City of Sin - Chapter 59
Bee
As I stepped off the elevator, Jenkins stepped on with a box full of his personal belongings.
"Jenkins, I'm sor..."
"Save it, Bridget. You didn't like the idea anyway. Not that what happened was my fault. That piece of shit is throwing the blame on me. He was the one that made the call. He's the one that should get the can, not me. That old son of a bitch. I'll show him."
"I hope you do."
Jenkins laughed. "Later, Bridget." The elevator doors closed behind him.
I meant what I said. I didn't get along with Jenkins, but I was sorry that he had gotten fired.
This whole mess was Mr. Ellington's fault.
Jenkins shouldn't have been the one to take the blame.
But at the same time, there was a little pep in my step.
Because his job was going to be mine. And if I needed to remind Mr. Ellington I had what it took, I had a whole speech prepared.
I pulled my coat off and laid it across the back of my chair. I rubbed my hands together to help warm them. Mr. Ellington's office door was closed. I wasn't sure when the best time to talk to him would be. Maybe first thing. But he had just fired Jenkins. Maybe he was in a firing kind of mood.
My thought process was disturbed when something lightly touched my shoulder, making me jump.
Kendra laughed. "Geez, a little amped up, huh?"
"Yeah. I was just trying to decide if I should go talk to him. I saw Jenkins on the way out."
"You missed the show. He threw a stapler at Mr. Ellington's head. It was hilarious."
"Really? Wow, I can't picture Jenkins doing that at all."
"People do crazy stuff when they get fired."
"They do." I pulled my chair out and sat down.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to go talk to him?"
"I think maybe I should wait till a little later. He might be in a bad mood if he just got hit with a stapler."
"He dodged it."
"Still." I shrugged my shoulders. I could feel myself wimping out.
"Don't give him more time to find a replacement for Jenkins. Show him it's you. No, tell him it's you. Bring back Kick Ass Bee for a few minutes."
"Okay." My heart was starting to beat really fast. I was so nervous. "You're right." I stood up from my chair. "I'll do it now."
"Attagirl."
I smoothed down my skirt before knocking on Mr. Ellington's door. You got this, Bee.
"Come in," Mr. Ellington's gruff voice sounded through the door.
I took a deep breath and opened up the door. "Can I speak to you for a second?"
He gestured for me to come into the room. "Close the door behind you, Bridget."
It always made me nervous when I was alone with him. I wasn't sure if it was because he was my boss or because of how his eyes always seemed to travel down my whole body.
"What can I do for you?" he asked, not looking up from his desk.
Crap. He was in a bad mood. I knew I should have waited. I cleared my throat. "Is this a good time, Mr. Ellington?"
He sighed and looked up at me. "It's Joe, Bridget. Please just call me Joe."
"Sorry. Joe," I said. His name sounded weird coming out of my mouth. But I'd rather start the meeting off on a good tone.
He smiled. "Take a seat."
As I sat down, he stood up. He walked over to the side of the desk I was on and sat down on it, so that he was staring down at me. It seemed like a friendly thing to do, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he had done it so he could stare down my shirt. I leaned back slightly.
"So, Bridget. What can I do for you?"
"Well, I heard that there was a new ad exec job opening."
Mr. Ellington laughed. "I'm pretty sure everyone heard that when Jenkins was yelling at me."
I smiled. "Right. Well, I've been thinking a lot about my position here..."
"Your position?" He raised his left eyebrow. "You mean, directly beneath me?"
"Umm...yes. About that..."
He held up his hand. "I know what this is about."
"You do?"
"I do. We had discussed you getting a promotion a few weeks ago. And you never came in for a follow up discussion."
When he had mentioned a promotion before he had made it seem dirty.
Like he wanted me to start giving him hand jobs under his desk or something.
That was why I had never followed up. But maybe I had it all wrong.
Maybe he had been planning on giving me an advertising job the whole time. Maybe he actually liked my idea.
"Exactly," I said. "I was hoping we could discuss that a little more."
"What did you want your promotion to entail?"
"Well, do you remember my idea from a few weeks ago? For Sword Body Wash. Partnering with the Knicks cheerleaders..."
Mr. Ellington swiped his hand through the air. "Jenkins lost us that account. But your idea wasn't a good fit for the brand anyway. We've already discussed that."
I wasn't expecting him to say that. "Okay, well, I know that the only thing that a company cares about is making money.
" I regurgitated what he had said at our other meeting back to him.
And it felt like I was regurgitating it for real, because it wasn't true.
Sword Body Wash cared about their image and their brand.
But that wasn't what Mr. Ellington wanted to hear.
He wanted to hear that he was right. And I really wanted this promotion.
"Exactly, Bridget. Which means we always have to give our clients the very best. Experience means everything to our clients. Experience which you do not have."
Shit. "I have a lot of other ideas, though. Maybe we could go through them?"
"This wasn't exactly the direction I thought you'd want to go," he said.
"What direction did you see me going?"
"South. Definitely south." His eyes wandered down my body in that way that chilled me to the bone.
"Mr. Ellington..."
"Personal assistant."
"What?"
He laughed. "I want to promote you to my personal assistant."
"Oh." My heart was beating out of my chest. Maybe all of this was in my head. He was actually trying to give me a normal promotion. It was just one that I wasn't interested in.
"I was hoping you'd be a little more excited."
"No. I am. But, Mr. Ellington..."
"If you're going to be my personal assistant, I think we need to get on a more personal level, don't you?" He stood up, clearly not wanting me to respond. He put his hand on my shoulder. "First, you need to start calling me Joe."
I felt frozen in place. I wanted to push his hand off my shoulder. I wanted to tell him to stop looking at me in that disgusting way. But I couldn't seem to find the words. I just sat there staring at him.
"You're beautiful, Bridget. You do know that, right?
That's why you've been teasing me for months?
" His hand moved to my neck and his fingers grabbed the collar of my shirt, pulling it down slightly.
He ran his thumb along my collarbone. His hands felt clammy against my skin.
"So let's get a little more personal. How about you put those lips of yours to good use.
I could really use a pick me up after the morning I've been having. "
He unbuttoned the top button of his suit pants with his other hand. "And maybe you can work up to that ad exec position you so badly want. After I get what I want. Which is trying out every position with you." He unzipped his pants.
"Mr. Ellington..." My voice finally kicked in again. But it sounded so weak. It was more of a whisper.
"Joe. My name is Joe. It's okay, Bridget. I know you're nervous. I know how badly you want this promotion. How about you get on your knees and show me you have what it takes."
Oh, hell no. I finally willed my body to move and I elbowed him right in the groin. Luckily he still had his boxers on so I didn't have to feel his surely small dick against my arm.
"Fuck!" He yelled and took a step back, grabbing his crotch.
I stood up and pointed my finger at him. "I will never, ever get on my knees for a promotion. I am not a hooker." The thought of Mason working with those women popped into my head. But it was quickly squashed down when Mr. Ellington spoke.
"You bitch!" His eyes bulged slightly. They finally weren't looking at me in that creepy way. "You're fired," he spat out.
"What?"
"If I had known how prude you were, I wouldn't have hired you in the first place."
"I thought you hired me because of my degree? Because you thought I might have a place at this ad agency. That's what we talked about when you hired me. That's why I took this job in the first place."
He laughed. "Welcome to New York, honey. Now get the hell out of my office."
I wanted to say something clever, but the look on his face was enough. Elbowing his junk was more satisfying than anything I could say. I turned around and walked out of his office with my head held high.
As soon as I stepped out of the office, my confidence waivered. The people in the cubicles near Mr. Ellington's office were staring at me. They had probably heard us yelling at each other. Kendra would be over any second, wondering if I got the promotion.
I quickly pulled open my drawers and grabbed all their contents.
I didn't have that much in my desk that was actually mine.
Most of it belonged to Kruger Advertising.
I pulled open the last drawer. There was a picture frame facing downward in it.
I had completely forgotten that it was even there.
I picked it up and turned it over. It was the first picture that Patrick and I had of us together.
We were sitting on a couch in his frat house.
His arm was wrapped around my shoulders.
I looked so happy. If I closed my eyes I could picture this moment like it was yesterday.
We had just had our first kiss. I looked happy in the picture because I was happy, happier than I had ever been.
I was so in love with him. Looking at the picture a month ago would have made my chest tighten.
But it didn't now. The city had changed him, but it had changed me too.
I ran my finger across Patrick's smiling face. It seemed like a distant memory.