Hatefully Yours

by Callahan, Kelli

  “I’m fine.” Hannah smiled and took another drink of her coffee. “It was just a long day.”

  “Anyone want breakfast?” Jessica opened the fridge and glanced over her shoulder.

  “I’m okay.” Hannah shook her head.

  “I actually need to get a move on it—I don’t want to be late on my second day of work.” I stood up with my coffee cup in my hand.

  “Try not to get fired.” Hannah raised her eyebrows in concern.

  “If it gets awkward, just ask him for a promotion…” Jessica turned towards me eggs, bacon, and cheese balanced in her hands.

  I’m sure it’s going to be awkward. Damn, I really do wish I had time for breakfast…

  I gave myself a pep talk while I put on my makeup. If my subsequent encounters with Trent were as awkward as it was when we made our introductions, then it was going to be extremely difficult to work for him. I couldn’t even fathom how that was going to work. I considered going to his boss as soon as I got to the office and just telling him the truth—except I had no idea how that would go. If I didn’t have a place on Trent’s team, then I wasn’t sure if I would even have a place in the company. I was technically on probation, and somewhere in the paperwork I signed was an agreement which stated they could let me go if I didn’t successfully complete my probation period.

  Causing trouble on my second day sounds like a good way to make sure my probation period is far from successful.

  We were told to meet in the same room we spent most of the previous day in for a quick recap, and then we would receive our first assignment. I had a sense of dread when I sat down. All of my teammates seemed to be thrilled—and they had a good reason to be happy. They were about to embark on an incredible journey working for a well-respected company. It was the same level of excitement I had when the hiring manager shook my hand. I should have known I wasn’t that lucky, and it was only a matter of time before something shattered my illusion of budding grandeur. I could have named a dozen things with the potential to go wrong, but none of them would have been Trent Rigsby. I thought he was permanently in the past.

  I’d give anything to put him there again—where he belongs.

  Chapter Nine

  Trent

  “Fulton, do you have a minute?” I pushed his door open and stepped into his office.

  “Yep.” He looked up at me. “I told you to stop by first thing this morning, so I’m expecting you. What’s going on?”

  “I have a problem.” I sighed and sat down.

  “I figured.” He leaned back in his chair. “Let me guess. It has something to do with the girl from your hometown. Brooke?”

  “You picked up on that, huh?” I nodded. “Yeah, we have history…”

  “And?” He raised his eyebrows inquisitively. “The past is the past.”

  “It’s a lot more complicated than that. I fucked up—really bad.” I leaned forward. “She hates me.”

  “Well that could be a problem.” Fulton nodded. “I’ve been there. Back when I had your job, I fucked half the college interns, and it got real awkward when a few of them were offered permanent positions.”

  “Fuck…” My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing at first.” He shrugged. “I thought maybe they would be mature enough to keep their mouths shut, but they weren’t. Women man, I swear. They’re the source of every fucking problem in this world.”

  Well that’s a little more misogynistic than I was expecting from my boss…

  “But you did have to do something, eventually. Right?” I tilted my head.

  “Yeah, I had to divide, fuck, and conquer.” His face twisted into a sneer as he leaned forward. “It took a while, but none of them work here anymore.”

  “You—got rid of them?” My head snapped back in surprise.

  “What else could I do?” He shrugged. “I wasn’t going to let them ruin my career. I was on my way to the top. They were collateral damage. I don’t feel bad about it—especially when I look at my bank account.”

  “I don’t know if I could do that to Brooke. I was the one that fucked up—not her.” I exhaled sharply.

  “Trenton, you’ve got a bright future here at Remington Global. This is the kind of company that can make your life very comfortable for if you put in the time and effort. You’ve done that so far, and you’ve got the right eyes on you.” Fulton took a sip of his coffee. “Right now, you’re kind of at a crossroad. If you want to trade that Emerging Leader title in for an office on the top floor, then you have to make difficult decisions. If Brooke is going to be a problem, get rid of her.”

  Is he right? I never thought I would see her again, but she’s here now. I put what happened in Cabot Beach behind me, even though I regret how things ended.

  “How do I do it? I can’t exactly fire her unless I have a reason.” I sighed. “It still has to go through HR…”

  “Yeah, but there is more than one way to get rid of someone.” Fulton rocked back in his seat. “Maybe you can convince her to quit—or make her job so difficult that she wants to quit.”

  “She’s very stubborn.” I almost smiled but managed to maintain my stoic expression.

  “Then wait for her to fuck up.” He shrugged. “She’s new. Everyone fucks up when they’re new.”

  “That’s true.” I leaned forward and nodded. “I certainly did—but you were very forgiving.”

  “I saw the potential.” He smiled. “Plus, Mr. Remington was very impressed with you from the beginning. You showed initiative, and you know how much he likes that sort of thing.”

  “I need to think about this for a little bit.” I sighed and started to stand. “Thank you for talking with me.”

  “While you’re thinking.” Fulton looked up at me. “I want you to look at that nice apartment you have, the car you drive to work every morning, and think about the view from the top floor. You’ve come a long way, but if you screw this assignment up, you’ve hit your ceiling—that would be a fucking shame.”

  “I understand.” I nodded and walked towards the door.

  Loud and clear, even if I don’t like it…

  I thought I would feel better after talking to Fulton, but I really didn’t—I was just faced with more uncertainty. I knew in my heart that getting rid of Brooke wasn’t fair to her. She didn’t do anything to deserve it, and I was an asshole for even considering it. Unfortunately, I knew that she hated me. It wasn’t the kind of hate that time could simply erase. There was no way that we could undo what happened in Cabot Beach on the night of her graduation party. Maybe if Boone would have let me talk to her, I could have explained—but I wasn’t sure my explanation would have fixed things. I wasn’t innocent. I didn’t deserve her forgiveness, regardless of how I felt about her at the time.

  I made a horrible decision that night, and I think I’m about to make another one. I’ve come so far—I don’t want to lose everything I’ve worked for because of a ghost from my past.

  I felt like shit as I walked down the hallway to the conference room, where my new team was waiting for me to be their leader. I didn’t feel like one. I was going to walk into that room with an agenda and it was so self-serving that it made me sick to my stomach. I reminded myself of what Fulton said. I did want the office on the top floor—I had wanted that since I first walked through the doors of Remington Global and realized what I could achieve at the company. I swore I was going to work my ass off until I had a view of the city from my desk. Looking back wasn’t an option. If Brooke couldn’t leave things in the past, then I had to make her part of mine for the second time.

  She’s going to have several more reasons to hate me before this is all over…

  Chapter Ten

  Brooke

  It was the hour of my comeuppance, the moment I dreaded, and it felt like a fire-breathing dragon was about to open the door to the conference room. Would I be reduced to emotional ash or simply ignored? It proved to be the latter. Trent didn’t make e
ye contact with me when he walked into the room. The entire meeting was formal and cold. It was nothing like the pictures on the company’s website where leaders were shown—well, leading. We were given a set of instructions, led to our row of cubicles, and told that we should get to work. Trent managed to avoid looking at me the entire time, and simply told me what I needed to get done before the end of the day.

  “I thought he would be nicer.” Mel rolled her chair back and glanced at the rest of us.

  “Yeah.” Isabella looked at us and nodded. “Maybe he’s just feeling us out—this is new for him too.”

  I’m sure it would be a lot different if I wasn’t here.

  “It’s no big deal.” Eddie sighed. “We have work to do. It doesn’t matter if our boss is nice to us or not.”

  “I kind of wish Fulton was our boss.” Mel shrugged. “He seemed a lot more energetic. That kind of energy is contagious.”

  I’m pretty sure you read that in one of your textbooks, just like I did…

  “Speaking of Fulton…” Isabella grinned. “Boys, close your ears. Girls… Fulton or Trenton?”

  “I just said that I wish Fulton was our boss…” Mel’s eyebrows shot up.

  “I’m not talking about work.” Isabella’s grin got wider.

  “Time for me to stare at my computer and pretend that I can’t hear you.” Eddie let out a sigh and scooted back into his cubicle.

  Gabe really does have the right idea. He’s ignoring us completely. I wish I could just shut the world out like that.

  “I really don’t know…” Mel glanced at Trent’s office. “Fulton is really energetic, but he might be a little old for me.”

  “Trenton is definitely my choice. I like guys that brood.” Isabella’s grin got even wider—somehow—she was a few centimeters short of giving The Joker a run for his money.

  “He was kind of awkward though.” Mel picked at her fingernails. “I might have to go for the daddy instead of the hottie.”

  “What about you?” Isabella turned towards me. “Trenton right? You’re from the same town…”

  “I—uh, need to get back to work.” I turned to my computer and furiously read the email on the screen.

  “Why choose? I’d take them both…” Gabe’s voice echoed on the other side of my cubicle, but he didn’t speak loud enough for anyone else to hear him.

  Maybe he’s not totally ignoring us…

  It felt like we had just been given busy work so that we would have something to do between all of the courses we had to take before we were fully integrated into the company. Our row of cubicles was set off from the rest of the marketing department, and it was pretty clear that we were some sort of experiment. The head of the department had an office on the other side of what we dubbed The Great Divide—a large empty space that separated our cubicles from the people that seemed to have real work to do.

  Trent came out to check on us several times throughout the morning. He talked to Mel, Eddie, Isabella, skipped me, and then sat down with Gabe to help him with something he didn’t understand. There were a few things I didn’t fully understand, but I refused to ask for help. If Trent planned to ignore me, then it might make things easier. After we got back from lunch, he wasn’t in his office, and we didn’t see him again until the end of the day. Once again, he talked to everyone and pretended that my cubicle was empty space between Isabella and Gabe.

  I’m not sure if this is going to make things easier or harder.

  “You must really have your shit together.” Isabella walked up beside me as we exited the building at the end of the day.

  “Why do you say that?” I glanced over at her.

  “Trenton isn’t even giving you feedback.” She shrugged. “You’re not getting some sort of special treatment because you know him, are you?”

  “What?” I blinked in surprise and felt somewhat offended by her comment. “No…”

  I’m not sure I really know him. I thought I did—once upon a time, but what I thought I knew was a lie.

  I wished that my co-workers had never found out that I knew Trent from Cabot Beach. I didn’t want them to question everything that happened in the office and wonder if he was treating me differently. It would have been different if he wasn’t treating me differently. It was obvious that he saw my presence as a problem that he planned to ignore if he could. That wasn’t going to be possible forever. I felt like I was already falling behind. There were things I didn’t understand about the assignment we had to do, but I was forced to just do my best—and try to eavesdrop when he gave others guidance.

  At this rate, I’ll be lucky if I last a week…

  My roommates weren’t home when I got back to my apartment. I assumed Jessica was at work. She mentioned that she was going to try and pick up some evening shifts at the bar if she could because that was the best time to get tips. Hannah was a sales rep for a liquor distributor—which is how they met, to begin with. She said it was rare for her to have to work late, but there was a chance that she got held up if she was close to making a sale.

  I really wish there was a big pitcher of Sangria waiting on me. I could use one after the day I just had…

  * * *

  I went to bed early after eating what was basically a snack from the fridge. I felt guilty raiding my roommate’s food when it wasn’t offered to me first. That would change once I had a chance to contribute, but I hadn’t been living there long enough for that. The events of the day spun through my head as I tried to get to sleep. I was still tossing and turning when Hannah got home, and when Jessica got home several hours later. I was on the cusp of finding my own place in the world, but there was a rather large barrier in front of me named Trent Rigsby.

  I’m not going to be able to ignore this, nor can I allow him to ignore me. The only hope I have of moving past it is to talk to him—but that might be complicated if he avoids me like the plague.

  I had to assume that Trent must have gotten my letter since my first day working for him resulted in an ice-cold shoulder. I didn’t think he would have been so frigid if he hadn’t been on the receiving end of my tirade. I tried to remind myself that he was the one in the wrong. I was a teenage girl head over heels for my brother’s best friend—the first guy to ever bring those kinds of emotions to life. He gave me hope and then broke my heart. I let go of my hate as the years went on, but I never truly forgave him.

  If I have to eat a little crow to smooth things over, then so be it. I need my job a lot more than I need to carry a grudge.

  Hannah was awake when I got up, but Jessica slept straight through our pot of coffee. I filled Hannah in while we tried to wake up, and she thought I should be plotting revenge instead of planning to fall on my sword. I didn’t think revenge was going to deliver the result I was looking for. I certainly thought about it when I was younger, but my broken heart was too shattered to come up with anything that made sense back then. I wasn’t a broken hearted teenager anymore. I needed to put on my big girl panties and approach the situation like an adult.

  Otherwise, I’ll have to borrow money for a tank of gas so I can go back to Cabot Beach.

  * * *

  We met with Trent as soon as we got to work, and just like the day before, he ignored me. My co-workers were so cheerful and happy—I wished I could bottle that up and shoot it like cheap whiskey. I sat my desk with my stomach in a knot until it was time for lunch. Trent was still in his office, so I thought it was the best time to approach him. I told my co-workers that I needed to take care of a few things before I joined them at Famous Sid’s—then I made my trek towards Trent’s office. Every step that I took felt harder the one before it, and by the time I got to his door, I felt like I was wearing concrete heels. There was no turning back—I had to take the final step and fix what time had already tried to forget.

  “Trent, can we talk?” I tapped on his door as I stepped into his office.

  “I prefer Trenton.” He lifted his head slowly. “Or Mr. Rigsby…”

>   What happened to the boy that hated his first name and only wanted to be called Trent?

  “Okay.” I nodded. “Can I sit down?”

  “If you want.” He narrowed his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be taking your lunch break right now?”

  “This seems a little more important than lunch.” I sat down across from him. “I feel like we need to clear the air.”

  “There’s nothing to clear.” He shook his head back and forth. “You work for me, and you have a job to do—that’s the only discussion we will ever need to have.”

  “I don’t think that’s true.” I felt the courage drain out of my body as my emotion slammed into his ice-cold shoulder. “You completely ignored me yesterday. You didn’t even say good morning when I got here—you literally walked right past my desk.”

  “And?” He narrowed his eyes further.

  “And it’s obviously intentional.” I felt a lump rise up in my throat and tried to swallow it. “I just want to be treated like everyone else—I know that will be difficult with our history…”

  “You know what’s great about history?” He leveled his gaze, and I saw a flicker of anger in his ocean blue eyes. “It’s in the past. I like to live in the present. I suggest you try it…”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do.” I nodded quickly.

  “Then do your fucking job.” He turned his attention back to his computer. “Your desk is out there. The only time you should come to my office is when I schedule a meeting.”

  “Oh. Okay...” I blinked in surprise.

  “What you’re trying to say is yes sir.” He glanced in my direction again.

  “Yes—sir.” I managed to squeak the words out before I stood up.

  The charming and kind boy I used to know had been replaced by a calloused man who didn’t seem to have any kindness to offer me. I wanted to scream at him instead of wither into a ball and walk out of his office. I didn’t betray Trent—he betrayed me. I wrote the letter that ended with Hatefully Yours when I was lost in a storm of emotions, but that didn’t give him the right to treat me like crap. Maybe saying that I wanted to spit on his grave one day was a bit further than he deserved, but I was pretty fucking angry at the time.