Raine (Gods of the Fifth Floor #2) - M.V. Ellis Page 0,22

anything good to say. So, what did you really think? Was Nate right about me coming across as an asshole?”

“I don’t... I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask. I mean, it’s none of my...”

“For the love of God, just answer the question. Speaking as an impartial observer, did you think I sounded like a dick?”

“Well...”

I folded my arms and stared at her while I waited for the elevator. “I’m not getting any younger over here. Just spit it out.”

“Okay... well, you definitely seemed... like... a hard taskmaster, that’s for sure.”

“So, you do think I’m a bastard?”

“I mean, a little. Maybe.”

“You can’t be a little bit of an asshole. Just be honest. I can handle it, I’m a big boy.”

“Okay, yes. You did seem like an asshole.”

“Wrong answer. When we get back down to the fifth, you can get your purse and leave. I can’t have someone working for me who thinks that of me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to... I mean, you insisted.”

“Relax, I’m yanking your chain. It’s all good. I don’t give a fuck what you, or anyone else, thinks, but your look of terror was priceless. But, for future reference, that’s one of those ‘does my ass look big in these pants’ questions. Except for when you’re talking to me, the only safe answer is ‘no you didn’t seem like an asshole.”

It was a dick move, but as my entire Creative Department, my business partners, and my new temp would obviously all attest, that was me all over, and it really had been worth it to watch the panic take hold when I told her she’d screwed up, and had to leave. She’d looked like a cross between a deer in the headlights, and someone about to lose their lunch. The confusion on her face once I explained that I was messing with her had been kind of cute too, in a constipated, cross-eyed puppy kind of way.

“Look, if you’re going to work for me, you need to toughen up, and expect and anticipate whatever it is I’m about to do or say next.” Good luck with that, given I hardly know what I’m about to say or do before it happens, let alone someone else. “Did you take notes?”

“I did. For what they’re worth. I wasn’t following everything one hundred percent, and I don’t know everyone’s names. In fact, I don’t know anyone’s name except you and the other partners, so it made it difficult to attribute who said what. I did my best, though. Do you want to see?

“Hell no. I don’t need notes, it’s all up here.” I tapped my temple. “But I’m not paying you to sit around and do nothing, so I thought you might as well be in the meeting. You can throw the notes in the trash, I’ll never look at them, anyway.”

She looked as though I’d slapped her in the face. She really did need to toughen up. It seemed I’d be sending her back to the agency for being broken, like all the others who’d gone before her. So boring.

Chapter 9

Noa

* * *

As I sat back down at my desk, I was reeling. I couldn’t even get my head around what I’d just experienced. The whole thing was a lot. The meeting was like nothing I’d seen outside of the movies. I was wracking my brain trying to work out what character Raine reminded me of. Not physically—with his rugged blond surfer-style looks, his behavior was actually pretty incongruous with his appearance—but in his manner.

Looking at him, with his uber-casual designer jeans, and loose-fit shirt undone to past his nipples, I’d have said that of the four executives, he’d have been the most relaxed, but it just showed the perils of judging a book by its cover.

I didn’t have much to judge the others on, so far, except the tense exchange at the end of the meeting, but it would appear that, with the exception of the British one, who seemed quiet and refined compared to the others, they were all pretty hotheaded and intense.

It crossed my mind that it was possible that I’d just caught them at a bad time, given the stress and pressure they seemed to be under, but even taking that into account, with the amount of testosterone flying around between them as they spoke, I was surprised they hadn’t come to blows, and even more surprised that, as a partnership, they’d built what, at least on the face of it, seemed