Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
SIMON
O n Friday morning, I was up bright and early. It was pitch day at Fit Gal and I wanted to get a workout in before I headed over there. The last few days hadn’t been the easiest I’d ever had. With Abi back in my life in a big way and seeing everyone else earlier this week, a lot of guilt, grief, and regret had resurfaced.
I took it out on the punching bag in my building’s gym, going at it hard until I absolutely had to stop if I wanted to get to the Fit Gal HQ on time. After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, I focused my mind on the morning ahead and shoved all my personal bullshit way, way down.
Today was going to be a battle. First, it would be between the two teams over the commercials and then, between all four firms when we did our individual pitches. It was the first two steps toward winning the account and I planned on coming out on top both times.
A few minutes before I arrived at the Fit Gal HQ, my phone rang and my car announced that it was my father calling. I groaned. The last thing I needed right now was for him to fuck with me while I was getting my head in the game, but I also knew that if I didn’t take this call, I’d have to spend the rest of the morning dodging one every second minute.
That would destroy my focus much more than enduring a few minutes of doubt and verbal abuse, so I jabbed the green button on my steering wheel and tried to force the aggravation out of my voice. “Dad, what can I do for you this morning?”
“I have a new pitch for you to use today,” he said without any preamble. “It’s been sent to your email. Make sure you go first.”
Confusion punched a hole right through my brain. “What?”
“Just do it,” he snapped irritably. “Your original mock pitch wasn’t bad, but this one is better. Take the morning to look it over and use it this afternoon. Keep me updated.”
The call ended abruptly and I sighed, shaking my head and wondering what was going on this time. I fucking hated working with my dad. He pulled shady shit like this all the time and he often dumped it on me at the last minute—like he had with this pitch.
If I’d had any choice in the matter, I would have stayed away from Astor and Co until he had completely retired, but if I did that, he would never have even contemplated retirement. He would simply keep going until he dropped dead in his office, and by then, he’d probably have caused so much damage to our reputation that there wouldn’t have been a firm left for me to take over.
As it was, he’d taken a couple of big steps back, but he kept his finger on the pulse at the firm and he was obsessed with being kept in the loop. His underhanded dealings had nearly tanked us a few times, but thankfully, I’d been there to clean up the mess.
From a distance, anyway. There was a reason I’d gone out of my way to work out of state as much as I’d been able to until he’d announced that he was ready to start easing into retirement.
When I arrived at Fit Gal, I walked into the front of the massive glass building and was greeted by Charlene, the receptionist at the front desk. She smiled and stood up when she saw me. “Good morning, Mr. Astor. You’re all in the big conference room this morning. Good luck today.”
“Thanks.” I followed her down a corridor to a huge conference facility at the end of it, finding Jeffrey and Karen already in the room.
Frustration simmered through me. If it hadn’t been for that call from my dad, I would have been here first, but I supposed those were the breaks. I forced a tight smile at the other two. “Good morning. Is everybody ready?”
“Morning, Simon.” Jeffrey barely looked up from his notes. “We’re ready. You?”
“So ready.” I set down my stuff at the opposite side of the table and went to grab some coffee. There was a machine in a small break area in the room, and after I figured out how to use it, I watched my opponents prepare for battle as I waited for my mug to fill.
We’d be presenting our commercials together in our teams and then we’d be doing our individual mock pitches. These were just practice pitches, though. At the end of the ninety-day period, each firm would be giving a real pitch on where they wanted to take Fit Gal as a company, and after that, the final decision would be made.
That being said, today was still important.
Not only because of the commercials and taking the first win, but because this was an opportunity to show Blake and Ashley what we were all about. Sliding my phone out of my pocket, I navigated to my emails and clicked into the message I’d received from my dad’s assistant.
A few minutes later, I joined Jeffrey and Karen with my coffee in hand, taking a seat just as the door opened again. Abigail walked in, looking bad ass and hot as hell in a tailored black business suit with her light brown hair pulled up into an elegant twist behind her head.
She looked ready to rock and roll and I grinned, equal parts turned on and proud that I’d be standing next to her today. I gave her a slow, deliberate onceover as she strode over to the table. “Good morning, Abigail. You look ready to kick ass and take names. I like it.”
Her cheeks flushed with the faintest hint of pink, but she winked as she sat down beside me. “You’re not going to like it later when I’m kicking your ass at the mock pitches.”
I chuckled. “I’m ready to bow down if you take this round, but don’t count me out just yet.”
The pitch Dad had sent me was really good. I had no doubt that Abi’s would be great as well, but he hadn’t been wrong when he’d said this one was better than what my team and I had come up with. If I ended up using the one he’d sent, she would definitely be the one bowing down today.
She opened her mouth to respond, but Ashley and Blake walked in before she could say anything. As always, Ashley kicked us off with a bright smile. “Welcome, everybody. Today is your first pitch day as well as being presentation day for your commercials. We’re so excited to get to know each company more over the next few weeks and to see what you can create.”
She made eye contact with me every few seconds. Much more often than she did the others, but it was probably just in my head. I glanced at Abi to see if she’d noticed anything, and the tightness of her jaw combined with the exasperation in her eyes whenever she looked at Ashley validated my thoughts.
After our first morning here, she’d mentioned the boss flirting with me, but I’d been convinced we’d both been seeing things. Now, however, I was relatively certain Ashley was checking me out. I smirked, knowing this would be leverage when it would inevitably be Abi and me competing for the client in the end.
Blake took over from his sister after they’d settled in. “From here on out, there will be one pitch a month and we’re officially at our first one. Like Ash said, we’re excited to see what you’ve cooked up for us, but we’re also looking forward to seeing how you grow in your vision for our company as you get to know us better.”
“This competition is all about finding out who is the right fit for us here at Fit Gal.” Ashley sent me another quick smile before she continued. Her blonde ponytail was pulled up high on her head today, bouncing as she spoke. She really was hot, but to me, she paled in comparison to the girl at my side.
“Each of these assignments you’re going to be given over the coming weeks has been designed to allow you to showcase the very best you’ve got to offer. Today is the start of all that and we truly hope that you’re all ready to wow us.”
Abi nodded her head with determination blazing from her eyes. Jeffrey seemed nervous, fidgeting with his pen between his fingers, and Karen was already putting her hand up. When Ashley nodded at her, she smiled.
“Are our individual pitches going to add any weight to our offering as a team?” she asked. “Will those pitches count at all toward who wins the commercial challenge?”
Blake frowned. “If we were going to be doing that, why would we have put you into teams to begin with? The mock pitches will allow us to see your initial impressions of the company and where you want to take us, but the competition today is about the commercials.”
Ashley tried a slightly more diplomatic approach, but her voice was cool. “Your individual contributions won’t count when we’re determining which team wins. At Fit Gal, we believe in teamwork and community. It’s a value we hold incredibly dear, and there is no ‘I’ in team.”
Karen sighed but nodded and slumped back in her chair. Blake seemed to be fighting a roll of his eyes and I happened to agree with the guy in this instance. Finally glancing at his sister again, he shook his head and motioned for her to continue.
“Alright,” she said, once again shifting her gaze to mine. “On that note, let’s get started with the commercials. Jeffrey and Karen, why don’t you go first?”
Karen’s eyes widened and her head jerked as if she was going to protest, but Jeffrey was already standing and moving to the front of the room. She joined him, hitting the lights before he briefly explained their ideas, his voice robotic and pitchy with nerves.
“Okay, so, uh, obviously, uh, Fit Gal focuses on fitness,” he stammered through his introduction, but I knew not to underestimate him. “The thing is that people achieve that goal in different ways. Getting fit, I mean. We decided to make that the focal point of our commercial, to showcase that no matter how you prefer to keep fit, Fit Gal is the drink for you.”
Karen hit play on the company laptop where our videos had been queued, and just like I’d expected, their commercial was a lot better than he’d made it sound. Filmed right here by Fit Gal’s own team, they’d used employees who seemed to be having a blast with their branded energy drinks nearby while they indulged in a number of different kinds of workouts.
There were people running, some doing yoga, and others on the special climbing wall the company had out back. With the enthusiasm of those who worked here bouncing off the screen, I had to admit that Karen and Jeffrey had emerged as real competition.
I smiled when I thought about how amazing our own commercial had turned out, though. They might be real competition, but they still weren’t good enough to beat us.