Chapter 5 #2
“Excuse me?” I practically choke on the words.
“You heard me,” she snaps. “They were afraid I’d be too distracting.
Too much of a temptation. Could potentially cause a scandal.
But you…” She shrugs with that fake pity look bitchy girls perfected when they were toddlers.
She pretends to examine her nails. “I have to imagine there wasn’t a concern of that in hiring you. ”
“Bianca, this is Mean Jenny.” Greta’s voice is utterly monotone. “We call her Mean Jenny for a reason. She never realized that graduating high school and college meant she no longer needs to be a bitch.”
“I can see that,” I mutter dryly.
Mean Jenny’s eyes narrow into tiny slits.
“Just don’t get your hopes up. That’s all I’m saying.
” She folds her arms across her chest and straightens her spine.
“I’ve been here five years. That job was supposed to be mine.
I guess it’s lucky for you I’m not fat and ugly, otherwise you wouldn’t have a job.
” With that Mean Jenny flips her hair and saunters off and all I can think is, what the hell have I gotten myself into?
“Um…” I stare after her.
Maybe my mother was right. Or maybe this is exactly why Octavia hired me in a bathroom instead of promoting Mean Jenny, though I have no clue what exactly I’ve been hired for. Evidently, I meet the fat and ugly quota and they’re trying to avoid a scandal? What the absolute fuck?
“That was fun,” I mumble, feeling like I’ve been railroaded yet again. “Like something out of Mean Girls or a soap opera. I wouldn’t have believed girls like that existed in real life, except hard truths seem to be my thing lately.”
Part of me is tempted to turn and flee. To run for my life. I’ve had enough embarrassment and scandal over the past few days. Enough hard hits to my ego. I don’t need this job anyway.
“Come with me.” Charlie grabs my arm, hauling me back toward the stairs without giving me the option to object.
“Don’t let Mean Jenny get to you. Seriously, don’t.
She’s, well, mean and obviously insecure enough that she feels the need to degrade others.
She wanted the job you have and has no issues springing out her claws. ”
“Right,” I murmur.
“It’s true,” Greta agrees, giving my other arm a reassuring squeeze. “Please don’t quit because of Mean Jenny. She’s a sad person and I don’t mean that emotionally. I’d feel bad for her if she wasn’t such an awful human being. But hey, it was nice meeting you.”
“You too,” I manage, still staring after that girl and trying to wrap my head around things I have no clue how to wrap my head around.
Maybe I should have worked in a professional environment before today.
My required business and finance internships were always done with artists. I’ve never been in the corporate world.
I throw Greta a half wave a bit too late, my head spinning as Charlie drags me up another flight of stairs to the third and top floor of the building.
“I feel like I’m in a movie, only this isn’t a movie I want to be the star of or even the sidekick in. So tell me, what the hell is going on here?”
Charlie throws me a nervous side-eye, her lips in a flat line. “It’s not that big of a deal. There is just some organizational transition stuff going on.”
“Uh-huh. Go on.”
“Octavia has been sick. Breast cancer, and her family wants her to step down as CEO. So she is. Though I believe, for now, she’s staying on as chairperson of the board.”
“And who exactly is replacing her that I’m supposed to be working directly for?”
We reach the top of the stairs, and she pulls open yet another glass door. “Him.” Charlie points across the room and my eyes naturally follow.
That’s when they lock on him. The man standing beside Octavia.
Tall. Broad. Gray three-piece suit with no tie. Dark-blond hair brushed back from his face. Smooth, square jawline that could sharpen a knife. Intense green eyes. Stony presence.
“Kaplan Fritz,” I whisper, my gut falling along with my blood pressure.
As if the nonexistent winds carried my voice across the room, his head snaps in my direction.
His eyes do a slow perusal of my body, starting at my shoes and sliding up before they land on my face.
It takes him a second or two or even three before he figures out I’m the woman who ran into his car Saturday morning.
But the second he does, everything about him changes.
Our eyes hold. Mine shocked. Slightly panicked. His angry. Bitter cold.
And that reaction throws me completely.
Does he know I’m Bunny or just think I’m the girl from the car? I don’t know which I want, or even which scenario would be worse.
If he knew or didn’t.
My throat constricts and any second I’m going to pass out. I rasp out in a hoarse whisper, “You’re telling me Kaplan Fritz is my new boss?”
Charlie, oblivious to my crisis, gives me a small hip bump.
“Now you know why we’re all jealous. He’s so hot it’s like staring into the sun, right?
So beautiful it hurts. But yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.
It’s why Mean Jenny was ready to rip your eyeballs out of their sockets and wear them as earrings.
You stole her direct shot at him. Octavia is stepping down and Kaplan Fritz is the new CEO. And your boss.”
Oh. Shit.