by Audrey Storm
“I don’t know about you, but I have heard nothing, but good things about our new boss Evan. He’s taking the place of Mark and we both know how much of a tyrant he can be. I suppose that you’ll know more than the rest of us, because you’ll be working under him. He actually bought up the company, as if it was a natural occurrence and not worth millions of dollars. I’ve heard that he’s got more money than brains. He doesn’t even bother to worry about the extravagance of owning a company like this one. I guess we’ll just see if he is up to the task of keeping this company afloat.”
“Nikki, you shouldn’t worry about these things, everything does have a way of working itself out. You just have to be ready to see all the signs. I’m sure that he’ll be better than Mark. Mark was overworked and was always taking out his anger and frustration on the rest of us. I’m not saying that I didn’t know how to deal with him, because mostly he just needed his caffeine fix in the morning and another in the afternoon. That would keep him going for most of the day. If however, I were to miss one of those scheduled coffee breaks, he would be fit to be tied.”
Nikki was one of those that worked under the second in command and apparently Joseph was staying on, because he had made quite the plea to the new owner Evan that he was instrumental in keeping things running in tiptop shape. He wasn’t lying, because frankly he was the glue that cemented this whole place together. At least from a numbers stand point.
We built boats and we had them shipped all over the world and some of our more affluent clients came from Saudi Arabia and the Caribbean islands.
“I worry about it, Joan, because I have two kids and I would like to think that I can support them all the way through their childhood and into college. I’ve been putting a little bit aside in a fund and I don’t want the hassle of looking for another job or going on unemployment.” I don’t know what she was all upset about, because Joseph was the one that she looked after. She had it better than most.
“I think that we’re just going to have to be ready for just about anything. Evan is a shrewd character and there’s no doubt that he has the smarts to make all the right decisions. I sometimes feel like I’m being left out in the cold and Mark didn’t listen to most of what I said to him. That might be the reason why we came under attack by Mr. Jamieson.” Evan Jamison was one of those ruthless types that swept in when they smelled blood in the water. I’d been warning Mark for quite a long time that we were barely keeping our head up.
He would scoff at me and tell me that the numbers don’t lie, but it wasn’t the numbers that I was worried about. It was more to the fact that he didn’t seem to like to keep clients happy. He would ship out the boats and wouldn’t even try to follow up and make sure that they were going to be a repeat customer. That was the problem and we needed an influx of new clients, instead of begging and pleading for the old ones to upgrade their existing boats.
“He’s supposed to be here very shortly, but I don’t think that you’re going to have any problems whatsoever. Joan, you’re pretty levelheaded and I would say that there’s very little that you don’t know about this company.” She was wearing her customary pantsuit with the first couple of buttons undone at the top to give off an indication of cleavage. She was the blond bombshell of this floor and she liked to flaunt her sexuality like it was her god given right to entice those men that saw her, as more than just a secretary.
I on the other hand was the exact opposite and I wore very plain looking skirts with no real color and I certainly didn’t project my sexuality for everybody to see. I wasn’t stick thin and being full figured made me feel like I was invisible. I cannot say that I didn’t have a good body, because I’ve learned a long time ago that working out prevented diabetes. It may not stop it, but it could ward it off, by regular exercise and eating right. I was constantly at odds about my health, because my mother died when I was younger of diabetes and so did my grandmother. I just couldn’t get past the 175 lb mark. I could run faster than most and if given a chance, I would gladly enter a marathon.
My father was home in Las Vegas and he liked to play the ponies and anything else that made him happy for that brief moment. It was when he lost that he became quite the temperamental bastard. He was known to throw things, curse expletives and even go, so far as to put down his children one after the other. Everything that we did wasn’t good enough, but when he was sober in the cold light of day, he would realize just what kind of mistake he made.
I had three siblings that were relatively the same in that they had careers in the business world that didn’t include bringing coffee to their bosses. I always knew that I had a higher IQ, but being someone that didn’t put themselves out there made it difficult for me to step out on my own. They had family’s which I rarely see, but when I do, it makes my biological clock sound like it’s ticking out of control.
Nikki and I both heard the telltale sign of somebody approaching and the elevator door opened to a sight that made my blood pump faster and my body turned to almost jelly from the sight of him. Pictures didn’t do this guy justice and Evan stepped out wearing a very expensive suit. It looked like it cost more than my rent for the next five months. He was well put together; charming and you could tell that he had an air of superiority that surrounded him from all angles.
“You must be my secretary, Joan Wright. Give me about 5 minutes to go over a few things and then please come in and I’m going to dictate you a letter. It’s basically an all out email that will be sent to everybody in the company to make sure that they are all on notice. Each one of them will go through their own personal evaluation. I will conduct them personally. I don’t want anybody to fall through the cracks and I’m usually a pretty good judge of character.” He was blond with slicked back hair, blue eyes and the kind of body that looked like it would belong on the football linebacker.
I watched as he disappeared into the office and I took that moment to breathe. It was a long drawn out breath to signify that I was taken by the man himself.
Chapter 2
“I don’t think that you should keep that man waiting and if I was his secretary, I would be all over that. That’s a nice piece of eye candy and I just wonder if it’s the addictive type, oh I really do have a sweet tooth.” She was always coming up with all sorts of sexual innuendo that made me blush, but also made me admire her forthrightness. If I could do that, I would be better off and I might be able to get out of my own way.
“Nikki, he’s got about 2 minutes left on the clock and then I’m going to introduce myself and try to make a good first impression.” Nobody really knew, but I was the one that had Mark keeping everything up to date. If it was up to him, he would not even be using cell phones or placing orders on the Internet using our own site. It’s just too bad that it was too little too late.
I’d waited too long and gave Evan that opportunity to come in and buy up everything for a song. He did have good instincts and if I were him, I would’ve grabbed for the Brass ring at the exact same time that he did.
“That’s a man that I would climb to the top and work my way down to the bottom. You are a very lucky girl and Mark was not nearly as good looking’ as that Adonis.” Mark was a good man, but he was ill equipped to run his own company. He just didn’t have the acumen and he didn’t listen to anybody, including his own secretary that knew more about the business than most of the whole floor. I’d caught, so many mistakes of his that it wasn’t funny. It was becoming a running joke and I would come in the morning and find out that he had ordered too much lumber or put orders in wrong that would give us nine million thumbtacks or any other such nonsense.
I’d become quite the regular on the phone talking to people and that was where I got my confidence. In person, I was shrunken to nothing and authority figures made me avert my eyes and look at my shoes.
I stepped into his office and I saw that he had done some major renovations over the last night or two. It had been locked up from the moment that Mark vacated the premises with a bi
g smile on his face and that check that was firmly clasped in his hand. He didn’t even say goodbye and left us to wonder, until Joseph came out and made the announcement that the company was now in somebody else’s hands.
“I know all about it, Abdul and I think that you and I are seeing things from the same point of view. Your brother owns a yacht and you know that he’s rubbing it in your face. Believe me, I understand sibling rivalry and there’s always time to make inroads into making them know that you are not going to take it anymore. Of course, I can work with your budget. If I can’t, I’ll take off $100,000 from the price. I’m glad to hear it and if you would be so kind, as to send me the contract, as soon as possible. That way, I can get everything rolling and by this time next month, I’ll be ready to send you your new boat fully equipped with everything that you want on it. Let’s just wait and see what your brother thinks of that.
He looked up for a moment and put his finger in the air to tell me that he needed a couple of seconds. He didn’t tell me to leave, so I just stood there with my pad of paper in hand. He was quite opinionated, but he was also a smooth talker and that was not any more evident than the way he was talking to royalty.
He hung up the phone and put his hands underneath his head with his chair tilted back. He was pointing towards that chair in front of the desk. I sat down and he began to run off verbatim everything he wanted to say to those that were in his employ. I would say that he was onto something and these threats were not meant to make people think that they were losing their jobs. They were meant for a more specific purpose of increasing productivity. He believed that threatening and putting people on notice that they would lose their jobs if they didn’t comply was the answer.
That may have worked for him in the past, but the times were changing and he was going to have to change with them. “Joan, I do hope that you don’t mind me calling you that, but I hate the formality of talking to each other in our last names. You can also call me Evan. I’m sure that we were going to get along famously. I’m sure that you heard what I said on the phone and that goes for any client that decides to go into business with us.” He dictated the letter and he was flying by the seat of his pants and hoping that I was going to make sense of it.
“Excuse me, but you might want to get your thoughts clear, before you put them down on paper.” He stopped cold Turkey and stood there looking at me and then he sat back down with his hands firmly planted on the table. That desk was a marvel in itself and took up a lot of the space with how gargantuan it was. It was old and you could see that it was an antique. That kind of craftsman really wasn’t found in the big box stores.”
“Joan that is exactly the type of person that I want on my team. You can’t be afraid to speak your mind and you’ve been hiding in the shadows for way too long. Let me guess it has something to do with your weight and self esteem.” He caught me off guard and I stood there like a deer in the headlights. “I don’t know why it surprises you that I would know who you really are. I’ve done my research and I looked at all the stuff that has been done in the past six months. Most of it has your name stamped on it. You may have not come out and said so, but I was able to follow all that work back to the source. If I were to be so bold, I would say that if you were running the place in the first place, I don’t think that I would’ve had a chance to sweep in and take over.”
“Evan, it’s nice to see that my work is recognized. I guess you might be right that I tend to let others take responsibility for what I do around here. It definitely has something to do with my self esteem. I would say that nobody knows the extent of my dealings.” He had gotten up again and was pacing back and forth with this baseball in his hand that he had picked up from underneath a glass enclosure on his desk.
He was slapping it back and forth into his palms and it made this resounding crack that at first startled me and made me cringe at the very sound. That didn’t last very long and now it was like it was supposed to be there. A white noise that I had gotten used to and it didn’t bother me anymore that he was into listening to himself speak.
For whatever reason, I started to think of him in a more Biblical way. I’d never done that with Mark and Joseph was pretty much off limits from the time that I met him. This guy had no ring on his finger or any semblance that there had been one there in the past. He could’ve been more progressive and wearing it around his neck, but he didn’t seem to be that type.
“I think that you and I are going to be working together very closely to make sure that there is nothing that falls through the cracks. I’m going to rely on you at these evaluations. I believe that you know more than you say and you’ve been keeping an eye on everything underneath everybody’s noses. That has to stop and from this moment on, you’re no longer my secretary.” I thought for sure that he had fired me and I started to get up when he indicated for me to sit back down.
“If you want, I can pack up my desk and be out of here in less than 10 minutes. I suppose I should have seen the writing on the wall and you’ve been known to come into other businesses and sweep the place clean.”
“I don’t think you understand and I don’t want you to be my secretary, because I want you to be my partner. I won’t be around all the time and I need somebody that is going to be looking after my vested interest. You will be the woman behind the man, but only you and I will know the extent of our relationship.” When he said that we had a relationship, it made my legs shift noticeably and I began to squirm in my seat. “You’re going to be my secret weapon and you’re going to get paid what you’re worth.” He was hovering behind me and I could feel his hands on my shoulders and it felt like I was connected to him at a different level.
“I appreciate that you see me as a driving force, but I’m not sure that being saddled on the sidelines is good for me. You might think that it is, because it benefits you. I’m through waiting for credit and I think that if we’re going to do this that we should do it the right way.” I don’t know where that backbone came from, but I was suddenly finding my voice and I liked it.
“I’m glad to see that you’re not somebody that is easily stepped on or pushed around. I thought for sure that I had you pegged, as an introvert and somebody that really didn’t want to make any waves. My measurement on somebody is usually spot on, but yours is a little different.” His hands were kneading my shoulders and it felt, so good that I heard myself make a sigh of contentment. That made me lean into his hands even more. I wasn’t sure, but it was possible that he could look down over my shoulder and see the swell of my heaving bosom. I think I heard him growl like some kind of animal.
“I guess I just want to get on the right foot, Mr…Evan. If I allow you an inch, you’ll take a mile and everybody does. If I put my foot down now, you’ll realize that I’m not somebody that’s just going to retreat back into her shell.” I was licking my lips suggestively and it was more unconscious than conscious. I suppose I should have stopped thinking about my new boss without his clothes on, but undressing him with my eyes was almost too good to pass up.
He dictated another e-mail and this one pertained to me and my role within the company. This was going to take everybody by surprise and they had not seen me for who I really was. I was going to have to step up and be noticed and that wasn’t a position that I was ready for. It was too bad, because I was going to have to be.
“Tomorrow, the real work begins, but tonight you and I are going to paint this town red. I’m going to come by your place at exactly 7:00 PM and be ready for just about anything. I’m quite unpredictable and sometimes I don’t even know what I’m going to do, until I do it. It makes life more interesting...don’t you think?” All I could do was nod my head and my body was totally alive and sending signals to my brain that made it impossible for me to form complete sentences.
Chapter 3
“Oh my god, Joan. I never realized what you did for this company and Mark was mostly just a figurehead all this time. You should have said something a long time ag
o and apparently your ideas have streamlined this company and gave it a fighting chance that it deserved. If Evan hadn’t said anything inside his e-mail that you were responsible for most of the good work that has been done here, none of us would have had any idea.” I’ve been getting the same thing for the rest of the day, but for the most part I was flattered and quite taken by everybody’s good wishes.
“Nikki, I don’t like to blow my own horn, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a valid opinion. Mark wasn’t smart enough to listen to me and that’s how we got here. There were times I had to have a knock down drag out kind of fight with him clinging to his old ways. He was getting up there in age, 50 plus and I could tell that his attention was not completely on this company. I had to remind him that he had people that he had a responsibility to.”
“Joan, I’m just saying that you only get one life to live and if you don’t say something or pat your own back, then nobody else is going to do it for you. I’m glad to see that you’re getting the kind of recognition you deserve and it’s about time. I’m just floored that you were the one that put together that package to put us on the map on a web site on the Internet. You directed traffic right to our door by using smart words and Google to bring them in from around the world. You knew just how to do it and it was almost like it was second nature.” I didn’t like that Evan had spilled the beans, but I had told him in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t going to be silent any more.
With that came this feeling that I’ve never felt before in my life. It was like I was waking up for the first time and I think I smiled and began to actually enjoy the spotlight for a change.
