by Nicole Casey
I was busy scanning pages and pages of information over the internet, when there was a knock on the door. I looked up to find Brayton standing there.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“There’s a rowdy table out there and they’re asking for the manager.” He shrugged. “Sorry, Trevor.”
I groaned and pushed myself away from the desk.
“What’s their problem?” I asked as we left my office and headed back out to the bar.
“I’m not sure,” Brayton said. “Something about their service not being up to par with other bars around the town.”
Just what I needed was to have to respond to some negative feedback, when I was trying to get the bar back to the success it once was. He pointed me to a table and I rolled my eyes when I saw who they were. “Gee…thanks a lot.”
Brayton laughed. “They wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
I had no doubt that was the case. I moved away from the bar counter and to the table of the so-called rowdy table, where a few of my friends were laughing and carrying on. They looked up.
“Hey hey…the man of the hour has arrived,” Dylan yelped. “Whoop whoop!”
I rolled my eyes and then glared at him. “You do realize I have work to do, right? I can’t just come out here and jump at your beck and call.” I scanned over the table. There was Dylan, the real estate broker, Marcus, the banker, Damon, a professional football player, and Daxter, a firefighter turned professional model. Each man had passed through my life at some point when I needed a friend to talk to and through the years that brought us all together. I couldn’t imagine them not being my friends, but I was going through some tough things right now and really needed to focus on that.
“Come on, Trevor,” Marcus said. “Sit down and take a load off. You work way too hard.”
I glanced at him, then chuckled. Marcus, more than anyone should know what I was going through. He’d been on the ride of mergers and acquisitions with his business of banking. He was always on the hunt for a good deal and hoping things didn’t go bust, so it was interesting to hear Marcus being so light and carefree.
“Brayton, my man, give this boy a beer,” Dylan called out.
I groaned. The last thing I needed was to waste the beer on me. I almost objected, before Damon grabbed my arm and pulled me into a waiting chair.
“Just one beer,” I said, finally conceding.
The men laughed and they started eagerly chatting about their days past. Brayton brought me a beer and I thanked him with my eyes and then took a long sip. Then the chatting turned into women and I shook my head and tried to stay back from the conversation.
“You should have seen the hot babe I had last weekend. Ahhhhh…” Dylan said. “Doesn’t get much better than that.”
“Dude…you’re always finding the hot ones. Leave some for us.” Marcus laughed as he took a drink.
I chuckled and took another drink. All the guys, with the exception of Daxter were on the prowl. Daxter had a live-in girlfriend and I was interested to see how that was going. It was still pretty new. So, I switched the conversation from women that were only looking for sex to the woman that Daxter nearly shared his life with.
“So, Dax…how’s things going with Jenna?” I asked, taking a drink.
He shot me a look and there was pride in his eyes. Jenna and he had been high school sweethearts; their worlds revolved around one another. So, she was with him, when he switched his career from firefighter to modeling. I had always questioned why they didn’t just get married, but it seemed like their relationship was one to be holding strong.
“Well, things are going quite well. In fact, there might be wedding bells in the near future.”
The table went nuts.
“Are you serious?” Dylan asked.
“That’s great, man,” Damon said.
I smiled. “Good for you two. I hope it all works out.”
Daxter seemed happy and that was what truly mattered. Things got back to talking about more women and I was about to get up, when Damon spoke. “How are things going with you and the love of your life, Trevor?”
I looked at him and then frowned. I was confused by what he meant by love of my life. However, the rest of the table snickered and chuckled, fully aware of his words.
“I’m sorry. Not really understanding,” I said.
Damon rolled his eyes and held out his arms. “Your namesake, man. How’s business?” Damon looked around. There were some full tables, but there were also lots more empty tables. He looked back at me. “Doing alright?”
He was looking at me, like he truly wanted an honest response and wouldn’t believe me if I said that things were amazing, so I shrugged.
“You know, business can slump at times, but I’m holding in there,” I said.
“Tell me about business slumping,” Marcus stated. “There were times that I would acquire a bank building, only to find that it was already nearly bankrupt. That was when I went to J & E Consulting Firm.”
I frowned. “What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a place that comes in and works their magic to help build a business back up. They check numbers, run plans, organize anything they see is failing, and eventually your business is back thriving.” He shrugged. “Or, at least mine was.”
I hadn’t considered going to an outside facility such as a consulting firm to have them look over my business. I supposed it was an option.
“J & E Consulting Firm?” I asked.
Marcus nodded. “I can get you the number if you want it.”
I was holding onto my pride and really didn’t want them to know that I was struggling like that, so I quickly shook my head.
“That’s quite alright. We’re doing well. Really!” I said, smiling at them. I grabbed my beer bottle and stood up.
“I really should get back to work. Good seeing you guys!” I tipped my beer bottle and headed back to the bar. I pushed the beer bottle to Brayton and he discarded it, and then I went back into the backroom to get to my office.
I was at my computer and typing in J & E Consulting Firm before I forgot the name and had to go back to him and inquire about it. Immediately the website was pulled up. I looked it over and contemplated my next steps. I didn’t want to ask more people for help, but more importantly I needed to do what was best for the company. Monday morning I would give them a call and hope that they could help me out of this slump.
It was the only thing I could do.
I had written the number down for the company, so Monday morning when I woke up, that was the first thing I did. I placed a call into the company.
“Good morning, you have reached J & E Consulting Firm. This is Jasmine, how may I help you?”
“Good morning, Jasmine. I need to speak with someone in regards to maybe helping out my business. It’s not entirely going under…yet. I just want to make sure it doesn’t.”
“Sure thing, sir. No problem. Will you be able to hold for a minute? I will get you with someone that can place the perfect consultant in your hands. He’s on the phone right now, so it will be just a moment.”
“Okay, no problem. Thank you so much!”
“It’s my pleasure and as always…thank you for contacting J & E Consulting Firm. Please hold.” The sound of music played over the phone as I waited. I sat down at my kitchen table and started to hum along to the song. Then a man’s voice came on the line.
“This is Roger. I’m a partner of J & E Consulting Firm. How may I help you?”
I, once again, told him what I was looking for, this time going into a little more detail and providing my name, the company I own, and the problems we were facing. After I finished off rattling, I took a deep breath. “Do you think you can help?” I asked.
“Just a minute, I’m entering all your information into the database.” There was some hesitation, before he finally came back. “Okay, I have you in my database and I will certainly see about pairing you off with someone. Unfortunately, all our re
presentatives are assisting other customers.”
He sounded like a voice recording you got when you had to wait for the next available person. “It could be weeks, maybe months before someone becomes available.”
My jaw dropped. I didn’t have weeks and I definitely didn’t have months. I didn’t even know if I had days. I couldn’t wait that long.
“Oh…I see.” I mumbled. “I appreciate that, but I can’t wait that long. I might have to find someone else.” I was expecting to then hang up the call, but Roger was quickly assuring me.
“I understand that that would be an inconvenience. I will look some things over and try to get someone to your business by tomorrow. Would that be sufficient?”
“Well, that would save me the trouble of contacting another consulting firm.”
I gave him my phone number, in case they needed to call me for anything and then hung up with the understanding they would text me to let me know what time the consultant would be there. I was glad that I had made the call and was one step closer to getting my business in better conditions. I was desperate and this most likely would be my last resort.
7
Jasmine
I was tapping away at my computer, pretending to be busy, when my office phone started ringing. I glanced at it, to find Roger’s number on the screen. I sighed, wondering what it was he wanted this time, then answered. “Hello?”
“Will you please come into my office?” he asked.
I knew he would either want coffee or maybe he wanted me to run home and start cooking his evening meal, but either way it wasn’t going to be pleasant. I just had a feeling. I walked slowly to the office, almost as if I was going to the guillotine, then peeked my head in his door.
“What may I help you with? You want your shoes waxed? Or maybe the floor?” I put on a smile and he just chuckled. He understood my sarcasm, at least that was a plus, so he wouldn’t fire me on the spot.
“Neither of those. Although, my shoes could use a waxing,” he teased.
I rolled my eyes very discreetly, so he wouldn’t see.
“Okay, then what do I have the pleasure of doing?”
He reached for a piece of paper, then handed it to me. I looked at it and in bold print was the name, Trevor Wild, following by the name, Mercury Wild, and then a phone number. I knew the name obviously and I knew the place, but I was still confused.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s your first job,” he said.
My jaw dropped. I’m surprised that I could lift it back up without help. “Um…my first job?” I asked. “You mean…a consulting job?”
Roger nodded. “Unless you don’t want it. Unfortunately, there is no one else, as everyone else is booked with clients, but I’m sure Mr. Wild will understand.”
I looked at the information again. I was really torn, because on one hand, I was finally getting my big break, but on the other hand, it wouldn’t be easy to work with the guy that seemed to catch my breath every time I looked at him.
“No! I’ll do it,” I quickly stated.
Roger smiled. “I thought you would. He’s expecting a text with a time to meet up with him tomorrow. I’ll leave that up to you. You will still be expected to come into work each day and make sure nothing else is happening, but I know that this will require lots of work. I have the utmost faith that you can do it.”
I nodded, heaving a sigh.
This was finally it. I was going to be given my big chance. I just couldn’t believe my luck was that my big chance was with Trevor Wild, Billionaire and Entrepreneur of Mercury Wild. I wondered what kind of assistance he needed, because by the outsider’s perspective, they were fine. I thanked Roger and headed back to my desk, with Trevor’s number in my hand.
I fished my cell phone out of my desk drawer, already anxious to get started. I put his number in my contact list, then sent him a text message.
Jasmine: Hello, my name is Jasmine Washington and I received your name from my boss. I would be happy to help you out in whatever time would work best for you. We can meet tomorrow. Please advise me of your availability.
That seemed professional enough. If I was being honest, I was a little nervous about my first job. I wanted it to go perfect, but it was really all new territory for me. Trevor’s response was quick to arrive.
Trevor Wild: Hello, Jasmine. Thank you so much for getting with me. I look forward to meeting you and getting this started. I will be at the club starting at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Any time after that would work. Thanks again!
Jasmine: I can be there at two thirty. I will see you then. Thank you!
I slipped my phone back into my desk drawer and felt excited about my first job. I wouldn’t tell Trevor he was my first case, but I wanted him to be satisfied. Two thirty wouldn’t come soon enough.
I pulled my jeep into the parking lot of the club at five minutes until the meeting. I had a notebook and pen in hand and I wanted to look the part, so I had dressed in pencil straight skirt and a white blouse, with a jacket that was buttoned over it. I could hear the clicking of my heels on the pavement, as I nervously approached the club.
The parking lot had a few cars, but it was still early, so I didn’t question where all the activity was. I opened up the door and was greeted with just a hostess standing there, as opposed to the two employees that opened the doors on Saturday night.
The hostess smiled. “Good afternoon! Just one today?”
I had to smile, because she didn’t question if I was a member. It was surprising to think that I actually looked like I belonged there.
“Actually, I’m just looking for Trevor Wild. I have a meeting with him.”
“Ahh…yes. You must be Mrs. Washington.”
I smiled, blushing slightly. “Ms. But you can call me Jasmine.”
The woman smiled and nodded her understanding. “Follow me!” she said.
She led me through the club and I took a chance to look around, seeing it all really for the first time. This wasn’t a place I was allowed to walk freely around, so it was nice to get a feel for the atmosphere. When we got to the bar, we bypassed it and went through double doors. The closer we got to an office, the more nervous I became. But there he was. Trevor was seated behind a desk, typing on his computer, and there was a tug at my heart as I saw him.
“Jasmine Washington is here, sir,” the woman said, introducing me.
Trevor looked up and the minute his eyes met mine, recognition flashed in his facial features.
“Thanks, Layla,” he said, glancing at Layla for a minute. She nodded and dismissed herself and then he looked back at me.
“Hmm…” he then chuckled softly and stood to his feet. “I guess we’ll formally be introduced then. As you know, I’m Trevor Wild and you’re Jasmine Washington.” He stuck out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to officially make your acquaintance, Mrs. Washington.”
I looked at his hand and then up at his eyes that were staring back at me.
“It’s Ms. Washington and please…call me Jasmine.” I shook his hand. His grasp was firm, yet comforting. I slowly pulled my hand free, because I could have been lost in that moment for hours, then cleared my throat.
“So, I don’t have all the details of what you’re actually looking for, but do you mind giving me a tour of the place and we can hash all that out?”
“Of course,” he said.
He walked around the desk and led me out of his office, to where we started a tour. He showed me everything from the various rooms that housed more gambling machines, to the rooms that were used for parties of different degrees. As we walked, he shared his story, about how he didn’t know when it happened but along the way they slowly started to falter in sales. He always thought they could pick back up, but then credit cards were being overcharged and shipments were now being missed and he feared for the sake of his business.
We went upstairs, to a whole other layer of the club that I hadn’t even known had existed. It seemed this
club was a hub of activity, or at least should be, because of all the features there were.
“Members have started canceling their memberships,” he said. There was a hint of sadness in his voice.
When we walked down the stairs, I turned to him.
“Mr. Wild,” I started.
He shook his head. “Please call me Trevor.”
I continued. “Trevor, I won’t say that it will be an easy task to get things back to where they were, but I do believe that it’s doable. Just trust that I will do everything in my power to make it work. We’ll get it there. I promise you.”
He smiled and we headed back to his office. Once there, I put my purse down and looked around. “We first need to start with your bookkeeping. I need to see important receipts and documents for the last year would be a good starting point.”
He gave me a sheepish grin and I really wondered what that was all about, until he led me to a filing cabinet. At least the cabinet was labeled with a breakdown of three months at a time in each drawer, otherwise I might freak out before I even started.
He opened up one drawer and it was just layers and layers of bills, receipts, orders, etc. all just thrown in it. I pulled out a handful and just looked at it, the months were all thrown together and it was a jumbled mess. I looked up at him and he smirked.
“Yeah, I suppose organization skills isn’t my strong suit.”
I nodded. That was an understatement. “Well, this could take me at least a week to go through,” I looked over at his desk that was just a few feet away. “I’ll try not to be in your way or anything.”
He shrugged. “I understand. Take the time you need.”
I looked back at the drawers and took a deep breath. I hoped I didn’t get myself into a world of trouble, because I was already feeling a tad overwhelmed, but I would persevere and get through it. I just had to.
8
