CHAPTER 3
Jackie sipped her iced coffee and stared at her computer.
She hated Mondays. Her calendar was a bit of a mess, and she wasn’t exactly sure what was on the agenda.
She wouldn’t have this problem if she could find the right assistant.
But Jackie went through assistants like she went through pantyhose.
She just didn’t have the patience. One embarrassing mistake, one fumble in front of an important client, and Jackie tossed them out the door.
She was starting to get a reputation. The temp agency that Elite Management used had put her on a “do not hire” list. It wasn’t her fault if she had high standards that these young people seemed to refuse to meet.
She wished she could find someone like Tanika’s assistant, Mya.
Mya was such a badass assistant she’d earned a spot in their friend group—she was as much a “boss chick” as the rest of them.
If she wasn’t afraid of Tanika’s wrath, Jackie would poach Mya for sure.
The best assistant Jackie ever had, Danaya, had decided she wanted to become an agent.
Jackie admired her drive and had taken the girl under her wing, shown her the ropes, only for her to move out to Los Angeles and get hired by none other than Athletics Management Worldwide.
Antonio’s agency. The ultimate betrayal.
Just the thought made her want to throw more beans at him.
Had it not been for Mya yelling at her, and Bronwyn running into the kitchen to hold her back, she would have wasted a perfectly good pan on him.
It had been a week since the cookout incident.
Jackie needed to put Antonio out of her mind.
Jackie pressed the button to the front desk, ringing up her assistant of the week. What was his name? She waited a few seconds before speaking into the phone. “Carlton? Get in here please.”
Within minutes, a tall, lanky, bleached-blond guy in a well-tailored but inexpensive suit walked through her doors. “Once again, it’s Calvin, Ms. Miles,” he sighed. “How can I help?”
Jackie snapped her fingers. “Right! I’m sorry, Calvin. Listen, my calendar is a mess. Can you give me a quick rundown of today?
Calvin mumbled something about her calendar before whipping out his tablet. “You have a 10:00 a.m. with the partners. 1:00 p.m. lunch with the ‘Boss Chicks,’ whatever that means. 3:00 p.m. to look at league combine footage, and a 4:00 p.m. photo shoot for PJ Dawson.”
Jackie frowned. “The 10:00 a.m. with the partners? That’s news to me. Any clue what it’s about?”
Calvin looked down at the notes. “No. But apparently it’s urgent, and your attendance is mandatory.”
“For fuck’s sake. Alright, thanks Calvin.”
“And Ms. Miles, if you’d just let me color-code and organize your calendar, it’d make your life a lot easier.”
“If you make it past this week, I’ll think about it.”
Calvin shook his head. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Jackie gave a sly smile. “Of course, love. Now leave, please. Thank you!”
Once Calvin was gone, Jackie turned the television in her office to WWSN to catch the last bit of Sports Recap. She’d missed PJ’s game last night and wanted to see what kind of numbers he put up. She watched bright-eyed Sara Taylor recap last night’s games.
“PJ Dawson went on a run in the last half of the game, putting up a triple double and leading Atlanta to a win in overtime in the pre-season showdown with Indianapolis.”
Jackie smiled and shot her empty iced coffee cup into the trash.
“Boo-yah!” If PJ kept this up, he was on the trajectory to win Rookie of the Year.
Securing him had been a serious win for her.
PJ’s mother, Marilyn, had hand-picked Jackie from a slew of agents who’d been swarming PJ since he entered college.
When they met to talk potential NIL deals, Jackie had quickly caught on to the type of parent Marilyn was—shrewd, calculating, and a bit of a control freak.
She was all about the bottom dollar. And Jackie could see those dollar signs in her eyes.
She knew that type of mother. She’d had that type of mother.
Jackie hadn’t talked numbers or deals at their first meeting. Instead, she’d asked what PJ wanted to do beyond basketball, investing in his future.
“I thought about coaching in the league,” PJ said. “Maybe even being an agent.”
Marilyn huffed, but Jackie smiled encouragingly at PJ. “Then we’ll prepare for that path too. I’m here for all of it. Basketball may or may not last forever. We always have to have a plan B.”
Jackie had promised to treat PJ as if he were her family—while also maximizing his earning potential.
After getting down to brass tracks, she got Marilyn’s final seal of approval.
Beating out every other agent in the game, Jackie signed PJ Dawson.
She brought the most desired college blue chip player in decades to Elite Management.
She had other clients who were the top of their fields; about forty percent of them were women.
When she signed PJ, most of her colleagues had chalked it up to dumb luck or assumed she’d bonded with Marilyn Dawson on some “strong Black woman” tip.
It wasn’t even like that. Hell, so what if it was?
Why shouldn’t an agent bond with their client on some cultural competency vibes?
The agency repped all the major sports, and basketball and football both had majority minority representation.
She was one of only three Black agents at Elite, and the only woman.
She wasn’t going to apologize for leaning into that bond with her mostly Black and female roster of clients.
One would think that signing PJ Dawson would make Jackie the hottest agent at Elite, respected among her peers.
Instead, her colleagues hated her guts even more.
Every day she asked herself why she continued to stay, and she had no real answer other than fear.
She didn’t want to be out there alone without the Elite name behind her. She couldn’t afford to fail.
If I was Antonio, no one would think twice…
Jackie frowned, upset that the thought of Antonio crossed her mind.
Again. The man had set up shop in her brain.
She hated it. She kicked off her heels, threw off her jacket, and put on her “Bad Boss Bitch” playlist. She slipped on her sneakers and hopped on her under-desk walking pad.
She had to get her mind off of that ear-worm of a man.
Fifteen minutes into a Cardi B medley, Calvin knocked on her door. He had to knock twice to get Jackie’s attention because she was rapping her best rendition of Bodak Yellow.
“Excuse me, Cardi. Your meeting with the partners is in like… three minutes. West Boardroom.”
Jackie slowed down and turned toward Calvin. “West? Damn, how many people are going to be in this meeting?” West Boardroom, on the seventeenth floor, was the largest one in the building, usually reserved for major news.
Calvin shrugged. “No clue. I tried to fish for a hint from the other assistants, but it seems like the partners are keeping it mum.”
Jackie slipped on her jacket and heels. She didn’t have a good feeling about this. “I fucking hate surprises.”
“Girl, me too,” agreed Calvin.
Jackie gave him a wide-eyed look. “Excuse me?”
Calvin straightened his tie and handed Jackie her iPad. “Sorry, Ms. Miles.”
Jackie smirked. “Thanks. And while I’m gone, can you try and do something about my email and calendar?”
“Finally!” Calvin smiled. “I’m on it.”
JACKIE POWERED DOWN THE HALLS OF ELITE, RUNNING RIGHT into Donny DiMaggio. If Antonio was her arch-nemesis, then Donny was her frenemy. They kept it cordial for the most part, but if push came to shove, Donny would sell her out in a minute. Donny was a greedy bastard.
“Donny, you know what this meeting is about? Since your nose stays brown,” Jackie asked as they walked down the hallway toward the elevators.
“Believe it or not, Miles, I don’t know every fucking thing going on here. Folks are being secretive.”
They stepped onto the elevator, and Jackie pressed the button for the seventeenth floor. “I don’t have a good feeling, Donny.”
Donny sighed. “I hate to admit when you’re right, but shit, neither do I.”
As they exited the elevator, Jackie nodded toward her colleagues that were filing into the large, glass-encased boardroom.
Nearly every seat was filled, except two.
Elite’s founding partner, Patrick Fortson, sat at the front along with the other founders.
Jackie tried to guess who the extra seats were for, but she was stumped.
Patrick whistled to get everyone’s attention.
“Hey, you all. Sorry for putting this meeting on your books without much detail. I’m not a man of mystery, but I’d rather tell you this in-person rather than by email.
” He took a deep breath and rubbed his hands.
“Elite Management is going in a new direction. We will be merging with another firm.”
The entire boardroom began to rumble. Jackie looked down at her nails, not worried in the least about keeping her job.
She was consistently a top earner at the firm.
She attracted some of the hottest athletes across all sports, especially the big three.
Plus, given the optics surrounding diversity right now, it wouldn’t be cute to let her go.
Patrick held up a hand. “Now hold on. No one said anything about layoffs. If anything, this expands our reach. We’ll be able to restructure and diversify our rosters. Ah yes, here comes the rest of the team now.”
Jackie laughed under her breath, imagining the bland, generic team the other firm had sent to collaborate. When she swiveled her chair to see who was coming through the door, she nearly fell through the floor. Standing there was a tall, dark, and impeccably dressed irritation of a man.
Antonio Steele.