35. Kat
My mood couldn’t get any better. My head was somewhere up in the clouds, and if I could whistle, I might even warble a happy tune. Which was annoying to co-workers, so it was probably for the best that the only whistling I could do ended in spluttery raspberries. Maybe I’d settle for a less annoying hum instead.
Jameson had a late afternoon meeting away from the office, but I was hoping he’d be back soon so we could coordinate and see who’s place we’d be going to after work. I didn’t care, just so long as we could spend a few hours together.
A guy with a messenger bag and a large manila envelope in his hands strode into the office area, and then paused, glancing around at all the empty desks. Rob and I were the only ones left, and he was at the far end of the office, mostly obscured by computer screens.
“Looking for someone?” I asked, even though it was pretty clear that was the case.
“There wasn’t anyone at the receptionist desk, and I was told this had to be delivered to JT Stone ASAP.”
I stood and extended a hand. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”
The courier eyed me suspiciously, like I might offer to take mysterious packages and then dispose of them for funsies. “I’m his assistant, and I’ll give it to him as soon as he comes back from his meeting. Need me to sign for it?”
He brought it the last few steps and thrust a clipboard at me. I signed on the line, noticing it wasn’t even a little bit dotted and wondering if lines used to be dotted since there was that saying about signing on them.
Once the courier left, I tested Jameson’s office door, found it unlocked, and pushed inside.
I tossed the package on the desk so that he’d see it right away, but instead of hitting the center and staying there, it slid off the other side. I moved to pick it up, and of course the envelope had opened when it hit the ground, spilling out the documents.
I gathered up the contents and sat in Jameson’s chair. As I worked to straighten the documents so they’d fit back in the envelope, I couldn’t help but read the note scribbled on the neon yellow Post-it.
Have your girl sign this ASAP. No reason to risk losing everything over a hot piece of ass.
-Nate
I didn’t know whether to be offended or paranoid. It depended on if the girl/hot piece of ass was me. If it wasn’t, Jameson and I had a problem. If it was…well, we also might have a problem.
I peeled off the Post-it and took a better look at the document. Non-disclosureagreement?WhywouldIneedtosignoneofthose?Doesn’tJamesontrustme?
Okay, so the fact that I was reading confidential documents might make it seem like I wasn’t 100 percent trustworthy, but they’d opened by accident.
Not so much an accident? Reading on. For one, the papers were a good inch thick, and surely NDAs weren’t that hefty.
What I found after the first five pages that made up the non-disclosure agreement was even worse.
There was yet another Post-it.
Severance package for Stuart Taylor
If it wasn’t my dad’s name, I might’ve been able to slide the documents back in the envelope, but once I saw those words, I couldn’t not read on. My gut dropped as I skimmed through, a sense of disbelief and panic wringing out my lungs.
I’d just finished leafing through the documents when Jameson stepped into the office.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said, exhaustion dragging down his words. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. I was afraid you’d already left for the day.”
Just like that, the panic and what-the-fuckery I was feeling ignited and turned into seething anger. “Well, considering what I just found out, you should be afraid of me in general.” I lifted the document. “What the hell is this?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, walking closer and tilting his head to get a look at it. “I… Oh.”
“Oh?” My breaths came right on top of each other and I crossed my arms, squeezing my biceps to try to contain my rage and the urge to cry. “Explain.”
He let out a sigh that sounded like it weighed 100 pounds and then sat on the edge of the desk, facing me. “One of the main reasons I was voted into the CEO position was because I promised I’d find ways to cut the overhead and increase profits. I’ve run the numbers several times, and there’s one branch that’s not pulling its weight.”
I shook my head. Dad mentioned things were tight, but he said everything was turning around and would be back to normal in no time. “We had a couple of hard years, but we’re bouncing back.”
Jameson leveled his blue-eyed gaze on me. “You’re not. When I said it wasn’t pulling its weight, I was being generous. The Hartford branch is deadweight. Your father has a bloated salary, especially for how little business he brings in, and you’ve lost more clients than you’ve signed for a while.”
Each word struck my chest, stinging and burning. “Jeez, tell me what you really think.”
“I’m not going to hold back because…” He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair.
“Oh, now you’re the one not finishing sentences? You’re not holding back because we’re fuck buddies, is that it? Yeah, I’d hate for you to lose everything over a ‘hot piece of ass.’” I tossed the other document at him, wishing my voice wasn’t shaking as badly as my hands.
Jameson picked it up and sighed. “Ooh, another sigh.”
“Kat,” he said, in that firm, no-nonsense, do-what-I-say-or-else voice. “I’d like to talk about this like civilized adults.”
“You think going behind people’s backs makes you civilized? When you made a play for the open CEO position, my dad voted for you. Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“It means that he and the rest of the board thought I’d do the best job of deciding how to run the company and where to cut costs, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. It also means that when he called me up and asked if his daughter could work with me, I took him up on it, even though I didn’t have the time to train someone.”
The stinging pain radiated outward, spreading until it took over my whole chest. I stood, unable to just keep sitting there while he looked down on me with that stony, unfeeling expression on his face. “So sorry I was such an inconvenience. I could tell it was a big hardship when you bent me over your desk. If you think about it, I was actually saving you a lot of time, because you didn’t even have to leave the office to get laid.”
Jameson reached for me, and I jerked my arm away. “Come on, Kat. Don’t pull our relationship into this. It’s just business.”
“It’s just business? Really?” My voice cracked and I took a steadying breath. “This is my life. Why bother training me when you knew I wouldn’t have a job in a couple of months?”
“So that you could get hired somewhere, even if your daddy wasn’t there.”
My heart knotted, so tightly I didn’t think it’d ever beat right again, and tears were definitely forming. “That’s what you think of me?”
He stood and gripped my shoulders. “I know how hard it is to get an in. I’ve been pushing you to be bolder so that when you go in for a job interview and say you’re the best candidate, they’ll believe it and so will you.”
“You don’t believe in me, so why should I?”
“But I do believe in you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have pushed you so hard.”
I wanted to storm out, but then I thought of all the people in the Hartford office, the people I’d worked with, most of whom I’d grown up around. “Then give me a chance to implement what I’ve learned. Just a couple of months, and if we manage to?—”
“It won’t be enough. You’re amazing at narrowing down the right target audience and knowing just how to reach them—better than anyone else I’ve worked with, honestly—but that’s not enough to fill in all the missing pieces at your branch. It’s not enough to just specialize in one thing anymore, and the Hartford office isn’t even good at that one thing anymore. Your father is good at face-to-face meetings and in-person marketing, but this business doesn’t work like that anymore. It’s an outdated model. One he’s refused to change.”
His voice softened. “This is the best decision for Craze, and because of how much Taylor-Made helped us grow when we first merged, we’re offering severance packages. Your father and his employees will get notice next week, after the board’s decision is finalized, and that’ll give them some money and time to find new jobs. It’s a fair deal for everyone.”
I shook my head. “You’re making it sound like you’re riding in on a white horse, but you’re the guy on the black one, getting ready to plunder the village and leave the people homeless.”
He tilted his head. “Kat.”
I tilted mine right back. “Jameson.”
The muscles along his jaw tightened. “Why don’t you go home and process, and we can talk about this tomorrow?”
“No, screw that. I’m not going to come into the office tomorrow. There’s no point.” I stepped back, out of his reach. “Besides, I’d probably just kick my asshole boss in the balls, and then there would go my gleaming letter of recommendation. I sure hope you’ll include how submissive and easy I was—I’m sure that’ll land me a great position. Please tell them that I prefer it from behind.”
Jameson shot forward, his eyes flashing. “Damn it, Kat,” he growled. “It doesn’t have to be like this. This past month with you has been amazing, and believe it or not I care about you and what happens to you. I know you’re mad, but try to see it from my side.”
“You’re not always right, you know.”
He took another step, looming over me, every inch the steely businessman he was when I first stepped into his life. “When it comes to business, sweetheart, I am. And it’s because I run it with my head, not my emotions.”
“Well, congrats on being a robot. Me and my emotions are going to go cry, but then we’ll find a better solution that doesn’t involve fifty plus people who have families counting on them losing their jobs.” I wanted to have changed him somehow, the way I felt changed after being with him, and now I could see how foolish I was to think that I could. A tear slipped down my cheek, and I didn’t bother wiping it away. “Oh, and it’s really too bad that you didn’t have me sign that NDA before, because suddenly I feel like disclosing a whole lot to the people at my branch and to the board. Guess you should’ve kept your piece of ass on a tighter leash.”
I thought he would threaten me, or try to talk me into not saying anything, but he just pinched the bridge of his nose, like oh, poor him, he was going to have a headache later because I was so difficult.
What was really difficult—more difficult than it should be considering what I’d just discovered—was leaving him behind with everything all wrong between us, no idea if I’d ever even see him again.
And a stupid part of me wanted to have one last time with him, so at least I could mentally and physically prepare myself for the fact that it was the last time.
Instead, I just got to leave with a broken heart and the knowledge that the job I’d been training my whole life for no longer existed.