by Nana Malone
It was a feeling a night of jerking off certainly hadn't cured. If anything, touching his dick whenever he thought about her had pretty much just trained his dick to go hard when in the presence of her scent ... like now.
He could do this. He was a Styles. He could have any woman he wanted. He didn’t need this woman. He checked the clock. He had a meeting to get to. If he just ignored her ... this would go away. You sure about that?
At five to nine, she stood and grabbed her laptop and notebook. He followed her out of the office and of course told himself not to stare at her ass. Again, easier said than done. She was wearing that red skirt. It wasn't exactly tight, but it hugged every one of her curves and she'd paired it with a white button down with her sleeves rolled up. She looked professional. Except in his head, that skirt also hiked up and she wasn’t wearing panties underneath.
He would get a handle on this. He had to.
Ryan and Barbara were already in the conference room and he chose a seat as far away from Jaggar as he could manage. They were followed by two segment producers so he had an extra buffer between him and Jaggar. Thank God.
When Ryan started the meeting, Griffin breathed a sigh of relief. Finally something he could focus on besides how much he wanted her.
"I wanted to say congratulations to Griffin and Jaggar for the new show and that we're excited to have you two on board. We've got some great ideas for the next month of shows and we can’t wait to hear your thoughts. Barbara and I have come up with some exciting concepts we think will work well with your strengths."
As Ryan and Barb talked them through the ideas for the next month, he took notes and took little notice of Jaggar ... that is until she flicked her hair off her shoulder, or stuck the end of her pen into her mouth or leaned over to make a note. So yeah ... he didn't notice her at all. Everything was fine as they interjected ideas until they started to hone down on the concept of the first show.
Ryan flipped the screens on the PowerPoint. "Milton Randall. Obviously you know who he is. His team has agreed for us to do an exposé."
This was the big one. Journalists had been trying to poke holes in the Randall facade for years. A billionaire’s son. Married, was known as a hard worker at his father's oil conglomerate. But he left to start working for Green Clean air, severing ties with his family.
Everyone knew this story. He'd walked away from all that money because he wanted to affect change. He was doing great things. But Griffin’s instincts wanted to peel back the layers. "I mean, a million stories have been done on him. What’s our new angle?"
Ryan nodded. "I hear you. The new angle is he's running for Congress. He's using the show as his announcement platform."
Shit. "He's going to announce on the show? That's crazy. And he's going to let us go into the family history and past and everything?"
Ryan put his hands up. "You know, within reason. There will be a vetting of our questions of course. But yeah, we'll be allowed carte blanche."
Jaggar spoke up. "Will we be allowed access to his family, the side he severed himself from?"
Ryan rolled his eyes and Griffin’s hairs stood up. It was a valid question. Ryan was sometimes a douche, but he was good at his job and Jaggar had asked a good question, so she shouldn't be dismissed.
His mentor shook his head. "The story is on him. That's the focus. The work he's doing with Green Clean. That's the focus. His people don’t want us working on anything else."
Jaggar frowned, her voice going flat. "All due respect, to get the kind of story we want, a whole picture of the man, we need to look at his past."
Ryan just pretended he didn't hear her. "So obviously, we'll talk to his wife and his children. She’s had some infertility problems so we want to focus on their struggle as a family."
The segment producers asked some questions about logistics and access to the children, but Griffin could see Jaggar’s face and his gut twisted.
Barbara tried to circle back around to Jaggar’s question, but Ryan shut her down too. "I'm not sure if you’re hard of hearing Barb, but like I just told Jaggar, we’re not going back to the family. He's agreed to this interview if the focus is on him, his present and not his past.”
What the fuck? This show was about telling real stories. This was what he'd signed up for. What the hell was Ryan doing?
As the meeting rolled on, and they talked about the rest of the month, every time Jaggar brought something up, or Barb tried to back her, Ryan would shoot them down. But if he or a segment producer brought it up, then Ryan told them to run with it. The longer Griffin sat there, the more uncomfortable he became. Ryan had always backed him, made sure his star was on the rise, but this was bullshit.
Jaggar opened her mouth to comment on the story they had lined up for a Syrian refugee and before she could even open her mouth, Ryan shut her up.
"Jaggar, we'll get to you. You know what, why don’t you write down your thoughts, send them to Barb and I'll see what has merit."
The words were out before Griffin could stop them. "Actually, Ryan, I'd like to hear what Jaggar has to say."
Ryan narrowed his gaze, but Griffin ignored him.
Jaggar's eyes went wide as she looked around the room. "I, I was just going to say, it might be a great angle to actually trace her steps from escape to freedom. We can even make it a multi-week segment."
That was a good idea. A great idea actually. "I think that's fantastic. If our goal here is to tell the real stories, then that's perfect. And I think Jaggar should take point."
Jaggar looked around again, waiting for someone to object. Ryan glared at Griffin, but he just stared back. Ryan was blocking her, and he was hurting them in the process. She had good ideas.
Ryan backed off, but Griffin had a feeling that wasn’t going to be the end of it. So if he was going to get an earful, he might as well go for broke. "And for what it's worth, I think the Randall story needs to look at his past too. If we're getting to focus on him now, there's a reason for that. Something is buried in what we can't see. It's our job to find it and tell that story."
Jaggar's lips twitched, but she continued to study him like she'd never seen him before. Yeah well, he didn’t recognize himself either. Ryan was going to be pissed, but he didn’t care. This wasn't about Jaggar. This was about doing his job well. At least, that’s what he told himself.
When the meeting was dismissed, Ryan held him back for a minute. "You want to tell me what the hell that was with you and your girlfriend?"
Griffin kept his voice even. "I could ask you the same thing. You were turning down legitimate questions and story angles and for what? I know you don’t like her, and the feeling is mutual." Sort of. "But a good story is a good story."
"You say you want that show on your own? The only way to get that is to push little-miss-tits-and-ass out. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be, so keep on taking her side and she'll take you down with her. We agreed that you'd trust me."
Griffin tilted his chin up. "This isn’t about sides. This is about the story. Whatever you have going with her and Barbara, I don't give a shit. I'm going to do my job. You want to take me down a peg for it, fine. But remember, this is about the story. Not some personal shit. I trust you far enough to remember that much."
Ryan’s face flushed red and he clenched his jaw. Griffin braced himself to get his ass chewed out, but it didn’t come. Instead Ryan dragged in calming breaths, and eventually clamped a hand on his arm. “We have a plan. You know I’m with you right? When all is said and done, I’m going to make sure your star rises. Don't go forgetting who’s fighting for you.”
He left Ryan in the conference room. He may have just sealed his own fate, but maybe this way he'd tell the kind of stories he'd been dying to.
7
Well, how was that for confusing? Jaggar followed Barb into her office for a quick breakdown. "I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that, Barbara. You saw that, right?"
Barb nodded. "Yeah. Sit tight. I'll speak
to him."
"This is bullshit. He pretty much acted like I was some kid. I mean this is the crap I'm dealing with. If that's the way he feels then what the hell am I doing here?"
"You're here because the studio execs like you. They think you are ratings gold. So take that to heart. You and Griffin work well together. And like him or not, he backed you."
"Yeah, but why?" It didn’t make any sense. Given their history and how much he disliked her, he should have sided with his mentor. He seemed to like you enough last night. She groaned and shoved the thought aside. "I mean, it's to his benefit if everyone thinks I'm incompetent. He'll get his own show. Especially if this shit doesn’t work out. They'll move me back to doing daytime segments and there goes my career."
"Relax. You had valid points. And even Griffin, as much of an ass as he is, couldn't discount them. Remember for him, it's all about ego. He wants the best show he can have because it reflects well on him. So your ideas, he will take them and he will support you. He might be a douche, but he's a smart douche."
Jaggar chuckled. "Okay, I'm going to head down and start working on the Randall piece. I assume I'll be researching and interviewing the wife."
"You do that, I'll deal with Ryan, but don’t let Griffin push you around. Take the pieces you need to on that story. It's yours to lose."
She was back at her desk long before Griffin was. No doubt he and Ryan were off to some boys lunch or something to celebrate her humiliation. Don’t be a brat, he stood up for you. Yeah, he had, and she'd love to know why.
For the next half hour, she poured over research on Randall and made a series of notes. Something about the guy didn’t sit well. She made some notes to follow up with his sister and his father if she could get access to the oil tycoon. Jaggar also pulled images of the family: Randall, his wife and their very blond children. One of whom had a case of heterochromia with one blue eye and one dark brown. From the research Jaggar had done, she knew the condition was genetic. And she hadn’t been able to find a single case of it in either of the parents’ backgrounds.
Randall’s hair was a sandy brown, so he might have been blond as a kid, but given his wife’s dark hair color, she wondered if the woman dyed it. The kids looked a little like their father, but not at all like their mother. Their father's strong patrician nose, his smiling eyes as well. But the rest of them looked like neither parent.
After several calls trying to track down his father, she finally hit pay dirt with the sister. Or at least the sister's assistant.
"So when do you think that Miss Randall would be able to meet with me? I only want to speak with her about her brother. I swear, I’m not going after the Randall family. I’m just trying to do a piece about his run for Congress and—"
"Miss Jakes, or whoever you claim to be, we've had the likes of you call before and try to get information about Mr. Randall from the rest of the family. It won’t work. We paid once but we won’t pay again. So you're barking up the wrong tree."
Jaggar hung up the phone. Who had they paid? And what the hell was he hiding? Usually if there were payments happening, it was a secret that wouldn’t stay hidden forever. Good thing she was like a dog with a bone.
By the time Griffin was back, she had something. Something good. The question was, did she share it or not? He was her partner on this, like it or not, but would he shove her out? Or would he back her like he'd done earlier?
When he walked in, the tension crackled and spat like someone had just flicked water into a fire. But unlike this morning, he didn’t go straight to his desk; instead, he skirted the outer cubicle and came straight for her.
She sat back. "So you're talking to me now? I thought I was persona non grata."
He flattened his lips before sitting forward in his chair.
"I'm sorry."
She lifted her brows. "What? Did the great Griffin Styles just say he was sorry to me?"
He sighed. "Okay, fine. You have a right to that. I was being a prick. You just— you've been getting in my head."
"It's not like I knew last night was going to happen," she blurted out. "You're acting like an idiot. Plus, what do you have to be mad at? You kissed me then left. This morning you acted like I did something to you."
"You're right. Is that what you want to hear?"
Jaggar sighed. No, that was not what she wanted to hear. Okay, it was, but somehow she still didn't feel any better. "It's fine. Let's just get to work."
"Okay." He nodded. "But before we get started, can you tell me what the fuck happened with Ryan? He's gunning for you and if I’ve wandered into some shit I don’t understand, I'd rather know sooner than later."
She swallowed hard. This was the last thing she wanted to talk about. "It's nothing."
"It's something. Because I've known the guy since I was at Yale. I've never seen him react to someone the way he reacts to you. What gives?"
"Griffin, do we have to do this?"
"If we're going to work together, then yeah, we kinda do."
She licked her lips as she rolled her shoulders back. "Yeah, you want to know. But then I’ll get punished for talking to you. I've had enough of an ass handing today thank you."
"That was wrong of him and I've been a dick. I get it. I just want a truce so we can work together. I'm trying to understand."
"Fine," she muttered. "You want to understand so badly? He asked me out a year ago when I first started. I turned him down. Ever since, he's been like that. Treats me like a moron. I was even nice about it."
"Seriously?"
She shrugged. Not like things could get any worse. "Don’t believe me, ask him yourself. You saw how he treated me today. That's my normal."
Griffin shook his head. "I just can’t believe he'd do that."
Of course he didn't. They were boys. "Fair enough, now if you want to talk about our assignment, then I have something."
He studied her closely for a minute. “You're serious, aren't you?"
"Heart attack serious." She patted her file. "Assignment."
"Right. Yeah."
"I did some digging into Randall. And eventually found Layla Price. And she was willing to talk to me. It seems that the Randall family paid a substantial amount of money to have a problem of theirs go away. I don’t know what, but I do know who."
He took the file. "What do you think they're hiding?"
"Dunno. But her name is Elsa Katput. Lithuanian. She's been in the States for ten years. Came here as a dancer. Randall senior paid her a cool million two years in a row. I can’t tell for what. She is listed as an art dealer as her current profession. All I know is that after that second payment, Junior quit the family biz. Went out on his own. This was right around the time Junior had his first kid."
"You thinking mistress?"
"That's what I want to go find out. Turns out the girl likes to party, blogs about it too. From her blog, turns out we have some friends in common."
He frowned. "Who?"
"She's a sometimes burlesque dancer at Club Prestige. She's a member. I've made some calls to Serena to see if I can get a comped visit. Elsa's going to be there in a couple of nights."
"I'm coming with you."
Jaggar sat back. "The hell you are. While I've been out pounding the pavement all day and you've been sitting around with your thumb up your ass, I found a potentially good story here. You don’t just get to ride piggyback. Besides, Club Prestige is only comping for one. I called in a favor."
"Fine. But I'm not trying to steal your angle. I'm trying to help."
"Right and you’re not on Ryan's side."
"I backed you didn't I?"
"Yeah, speaking of that, why did you back me?"
“Because you’re my partner. And you were right.” He shrugged. “What was that you called me? And egotistical ass? Maybe that’s true. But I’m also fair. Ryan’s bullshit? Not cool. You follow up on the Elsa chick. I’ll work another angle and see if I can get to Club Prestige on my own, give you an assist. I want
to do some digging around Randall’s kids.”
“You mean besides the fact that they don’t look like they belong to their parents?” she muttered.
Griffin’s brows rose. “You noticed that too?”
“Hard not to.” She watched him as he walked back to his desk, taking in the rear view. He’d stood up for her today all in the name of fairness. Maybe she’d need to revise her assessment from egotistical ass to merely egotistical.
8
Jaggar sipped her ginger ale as she sat at the bar. She'd only ever been downstairs in Club Prestige for class. She’d never been up in one of the rooms before and it was certainly ... an experience. Everything about the club was decadent and meant to protect the anonymity of the clientele and the dancers. If she hadn’t recognized Elsa as a dancer, she never would have known where to look.
There would be no penetrating the maze of security and confidentiality that was the ultra exclusive club. Hell, she was lucky to even get a special invite today. Serena had put her on her super special VIP list.
She felt a little bad using her new friend to interview Elsa, but she had no other way to get to the girl. She'd have to wait until she was off shift, but it was far better to wait in here, than to sit outside alone in her car. Even if this was Dupont Circle, it was not exactly the brightest idea.
Jaggar had been to a strip club before, but somehow Thunder in the Down Under did not compare to this.
The women at those shows were there for the campy funny atmosphere. Most of those men couldn’t dance and there was very little er ... fan interaction.
In this room, Serena called it All Pleasures, Jaggar was certainly getting an eyeful. Everyone had paddles they handed out at the door. If you were game for special attention from one of the dancers, all you had to do was grab a round colored disk. Fuchsia if you wanted one of the female dancers, cobalt blue if you wanted a male dancer. One of the disks was purple, which meant either, or it didn't matter. That's where things got interesting.
Jaggar had declined a paddle and opted for the bar instead. It was certainly eye opening and ... arousing. Way to be reminded that she'd been wound tight for a couple of days now. All thanks to Griffin.