The Boss(hole) by Penelope Bloom
Juliette
Ihadn’t even made it out the front door of the bosshole from hell’s branch of Coleton Enterprises when my phone rang. I braced myself. It was Maxi, the other bosshole from hell.
“Hi,” I said, trying to force a cheery disposition I didn’t feel.
“Let me guess,” Maxi said in her deep, no bullshit voice. “The meeting with Mr. White went horribly wrong?”
There were about a dozen things I could’ve done to figuratively get on my knees and beg forgiveness. I could’ve made excuses, tried to explain he was a prick, or even made the most obvious point about how she’d sent me to do something I was completely unqualified for.
But it really had been one of those days.
I stopped in the lobby of the pristine Coleton offices, shaking my head. “Yes,” I said. “For you, it went really badly. You lost the contract because you didn’t have the balls to fire me without cause.”
There was a long pause. Despite saying the words with confidence, I felt like I was about to explode from a rapid heartbeat on the inside.
“I was going to settle for firing you,” Maxi said after a few moments of tense silence. “But I think now I’m going to destroy you.”
I couldn’t help laughing at that one. “It sounds like I really touched a nerve.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying this. I’m going to reach out to all my contacts and make sure nobody hires your petulant, insubordinate, always late ass.”
Okay, that last one was a real stretch. Not cool. I’d been late once or twice in the few months I’d worked at Maxi Designs, which I knew for a fact was far less than most of my co-workers.
“That’s great. I already got a job lined up.” What was I saying, exactly? A few minutes ago, I’d been just as amused by Chad Thundercock up there thinking he could flash his ego and get me to jump into his payroll with a squeal of delight. Now I was leveraging my future on a position when I didn’t even know what it paid. Worse, I didn’t know how long I could survive it.
“I’ll make sure that falls through, sweetie,” Maxi said.
“Okay, great talking to you. I’ll come get my stuff this weekend. Bye, Maxi.”
I hung up on her, did a little quick-stepping happy dance, then turned back toward the elevator. Now for the not-so-fun part.
If there were YouTube Masterclasses for being insufferable, Mr. White had apparently studied them well. He was waiting behind his desk back on the 82nd floor with a smug expression. From the look on his obnoxiously gorgeous face, he knew I’d be back. He even looked like he expected me to be back as quickly as I’d come.
“Don’t look so pleased with yourself,” I said.
Adrian held up a finger. “Careful. You thought you had nothing to lose before. Before you weren’t desperate. But you wouldn’t be back so soon if you hadn’t just lost your job, would you?”
“There are other jobs. I just figured I could at least find out what the salary is here. For comparison’s sake,” I added.
“One seventy-five per year. You’ll need to accompany me on trips. You’ll receive a five-thousand-dollar stipend for each trip out of the state. Your airfare, food, and lodging will be covered. The healthcare is top of the line. We have a company fitness center and childcare facility on the top floor of this building you’ll have access to at any time you wish. There are racquetball courts and an indoor pool across the street you can use as well.”
“I didn’t accept the job yet,” I said, even though it was hard to keep looking confident when my head was spinning. “Did you say… one seventy-five? Can you elaborate on that one?”
“One hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars per year. With stipends, you should be well over two fifty. Maybe three hundred on a busy year. Assuming you last long enough to collect, that is.”
I did a few quick mental calculations. The salary he was talking about was approximately… way more than enough to cover my expenses. The reality of having to think about this sort of thing was still new to me, but no less in my face. The universe didn’t care if you’d once had access to piles and piles of money. All that mattered was if your cards swiped and your checks cleared. Fail that simple test, and you could go fuck yourself, as far as anyone was concerned.
This demon in a suit was offering me a ticket out of that reality. He was offering me my first step toward being able to show my father he’d been wrong. I could do this on my own. I wasn’t completely naïve about how the world worked.
“You had three days to decide. Now you have one minute. Do you want the job or not?” he asked.
I barely knew the man, but I already wasn’t surprised. I didn’t even bother asking how that made any sense. “I’d like to see a written contract before I agree to anything.”
Mr. White had a way of not responding right away. He let the silence hang there, reminding me how damn intimidating he was. He finally reached to his side and slid a stack of papers across his desk. I picked them up, noticing they were still warm.
I assumed it was some sort of template, but I noticed my name was filled in along with the salary and stipend he’d mentioned. “When did you have time to write this up?”
“Are you going to sign or not?”
I met his eyes, fought the urge to look away from their intensity, and then shook my head. I didn’t exactly have a choice. As much as I wanted to knock him down a peg and watch that self-satisfied look melt from his face, I needed this.
I sucked up my pride and finished reading. I tried not to care that he seemed to expect me to sign without reading and wasn’t bothering to hide his impatience. I wasn’t about to sign something without reading it from this man.
But by the time I finished all three pages, there was nothing shocking in the contract. It all seemed pretty standard, except for the massively generous salary and benefits that came with the position.
When I looked up, he was holding a pen out for me. I grabbed it, then signed my name at the bottom and pushed the stack of papers toward him.
“Why do I feel like I just signed a deal with the devil?”
Adrian actually grinned at that. “Maybe because you’re more perceptive than you look.”