Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
ABIGAIL
B oiling mad, reeling, and so disappointed in Simon and in myself that I could barely see straight, I gripped the cool, hard edge of the porcelain sink and fumed. Blake and Ashley would be back in the conference room soon and I knew I didn’t have much time, but I desperately needed a minute to pull myself together.
How did he know which direction I was going in with my campaign?
It had been in my brain. There was no way he could’ve known unless he’d stolen my notes or listened in on a phone call, but I didn’t even remember talking to anyone about it while he’d been around.
Absolutely floored, I shook my head and inhaled a deep breath, glancing up at the mirror in front of me to see the angry, red splotches on my cheeks. I’d known Simon could be low, but that had been pure evil.
What really didn’t make sense to me was that had been a mock pitch. Our first mock pitch. There were many more to come, and while it was true that absolutely everything we did between these walls would count, had he really been so desperate that it’d been worth alienating his current teammate over it?
Despite our past, he and I were a team right now. A team with a commercial in the running for a prize that was terribly important to this client. He and I had a reasonable shot at taking said prize, but then, we’d also have to work together at the expo.
That was the big thing this week—not our mock pitches. So why risk it? Why jeopardize our ability to work as a team for something that didn’t even matter as much as what we could potentially do together next week?
It was undeniably shortsighted, and that wasn’t like Simon at all. For all his faults, the guy had always been focused on the big picture. The long game.
The only semi-logical explanation was that he was so intimidated by me, so scared that I would win at the end, that he’d needed to cut me off before I could even really get out of the gate. But even that didn’t make much sense.
Simon reveled in the competition of it all. There was nothing he loved more than a good challenge and the opportunity to earn the win. Simon had never been one of those people who wanted to be handed everything on a silver platter.
Like my sisters and me, he had been born into an empire built by his father, but he also wanted to make his own mark on it. Exactly the same as us, he wanted to be part of the expansion of the empire rather than to simply maintain what had been built for him and he’d always wanted to prove his worth over there.
And he is worthy, so why did he do this?
Those were all questions I would have to work through later, though. For now, I opened the faucet and carefully brought a bit of water to my face, splashing it onto my cheeks without getting my shirt wet, and then reaching for a towel to dry off with.
Whatever the answers to my questions, Simon had proven once and for all what an unreliable, untrustworthy, bottom-dwelling piece of crap he really was. Hiding beneath that handsome face was a person who was rotten to the core.
Hurt streaked through me, the sting of fresh betrayal smarting all over my insides, but at least I’d learned my lesson before I’d fully let him in again. I’d also managed to come up with a pretty decent replacement idea on the fly after standing there, fumbling for a hot minute.
All the while, he’d sat calmly and watched me, pretending to be offering me silent support while knowing that he’d stolen my campaign. What a turd nugget.
After drawing in yet another deep breath and attempting to center myself, I left the bathroom with my head held high. Simon seemed to have been waiting for me near the door and he strode directly to me as I made my way back to the table, but thankfully, Ashley and Blake came back in before he could say anything.
As for me, I didn’t even glance in his direction. I took my seat on the other side of the room and folded my hands on the expansive glass tabletop. The Fit Gal siblings exchanged a quick, puzzled glance when they saw where I’d moved to, but nobody brought it up.
“Alright, gang,” Blake started, his gaze sweeping from one of us to the next. “We’ve got a few critiques on your commercials as well as your individual campaign ideas, so we’d like to give you those and then we’ll announce the winners.”
Please don’t let it be us. If I’m alone with him in Florida after what he just pulled, I might actually just kill him. I don’t want to go to prison.
Since Jeffrey had made his pitch first, it seemed he was first up for the critiques as well. Ashley smiled at him. “We loved all the ideas you included in your campaign pitch. Really, Jeffrey, you’re so talented with all the tech stuff, but that’s also our main area of critique for you. Having websites, apps, forums, and all the rest of it is fantastic, but we need to feel you connecting more with our target market.”
Blake offered the guy a smile that was kinder than I had thought him capable of. “You’re a whiz, man. We know that and we respect it, but we’re just a little worried that we didn’t hear or see anything about actual people. They’re our business, not the tech they’re all so addicted to.”
Jeffrey took it on the chin and nodded, even managing a small, thankful smile before his gaze turned down to the table. It didn’t look like this was the first time he’d had that kind of comment directed at him, and I felt for the guy.
Karen was up next, and before they even said a word, it looked like she was readying herself to demand to see the manager. Her spine snapped straight, her gaze focused and nose turned slightly up into the air.
Blake looked her directly in the eyes. “Our critique to you is similar, but in a very different way, Karen. With your pitch, we felt like we didn’t get enough of an idea of how exactly you planned on going about positioning us as a trendsetter in the market. There was no real connection between your ideas and how you planned on communicating them to our actual consumers.”
She opened her mouth, presumably to protest, but Ashley was already picking it up again, focused on both of them this time. “As for your commercial, we absolutely loved that you used our own people. We appreciated the thought that went into bringing your ideas to life and we do believe that if the public was to see that ad, it could drum up some interest for us.”
Ashley turned to Simon next. “You did a terrific job on your pitch. We were pretty surprised by the direction you went and we liked that it had a similar theme to the ad that you worked on with Abigail. It makes for a cohesive strategy that is already visible even this early in the game and we really like that.”
Why, thank you, Ashley. I’m so glad you noticed that. I really am good at my job, aren’t I?
Blake grunted, clearly not as impressed as his sister. “It’s not really very fresh, though. Is it? Your message was the same as we’ve been trying to convey since we started, even if you did bring up some interesting new ideas for driving that home with our target market.”
If you’d heard my take on it, it would’ve been fresh. Too bad you had to hear it from a guy who was just talking out of his ass.
When Blake turned to me, however, the tightness in his jaw disappeared and he even managed a grin. “Your pitch was incredible. As a company, we’ve never specifically looked at what it means to be fit beyond the obvious, and it opens up a whole new world of possibility for us in our marketing strategies.”
It was clear that he favored me, but Ashley’s smile lost some of its zeal when she finally broke eye contact with Simon to look at me. “Yeah, I agree with Blake. It sure was interesting, but I’m not convinced it’s entirely on brand for us, I’m afraid. It might need some fine-tuning.”
Well, considering that I shot completely from the hip, I’ll take it. I didn’t even disagree with her. If I’d had more than a few seconds to think about the pitch, it would’ve been a lot more detailed, but thanks to a certain dickhead in the room, I hadn’t had time to work out the finer details.
The siblings exchanged another look before they moved on to the critique of our commercial. Once again, I sent up a silent prayer that we would lose. I’d wanted to win so damn badly before, but as much as this opportunity would allow whoever won to position themselves head and shoulders above their competition, I really didn’t want it anymore.
Not if it meant working—and sharing the credit—with Simon.
Naturally, Ashley turned her attention on him first and grinned. “We thought your commercial was exceptionally well done. It really added a whole new dimension to our message and we felt that connection with our target market in a big way.”
“You really seem to understand women,” she said to him, and I nearly barfed right there at the table. Her smile softened, her eyes never straying from his. I was pretty sure she’d forgotten he’d even had a woman on his team. “Personally, I felt like you identified what we’ve been missing when we were trying to communicate that Fit Gal is for every gal, and you filled in that blind spot in spectacular fashion.”
Simon inclined his chin at her, the bastard having the nerve to not even glance at me while she complimented him for my ideas. Sure, we’d hammered them out together, but I had identified what they’d been missing. I filled in the damn blind spot.
He’d mostly just helped with the logistics and to flesh out suggestions I’d made. Okay, so maybe that hadn’t been his only contribution, but even so much as a nod at me would’ve been nice—especially since he’d already been so heavily complimented about my fucking pitch .
“Thank you, Ashley.”
The only reason I didn’t lunge at him and rip his face off with my bare hands was that he had the good sense not to smile and to leave it at that. She glanced at me next. “Good job, Abigail. We enjoyed the commercial and it was clever to use your sisters. They’re prime examples of the women we’re aiming to reach and we’re pleased that they believed in us enough to lend you their faces in an ad for our product.”
I blinked rapidly. Really? That’s the praise I get? That it was clever to use my sisters?
Blake seemed slightly more grounded in reality, at least including Simon when he spoke to me. “Your team did excellent work. We were impressed by how you worked together and we enjoyed the collaboration between your two firms.”
See, someone who recognizes that was us together and not just fucking Simon who worked on that damn ad. That being said, I desperately didn’t want us to win.
Ashley would simply give Simon credit for the booth and whatever else came out of our efforts in Florida and Blake seemed determined to keep things slightly more balanced—even if he had obviously favored my pitch.
What a mess.
“And now for the winners of the commercial challenge.” Blake grinned wide and tapped out a drumroll on the table with his fingers. “Simon and Abigail!”
Fuck .
I faked a smile, knowing that as messy as things had already been, they were absolutely about to get even messier.