“I have something you really wanna see, Célian.”
“Please, call me Mr. Laurent. Only my friends call me Célian. Chances are I’ll stab myself in the eye with a fork before initiating a conversation with you about non-professional issues. Start talking.”
I followed him to his desk, and he pointed at his screen, his smile oozing stupidity in a way I didn’t know was physically possible.
“Look.”
To me, it looked like a picture of a random, middle-aged chick trying to sit on a cucumber.
“Are you sharing your porn stash with me, Steve? Because A, my taste is a little more conservative, and B, it is strictly forbidden to access erotic websites in this building.”
“She’s the vice president of Together Forever, a non-profit organization for people with ADHD. Got caught doing this salacious act at her bachelorette party.” Steve cackled, his smug smile screaming jackpot.
“Here’s the part where you tell me why I should care.” I began to sort through emails on my phone, losing patience.
“Because…because…look what she’s doing!” He cried out, pointing at his screen. “She’s legit trying to fit a cucumber into her vag.”
I turned around and walked away. This wasn’t an item. It wouldn’t even be an item if she was a legitimate celebrity. That was Gary and Ava’s jurisdiction. But it highlighted the fact that right now, Steve was using a lot of space, resources, and oxygen that should have been offered to someone more capable than him. Kate was already standing up when I approached, her flame-red bob appearing sharper than usual.
“He’s impossible.” She pretended to puff on her pen. Ever since she’d stopped smoking, she did that with everything from Sharpies to asparagus stalks.
“My dog can do a better job than him.” I braced my hands over her desk. “And I don’t even have one. A word?”
“Oh, no. Smells like a canned item in the making.” Kate and I walked to the conference room, and I shot a look at Judith to see if she’d followed us with her eyes the way I followed her everywhere she went in the office. She was typing away, looking at her monitor. Kate caught my ogling and smirked. I rarely spared my employees a look. Her eyes joined mine on Jude.
Did I fuck up by not giving Jude a heads-up about my situation? Yes. But did I think my one-night stand was going to end up being my employee? Hell no.
“She is pretty.” Kate leaned her head over my shoulder. I shrugged.
“Arguing with that would imply that I’m blind, which I’m not.”
“She’s also kind, smart, and funny. A natural in the newsroom.”
“Get to the point sometime this calendar year, please.”
“You’ve got it hard for her, Célian.”
Kate ran a hand over my shirt, and I had to clear my throat, because this was wrong on so many levels I couldn’t even begin to count them. My job was to expose unethical behavior and bring factual news to the table. I wasn’t going to piss all over it for a girl with feline eyes and hair like yellow autumn leaves. Not to mention, to most people in the world, I was an engaged man. But not to Kate. She knew my story, all of it. Which was why she refused to speak to my father under any circumstances.
“Can’t do anything about it.” I tapped away on the table I leaned against.
“You can if it’s consensual. People fall in love at their workplace all the time. It’s not against the law.”
“I’m her boss. Also the devil spawn of the owner.”
“An owner who is actively trying to get into her pants.” Kate raised a finger, pointing it out.
“Precisely. Besides…” I rubbed my face. “Lily.”
“Break up with her. Call off the engagement. And don’t give me the Newsflash Corp bullshit. It’s about time.”
“Like hell I will. My father would have a fucking field day if I give up the only leverage I have on him.”
Ever since my baby sister died, I’d become even more career driven. My eyes were on the prize and had never shifted—until Judith walked into this building. Lily Davis had an influential father and her siblings had both given up on their family business. Lily was going to inherit Newsflash Corp, and her family was a shareholder at LBC, with as much as ten percent. So joining their family meant I could overthrow every decision my father had made, if I combined their shares with my mother’s. The merger between LBC and Newsflash Corp was going to make me one of the biggest tycoons in the world once my father stepped down.
Which was why he’d done what he did and ruined what little promise I had left going on in my life.
“Irrelevant. Your father is a douche and his feelings toward what you do, or lack thereof, should not determine your choices.”
I hated that Kate was the voice of reason. I also hated that she was pretty much the only friend I had who I was certain wouldn’t stab me in the back the minute I turned around. I was short on friends, seeing as I trusted no one, including my fucking coffee machine.
“As for your world-domination aspirations…” She raised her hand to pat my cheek, clucking her tongue. “Grow up, Célian. What’s the point of being powerful if you’re miserable?”
I changed the subject, because none of it mattered. I wasn’t throwing away my plans, nor my idiotic fiancée. Judith was…Judith. Undoubtedly beautiful, not in the way women in magazines were, but in a way that makes you want to mark her with your teeth, tongue, and piss if need be. Hardworking and smart. There was a chance—albeit a small one—that if I broke things off with Lily and told Judith the entire story, she would still be willing to give the enemies-with-benefits thing a chance. And Kate was right. A consensual affair in the workplace wasn’t unheard of.
But we weren’t going to be lovers.
We were going to be two people fucking each other into submission, and a fuck—no matter how good—wasn’t worth my entire future.
I fell to my seat, noticing that Steve was throwing a fit and yelling at Jessica in the middle of the newsroom. Jude hurried over to them, took Jessica’s hand, and led her away.
“We’re canning the flammable cellphone item,” I told Kate distractedly. She punched the desk between us, then noiselessly yelled at the pain. “I knew you’d do that.”
“Get everyone in the conference room. Now.”
Five minutes later, everyone was inside, including a solemn Jessica and a defiant Judith. Kate was outside, on a quick phone call.
“We need a new item to close up the show. At this point I’ll take anything. A feature. A kicker. A piece about anything that’s not completely stupid. Brainstorm away.” I tapped my finger over the chrome conference table.
Everybody looked at their digital devices, typing text messages to their sources and generally being productive. Steve, however, sat with his arms crossed and sulked like a toddler in the midst of a tantrum.
“Got it! A pop star with an American passport was just murdered in a strip club in Korea.” Kate swung the door open and walked into the fishbowl meeting room, still staring at her phone.
“Steve, I know you like a good gossip. Can you follow that up?” Kate was already texting her source.
“Sure. North or South?” He scratched his head with the tip of his pen.
The silence that followed his question almost made my ears bleed. He thought there were strip clubs in North Korea?
That was it.
I was done.
“Out of my newsroom. Now.”
“But—”
“Another word, and you won’t be working anywhere on this street for the rest of your life.”
“I just—”
“Manhattan.”
“Mr. Laurent! I—”
“You’ve just been blacklisted in the entire city of New York.”
“Please!”
“Correction: state.”