by B. B. Hamel
Hating My New Boss
B. B. Hamel
Contents
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1. Remi
2. Justin
3. Remi
4. Justin
5. Remi
6. Justin
7. Remi
8. Justin
9. Remi
10. Justin
11. Remi
12. Justin
13. Remi
14. Justin
15. Remi
16. Justin
17. Remi
18. Justin
19. Remi
20. Justin
21. Remi
22. Justin
23. Remi
24. Remi
25. Justin
26. Remi
Also by B. B. Hamel
Hating The Rock Star Preview
1. Grace
2. Joss
About the Author
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1
Remi
“They’re pushing me out, Remi.
They’re getting rid of me.”
Diane sits across her expansive desk and stares at me with a frown. I’ve never seen her looking stressed before, not once in the four years we’ve been working together.
Her graying hair is pulled back into a chic bun. I think she’s in her sixties, but she doesn’t look a day older than forty. She wears immaculate outfits, all from designer brands, and I have no clue how she affords any of it. Diane’s been my mentor, and I’ve been idolizing her ever since we met during my job interview.
“They can’t do that,” I say. “You’ve been the heart and soul of Optimum for… forever.”
She laughs softly, her tinkling, easy-going laugh. Nothing ever seems to bother her, except this, except now. I can see the stress, threatening to fracture her calm mask.
It’s breaking my heart.
“They can and they are.” She sighs and leans back in her chair. I watch her glance at her desk drawer, hesitate, and finally open it. She pulls out a pack of cigarettes and slips one between her lips.
She raises a questioning eyebrow at me but I just shake my head. She smiles a little and lights it, taking a long drag.
“Ah, shit,” she says softly. “I know, I know. Smoking is gross and it’s against the rules, but fuck the rules.”
I’ve never heard Diane curse, never seen her smoke. It’s like watching your hero lose her mind. Actually, that’s literally what it is.
She takes another drag and sighs. “Turns out, I’m getting old and I’m not as hip as I once was.” She shakes her head. “If I were a fucking man, this wouldn’t be an issue.”
“I don’t understand. We’ve been doing well, even brought on new clients last year.”
“Doesn’t matter.” She waves it away. “We haven’t grown enough. Haven’t broken into digital enough.”
“According to who?”
She shrugs. “Who cares? All I know is they’re hiring some new young hotshot to lead the department.”
That hits me right between the eyes. I sit there, totally dazed, letting it sink in.
“An outside hire,” I say softly.
“Yep, after everything, they’re passing over you, they’re passing over Martin, passing over the whole fucking agency.”
She leans back and takes another long drag. I glance toward the windows of her office but she doesn’t seem to care.
“Who is it?” I ask.
She smirks. “Guess you should be wondering. I mean, he will be your new boss, after all.”
“Diane, it’s not—”
She waves me away. “I understand. I couldn’t ask you to quit for me. I wouldn’t want that, anyway. Not after everything you’ve put into this place.” She leans toward me, cigarette dangling between her fingers. She looks like a goddess from an old French silent film, ready to kiss me or tell me she’s about to kill me.
“His name is Justin Hayes, some young hotshot asshole kid, and he’s going to ruin this damn place.”
She says something else, probably complaining more about the new Creative Director of the Optimum Agency, but I don’t hear what she says. I’m too busy staring at her lips, trying to process the name she just dropped.
Justin Hayes.
That’s a name I know very, very well.
“Wait,” I say suddenly, interrupting her. She frowns a little at that. “Is he about my age?”
A little shrug. “I think so. Maybe exactly your age.”
“And… tall? Dark hair? Light green eyes?”
“Handsome, actually. Way too handsome.” She muses a bit before cocking her head. “Do you know him?”
“I know him,” I say softly. My eyes go wide as Diane slowly stubs out her cigarette. “We grew up together.”
“Well, put your best face on, sweetie,” Diane says, slowly standing. “Because here he comes.”
I don’t have time to prepare myself. This is all happening so fast. One second, my life is exactly the way I’ve wanted it, working for a big, successful ad agency, working directly below one of the most respected and amazing creative directors in the industry, and the next the only person in the whole world I hate walks into the room, smiling like he owns the place.
Justin Hayes. Memories come flooding back. I have to resist the urge to scream.
I hate Justin Hayes. I hate every single thing about him.
I hate that he’s arrogant. I hate that he’s talented. I hate that he’s handsome. I hate that he’s an asshole and his whole family are a bunch of bastards.
“Diane,” a man about her age, wearing an expensive suit, says. His dark hair is clearly dyed and slicked back. “I thought you might want to meet Justin here, maybe catch him—” The man sniffs, frowning. “Were you smoking?”
Diane smiles at him. “Yes, I was. Going to fire me over it?”
His frown deepens. “Diane, we spoke about this. There’s no reason—”
“Hard feelings, yada yada.” She waves him away, turning her gaze to Justin. “So you’re the young asshole that’s taking my job.”
“Diane!” Holden says.
Justin laughs and steps up to her desk. “Diane Graves, I’m Justin Hayes. It’s a real pleasure to meet you. I’ve been following your work closely for years, and I have to say, nobody understands light and dark quite like you. I mean, your campaign for Dior in 2013 took my breath away with those contrasts.”
I stare between them. Diane’s smile is a bit more sincere, and I want to scream at her. Don’t be fooled! He’s a snake, he’s stealing your job!
“Thank you, Justin.” She shakes his hand. “The flattery is nice, but not necessary.” She releases his palm and steps back from her desk. “Fact is, today’s my last day, Holden. I’m not going to be a part of this agency any longer than I have to be.”
“Diane, really,” Holden says. “You agreed to help smooth over the transition.”
“I agreed to that when I thought it was going to be Remi here,” she says.
Holden glances at me. “Things changed.”
I’m just sitting there, staring open-mouthed at Diane. I feel like one punch in the gut after another keeps landing on me.
“You’re right,” Diane says. “They do.” She turns to me and comes around the desk, putting her hands on my shoulders. “Stay here, work hard, show them how good you are. Good luck.” She kisses my cheek before sweeping past Holden out into the hallway.
Holden goes out after her. “Diane, wait, listen…”
I’m left alone in my former boss’s office with my new boss.
Justin looks at me, his smarmy smile
starting to slowly crack.
“Remi?”
I turn to him. I meet his gaze. His beautiful green eyes stare into me.
They’re the eyes of a snake.
“Go to hell, Justin,” I say, turn, and leave the office as fast as I can.
I hate Justin Hayes. He ruined my life and my family’s life a long time ago, and I’ll never forgive him for that.
But I’ve worked too hard to let that bastard push me out of this job. I was Diane’s choice to become the next creative director. I would’ve been the youngest CD in the company’s history, but now that pleasure belongs to Justin, the asshole. I don’t know how he got this job or why the board thinks he deserves it, but he doesn’t.
That job is supposed to be mine, and I’m going to take it from him, one way or another.
I just have it figure out how I can stand working in the same building as that bastard first.
2
Justin
My first day and the staff already hate me.
Well, that’s not totally true. They’re skeptical of me, because I’m the youngest CD ever at this company, maybe ever in the whole fucking country. They think I’m too young to know my shit and I’m coming in on the heels of Diane Graves, one of the most respected CDs ever.
I have some big fucking high heels to fill.
I look around my office, formerly Diane’s. Her things are all gone, all her furniture replaced by furniture of my choosing, her paintings changed, her walls painted. Nearly every trace of her, erased from this room.
It’s my office now.
I lean back in my chair and sigh. I have a lot of work ahead of me if I want to hold on to this job, which I do, I really fucking do. When I applied and interviewed for this, I never really thought I’d get it. My father lobbied on my behalf, against my express wishes, and apparently that worked. I hate that he helped me land this job, but now that I’m here, I have to make the best of it.
I sigh and log in to my computer. I pull up the email client and stare at the empty inbox. That’ll change, soon enough.
I type a quick message. Please come to my office as soon as possible, and I send it to [email protected].
Remi shows up at my door ten minutes later. She knocks once before stepping inside, making no attempt at hiding the contempt in her eyes. “You wanted to see me?” she asks, arching one eyebrow.
Remi Brooks. I haven’t seen her since high school, but I’ve thought about her… I’ve thought about her a lot.
I remember her as an awkward teenager. Beautiful, but not grown up.
She’s all grown up now. Remi is gorgeous, with thick dark hair cascading down around her shoulders and large, wide blue eyes. Her lashes are long and thick and her red lips are full.
My gaze moves down her body. Full, perky breasts, wide hips… and I bet an ass that doesn’t quit.
Fucking hell, Remi really grew up.
“Yes, ah, hey, Remi.”
She doesn’t move. She crosses her arms over her chest. “Yes, Mr. Hayes?”
“Stop,” I say. “Call me Justin. I mean… you remember me, right?” I stand up, smiling a little uncertainly. I’m pretty sure she remembers, but the coldness in her body is throwing me.
“I remember,” she says.
“Oh, good. It’s been a long time. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” She arches an eyebrow. “Is that all?”
“Is that…?” I shake my head. “Look, if you’re pissed about your boss, that isn’t my fault. The board wanted to replace her for years and I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.”
“To steal the job I was supposed to have.”
I stare at her and she stares back. She looks nervous now though, and I’m betting she regrets saying that out loud.
I laugh softly though. “Yeah, pretty much. You of all people have every right to resent me. Hell, you of all people have every right to hate me.”
“Good,” she says, “because I really do.”
I wince and nod. “Okay, I walked into that one.”
“What do you want, Justin?”
“I want to work together.” I stand up and lean forward on my desk. “I want to squash this hate between us.”
She purses her lips. “I don’t think so.”
I shake my head and come around my desk. She watches as I come near her and stop by the armchair, leaning up against its side. “Listen, Remi, you don’t have much of a choice.”
She narrows her eyes. Clearly, she doesn’t like that. “I think I have plenty of choices, thank you.”
“Actually, you don’t.” I sigh, like this is painful for me to say. In a lot of ways, it really is, but it’s necessary.
I can’t run the creative department if I don’t have the staff on my side. I can’t just fire them all and hire a whole new group. I need to win them over and that’s going to be hard, especially considering how respected and loved Diane was.
I need Remi’s help, whether she wants to do it or not.
“You put a lot of time and effort into this company, right?” I ask her.
She shrugs, looking annoyed. “I guess.”
“I know you have. The board spoke highly of you.” This is a bluff, but it seems to work, and I can tell I have her attention now. “They clearly like what you did under Diane, and you’ve obviously learned a lot.”
“Why would they hire you then?”
I spread my heads in front of me. “Politics.”
She sighs. “What do you mean?”
“Diane wasn’t universally beloved, especially on the board. They were afraid to promote her protégé in case you harbored some animosity toward them.”
She bites her lower lip, watching me carefully, trying to decide whether to believe me or not.
“How do you know that?” she asks.
“I got Holden drunk the day after he hired me and he loves to talk after a few scotches.”
That part is true, actually. He did talk about the board being afraid of hiring Remi, but he didn’t go into details. I’ve had to extrapolate certain things. Mostly, he talked about playing tennis, the boring old ass.
“This is so stupid,” she says. “I should just quit and go somewhere else. I could find a new agency in a heartbeat.”
“You probably could, but you’d have to start all over.”
“Not completely.” She takes a step toward the door. “I’d have a better chance making CD somewhere else. You don’t plan on stepping down anytime soon, do you?”
She has a good point there. “I don’t know what my plans are, Remi. If I were older, I’d probably be here for a long time, but I’m still young. No reason to think I’d stay in one place for the rest of my career.”
“God damnit,” she says. “This is so annoying. I hate having this conversation with you.”
“I know,” I say, almost apologetic. “But listen, at the end of the day, I need your help. You have to step up, pretend to be on my side. If you do, the rest of the staff will follow.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I’ll fire you and find someone who will.”
She stares at me and laughs. “Go ahead, fire me. You asshole.”
“I really hoped you would’ve gotten over all this childish animosity.”
“Childish?” Her eyes go wide. She’s actually really sexy when she’s angry. “You… you asshole. You know why I hate you.”
I look away for a second. I know exactly why she despises me… and she has every right. I had hoped some of the sting would’ve worn off after all these years, but some stains never fade.
“Look, you don’t have to like me. Hell, you can actively despise me, if you want, just do it in private. Call me Mr. Asshole, but make the rest of the staff fall in line. We can do some great things if you can get used to this new arrangement.”
She stares at me, but she doesn’t storm out. I can practically see the wheels turning in her mind. She’s probably wondering how easily she could find
a new job, and if it’s worth it to stick around.
Selfishly, I want her to stay. Not just because she can be useful and help me in this transition… but because she’s someone from my past that I’ve always had regrets about.
It also helps that she’s fucking sexy as hell now. I want to tease her so badly, but I know that if I push too hard, she’ll just leave. Clearly, she still despises me.
I think I can change that, but it’ll be a process. Right now, I just need to convince her to stay.
“I’m not sure I care if you fire me or not,” she says finally. “But there is something you can do to get me to stay and play along with your little game.”
I raise an eyebrow, surprised. I didn’t expect her to negotiate, but she’s in the perfect position to ask for something.
“Okay, what do you want? More money?”
She nods. “Ten percent raise, plus more creative freedom. I have a few brands I’ve been working on myself, and I want you to stay away from them.”
“Done,” I say. “Make me a list. What else?”
“Two extra vacation days.”
“Fine.” I laugh and stand up straight, crossing my arms over my chest. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“You’re not exactly fighting back.”
“No, I’m not. I hope that makes you understand how much I want you.”
She bites her lip again. I chose those words specifically to see how she’d react.
How much I want you.
“I’ll stay,” she says finally. “Make it all official and get it to me in writing today, and I’ll see what I can do about making people fall in line.”
“Perfect.” I step toward her, and she visibly has to stop herself from stepping away. I put out my hand and she shakes it. “I look forward to working with you, Ms. Brooks.”