Chapter 1 #2
“What?” I ask through a yawn, pulling the puffy white comforter with purple flowers over my bare skin.
Brody has a habit of complaining anytime we go to my apartment downtown instead of his admittedly nicer and more expensive house in Summerlin.
His favorite approach is a passive-aggressive comment about the noise affecting his ability to get a solid night’s sleep.
But the restaurant last night had been closer to my apartment, so with no Nate to entertain, it made sense to crash at mine.
Plus, I’m the one with a full day’s work today.
The sun peeks through the lavender curtains, a sign it’s almost time for me to get out of bed.
As I snuggle back in to savor the remaining minutes before I need to get up, I catch a whiff of something delicious from the kitchen: eggs and chicken sausage.
My stomach rumbles in response, even though I normally only drink coffee this early in the morning.
Last night’s dinner was too adventurous for me (though Brody enjoyed it), and my body is eager for food it recognizes.
“Did you make breakfast? It smells great. I’m starving. ”
“Yeah, I made myself a breakfast sandwich.”
Brody’s attention is still on his phone, so it wouldn’t matter if I pointed out he could have made me one, too. He’d say something about how I was sleeping, and he’s in a rush to get to wherever he’s going. Of course, he woke me up anyway, and now I’m decaffeinated and starving.
“Is there coffee at least?” It’s a pointless question because I can’t smell coffee’s delightfully bitter bite, and Brody is not as obsessive a coffee drinker as I am.
He’s more of a tea or sugar-free energy drink kind of guy, neither of which seeps a good morning into my veins quite the same way a cup of coffee can.
“Huh?” He looks over for a quick second, then back to his phone. “I’m trying to understand this email from BrandMe.”
It takes a moment to process his words.
“BrandMe? Where I work?” I jolt upright, brushing hair out of my face before reaching for my phone.
A glance at my inbox confirms I’m not on whatever email thread Brody is looking at, which makes no sense.
I take a deep breath. Clerical oversights happen.
This means nothing on its own. “What’s it say? ”
He scans the message again. “Who’s Travis?”
I tighten my grip on the bedding as my stomach plummets. If Travis is part of whatever is going on, it can’t be good. “He used to be the manager of your account.”
“The one who called out sick for the initial pitch and had you present his tired ideas?”
To be fair, Travis may have actually been sick that day, and it’s not completely unheard of to have the assistant manager present the pitch in such cases.
What is rare and more difficult to cover for is having a pitch deck similar to ten pitches I sat in on that week.
I could have done the presentation with my eyes closed if I’d wanted, and Brody and his agent could have napped through the entire pitch and left with the same insights they would have gleaned if they had been awake.
So when Brody stopped me halfway through to call us out on the outdated attempt, I jumped in with a strategy I’d been working on in the background and planned to save for my first big client. The strategy ended up saving the Bannam account and kicked off the 180-day deal with my boss.
I nod when Brody looks over for confirmation.
His attention flicks back to his phone. “What an ass.”
“Did he email you?”
Brody shakes his head. “Your boss.”
Carl knows damn well I’m the sole manager on the Bannam account because there is no day I let him forget it.
As if sensing my heightened emotions, my cat Jasper slips into the bedroom and leaps onto the bed, where he curls up against my hip with a soft mew. I stroke his dark fur, trying to piece together what’s going on with BrandMe.
“It says you’re no longer on my account and that Travis is my account manager.” Brody spins toward me. “What’s going on, Abigail? Why are they switching things up right before we film? Do they know what that can do to a show?”
“More like why are they switching things up at all?” And without telling me.
I stare at the dark purple walls of my bedroom, the photos in the black and silver frames a blur as I try to make sense of it all. How could I, though?
I poured all my extra energy into Brody’s brand, spending early mornings delving into data and compiling reports, and late nights dreaming up new strategies to hit the ambitious goals we both had for him.
Then one night, Brody was out with some friends at a bar and invited me to come talk strategy.
We tucked ourselves into a corner booth in the back where it was a little quieter, and—once I pitched a layered plan to take his brand to the next level—he kissed me.
Actually kissed me, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t right there kissing him back.
Because he was Brody Bannam, a rising celebrity, but more importantly, the man who chose me.
The one who demanded my boss put me in charge of his account, even though Carl felt he had every reason to say no.
The man who took calculated risks all the time, who decided I was a risk worth taking.
At the back of that bar, kissing Brody Bannam after piecing together the perfect combo to build his brand, I felt enough for the first time in a long time.
Now though? Being left off an email thread removing me from Brody’s account not only means I lose grounds for my promotion but also puts me at risk of losing my job entirely. I had either been deemed incompetent or had done something very wrong—or both.
Brody drops his phone onto the bed, making Jasper jump and race to the living room. Understandable, given I also run from things that scare me. But whatever is going on with BrandMe is not something I can run from.
Brody tightens his hair bun, something I’ve seen him do countless times when stressed, then picks up his phone again.
“Unfuckingbelivable. I am not working with Travis. You can deal with this, right?” He slings a backpack over his shoulder. “I’ve got an excursion to get to.”
“Absolutely.” I swallow hard before forcing a smile for Brody’s benefit. “Where to this time?”
“The world,” Brody says with a smile before crossing the room to plant a kiss on my lips. “Catch you on the flip side.”
I allow myself another five minutes to sit in bed stewing over the email Brody received before springing into action.
Brody just completed one of his most successful sponsor photoshoots; there are new photos to get online, and filming for his show starts in a week.
I’d get this all sorted today; then Brody and I would be relaxing on a beach in Fiji soon enough.
I pinch my gold locket between my fingers and channel my inner Sarah before sending Corina a quick text update and getting my ass into gear.
Today is going to be my day. I’m making sure of it.