Chapter 3
Present Day
Gemma
The elevator binged for the 4th floor and I stepped out to yet another Monday morning in the office. I walked forward, past the large reception desk, and round to the right through a large set of glass double doors.
On most Monday mornings I'd expect to walk into a quiet office, with subdued conversations filling the air about weekend antics and people lightly tapping on their keyboards to try to warm up for the week.
When I walked in on this Monday morning, however, there was much more of a buzz in the air, with groups, composed primarily of women, excitedly chatting in busy tones. They all looked up in my direction as I walked in and towards my small cubicle near the window, whispering and gesturing as if I was somehow the subject of their buzz.
I quickly slipped into my chair and booted up my computer screen. My desk was a bit cluttered, filled with pictures of my family and other silly little bits of office desk paraphernalia. The screen burst to life and I was met with a half-finished article, one I'd been working on the previous week.
How to Get a Sexier Body in 5 Easy Moves!
I'd worked at the magazine for over a year now and had come to realize there were only so many ways you could tell people how to lose weight or look sexier. I'd spent the last few months through the summer just regurgitating old information for each edition of the magazine. Put a new spin on something or give it a catchy title and people will keep buying. That's what my editor had told me, so that's what I did.
It wasn't overly fulfilling though. The early buzz I'd got when I first started had long since begun to dissipate, leaving behind this empty feeling that my work had little or no meaning to it.
50 Sexy Party Hairstyles
Lose 20 Lbs in a Month
10 Ways to Reverse the Signs of Aging
Sexy Summer Outfits to Rock on Your Vacation
The list went on and on, and I'd begun to lose my enthusiasm for the job. I loved all that lifestyle stuff, I really did, but there was a limit to what my editor would let me do. I wanted to report on news, become a proper journalist, not just talk about weight loss, anti-aging, and sex all the time.
I'd heard down the grapevine, however, that there was a new job coming available and that they were considering hiring in-house. It was a role as a proper reporter in lifestyle: going to events, talking to celebs and other notable people in the fields of fashion, health and so on. I'd actually be talking about events that were happening now, commenting on the news and giving my own opinion on things.
As it was now all I did was think of lists involving numbers and then get myself onto Google for my research. Last week I'd written about '20 Tips to Drop a Dress Size in 2 weeks'. A couple of weeks before I'd covered '5 Celebs Who You Never Knew Had Plastic Surgery'.
I was now working on my final piece of this months edition of Us and Them, a lifestyle magazine directed solely at women. I was thankful for the job, but only really saw it as a stepping stone towards working for a more well known and international publication in New York or LA.
This new job would be another step up the ladder towards my dream.
I began reading over the work I'd been doing the previous week when Annie's face popped over the cubicle in front of me. She worked opposite and was my best friend in the office.
“Heyyy babe, how was your weekend? Particularly Friday night?” Her voice was always upbeat.
“Friday night?”
“Err, yeah, fight night down at the Cave. Everyone's talking about it.”
So that's what all the commotion was about. All the girls were probably lusting over yet another glorious Cade Logan victory.
“Really? I didn't know people round here cared for local boxing.”
“Gem, everyone cares about it now. I had no idea you were seeing Cade 'The Crusher' Logan! Why didn't you tell me?!”
“Huh! How do you know?! Is that what all the girls are whispering about?” I darted my eyes around the room to see people still staring in my direction. Oh God, this was the last thing I wanted.
“Um, yeah! I mean, it's Cade Logan for Christ's sake. You know how his profile's been growing in town this year! So what's going on, are you really sleeping with him?”
I shook my head out of confusion. How did everyone know?
“So you're not?” Annie asked, seeing me shaking my head and my face contorting into this deep frown. “Well what was that about at the fight then?”
“Annie, you're gonna have to be straight with me here. I literally have no idea what you're talking about.”
She rolled her eyes and rushed around the side of the cubicle towards me, sliding into a chair and lowering her voice.
“You know the fight was televised, right?”
“No, I didn't actually. So what.”
“Well, everyone saw, Gem. We all saw Cade pointing straight at you after the fight and say 'for you'! The commentators were speculating on who you were. You were next to two of his brothers, right? God they're all so hot, I'm so jealous! Seriously, what's been going on with you two?”
“Nothing much,” I lied, “we're just seeing each other casually. It's not that big a deal, I don't know why everyone's so excited by it.”
Annie scoffed and glanced round at the many sets of eyes still lingering on us. “Excited might not be the word I'd use. I think they're all pretty envious Gem. Have you seen the tweets?”
I shook my head.
“Check this out. But be warned, you might not like it.”
I took a deep breath as Annie took control of my computer and brought up this twitter feed about Cade. It was populated with tweets from jealous girls asking who I was and saying he could do a lot better. I read down the list: the things these girls were saying were appalling, so insulting and abusive.
“What the hell is all this?” I asked, slightly shocked.
“It's just stupid jealous girls. Take no notice of them. I just thought, you know, you'd better know what's going on.”
I'd rather not if this was what people were saying about me. Ignorance is bliss and all that.
I couldn't quite believe how bitchy these girls could be. They didn't know Cade, they didn't know me. I mean, he'd only recently become well known around here. It wasn't like he was a national icon or anything, just a young boxer making his way. One day, maybe, but not now.
I guess, though, even small fish seemed big when in a small pond, and Branton wasn't exactly New York.
“Soooo, tell me,” Annie said, dragging my eyes away from the abusive insults littering the computer screen, “what exactly is going on then with sexy Cade Logan? How did you meet him? You haven't been moonlighting as a boxing journalist have you?!”
“Not exactly,” I said, shutting down the browser, “it's kind of a long story, and I've got a lot of work to do.”
Work, sure. I meant plagiarizing off of Google.
Annie stood up and took a step back.
“Say no more. You can tell me at lunch,” he said with a wink and a nod.
She stood and sped round the side of the cubicle towards her own computer screen, sitting down and disappearing from sight.
In reality I didn't want to talk, or think, about Cade right now. We'd been seeing each other for over 6 months but things weren't quite as smooth as they had been. I hadn't seen him since storming off after his fight on Friday night and he hadn't called. He'd been such a douche it was almost unbearable. I think he actually liked the attention he was getting from all of these sluts in the audience.
God knows what he'd been feeling about all of this new Internet attention he was getting. I guess it was something he'd have to get used to. I just wasn't sure I wanted to be around to see it.
My phone rang and snapped me from my thoughts.
“Good morning, Gemma Watson speaking.”
“Hi Gemma, would you come to Mrs Banks' office please. She'd liked to have a word.”
Martha Banks was my editor-in-chief, the woman who ran the magazine. She was pretty unforgiving and was never shy in telling me what she thought of my work if she didn't like it. Whenever I was called in to see her, it was rarely good news.
I stood and walked through the office, purposefully avoiding the glances of the girls still talking in their little office cliques, and down the corridor away from the main floor. At the end was a glass fronted office with the words EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, MARTHA BANKS emblazoned across it. As if people wouldn't realize that this office belonged to the boss.
In a cosy little nook outside of the door sat Mrs Banks' secretary, Brenda, a middle aged woman who'd worked for her for over two decades.
“Hi Gemma,” she said, “Mrs Banks' should be waiting for you. You can go in.”
I nodded and clasped my hand to the door handle before twisting slowly and creeping in and shutting the door behind me.
“Ah, just the girl I wanted to see. Gemma, how are you?”
She sat upright behind a white desk, a single Mac in front of her. She wore a smile on her thin red lips, her skin pale and hair jet black. She was over 50 years old but looked more like 40, her many facelifts and botox injections helping her stay young.
I stayed lingering by the door, still a little uncomfortable at being summoned so early on a Monday morning.
“I'm OK Mrs Banks', and you?”
She stood up and paced around the desk. “Fine dear, yes fine. Now come here, there's something I want to talk to you about.”
Her voice was more bouncy than normal as she sat down on a black leather sofa next to a large open window looking down onto the city. She held out her hand and gestured for me to sit on the chair opposite, a coffee table full of old editions of the magazine between us.
I sat and waited for her to speak as she slipped an electronic cigarette out of her handbag and took a drag.
“Right Gemma, I've heard something rather interesting about you this morning and I wanted to ask you first-hand.”
Oh God, I knew where this was going. Her too!
“Now apparently you are currently in a relationship with a certain Cade Logan. I know the family but have only recently heard of the young man's newly found status as a local hero and, for want of a better word, heart-throb.”
She took another puff of her fake cigarette.
“So, tell me, what's going on between the two of you?”
“Well Mrs Banks', I suppose we're dating.”
“You mean you two are f*cking?”
I was slightly taken aback by her forward approach. She never did mince words.
“Um yeah. Well, I hope it's slightly more than that, we've been seeing each other a while now.”
“How long?” she asked quickly.
“About 8 or so months.”
She nodded her head. “So rather in line with his upward trajectory in our lovely city of Branton here?”
It was true. Cade's profile had been rising steadily with each fight and he'd been beating opponent for fun since we met. That's why he always called me his lucky charm.
“I suppose so.”
Mrs Banks pulled the cigarette from her mouth and thrust it back into her handbag, still keeping her eyes on me. I could see her mind ticking over. I knew what she was after.
“Gemma, as you know there's a promotion coming up that we're looking to fill in the next few months.”
My ears pricked up.
“Of course, I always prefer to recruit from within the magazine, rather than search for talent outside. I think that you have the sort of talent we're looking for.”
My breathing was increasing with excitement. Was she about to promote me right now?!
“You understand, of course, that I'm looking at several options and the selection process is fairly comprehensive.”
Great, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.
“In particular, I like potential candidates to give me a great write up on something the magazine, and it's readers, are really going to take to. I'd expect a double page spread, something edgy, something that will get people talking, something exclusive.” She put some extra emphasis on the final word.
“It appears to me that with your proximity to Cade Logan, you might be ideally suited to find that exclusive we're looking for. If his profile continues to rise, it could work very nicely for your future career.”
“But he's my boyfriend....isn't that a bit, I don't know, unethical?”
Mrs Banks leaned back in the chair and smiled. “Well that's just a point of view, isn't it? I'm sure our readers would love an exclusive scoop on young Mr Logan.”
“What sort of scoop?”
“Well darling, I can't be figuring out every little detail for you. This is your test to see whether you'll make a good journalist or not. Get me something good, something that will sell, and the job is yours.”
“And the other candidates?”
She scoffed. “Unless they have the inside track on the town's new golden boy as well, I think you'll be safe. Do this for me Gemma, and your journalistic world will open up ahead of you.”
She stood suddenly and paced back around towards her desk. “Now back to work,” she said, her voice businesslike once more. “I want your proposal on my desk by the end of the week. We can then discuss this further.”
I stood up and walked towards the door, her final words stopping me in my tracks.
“This is a great opportunity for you Gemma, don't waste it. You never know when another might come along.”
She sent her eyes back to her computer as I walked through the door and drifted back over towards my own little space in the corner of the main floor. I could see Annie's eyes tracing my journey as I walked towards her, a look of concern on her face at my deep frown.
I mean, the idea of getting that promotion was all I could ever want. Mrs Banks was right, it really would open up my world, set my career on the sort of trajectory that I'd always craved. It was what I'd wanted since I was a girl, ever since I saw Lois Lane rush around looking for a great story. She'd stumbled onto Superman, and that was the making of her. Maybe Cade could do the same for me?.
But I knew him well enough now, and I knew the family. He wasn't one for the spotlight. You could tell that by the way he acted in his fights. He was no-nonsense, utterly committed to battle, not wanting any other distractions around him at all. If I did a piece on him it would be seen by millions, all over the country and not just in Branton.
I knew he wouldn't want that sort of attention on him, that he would never want to give an exclusive to a reporter, to spill the details of his life. His life beyond the ring, of course, was rather complicated.
And so was mine.