minimarket. The morning began ominously, with my car not starting. Luckily, Nolan was nice enough to drive me to the hotel. With my blessing, he ordered room service up in the bridesmaids’ suite and crashed on my pillowtop bed while we got ready in Jane’s room.
I placed three bottles of cold, lime-flavored Perrier water, an apple, and a banana in a basket. All for Jane, of course. For me, I grabbed a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. My comfort food. Mental note: do NOT touch any bridal shit with flaming red cheese dust fingers.
Revised mental note: pour the Cheetos directly into mouth. No cheese dust fingers!
“Can I get those for you? Or at least charge them to Sean’s room?”
I looked up to find Asher grinning at me. He had a fresh haircut and no beard. He also looked tan and had less of a beer gut. That movie deal had done him wonders.
“Hey, how are you, Mister Hollywood?” I asked cheerily. We’d be walking down the aisle together within a few hours, smiling fakely at the camera and at all the wedding guests. After the reception I could go back to mostly disliking him.
Asher snorted. “Yeah, you can thank my dad for that. He’s the one who brokered all the film and TV deals. He and Ian go way back and had a lot of discussions already in the works before Ian told me our studio was producing GoW. As for hard-earned success, you win hands down. I’m just a plain, lucky white dude at a video game company. You’re Melody Joo, slayer of internet trolls.” He unloaded everything from his basket onto the counter and I added my purchases too. “So, the news isn’t out yet, but I accepted an offer at a start-up game studio in Bellevue. I’m going to be a senior producer! I wanted to go somewhere my dad couldn’t interfere. Want me to put in a good word for you there?”
“Nah, I’m good.” Things at Seventeen were much better now. Great, in fact. My raise and bonus came through, and a few weeks after the UA launch, I was now in charge of Ultimate Apocalypse 2 production with my own small team.
The cashier said, “Twenty-two dollars and ten cents, sir.”
“Damn, Melody, how many bags of Cheetos did you buy?” Asher laughed. “Please charge it to penthouse 1201.” He turned to me. “I heard they have two Jacuzzis in there. You know, one for each of them.”
He grabbed a few infant-size bottles of local artisan handcrafted vodka by the cash register. “Add these, too, please. To celebrate.”
The cashier smiled politely as she handed Asher his liquor and pushed my brown bag full of sundries toward me, with Chester Cheetah peeking over the top.
“Do you need to go up right now? We could have a . . . pre-party.”
I couldn’t tell if he was being gross or not. “I need to go up to the room or Jane will freak out. Candace will be here soon for hair and makeup, and then it’s wedding time. I’m the only one here to help Her Highness.”
“Sean’s been a bit of a prima donna prick today too. He’s stressed, but happy. Sounds like those two were meant to be.”
Asher’s phone buzzed. His eyes bulged as he read his message. “Holy shit, Melody. Look at this.”
Sue from HR sent a shocking email on a Saturday afternoon. “It is with mixed emotions that we announce that Ian MacKenzie has stepped down from the role of CEO of Seventeen Studios. Ian will remain at the company, dedicating his time to special projects. Our interim CEO, Tope Claybrooks, joins our company in two weeks . . .”
“Isn’t this great?” Asher bellowed. “Ian’s getting demoted! Anyone who is assigned ‘special projects’ at Seventeen is basically getting pushed out. It’s a bullshit thing that companies say when they don’t want it to look like that person is getting kicked to the curb right away. Trust me, the only special projects Ian is working on are cover letters and updating his résumé.”
“Wow, I thought guys like him were untouchable.” I never thought someone like Ian could fall so mightily.
Asher grinned. “If enough people complain about you to HR, you become a liability to the company.” He lowered his voice. “You remember how I went to Sue and told her about how he asked me to leak your game info? Well, my dad actually told the board. Other employees have complained about him, too. I wasn’t the only