City of Sin (25 page)

Bee

As I stepped off the elevator, Jenkins stepped on with a box
full of his personal belongings.

"Jenkins, I'm sor..."

"Save it, Bridget. You didn't like the idea anyway. Not
that what happened was my fault. That piece of shit is throwing the blame on
me. He was the one that made the call. He's the one that should get the can,
not me. That old son of a bitch. I'll show him."

"I hope you do."

Jenkins laughed. "Later, Bridget." The elevator
doors closed behind him.

I meant what I said. I didn't get along with Jenkins, but I
was sorry that he had gotten fired. This whole mess was Mr. Ellington's fault.
Jenkins shouldn't have been the one to take the blame. But at the same time,
there was a little pep in my step. Because his job was going to be mine. And if
I needed to remind Mr. Ellington I had what it took, I had a whole speech
prepared.

I pulled my coat off and laid it across the back of my chair.
I rubbed my hands together to help warm them. Mr. Ellington's office door was
closed. I wasn't sure when the best time to talk to him would be. Maybe first
thing. But he had just fired Jenkins. Maybe he was in a firing kind of mood.

My thought process was disturbed when something lightly
touched my shoulder, making me jump.

Kendra laughed. "Geez, a little amped up, huh?"

"Yeah. I was just trying to decide if I should go talk
to him. I saw Jenkins on the way out."

"You missed the show. He threw a stapler at Mr.
Ellington's head. It was hilarious."

"Really? Wow, I can't picture Jenkins doing that at
all."

"People do crazy stuff when they get fired."

"They do." I pulled my chair out and sat down.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to go talk to
him?"

"I think maybe I should wait till a little later. He
might be in a bad mood if he just got hit with a stapler."

"He dodged it."

"Still." I shrugged my shoulders. I could feel
myself wimping out.

"Don't give him more time to find a replacement for
Jenkins. Show him it's you. No, tell him it's you. Bring back Kick Ass Bee for
a few minutes."

"Okay." My heart was starting to beat really fast.
I was so nervous. "You're right." I stood up from my chair.
"I'll do it now."

"Attagirl."

I smoothed down my skirt before knocking on Mr. Ellington's
door.
You got this, Bee.

"Come in," Mr. Ellington's gruff voice sounded
through the door.

I took a deep breath and opened up the door. "Can I
speak to you for a second?"

He gestured for me to come into the room. "Close the
door behind you, Bridget."

It always made me nervous when I was alone with him. I wasn't
sure if it was because he was my boss or because of how his eyes always seemed
to travel down my whole body.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, not looking up
from his desk.

Crap.
He was in a bad mood. I knew I should have
waited. I cleared my throat. "Is this a good time, Mr. Ellington?"

He sighed and looked up at me. "It's Joe, Bridget.
Please just call me Joe."

"Sorry. Joe," I said. His name sounded weird coming
out of my mouth. But I'd rather start the meeting off on a good tone.

He smiled. "Take a seat."

As I sat down, he stood up. He walked over to the side of the
desk I was on and sat down on it, so that he was staring down at me. It seemed
like a friendly thing to do, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he had done
it so he could stare down my shirt. I leaned back slightly.

"So, Bridget. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I heard that there was a new ad exec job
opening."

Mr. Ellington laughed. "I'm pretty sure everyone heard
that when Jenkins was yelling at me."

I smiled. "Right. Well, I've been thinking a lot about
my position here..."

"Your position?" He raised his left eyebrow.
"You mean, directly beneath me?"

"Umm...yes. About that..."

He held up his hand. "I know what this is about."

"You do?"

"I do. We had discussed you getting a promotion a few
weeks ago. And you never came in for a follow up discussion."

When he had mentioned a promotion before he had made it seem
dirty. Like he wanted me to start giving him hand jobs under his desk or
something. That was why I had never followed up. But maybe I had it all wrong.
Maybe he had been planning on giving me an advertising job the whole time.
Maybe he actually liked my idea.

"Exactly," I said. "I was hoping we could
discuss that a little more."

"What did you want your promotion to entail?"

"Well, do you remember my idea from a few weeks ago? For
Sword Body Wash. Partnering with the Knicks cheerleaders..."

Mr. Ellington swiped his hand through the air. "Jenkins
lost us that account. But your idea wasn't a good fit for the brand anyway.
We've already discussed that."

I wasn't expecting him to say that. "Okay, well, I know
that the only thing that a company cares about is making money." I
regurgitated what he had said at our other meeting back to him. And it felt
like I was regurgitating it for real, because it wasn't true. Sword Body Wash
cared about their image and their brand. But that wasn't what Mr. Ellington
wanted to hear. He wanted to hear that he was right. And I really wanted this
promotion.

"Exactly, Bridget. Which means we always have to give
our clients the very best. Experience means everything to our clients.
Experience which you do not have."

Shit.
"I have a lot of other ideas, though. Maybe
we could go through them?"

"This wasn't exactly the direction I thought you'd want
to go," he said.

"What direction did you see me going?"

"South. Definitely south." His eyes wandered down
my body in that way that chilled me to the bone.

"Mr. Ellington..."

"Personal assistant."

"What?"

He laughed. "I want to promote you to my personal
assistant."

"Oh." My heart was beating out of my chest. Maybe
all of this was in my head. He was actually trying to give me a normal
promotion. It was just one that I wasn't interested in.

"I was hoping you'd be a little more excited."

"No. I am. But, Mr. Ellington..."

"If you're going to be my personal assistant, I think we
need to get on a more personal level, don't you?" He stood up, clearly not
wanting me to respond. He put his hand on my shoulder. "First, you need to
start calling me Joe."

I felt frozen in place. I wanted to push his hand off my
shoulder. I wanted to tell him to stop looking at me in that disgusting way.
But I couldn't seem to find the words. I just sat there staring at him.

"You're beautiful, Bridget. You do know that, right?
That's why you've been teasing me for months?" His hand moved to my neck
and his fingers grabbed the collar of my shirt, pulling it down slightly. He
ran his thumb along my collarbone. His hands felt clammy against my skin. "So
let's get a little more personal. How about you put those lips of yours to good
use. I could really use a pick me up after the morning I've been having."

He unbuttoned the top button of his suit pants with his other
hand. "And maybe you can work up to that ad exec position you so badly
want. After I get what I want. Which is trying out every position with
you." He unzipped his pants.

"Mr. Ellington..." My voice finally kicked in
again. But it sounded so weak. It was more of a whisper.

"Joe. My name is Joe. It's okay, Bridget. I know you're
nervous. I know how badly you want this promotion. How about you get on your
knees and show me you have what it takes."

Oh, hell no.
I finally willed my body to move and I
elbowed him right in the groin. Luckily he still had his boxers on so I didn't
have to feel his surely small dick against my arm.

"Fuck!" He yelled and took a step back, grabbing
his crotch.

I stood up and pointed my finger at him. "I will never,
ever get on my knees for a promotion. I am not a hooker." The thought of
Mason working with those women popped into my head. But it was quickly squashed
down when Mr. Ellington spoke.

"You bitch!" His eyes bulged slightly. They finally
weren't looking at me in that creepy way. "You're fired," he spat
out.

"What?"

"If I had known how prude you were, I wouldn't have
hired you in the first place."

"I thought you hired me because of my degree? Because
you thought I might have a place at this ad agency. That's what we talked about
when you hired me. That's why I took this job in the first place."

He laughed. "Welcome to New York, honey. Now get the
hell out of my office."

I wanted to say something clever, but the look on his face
was enough. Elbowing his junk was more satisfying than anything I could say. I
turned around and walked out of his office with my head held high.

As soon as I stepped out of the office, my confidence
waivered. The people in the cubicles near Mr. Ellington's office were staring
at me. They had probably heard us yelling at each other. Kendra would be over
any second, wondering if I got the promotion.

I quickly pulled open my drawers and grabbed all their
contents. I didn't have that much in my desk that was actually mine. Most of it
belonged to Kruger Advertising. I pulled open the last drawer. There was a
picture frame facing downward in it. I had completely forgotten that it was
even there. I picked it up and turned it over. It was the first picture that
Patrick and I had of us together. We were sitting on a couch in his frat house.
His arm was wrapped around my shoulders. I looked so happy. If I closed my eyes
I could picture this moment like it was yesterday. We had just had our first
kiss. I looked happy in the picture because I was happy, happier than I had
ever been. I was so in love with him. Looking at the picture a month ago would
have made my chest tighten. But it didn't now. The city had changed him, but it
had changed me too. I ran my finger across Patrick's smiling face. It seemed
like a distant memory.

I put the picture back into the drawer and closed it. I
didn't need it anymore. I had lost that feeling when I had lost him. It had
just taken me a long time to realize it. I shoved my pens, notebook, and few
pictures that still lined my desk into my purse. I had just lost my job, but I
didn't have a whole box like Jenkins because I never belonged here in the first
place. I grabbed the vase of flowers with the dozen roses that Mason had sent
me.

I thought that all New York did was take. It took Patrick
from me. It took my self confidence. It took all my money. But now I loved this
stupid city, because if I hadn't moved here, I never would have met Mason. The
city had taken a lot, but it had given me more. Mason was the reason that the
picture of Patrick no longer bothered me. I wasn't in love with Patrick
anymore. I was in love with Mason.

I'm in love with Mason Caldwell.

I pressed the elevator button. I needed to tell him.

"Bee!" Kendra was slightly out of breath as she ran
up to me. She looked at the flowers in my arm and then back at my face.
"What happened?"

"I got fired."

"Seriously? Why?"

"Because I wouldn't suck his dick."

Kendra laughed. "Wait." She grabbed my arm.
"He didn't actually ask you to do that?"

"In those words? No. But he undid his pants and told me
to get on my knees."

"Holy shit. Bee, you have to tell someone."

"Who? My boss?"

"I don't know. Someone on the board maybe? There's
people above him. He didn't start this company. It's sexual harassment. You
could win that lawsuit."

"I really just want to put it behind me. I'm going to
find something better."

"Anything is better than that. But what are you going to
do? You couldn't afford your rent as it was."

For the first time, I realized what losing my job actually
meant. I didn't have any money. It was possible that my bank account was at
zero. I had student loans. And my rent was past due. I hadn't been to my place
in so long I had completely forgotten to pay Naomi. "I..." my voice
trailed off. "I don't know. I just felt so good about elbowing him in the
groin that I hadn't really processed what was happening. I just lost my
job."

"You elbowed his dick?" Kendra started laughing.

"And now I'm going to be homeless."

"You're not homeless. You can come stay with me."

"But I can't afford half the..."

"I was paying it by myself anyway. Just until you get
another job. Then you can pay half." She smiled at me. "You didn't
think I was going to let you run back to Wilmington, did you? You belong
here."

Several weeks ago I would have fought with her about that.
But she was right. This is where I belonged. At least, this is where I needed
to be right now. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I've been begging you to come live
with me for months. Now you have no choice."

I laughed and gave her a big hug. "Thanks, Kendra.
You're the best."

"I'm glad you're not pissed at me. I'm sorry if I got
your hopes up. I really thought that position would be yours."

"Me too. It's not your fault. You're still the
best."

She laughed. "I can't wait to shove that in Marie's
face. She won't stop talking about how awesome she is since things have been
going so well between you and Mason."

I released Kendra from my hug. "About that. When is it
too soon to tell someone that you love them?"

Kendra smiled. "Wait for him to do that first."

"Okay. But what if..."

"Trust me, Bee. Let him say it first. If you're feeling
that way, I'm sure he is too."

The elevator doors dinged open and I stepped on. Her words
didn't really deter me. Mason had already told me he loved me. Right back there
on my desk. I smiled to myself and stepped onto the elevator.