Raine (Gods of the Fifth Floor #2) - M.V. Ellis Page 0,23
like a successful and profitable company.
There was obviously way more to their dynamic than I could understand based on just one exchange, or else they’d have murdered each other or gone out of business by now.
That thought reminded me that I was going to google Raine. I’d have a look at whatever I could find about the company as well, to see if I could glean any more information about what and who I was dealing with. It occurred to me too late that maybe I should have done that over the weekend, when I knew where I was being sent today, so that I would’ve had an idea what I was walking into.
Hindsight, as always, was a bitch. I made a note to do that in future if I was given a heads up on where I would be for my next assignment. Forewarned was forearmed, after all, and I couldn’t imagine that there wouldn’t be information about these guys that would have helped me.
The briefing that Angie had given me as she took me round for the tour had been useful, but I could tell that she was holding back a little—whether out of loyalty to her employers, or fear that I’d run in the opposite direction if I found out the truth, I didn’t know.
An hour later, I raised my head from my internet foraging expedition with a trailer-load of information about the four guys who ran BR&ND and about the business itself, and it was definitely eye-opening stuff. The four had a reputation for being these uber-talented mavericks, who, since launching the business a little more than five years earlier, had taken the industry by storm and disrupted the status quo, doing things their way and on their own terms.
Clients apparently loved what they did, as they had an unbroken track record for winning new business, and were turning prospective clients away practically every day. It was a privileged position for any agency to be in for sure, but the four—who were best friends from their Yale days, and had set up the company a few years after graduating and working in different fields for a while—were no strangers to privilege.
What the reports didn’t mention was that, as well as being well-educated, intelligent, and professionally accomplished, the four guys looked like they’d walked off the front cover of a fashion magazine. It was crazy how good looking and well-built they all were. I knew clichés existed for a reason, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t spun out to find myself in the middle of one.
The rest of the day passed without incident. Raine had gone into his office after the meeting and hadn’t really come out. He’d asked not to be interrupted, unless it was one of the other partners. Apart from when, as per the instruction manual, I’d gone into his room briefly to drop him a tray of sushi from one of the restaurants on the ground floor of the complex, I hadn’t heard a word from him all day.
In fact, even when I’d brought him the sushi, he’d barely looked up as I’d entered the room, and hadn’t thanked me when I’d placed the food down on his desk. Likewise, when I’d delivered the five coffees he’d requested throughout the day—who the hell drank that many coffees, anyway?
In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t recall hearing a thank you from him at any point. I guessed he was just really absorbed in his work. Or really rude. Or both. Not that I actually cared. I’d already made my mind up that at the end of the day, I was going to call the agency and tell them that I could no longer do the assignment. The high-flying corporate PA gig just really wasn’t my thing, and I knew Raine would agree. I was sure he wouldn’t be sad to see me go.
I glanced at the time on my computer screen. Five after five. As weirdly crazy as the day had been, somehow the time had flown by, even though I’d felt like I was doing nothing but making coffee for a good part of it. Correction. I had done nothing but make coffee and read online. At least, staring at the screen gave the appearance of being busy, even if I wasn’t. And it stopped me from falling asleep. Other than that, I’d doodled. My discreet doodle game was strong.