Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (76 page)

Her heart pounding, her ears ringing,
Nicole was suddenly dizzy.
  

She was having trouble catching her
breath, and her heart was going so fast.
 
She tried to sit up, adjust herself in the chair, anything to break this
awful sensation that she was fainting or dying.
 
Her hands were trembling.
 
“Ah—excuse me,” she said, her lips
numb as she spoke too loudly.
 
“I
need to run to the bathroom.”
 
Standing and moving as fast as she could, Nicole hurried out of the
meeting.

Once she was in the hallway, she was
immediately less frightened.
 
Her
heart was still racing but she was less convinced she was dying.

Nicole walked to the bathroom and went
into the stall, sat with her head between her legs for about a minute.
 
She’d read somewhere that sitting in
that position could help you get over a panic attack, and she was pretty certain
that’s what this was.

Now she was even more embarrassed.
 
How was she going to walk back into that
meeting with everyone staring at her, hating her, thinking that she was totally
unqualified for this new position?

Besides, she was unqualified.
 
Red had forced her to take something she
didn’t deserve, simply because he was embarrassed at her being a mere intern at
the company he ran.
 
Of course, she
needed the money too—she couldn’t stay in the city on nothing, and Nicole
wasn’t about to start taking an allowance from her fiancé.
 

 
A few moments later, the door to the
ladies room opened and two female voices floated in.
 
“…Can you believe it?
 
With her?
 
HER?”

“It’s beyond the pale.”

“Speaking of pale…have you gotten a look
at that girl’s skin?
 
Casper’s got
nothing on her.”

Nicole put her face in her hands and
huddled in the stall, knowing that somehow, for some unfathomable reason, these
two women were talking about her.
 

They went to the sink and the water
started to run.
 
“I swear, I’ve
given Red Jameson the look since the day I started here—“

“What look?”

“The come fuck me look.
 
It works like a charm, usually.
 
But with him?
 
No dice.
 
I come in dressed sexy, I give him the
come fuck me look, he acts like I literally don’t exist.”

“You’re so bad.”

“Apparently I’m not his kind of bad.
 
Apparently he likes Miss Vanilla with
her fake smile and her fake goody-two-shoes act.
 
I’ve got her pegged.”

“Maybe he’s not as smart as everyone
gives him credit for.”

The water stopped running and Nicole
could hear them fussing with their makeup, teasing their hair, wiping their
hands on towels.
 
“I can’t believe
The Rag actually got pictures of it.”
 

“If The Rag ever does a story on me, I’m
going to move to Gwam for a few years.
 
Peace Corps time.”

“Point is, they went to a crappy little
barbeque out in the sticks, Darlene.
 
Red Jameson is losing all sex appeal for me after that stunt.”

“Shhhh…Don’t say it so loud.”

“Let’s go, I need to get back to my
desk.
 
I’m expecting a call from
Granger anyway.”

“Oh boy.”
 
Giggles.

The voices floated out as the door opened
and shut again.

Nicole sat in the stall for another few
minutes trying to catch her breath.
 
She couldn’t imagine how they knew the things they knew.
 
And those awful things those women had
said about her—she didn’t even know them.
 

What was that magazine they’d
referenced—The Rag?
 

She needed to find out how everyone
seemed to know about her and Red and even the party at her parents’ house.
 
As she left the bathroom, she realized
that finding out about whoever told her personal business to the world would
have to wait.
 
Nicole had to go back
to the conference room for the team meeting.

Feeling like a prisoner walking to the
gas chamber, Nicole made her way back to the conference room.
 
She put on the most convincing smile she
could—

“
Her
fake smile and her fake goody-two-shoes act”

--and walked into the meeting.
 
“Sorry about that,” she said, as
everyone’s eyes followed her to her seat.

Everyone, that is, but Remi, who
continued to make zero eye contact with her.

“It’s fine,” Glen said with a small frown
and a couple of irritated blinks.
 
“Anyway, we were talking about product branding…”

***

When the meeting ended, everyone headed
for the door and Nicole tried to get Remi’s attention.
 
“Hey, do you have a sec?” she asked.

Glen and Edward were deep in conversation
as they left, and soon it was only Nicole and Remi left in the room.
 
“I’m really pinched, I have another
meeting to get to…” Remi said.

“You seem upset with me,” Nicole said.

“Why would I be upset?”
 
Remi still wouldn’t even glance at her.

“I don’t know.
 
Maybe because I was promoted?”

This caused the older woman to grimace
and make a laughing sound.
 
“Is that
what you call it?”

“I don’t know.
 
What would you call it?”

Remi shrugged.
 
“Payment for services rendered.”

Nicole tried to control her voice, but it
was shaking and the tears were close to the surface.
 
“I asked to stay with this team because
I love working with you.
 
Red was
going to move me to Public Relations.”

Remi folded her arms and made another
face.
 
“You should have taken the PR
job.
 
I don’t see why you should
stay with the creative team.”

“I thought you liked the work I was
doing.”

“I did, when you were an intern.
 
There’s certain ways things have always
been done around here.
 
I paid my
dues in this business.
 
You don’t
just get to cut the line because the boss likes what you do between the
sheets.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it, though?”

Nicole caught her breath.
 
She realized that maybe Remi’s anger and
scorn were justified.
 
She had cut
the line, she was getting preferential treatment from Red Jameson and it was
wrong.
 

“I guess maybe you have a point,” Nicole
told her.
 
A single tear escaped and
dripped down her cheek.
 
“I really
enjoy working with you, though.”
 

As she turned and left, she thought she
saw a pained expression briefly cross Remi’s face, but Nicole didn’t stick
around.

She went back to her desk, opened up her
Internet browser, and googled The Rag.
 
It brought her to a celebrity tabloid website with literally dozens of
stories all over the page, most of them with horrible, demeaning headlines.

Kim
Kardashian’s Lip Injection Nightmare Continues!

When
Will Miley Cyrus Fall off the Wagon Again?

James
Spader’s Weight Gain…Beach Pics Click Here

And then the worst one, the one she’d
been hoping against hope was not on the site:

Red
“The Mogul” Jameson Goes Slumming!

And when she clicked the link (against
her better judgment), it took her to a page with the full story, including
pictures of her and Red together.
 
A
picture of Red picking her up at her apartment, stopping for gas, and even
pictures of the party itself at her parents’ house.
 

She read every word with mounting
horror.
  

We
at The Rag were pleasantly surprised yesterday, when a lovely tipster alerted
us that Red Jameson was back in action with a new lady on his arm.
 
We’ve always admired his beautiful black
curls and his even more beautiful six-pack abs.
 

So
when we heard that he was now seeing a “special someone,” The Rag had to have a
look for ourselves at just who this wildcat was!
 
After all, Red’s been spotted canoodling
with the likes of Jenna Jameson, Charlize Theron, Kate Hudson, and many more.
We know the aloof adman loves his ladies and we were certain this new girl
would be a sultry sex kitten.

Imagine
our surprise to find that his latest crush was just a regular ol’ gal like one
of us!
 
In fact, word on the street
is, they met at the office.
 
Can you
say harassment?
 
Out of court
settlement?
 

Okay,
fine.
 
Maybe we at The Rag are just
getting cynical in our middle age, but it was a little disappointing to see Red
driving out to the wilds of upstate New York to get his BBQ on with a bunch of
local yokels.
 
If we want to see fat
guys in Yankees caps grilling hotdogs and drinking Budweiser, we just go home
for the holidays.

We
want our celebs to be exciting!
 
So
Red, could you at least make a stop at Jay-Z’s crib next time?
 
Or better yet, call Katy Perry up—we
hear she’s a fun date on a Friday night!!

When Nicole finished the piece, she felt
as though she’d been punched in the stomach repeatedly.
 
She was sick—sick from shock.
 
They’d made a mockery of her
relationship as well as her family.
 
And how on earth had they even known about the party in the first
place?
 
For god’s sake, Nicole had
only told her parents.

She didn’t know how the tabloids had
found out, and she supposed it didn’t really matter.
 
The bottom line was that this was going
too far.
 
Her family couldn’t be
made to be a laughingstock because of Nicole’s relationship.
 

Furious, Nicole hurried to the private
elevator and was taken up to the top floor.
 
She stomped to Red’s door and knocked
loudly.
 
“It’s Nicole,” she said.

“Come in.”
 

When she opened the door, he was alone at
his desk, and he greeted her with a wide smile.
 
“This is unexpected.”
 
And then he saw her face and the smile
died on his lips.
 
“What’s going
on?”

“I don’t know where to start,
actually.”
 
Her fists were clenched
and she was sweating, clammy, and shivering.
 
“I’m pretty upset right now.”

“I can see that.”
 
He rose from his chair and came toward
her.

“No. Stay there.
 
I can’t be close to you right now.”

She saw the look of hurt cross his
features momentarily.
 
“Fine.
 
What seems to be the problem?”

“The tabloids know about us.”

He shrugged and walked towards the
bar.
 
“I guess it was only a matter
of time before they caught on.
 
I’m
surprised they found out so quickly, but, it’s what they do.
 
Their specialty, I suppose.”

“Haven’t you read the story?
 
They make us into a joke.
 
Seems I don’t hold a candle to Kate
Hudson or your other famous conquests.”

Red turned and looked at her.
 
“Don’t read that stuff, Nicole.
 
It will only make you crazy.”

“How can I not read it?
 
I heard people at the office laughing
about it, mocking me.
 
Apparently
Casper’s got nothing on me when it comes to pasty white skin.”

Red’s expression hardened.
 
“Tell me their names.”
 
He walked to her.
 
“Tell me so I can…” He worked to control
himself.
 
“So I can have a chat with
them.”

“I don’t know them, and even if I did, I
wouldn’t tell you.
 
I don’t want to
get anybody fired.”
 
She plopped
down into the chair across from his desk.
 
“Everything’s going wrong.”