Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
SIMON
T he time had come to present our mock pitches, sharing our first ideas for a campaign with the group. I’d read over the new pitch my dad had sent me twice now, but I was still of two minds about whether I was going to use it.
Since I hadn’t been involved in its development at all, it felt dishonest to pass it off as my own, but on the other hand, my firm was in the running for this company as a client. It had nothing to do with me personally.
If they chose to go with us in the end, there would be an entire team of people over at Astor and Co dedicated to their account. No one expected me to handle every detail on my own. This wouldn’t be the last or only time I’d be presenting my team’s ideas to them.
Either way, despite Dad telling me to go first, Ashley pointed at Jeffrey when they walked back in. The guy swallowed hard but got back up and walked to the front of the room, pulling up his pitch and growing decidedly more self-confident as he presented it.
Socially awkward as he might be, he was a king in the world of technology and that was what he’d built his pitch around. Ideas to make the Fit Gal website more visible and user friendly, new apps, a custom-designed platform containing Fit Gal approved fitness courses, and even an online community forum for Fit Gal customers.
To me, it seemed like a mash-up of every social media platform out there right now, but tailored to the needs of the consumers they were trying to reach. It was impressive shit.
As was Karen’s pitch.
Blake nodded at her when Jeffrey was done, and she got up and delivered a well-thought-out, strong presentation. Focused very much on the sort of content she felt they should be putting out, she suggested a whole bunch of new ideas that would establish Fit Gal as trendsetters in the current market.
Both of them had great ideas. I was going to have to be innovative over the next few weeks if I wanted to take them out. No one had come here to mess around and they’d proven it today.
When Karen was on her way back to her chair, I glanced at Abi and tilted my head at her, silently asking if she wanted to go before I did, regardless of what my dad had said. That ship had already sailed, and besides, Ashley and Blake were talking quietly among themselves. With neither of them deciding who was next, I wanted it to be Abi’s choice.
She shook her head in response to the question I hadn’t asked. “Go ahead. I’ll take the lucky last spot.”
I inclined my chin, not asking if she was sure. Abi would’ve gotten up if she wanted to present her pitch now, but she was still sitting. That meant she was happy to wait.
Rising from my seat, I strode to the laptop I’d readied earlier and started pulling up my pitch before I remembered about the one Dad had sent. Knowing he’d be unbelievably pissed if he found out I didn’t use it—and he would find out—I opened up that presentation instead.
After scanning through it twice, I had enough of an idea what was going on that I would be able to get through it confidently. Although I would also be having a talk with my father about springing things on me and demanding they be used.
For the barest moment, I again considered switching to my original pitch, but I couldn’t deny that this one felt more right for the client. Plus, it really wasn’t a hill worth dying on. I could always use my original pitch at a later date. We could tweak it to include a few new ideas as time went on and presto. I would have a new and improved pitch that would only take a couple hours to put together.
The familiar pine green and gold frames of all Astor and Co presentations filled the screen, and I dove in, passionately explaining why I believed that one didn’t have to be fit to need Fit Gal in your life. It was really similar to the idea we’d used for the commercial, but I supposed it was also one of the primary messages the company had tried to convey in the past.
They just hadn’t done a very good job of it. My team, however, had come up with a truly impressive pitch surrounding that idea. As far as I was concerned, everyone who had worked on this thing deserved a raise.
I was so into it that I only glanced at Abi again about halfway through, and my blood ran cold when I realized she was furious. So angry that her eyes flashed and her cheeks were ashen, she glared at me like she wanted to murder me on the spot.
What the hell? Why is she fuming like that? Did she actually want to go first?
Confused but determined not to let it throw me off my game, I did my best to stay focused on my pitch. I knocked it out of the park—even if I did have to say it myself—and went to sit back down. I smiled at Abi and leaned over to whisper to her while Ashley and Blake were still making notes.
“Good luck. You’re going to kill it.”
She scoffed and barely even looked at me, her jaw clenched tight as she forced out her response. “Fuck you, Simon. Don’t ever talk to me again.”
She shoved her chair back and got up. My eyes widened, that ice in my blood now freezing my veins. Something is wrong here. Very, very wrong.
I had no idea what it was, but when Abi got to the front of the room, she didn’t pull up a presentation. Instead, she seemed to need a moment to gather her thoughts.
“I, uh, sometimes life throws curve balls at us, huh?” She smiled nervously, her voice a little more shaky than usual. “In just a moment, everything can change, and when that happens, it’s not physical fitness that gets us through it. Sure, depending on the circumstances, being physically fit can help.”
She drew in a deep breath and I could practically sense her mind rallying around this idea before she ran with it. Much more confident now, she offered us another smile and really leaned into it. “At Walker Marketing, we don’t believe in taking a one-sided approach. We like to look at our clients holistically, and part of being fit is having the mental fortitude to get back up when life knocks you down and to keep going, no matter what challenges are in your way.”
She locked eyes with Blake, of all fucking people, and seemed to draw her strength from his unwavering stare this time instead of mine. Seriously, what the fuck is going on here?
“Women are really good at that, picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and getting back to business,” she continued. “Walker Marketing believes it’s that holistic approach we should take with your campaign, reminding women that Fit Gal isn’t only about physical health and wellness, it’s about mental and emotional fitness as well. It’s about being part of a community of likeminded women who support and encourage each other not only to go for a run or hook up for a yoga session, but who are also there when you need another queen to fix your crown after you’ve fallen down. Or if someone tried to snatch it off your head.”
By the time she was done, even I was ready to hand her the keys to this castle. It’d been a hell of a pitch, but I was still confused as hell.
Blake grinned at her. “That was brilliant, Abigail. Thank you. Very inspiring.” He turned to the rest of us. “Out thanks to all of you. We’ve got some incredible minds in here today. We’re just going to step out for another minute and then we’ll come back to give our critique and announce the winners of the commercial challenge.”
Ashley shot me two thumbs up, but as if she remembered at that moment she was being watched by everyone else, she turned and pretended to be giving everybody those thumbs up. I didn’t give a shit.
A rock the size of Gibraltar had lodged in my stomach and every muscle in my body was tense, my entire being focused only on finding out what the hell was going on with Abi. As soon as Blake and Ashley were out of the room, I turned to ask her what her deal was but she beat me to it.
“You snake,” she seethed quietly, glancing at Karen and Jeffrey to make it clear she was keeping it down for their benefit. Her eyes were shooting lightning bolts at me and her shoulders were trembling with rage. “I thought you had changed, but you still don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself. I will never let myself believe again that you might just be a good guy after all, because you’re really just not.”
Her chair’s legs shrieked across the tile as she shoved it back, waiting until Karen and Jeffrey had gone back to their own conversation before glancing at me again. “At least you’ve cleared a few things up for me. You never cared about me at all. There’s no question about that now. I’m better prepared to accept it this time, but you were a loser then and you’re a loser now. Stay away from me, Simon Astor. If I never say another word to you, it’ll be too soon.”
With that, she spun on her heels and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom. It took me a few more seconds of gaping before I even remembered how to breathe again.
I still had no idea what was going on here, but a nagging suspicion was starting to take shape. Pushing myself up on knees that felt slightly numb, I stepped out of the room to call my father. I needed to speak to him.
As I shut the door behind me, I lifted my phone and scrolled to his number, my movements feeling like they were being controlled by a remote. I felt like a puppet on a string or a programmed robot, and I fucking hated it.
Bitterness rose from deep within my soul as the call connected.
“Simon? I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon. How did it go?”
“Where did you get that pitch?” I asked, my voice ragged and raspy. “ Where , Dad?”
He let out a disappointed sigh. “I should’ve known you’d get your panties in a twist about this, but I found out that Walker Marketing is our top competitor over at Fit Gal.”
“How the hell did you get your hands on their pitch?” My heart started racing so fast that I felt nauseated, my head swirling and my vision suddenly swimming. “What did you do?”
“Nothing that didn’t need to be done,” he said completely remorselessly. “I know one of their interns and I paid him to send over the pitch files late last night. Cost less than a decent steak. Not a bad deal, huh?”
Then he sent me to unknowingly present Abigail’s campaign ideas to Fit Gal. In front of her. This was a complete shit show—and she was never going to forgive me for it.