she did a drive by and a quick glance—so she couldn’t enact the scowl-meter. She was flying blind. And in pain.
~*~*~*~
Sean sat at his desk facing Ray. She had till twelve. God he hoped he’d been right. He needed her. Their personal history aside, she had the potential to be a rock star. The presentation she put together was top quality material. The delivery was even better. And that was her first one! She was executive material. Undiscovered executive material. He could mold her like play dough. Marcus, too. They were both gifted and bright—if they could do what Sean suspected, they’d get the account and take it to market, no question.