by Zoey Derrick
“Stop that. Let me apologize.”
“For what, Michael? Your apologies mean nothing to me, no matter how many times you say it, text it, email it. It’s all worthless bullshit and I don’t want to hear it anymore. Now if you’ll excuse me…” I move to side step him and he moves in front of me. I move back where I was, hoping he’d quit this childish game he’s trying to play but he moves right back in front of me.
“See, I knew you wanted to dance with me again.” His hands come up, grabbing my shoulders.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Aw, come on, Raine, don’t be like this. We just need to talk.” I can see the pleading in his eyes and for a moment, I want to give in. Then I remember the sight of his ass bouncing up and down and the bimbo under him.
“I wasn’t important enough to you then, what makes you think I believe that’s changed? Or wait, better yet, did you run out of slutty bimbos to fuck?” I scowl at him and he scowls back.
“I used to fuck you once. Remember, remember how much you liked it?”
I fight the desperate need to cringe. “If that’s what you want to call it.” His hands tighten on my shoulders and it is starting to hurt. I squirm, trying to move away from him once again but he doesn’t let up.
“You’re a catty bitch, you know that?”
“Fuck you.”
“You think you’re better than everyone else, that you’re not some dumb slut from the streets.”
Not even realizing I’m doing it, I watch in slow motion as my hand flies up and connects with his cheek. Forcing his head to snap to his right. He’s so shocked by my action that his grip on my shoulders loosens and I step out of his grasp. Moving quickly, I get out of reach. “We’re not done talking, you stupid bitch,” he yells after me.
“Oh yes, we are.” I keep walking as fast as I can toward my car. I only look back once and he is still standing on the side of the building holding his cheek, watching me walk away from him, or rather, slowly running.
I get in my car and lock the doors quickly before starting it. The radio comes on…
“69 Bottles is at the top of their game, climbing the charts quickly compliments of an impromptu duet. Tonight, their fame climbs even higher as their Bold PR rep, Addison, and front man Talon unleash a brand new song. A duet. More details coming soon…” I drive out of the lot and turn the volume down as I drive. Adrenaline crash is making me shake. He’s never been that aggressive with me before.
Not wanting to dwell on the interaction too much, I press the home button on my iPhone and Siri makes her appearance.
“Text Erica,” I tell Siri.
“What would you like to say?” The disinterested voice comes back at me.
“Keep your eyes open, period. Mike is in the bar, period. Just had a nasty run in with him, period. He is going to be in a foul mood, period.”
“Would you like to send?” Siri comes back.
“Yes.”
I repeat the process, only this time I text Cami and tell her that I’m on my way.
When I arrive at the office, Cami, Zach, Trinity and some other female I don’t recognize are in Cami’s office. Judging by the woman’s tight stance, arms behind her back, black cargo pants and t-shirt, lest we forget the thigh holster holding a gun, I’m going to guess she’s one of Zach’s employees. I step into the room.
“My plane will be ready to go around three. Get your team together,” Cami tells the woman. “Oh, and Victoria?”
The unfamiliar woman answers, “Ma’am?” I cringe and Cami scowls.
“If anything, and I do mean anything, like this happens to her, or if she gets hurt, or otherwise attacked again, it’s your ass and your job.” Cami’s expression is fierce and I am starting to put the pieces together. But fuck, again?
“Absolutely. I will make sure she’s safe.”
“Thank you.” Cami nods to both of them and Victoria leaves, giving me a curt nod as she passes. Zach stays behind. “Raine?”
“Yes, Cami?”
“She’s all right.”
“What happened?” My voice is a little higher than I intended and I feel a new rush of adrenaline. I’m certainly going to sleep well tonight.
“Nothing, well, it was something but nothing really happened. The guy, the one who attacked her before, showed up in Kansas City and managed to get onto the bus. He set her up, but before anything could happen to her, the guys interceded and the security team took him down. He’s going to jail and he will stay there. He’s violated the terms of his bail and plea. Mills and his crew are doing everything they can to make sure he stays in jail.”
“Jesus,” I say. My whole body is shaking, especially my hands.
Cami notices. “Hey, are you all right?” she asks me and I sit down in one of the chairs. My eyes dart to Zach, Trinity and then back to her. “Can you guys give us a minute?”
“Absolutely,” Zach says and he and Trinity leave the room.
“Does what happened to Addison bother you that much?” she asks as soon as Zach closes the door.
“Yes and no, but Addison is not why…” I can barely talk. The adrenaline from Michael’s encounter is draining from my system and I’m crashing pretty hard. “I…uh… I was out with my girlfriend when you texted.” I take a deep breath, trying to settle myself down. Cami moves about the room, stepping up to the sidebar in her office. She pours something brown into a glass and returns to me. She hands me the glass and I take it, shooting it back. “Gah,” I groan as the burn sweeps through my throat and down into my chest.
Cami doesn’t push me to talk and I take a minute to let the alcohol slide into my system. “When I was leaving, I ran into, literally, my ex.”
“Michael?” she says casually and I’m a little surprised she remembered.
I nod. “He said he wanted to talk, that we needed to talk. I got pissed. He grabbed me by the shoulders, hard. Said some things that pissed me off, I slapped him and then was finally able to get away. I’ll be all right…it’s just that, plus Addison, uhm, it’s all just kind of overwhelmed me.”
“Take a deep breath. Do you want to call the police?” she asks me and I look at her shocked but I shake my head.
“Technically, I slapped him so…” I don’t need to finish the thought.
She nods her understanding. “He deserved worse,” she says with a smirk.
I can’t help but smile and laugh. “Yes, he does.” I take a deep breath. “Sorry about the meltdown.”
“Don’t worry about it. We all have them from time to time.” She winks and I set my glass on her desk. “You good?”
“Better,” I say as I feel the warmth of the alcohol flowing through me. Cami walks over to the door and ushers Zach back into her office. Trinity isn’t there.
“She’ll be right back,” Zach says as he comes back into the room.
“Okay, Raine, here’s what’s going to happen,” Cami tells me as she takes a seat at her desk. “Zach is sending four additional bodyguards to Des Moines where they will meet up with the rest of the team. This is both my requirement and at Mills’ request. He called me in a panic about what happened. Apparently none of them knew the guy had been released and he was able to get onto the bus with a couple dozen roses. Obviously igniting every weakness the team has at this point.” She pauses as Trinity comes into the room.
“Hi Raine,” Trinity says to me and I smile my welcome at her before returning my attention to Cami.
“Zach is still here because we want to discuss a few things with you.”
My eyebrows knit together in confusion and Zach moves, drawing my attention to him. “It is my understanding that you’re pretty well versed in the ways of self-defense?”
I nod. “I’ve been teaching women for years.” No need to go into the reasons why. Cami knows which is why her concern for me tonight is not unusual.
“Well, then we’re going to put you to work,” Zach says so nonchalant that I’m confused.
“We’re sending you
“What?” I exclaim. “That’s a little redundant, don’t you think? You’ve just sent four bodyguards after her and frankly, I’m anything but a bodyguard.”
It’s Zach who steps up to talk. “It’s true and they’ll take good care of her. Apparently my job is on the line if they don’t.” The smirk is a bit out of place considering Cami’s threat if anything happens to Addison. “The reason we’ve discussed the self-defense aspect of things is because all Bold reps go through extensive courses in it. With what we want to do with you, you don’t have that kind of time.”
“I’m confused.” I look to Cami.
“Well, I was going to discuss this with you tomorrow, but since we’re here and the bus incident is under the radar and not being picked up by the media, yet. We might as well do it now while we wait and see if the shoe drops.” She gives me a reassuring smile, but I can’t say I’m comforted by it. Cami leans forward, placing her hands together, her forearms are flat against the desk and she sits up a little straighter. I know this pose, she’s about to get real.
Compliments of Michael’s bullshit earlier, her posture has the hairs on the back of my neck rising. I sit up a little straighter. “If the event happened on the bus, I’m pretty sure the only people who know are the members of the band, maybe the crew.” I raise an eyebrow asking for reassurance.
“We’re pretty sure that’s the case too,” Trinity says with a smile.
“It’s my understanding,” Cami starts and I look back to her, “that my father owed you something?”
I shake my head. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about…” I’m drawing a blank.
Cami smiles again. “If I recall from reading your file thoroughly, he promised to send you to college.” My heart skips a beat.
“It… yes, he’d said he would do that, but…”
“I think a degree would be great training for you. But as someone who holds a Bachelor’s, it’s rather pointless.” She grabs a folder from her desk. It’s one of the thousands of plain manila folders we use around the office, nothing special in appearance, but its presence scares the hell out of me. “Raine, you’ve been hanging around this office for a very long time. You’ve written more press releases than probably Trinity or I have in the last year. You’ve sought out news articles from some of our clients, big and small, and brought their situations to the attention of their reps and when you do, you constantly offer ideas, suggestions, things to do to help with the situation.”
I am sure my face looks like it’s going to freeze in its confused, scared shitless state. I can barely breathe.
“You’ve proven yourself time and time again to be a very valuable asset to this company and it’s high time we rewarded you for it,” Trinity says from her chair next to Cami’s desk.
“You’re being promoted.” Cami finally says the words.
“To what, exactly?”
“Addison’s assistant.”
I slouch. “How is that a promotion?”
Both Trinity and Cami chuckle before Cami continues. “You’re being promoted because Addison is going to train you, show you the ropes, teach you about all the things that she does. Then, when you’ve learned everything you possibly can from her, we’re going to give you your first client, assuming things go the way we anticipate them going.” Cami grabs the folder.
“Who?” I say softly.
Cami gets a big smile on her face. “Addison.”
“So she’s going to train me to be her rep?”
“Something like that. The whole point of this is that we need to send someone to New York, someone to help her out, keep her on schedule and help her deal with the added things, like marketing and social media. She’s going to be busy with recordings and the band’s various appearances, it’s going to make things difficult for her to keep up on everything. Between her own stuff and the band’s, she could literally spend an entire day just on social media,” Trinity says softly. Her motherly nature is comforting right now because hell if I understand how all this is happening.
“Things will probably start off a lot more of ‘hey do this’, ‘hey can you do that’ but that’s all right. She’s going to need someone to help her out. She’s an amazing rep and the reason why we sent her to handle 69 Bottles is because we know she can handle it, but that was when she was dealing with one band at a time and not dealing with her own stuff,” Cami says.
I cock my head at both of them; “She had like, twelve clients before she took on just 69 Bottles, I’m-”
“Sure you can handle twelve clients when you’re sitting in an office more than being on the road.” Cami smiles reassuringly. “She’s responsible for more things with 69 Bottles than she is with a lot of her other clients. Like social media and all that good stuff, and that’s when she’s not being pulled in a thousand directions for her own career. They’re in New York for two weeks. Once that time is up, you’ll come back here and I will continue to work with you.”
“I’m not sure I know what to say,” I tell them.
“You don’t have to say anything tonight. In fact, you’re off the hook until Tuesday.” She hands me the folder in her hands. “Inside you’ll find all the details of your contract, a handbook regarding your responsibilities and Bold’s expectations for our reps. There are also forms for certain things, like laptop, cell phone, expense account, etcetera that should you decide to do this, will need to be filled out. I figured that if you decided to do this, you’d want to know as much as possible before returning to the office on Tuesday.”
“Why Tuesday?” I ask.
“Because I’m giving you the weekend and Monday off. No matter what happens, I don’t want to see you here until Tuesday,” Cami says sternly.
“Okay,” I reply hesitantly.
“You and I will talk as soon as I get into the office. I’ve cleared my calendar. So come prepared with all your questions, write them down. If it’s overly pressing or it will make or break you accepting the offer, you have my number.” I nod.
“Is there salary information in there?” I ask.
“Will that make or break your decision?” Cami asks.
“No, but I am curious.”
She smiles knowingly. “It’s all in there. Then when we’re done, your decision will decide what happens. They’re in New York a week from Sunday.”
I nod absently. It doesn’t matter what’s inside the folder. I already know my answer, but I am pretty sure that Cami will not accept that answer today, so I’m not going to argue about it. At least not right now.
“Any questions?” Trinity asks.
I shake my head. I’m in a little bit of shock over what’s transpired tonight. Forgetting completely all about what happened in Kansas City.
“Victoria, right?”
“You can call me Tori.” She extends her hand and I take it.
“Nice to meet you.” She gives me a small smile. She’s very pretty, but carries a very deadly posture about her. She’s broad in the shoulders, with strong hips and thighs that could probably squish a grown man. I casually note that one of the other guards is eyeing her. The look gives me the impression that he’s impressed by her. “Is she here?”
“She is. I’m assuming you’ve been told?”
I give her a quizzical look. The only thing that Cami told me over the last week is that Talon, Kyle and Addison are all together. I think she wanted to warn me or give me a chance to put aside any preconceived ideas I may have had. Honestly, I think it’s great. If they can make it work. “About Talon and Kyle?” I say hesitantly.
She cocks her head, appraising my intrigue. “I’m going to say that you haven’t been told. I’m sure Addison will.”
I raise an eyebrow at her, just as two doors open behind me. “You ready?” a deep voice calls.
“Yup, let’s roll.” That has got to be Mouse.
“Start downstairs?” another voice says and I finally turn around, only to have my heart skip six beats in my chest at the sight of Dex. I quickly turn back to Tori who has a knowing smirk on her face. There is some commotion and then finally I hear the elevator chime, the one I just came off of, and then the doors open. Some more footsteps and then finally the closing of the doors.
“Don’t let them intimidate you,” the guy who was looking at Tori with reverence a few moments ago says. I blush. “Sorry, I’m Rusty.” He extends his hand. I take it, distracting myself and washing away all thoughts of Dex Harris.
“Pleasure to meet you.” I smile sweetly at him.
“I’m one of the guards. You’ll probably see me and Tori more than the other guys. Addison is Tori’s responsibility and I’m on Addison’s detail. If you’d like, we can arrange a meeting later today or tomorrow so that you can meet the entire staff. Well, with the exception of the road crew.” He gives me a reassuring smile.
“That would be great, thank you. I just came by to say hello to Addison, let her know that I’m here and then leave them to their evening.”
“They’re expecting you,” Tori says as she knocks twice and slides her key card into the door.
Stepping inside the suite, I’m met with a hallway and Tori follows me in. “Addison?” Tori says.
“Come in, Tori,” calls the familiar voice of Addison. It’s only familiar because I’ve been speaking on the phone with her these last few days.
“Raine is here.”
“Perfect, bring her in,” Addison says then I hear her giggle. “Stop it,” she says and I want to roll my eyes because I can about imagine what’s happening just on the other side of the wall separating us.
Tori leads me into a wide-open sitting room that has a very pleasant view of Manhattan. Trying not to get distracted by it, I look for Addison who is sitting on a couch between Talon and Kyle. Her face is bright red, almost as if the boys have done something scandalous, confirming my suspicions from a moment ago. She stands up and comes toward me. “Hi Raine.”
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