Hatefully Yours

by Callahan, Kelli

  “Not anymore.” Fulton shrugged and exhaled angrily. “Now you’re running the Xavier Wholesale marketing account with her.”

  “I mean—fuck. Is this a demotion? Did she say something else?” I felt my heart drop into my stomach.

  “It’s not a demotion.” He shook his head quickly. “This is the kind of shit that doesn’t just get you an office on the top floor—it’s the kind of shit that gets you a corner office.”

  “Fucking hell…” I lost my ability to stand and just sort of fell into my chair.

  “Of course—that depends on how well you do.” He sighed. “You won’t be working for me anymore. Mr. Remington wants the two of you to report directly to him.”

  “How the hell does he have time for that?” I stared in disbelief. “He’s running the entire company—this is just one account.”

  “Fuck if I know—maybe he’s bored.” Fulton shrugged again. “Maybe he’s losing his mind. Either way, this just became one of his pet projects.”

  If that’s true, this could be a monumental step towards that office on the top floor—but how in the hell am I going to work with Brooke?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Brooke

  I put on a brave face, but I was scared out of my mind when I stepped into the elevator with the owner and CEO of Remington Global. The man was a billionaire. He was the richest person I had ever met, much less talked to, and I was ready to get off the elevator when we got to my floor. Never in my wildest imagination did I expect him to give me a personal audience to hear the ideas I had been working on. I would have actually preferred to step off the elevator with Trent than ride it to the top floor with Mr. Remington. That was saying something because most days, I wanted to jump out the window instead of spend a single minute next to the guy who broke my heart into a million pieces when I was a teenager.

  Despite having enough money to buy anything on the planet with a price tag, Mr. Remington seemed to be very down to earth. I wouldn’t have known he was rich enough to burn a million dollars in front of me without batting an eyelash if I met him on the streets. I could tell he commanded respect. I saw it in the eyes of every employee we passed on the way to the conference room. I knew my entire career was probably firmly in his hand when I started presenting my ideas, but he was so nice that I didn’t really feel the pressure. He seemed to be very interested in what I had to say, and when I was done, he told me that he was impressed.

  There was nothing in the world that could have wiped the smile off my face when I rode the elevator back to my floor—except the sight of Trent Rigsby’s angry glare. One look at him turned my happy moment into one that tasted like scorn on my breath. Still, I smiled when I sat down, and he couldn’t see me—because deep down, it felt like I had just won. Trent was going to have a really hard time getting rid of me if the CEO of Remington Global was impressed by my ideas. If he tried anything else, I wasn’t going to be taking a trip to see Fulton or someone in human resources—I was taking it to the highest level possible.

  Fuck Trent. I tried to be nice about it, but he’s used his power to abuse me every single day since I’ve got her. I’m going to wield the little that I have with the same malice.

  Shortly after I returned to my desk, Fulton showed up in our aisle. He didn’t say hello to anyone—he just walked straight to Trent’s office like every step had a purpose. I wondered if my meeting with Mr. Remington was the reason Fulton slammed Trent’s door before they started talking. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during that conversation. I assumed Trent was worried about what I said to Mr. Remington. I considered telling him exactly how horribly his newest Emerging Leader had been treating me, but it didn’t seem like the right time or place. The meeting went so well that I didn’t want to end it on a bad note.

  Fulton looks even angrier now that he’s leaving.

  “Good morning.” I looked up at him and smiled when he passed by my desk.

  “Congratulations.” He muttered his response under his breath and didn’t even pause to look at me.

  Congratulations? I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or something ominous…

  “Brooke.” Trent walked to the end of our aisle. “Can I see you for a minute?”

  Trent looks pissed, but his words were a hell of a lot softer than they normally are…

  “Mr. Rigsby?” Isabella turned around in her chair. “I have some stuff to go over with you when you have a minute—about our latest assignment.”

  “We’re going to have a team meeting later.” Trent turned and walked into his office.

  I didn’t feel nervous as I walked down our aisle. I wasn’t even that angry, despite the fact that I was about to sit down with Trent. I felt sort of invincible—like I had the support of someone with more power than the guy who hated me—perhaps that was why Trent’s words were softer. He was still my boss, but I wasn’t going to put up with his abuse anymore. If he tried to lay into me like he had several times when we were behind closed doors, then I was going to stand up for myself. Hatred had been a two-way street since I arrived, but I finally felt like I was on ground that was almost level instead of looking up a mountain at Trent.

  Maybe it’s a bad idea to feel this confident, but that meeting invigorated me.

  “Please, close the door and have a seat.” Trent’s words were still soft—like they always were when we were younger.

  “Yes sir…” I approached the situation with caution, despite having more confidence than I ever in a closed-door meeting with him.

  “Apparently, Mr. Remington liked your ideas.” He leveled his gaze at me once I was seated. “I need to take a look at them.”

  “I’ll email them to you.” I nodded.

  He seems to be playing nice. That’s a change—almost startling in a way.

  “No, I want you to put together a presentation for this afternoon.” He tilted his head slightly. “Do you think you can have something ready by three o’clock? I’ll set up a meeting.”

  “Is this a trick?” I narrowed my eyes. “Am I going to get to the meeting and find out that it’s already over?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “It’s not a trick. I’ll send you an invitation so that you have the time on your calendar.”

  “Okay…” I felt apprehensive, but it didn’t seem like a trick.

  I spent the rest of my morning putting together the presentation Trent asked for. My ideas seemed a lot more cohesive and flowed better when I was able to organize them. It would have been nice to have a presentation when I met with Mr. Remington. I rambled a lot—but thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind. I still didn’t know what to make of Trent’s abrupt shift in attitude. I thought he would be even angrier at me when he found out that Mr. Remington liked my ideas—after all, it would make it difficult for him to have me walked out if I had the CEO’s support. Shortly before three, I walked into the conference room and started setting up for the presentation.

  “Are you ready?” Trent walked into the conference room and closed the door.

  “Yes.” I nodded. “Will anyone else be joining us?”

  “Nope.” He shook his head and sat down. “You can go ahead and get started.”

  Wow, he—actually seems interested. I thought for sure that Fulton was the one who requested the meeting…

  I went through my presentation, and after I got to my second slide, I noticed that Trent was taking notes. That made me a little flustered, and the ideas got jumbled in my head for a moment. Why was he taking notes? Was it some other kind of trap? Was he just going to steal my ideas and fire me anyway once he had everything Mr. Remington could possibly need me for? I wanted to just stop the presentation and ask him what the hell was going on, but I managed to push through to the end. Trent took a second to review everything that he had written down while I just stood there awkwardly—still wondering what the hell was actually happening.

  “Go ahead and sit down.” Trent motioned to me. “We need to talk about this.”


  “Okay…” I felt a lump rise up in my throat, but I swallowed it as I sat down.

  “You’re going to need a few more ideas.” He scanned his notes for what seemed like the fifth time. “Some of these won’t even work.”

  Oh, so that is his plan—tell me that what I put together is crap. I already have the CEO in my corner. I’m not falling for this.

  “How do you know they won’t work if we haven’t tried them?” I narrowed my eyes. “Mr. Remington thought all of my ideas were great.”

  “Mr. Remington hasn’t put together a marketing campaign since the Remington Global used to tell everyone that cigarettes were a great alternative to breathing fresh air.” Trent lifted his head and glared at me. “Not every idea works—you have to be open to feedback if you want to be successful at this company.”

  “Like you?” My eyebrows furrowed as I spoke. “Do you feel successful?”

  “Now isn’t the time to discuss that.” He shook his head quickly.

  “Why not?” I shrugged. “Are you hoping that you’ll get to fire me before you ever have to address the elephant that has never left the room?”

  “Brooke…” He looked down and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  What? Was that really an apology? It didn’t sound very sincere—it just sounded like frustration.

  “What the hell is going on.” I tensed up. “You been treating me like shit since I started working here—now you act like you give a damn about my success?”

  “I kind of have to give a fuck now.” I saw a hint of anger finally flash in his eyes—he couldn’t hold it back forever. “Mr. Remington wants us to handle this account. Just us—you and me.”

  “I don’t understand…” I shook my head as I tried to process what he was saying.

  “The rest of the team is being reassigned to another manager. Probably one of the other Emerging Leaders.” He sighed. “The two of us will be exclusively handling the Xavier Wholesale account.”

  “So your only job now is making sure I don’t fuck up?” I couldn’t stifle the vicious laugh that forced its way out. “Wow—talk about irony.”

  No wonder he’s being nice to me all of a sudden.

  “It isn’t lost on me.” He exhaled sharply.

  “Fine.” I leaned forward. “Let’s talk about the ideas that won’t work—and maybe find a few that will.”

  I didn’t like the situation any more than Trent did, but I quickly realized that there was no way out for either of us. Trent’s future at Remington Global was intertwined with mine, and if the campaign wasn’t successful, then we could both end up in the unemployment line. We weren’t equals by any means. Trent was still my boss and had the final say in everything that I did—which meant he would probably get most of the glory if we met Mr. Remington’s expectations. At least it didn’t feel like I was going to be looking over my shoulder all of the time. Trent wasn’t going to be able to set me up if I was the only member of his team—especially since my ideas were what got Mr. Remington’s attention in the first place.

  Trent and I sat in the conference room for almost an hour going over ideas for the marketing campaign. We remained neutral towards each other—mutual respect towards the project overpowered the hatred that had filled the air since I started working for him. There were still a few tense moments, but they weren’t that bad. I actually saw some hints of the guy I remembered—the guy I fell in love with before he crushed my heart. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to forgive Trent for everything that he did to me, but I could work with him—I didn’t really have a choice.

  I think I preferred it when he was treating me like shit. At least then, he didn’t remind me of who he used to be.

  “Okay, I think that’s enough for today.” Trent looked up from his notepad. “I need to meet with the rest of the team and let them know what is going on. Tomorrow. we’ll get started bright and early.”

  “I’ll be here.” I nodded and gathered my things.

  Every day that passes will be one day closer to finishing this project—and I might have a future at this company after it’s over if we’re successful.

  * * *

  Trent and I spent most of our Friday putting together ideas for the campaign. The team was reassigned to a guy named Jon, who seemed to be excited to work with them. They were all moved to desks on the other side of The Great Divide—which meant I was all alone on my aisle when Trent wasn’t at my desk. He still had a few other responsibilities on top of the Xavier Wholesale campaign, but it was clear that our project was his main focus. My calendar filled up with meetings for the following week—design layouts, budget reviews, and two meetings with Mr. Remington to go over everything that we had come up with.

  This must be what it’s like to actually be a part of the company. I kind of like it…

  I found it difficult to get used to being treated like a normal human being by Trent. I still cringed a bit when he walked out of his office and felt my heart beating hard in my chest when he walked down the aisle. It was also difficult not to snap at him when he did come to talk to me. I wasn’t ready to let go of my anger, even if he seemed to have moved past the mutual hatred stage. I just didn’t know if it was an act—it wasn’t that easy for me to flip the light switch, so I had no idea how he could. We said a lot of cruel things to each other before Mr. Remington forced us to work together.

  All I can do is make the best of this situation and hope that they’ll assign us to different projects when it’s over.

  Despite being rather invigorated by my new endeavor and ability to work without constantly worrying about being fired, I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. Jessica sent me a text message before I got back to our apartment—a reminder that I agreed to stop by the bar where she worked to meet some of the guys she knew that were supposedly good in bed. I wasn’t in the mood, but I decided to do it anyway. I was actually looking forward to the free drinks more than a potential one night stand, but it wasn’t out of the question.

  “You made it!” Jessica waved to me as soon as I stepped into the bar. “What do you want to drink?”

  “Hmm.” I looked around the room. “What do you recommend?”

  “I just learned how to make a new drink called Purple Haze.” She cocked her hip slightly. “It’s really good—everyone seems to love it.”

  “Perfect.” I sat down and smiled.

  The bar wasn’t as nice as some of the others I had been to, but the atmosphere made up for it. Everyone seemed to be really happy and enjoying themselves. I arrived at what was apparently rush hour for them because Jessica was serving drinks for almost an hour before she was able to take a break and talk to me. The drink she served me was amazing, and I got a second one before we walked to an empty table to sit down.

  “So…” Jessica smiled. “What kind of guy are you looking for?”

  “Uh.” I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t really know.”

  “That guy over there.” She pointed. “His name is Jake. He’s a little older than you, but wow—he might break your bed if you let him in it. He was a bodybuilder when he was in college, and now he’s a cop—so if you like handcuffs…”

  “He’s pretty attractive.” I glanced at the guy she mentioned. “I’ve never been handcuffed though—well, except one time, but that was due to a misunderstanding with campus security.”

  “If you want someone who’s a lot gentler, there’s Mark over in the corner.” She pointed at another guy. “He likes to go slow. Too slow for me, but if you’re into that sort of thing.”

  “Slow might be nice…” I nodded and immediately looked away when the guy caught me staring.

  “Or if you’re really kinky and just want to have some fun.” She motioned to two guys with a nod of her head. “Those two are best friends, and they love to share.”

  “Whoa…” I blinked in surprise. “Like—a threesome?”

  “Yeah, girl. You ever had two guys at once?” She grinned.

  “No!” I shook my head q
uickly.

  “And that guy…” She pointed to someone else.

  “Jesus Christ, Jessica. Have you slept with every guy that comes in here?” My head snapped back in surprise.

  “I mean…” Her grin got a little wider. “I’m no angel. I’m just looking for something a little more permanent now, so you get to benefit from my experiences…”

  There’s quite a lot of them…

  “Okay, what about that guy?” I motioned to a guy with reddish colored hair and striking blue eyes.

  “I’ve never been with him…” She turned her head toward him. “One of the girls that used to work here said she dated him a few years ago. She called him Dublin, but I think it’s just a nickname.”

  “He’s pretty hot.” I narrowed my eyes.

  “Oh, now I remember why I checked him off my list.” Jessica’s eyes widened. “He likes to be called Daddy—not my thing.”

  “Hmm.” I sighed and looked away. “That’s kind of hot, but I’m not sure I want to be thinking about my dad when I kiss a guy.”

  “Maybe I should introduce him to Hannah if things don’t work out with the new guy she’s dating.” Jessica laughed under her breath. “She used to date a guy she called Daddy.”

  “Really?” I blinked in surprise.

  “Yeah, funny story—oh my god, swear that you will never tell her this.” Jessica leaned forward.

  “I’m pretty good at keeping secrets.” I nodded in confirmation.

  “One night, I was supposed to be working late, but I got sick and had to go home early.” Jessica closed her eyes and laughed. “I opened the door and like—he was spanking her.”

  “What?” My jaw dropped, and I started laughing.

  “I don’t mean like a sexy little smack on her ass. She was over his knee with her panties around her ankles, and her ass was so red that it was clear she had been there for a while!” Jessica leaned back and continued to laugh.

  “What did you do?” I felt my eyes getting wider by the second.