“Wait, what?”
“Mine just quit on me. The fourth this year. But I pay enough that you can move into an apartment that you can fit a bed into. And even enough that you can buy your own bed. I’ll even give you a signing bonus. Twenty grand if you say yes before we get back to the car.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re smarter than this, Tina. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I want you to work for me.” He lowered his voice. “Every single day, doing whatever I tell you, no matter what. Can you live with that?”
My body had two reactions at once. A part of me shivered, disgusted by the idea of being bossed around by Hunt the Cunt every single day. The other part of me felt a tug in my nether regions, felt my panties getting just a little bit wet as I thought about everything those words could mean. Oh God, what is wrong with you?
“You’re serious?” I asked, not sure if my voice actually came out louder than a whisper.
“Of course I’m serious. There’s nothing I would love more in this world than to get to boss little miss perfect around, and as a reward, I’ll pay you way better than anything else you could get.”
The instinctive part of my brain told me to say no immediately. The list of reasons why was immense. Kiegan was a bully. I hated him, had hated him for years. He was a Hunt, and I’d done my best to get away from that family. I wanted nothing to do with them.
Still, it seemed like maybe Kiegan had grown up just a little bit. He had been nice at dinner tonight, he hadn’t once made a comment about my weight, and almost complimented me once.
It was also obvious that he didn’t seem especially keen on his family either.
No, stop it. You’ve spent years hating him, why do this?
The $20,000 was a big incentive. Hell, I’d only come out for dinner with him because I needed the free meal. Even if I only lasted a year, I could probably negotiate myself a good salary, and have some nice savings by the end.
I can’t believe you’re actually considering this, I scolded myself.
“What kind of salary are we talking about?” I asked. If he was only offering $30,000 or so, I could say no.
“I was thinking $90,000 to start. It’s negotiable, of course.”
I imagine most business textbooks don’t have “let your jaw drop to the floor when he suggests a number” as a good strategy in negotiations, but that was exactly what I did. I was being offered a 90k a year job, with a 20k bonus?
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am serious. It’s a tough job. Long hours, tons of travel, I’d actually recommend not renting an apartment when you work for me, it’s a waste of money. It’s hard work, too. I have a lot of stuff that needs organizing, especially with the TV show. And there are always sharks that need to be told to fuck off. Plus you have to be at my beck and call 24/7. But on the bright side, you get to work with me.”
“I’m still not hearing any positives,” I muttered, and Kiegan laughed.
“Come on. You know you want to do it.”
“Fine,” I heard myself say, and a part of my brain started screaming “nooooooooooooo” at me. But it was too late.
“Awesome.” Kiegan pulled a checkbook out of his jacket pocket (who just carries those around?) and immediately wrote out a check for 20 grand. Handed it over to me. “You start in three days.”
“I just have one condition.”
“Shoot.”
“I don’t want the fact that I’m working for you mentioned to anyone in the family. I don’t want them finding out, and I don’t want to be around if you see any of them.”
“Easy. I don’t see or speak to them either.”
“Good.”
What I’d just agreed to started sinking in, and I began to feel a bit dizzy. This was really happening. I was holding a cheque in my hands for more money than I myself had ever had in my whole life. But had I just signed away my soul?
The waitress eventually came by and cleared our plates, and we had desert before Kiegan drove me back to my apartment in that flashy car of his.
“So you’ll come by on Tuesday,” he said. “I’ll make sure my secretary knows you’ll be there by eight.”
“Wait, you have a secretary and also need a personal assistant?”
“Of course!”
“Gee, the other half really do live better than us mere mortals.”
“I look forward to bossing you around,” he told me with a wink as he left me at the door of my building.
“Thanks for dinner. And the job. And the cheque,” I replied. I wasn’t totally sure, but I thought it might have been the first time I thanked Kiegan for anything in my life.
“Don’t mention it. Consider the cheque an apology for Harvard.”
“That one’s going to cost you more than 20 grand.”
“Fair enough. Good night, little sis.”
And with that, he got into the car and drove off.
“You’re only six months older than I am,” I muttered as he drove off. I looked at the cheque again, still not completely convinced it was real, that this was really happening.
I was going to work for Hunt the Cunt.
Chapter Ten
The next few days were spent trying to organize all my things. It wasn’t like I owned a lot: mainly I had a few clothes, my laptop and a few books. They all fit in the duffle bag I’d brought over with me from Boston.
When I woke up the day after the dinner with my brother I felt like I had the worst hangover, and yet I hadn’t had any alcohol. It was a hangover from the decision I’d made.
I spent that entire first morning going back and forth about whether or not I should call Kiegan and tell him I’d changed my mind. But every time I looked at the cheque, and looked at my empty cupboard, I stopped myself. I didn’t have to work for him forever. Maybe a year. That would give me some good savings, especially since whenever we travelled hotels and food would be covered by his company.
I could put up with him bossing me around for a year, right?
At noon, I’d made up my mind. I was absolutely going through with this, and the first step to it was to cash that cheque. I went down to the bank and deposited it, then looked at the receipt. Account balance: $20,032.21. That looked good. Hell, that looked amazing.
The day before I was scheduled to start working for my stepbrother, I went on a mini shopping spree. I’d been told the office atmosphere was “casual at best”, and that there would be no need for any sort of suit. Still, my limited wardrobe was getting to be pretty run down, and I wanted to be able to make a good impression, even if that good impression involved wearing flats and jeans all day.
Plus, I had to be honest with myself: I really, really wanted to go out and spend some money on myself. It had been so long since I was able to go on a real shopping spree, and it felt amazing. I limited myself to $500, and mostly bought from the sale rack, but still came back with quite a few bags worth of awesome new clothes, and a new jacket for the winter. Yes, this was going to be worth it. Even if Kiegan was hard to deal with, I would be able to handle it. I just knew it.
* * *
The confidence I had a few days earlier when I was organizing my things seemed to evaporate as soon as Tuesday morning arrived. I was told a car would come to pick me up at eight, and that I was to pack anything I wanted to take with me while we travelled on the road.
Everything I wanted fit into the duffel bag, I had nothing worth storing. I decided to take Kiegan’s advice and live out of a suitcase for a while. Leaving my landlord a note that I was moving out and he could keep the damage deposit as a month’s rent, it felt somehow relaxing to leave behind the stressful life I’d been leaving for years.
Still, standing on the corner outside my apartment, the nerves began to come back. When the sleek white car pulled up to the curb, I was reminded that Kiegan was still really part of the Hunt family. Was I making a mistake? On the bright side, this was an M3 convertible, more of a sports car than anything else.
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The driver got out, dressed in slacks and a hoodie.
“Hey Tina, I’m Josh. Kiegan wanted me to come pick you up. Need a hand with anything?”
“I’m good, thanks,” I told him, putting my bag in the trunk he’d opened and getting into the car.
I hopped into the back seat and watched as the city I’d called my home for two years whizzed past me. It became pretty obvious we were heading to Sea-Tac airport, Kiegan must have had another publicity stunt scheduled somewhere else.
Before I knew it I could see the planes on the runway, but instead of going to the departure terminal, Josh drove down a side road and towards a hangar.
Holy shit, is this actually happening?
Growing up the Hunt family had been super rich, but the time my mom let me go to Mexico with friends at spring break I flew commercial. First class, but still commercial. As we pulled into the hangar and the sleek white jet with gold stripes became bigger and bigger, I just stared. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t expected Kiegan to have his own private jet.
“So where are we going?” I asked Josh as he turned off the car and unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Vegas, today,” he answered. “We’re there for three days, then San Francisco, then LA for the show’s premiere night.”
“Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he said he travelled a lot,” I muttered as Josh grabbed my bag and we headed towards the plane, Josh in front and me behind.
As I climbed up the steps I was definitely tempted to stop at the top, turn and wave to the crowd like I was the president, then I realized I was an adult, and that’s not what adults do.
You know what? Adults do whatever they want, I thought to myself as I reached the top step of the staircase. I stopped, turned, and waved to the imaginary crowd with both hands.
I heard laughter coming from inside the plane, and turned to see Kiegan watching me from one of the windows.
Blushing, I quickly put my hands down and made my way into the Gulfstream.
“The day you become President is the day I definitely move to Canada,” Kiegan grinned at me as I came in.
“Whatever, don’t pretend you’ve never thought of doing it.”
“I have done it,” he replied honestly. “First thing I did when I bought the plane. But I probably looked far less ridiculous than you did just then.”
“Remind me again why I took this job,” I muttered to myself. I’d barely been in his presence thirty seconds and Kiegan Hunt was already giving me shit.
I heard the plane door close behind me and sat down in one of the amazing leather seats. I strapped in, but it barely felt like being in a plane at all. Josh was in the seat next to Kiegan, and across from him sat a woman in her thirties, with curly blonde shoulder length hair and an obvious no-bullshit attitude. She had a laptop open in front of her and was typing dutifully into it, ignoring both the conversation between Kiegan and Josh, and the waitress who came out with fresh lattes and a tray of muffins, which she placed on the table in front of the row of seats.
As the plane took off, Kiegan looked over at me.
“So, Tina. You met Josh already. He’s one of the producers over at NBC, basically he’s in charge of Kiegan Versus the World. You haven’t met Leanne yet, she’s my secretary. I noticed Leanne look up and smile at me for a split second before her eyes shot back to her screen.
“She works so hard, I could never do what I do without her.”
“So where do I fit in?” I asked. I honestly couldn’t see why someone needed both a personal assistant and a secretary.
“You’re in charge of basically my entire personal life. Everything that isn’t related to my business.”
“I thought you sold your business.”
“I did. I started a new one. I’m a venture capitalist now. But your job is bigger, since my personal assistant has to organize all of the stuff related to my new celebrity job.”
“So late night talk show appearances, that sort of thing?”
“Exactly. I knew you’d be a quick learner.” Kiegan shot me a smile that – if I wasn’t mistaken – might have actually been genuine! The waitress must have put something stronger than espresso in his coffee…
Leanne passed over a file of papers. “This is everything the last PA had organized,” she told me, and I opened the sheet. I would have laughed, if it wasn’t so terrible it was probably kind of sad.
“Well, I can see why you needed a new PA,” I told Kiegan as I looked at the single booking, an appearance at a boxing match that was taking place tomorrow – Wednesday – in Vegas. I figured the last person wasn’t exactly into her job.
“Yeah. Usually they quit, I haven’t had to fire someone in ages. Brianne was… not very good at her job.”
“If only you’d looked at your resume before hiring her,” Josh muttered. I immediately knew what he meant, and my heart sunk like a stone. God, I wished I wasn’t so attracted to my brother. I knew it was wrong. I knew I shouldn’t have those feelings, I knew my body shouldn’t react the way it did, but I was powerless to stop it.
Opening my laptop, I began to look at any events happening in Vegas over the next few days and started making a list of things Kiegan could do to promote his new show.
“Oh, I also organized a company phone for you,” Leanne remembered halfway through the flight, passing me a brand new iphone 6.
“Sweet, thanks!” I told her, taking my new toy and admiring it. I had still been using my old iphone 4 from high school, and rarely ever actually bought credit for it.
I grabbed a muffin and looked at my list. Kiegan had to take a phone call, and was now pacing the back of the plane, obviously not happy with the information he was getting. I, for one, was still enjoying the new luxury of the private jet, and while I sipped my coffee and ate my food, I made a mental list as to which things I wanted Kiegan to do the most.
Eventually, I narrowed my list down to three things I thought Kiegan should do more than anything else. The first was a publicised ride on that crazy swing thing at the top of one of the major buildings in Vegas. He had to do it, post the video to Instagram and Facebook, make sure all of his fans saw it. Second, I read on a gossip website that Jimmy Fallon was in town, and so I wanted to organize a little skit or something for the two of them that could potentially air on one of the shows the next week. Leanne looked super busy, I had to ask her if she had contacts for all the big late night guys later. Third, I figured a bit of news wasn’t a bad thing. I’d get Kiegan to do something stupid, maybe go swimming in those big fountains, get himself arrested but with a misdemeanour that would be brushed away quickly. I figured Kiegan would know what to do when I told him; after all, he was an expert at breaking the law and getting away with it, from what I’d been reading.
When we landed we were all bustled into a big SUV limo. It was kind of crazy, it was rich, but a type of rich that was so different to the Hunt family type. This was extravagant, over the top, just-because-I-can stuff, whereas the Hunt family was all about class and comfort while travelling, but without overdoing it too much.
This new job was a bit trial-by-fire, and I spent most of the car ride trying to get into contact with people that could make my plans happen. It turned out, I wasn’t too bad at it. Before we’d even gotten to the hotel I knew that the ride at the top of the Stratosphere tower was going to take place the following night at nine, so the lights of the city would make it seem even more impressive and scarier than it would during the day.
The limo took us to the hotel, where the four of us piled into the lobby, a bellhop immediately coming over to take all the bags. Josh and Kiegan sat down across from each other in a pair of modern, but comfortable looking armchairs while Leanne and I went to the front desk to check in. I honestly wasn’t sure if I should be there or not, since Leanne had obviously organized everything, but I thought maybe this would eventually fall under my duties, so I should learn how it’s done.
“I have four rooms booked under Kiegan Hunt,” Leanne t
old the receptionist, a man in his thirties in a full suit.
“Of couse. Welcome to the Bellagio. I have the penthouse booked for Mr. Hunt, and the adjoining room key is here. On the floor underneath are the other two rooms, 513 and 514. Right across from each other. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you,” Leanne told him, handing me the key for the room adjoining the penthouse.
“Shouldn’t you have this room?” I asked. “After all, you seem to be the one in charge of Kiegan’s things, and you know what you’re doing, you should be the one with the closest access?”
Leanne smiled. “Thanks, but this was specifically Kiegan’s request.”
TKO (A Bad Boy MMA Romance) Page 22