Raine (Gods of the Fifth Floor #2) - M.V. Ellis Page 0,3
the door wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I nudged my “date” off my lap and got to my feet.
“Make yourself decent, I need to get this,” I threw over my shoulder as I moved toward the door.
I quickly disposed of the condom, then continued to make my way across the room, tucking my junk back in my pants as I went.
“What?” I wrenched the door open as though it was the cause of all my problems.
“Mr. Davies?” Her voice was hesitant.
“No.”
“Oh. Um... the receptionist directed me here, saying it was Mr. Davies’ office. Maybe I made a wrong turn. You’re not him?”
“No. Mr. Davies is my father. I’m Raine.”
“I’m sorry I... Oh. Raine Davies?”
“Who’s asking?”
“Me. People Matters Recruitment sent me. I’m a temp.PA.”
“Nope.” I began closing the door.
“The agency sent me for the temp role. Has there been some kind of mistake?”
I stopped closing the door, rolling my eyes and sighing big.
“I’ll say there’s been a fucking mistake. You have to go.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Is there no job?”
“There is, but not for you.”
“Excuse me?” She folded her arms and looked at me like she was moments away from slapping me. “I’m sorry, but I was sent here for a role, which was confirmed on Friday at 4 p.m. It’s now Monday at 8 a.m. What has changed in that time?”
“Oh, nothing’s changed at all. There was never a job here for someone like you.”
“Someone like me? Someone. Like. Me. Are you saying you’re turning me away from a job because I’m—”
“A hot chick. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. No female PAs. Especially hot ones. Dudes only.”
“I can’t... um... this is. Wow. I have the confirmation email from Carla right here.” She started rummaging in her purse, presumably for her phone.
“Who the fuck is Carla?”
“Carla Leal. She’s an account manager at Personnel Matters.”
“Never heard of her. I always deal with Arianne. Well, that’s not true. James, my old PA, always dealt with her. But that’s the only name I’ve ever heard.”
“Arianne is the owner, and Carla works for her. Arianne is on maternity leave, so Carla is covering her clients. She booked me.”
“What is this, fucking story time? I don’t give a damn about all that. I will tell you one thing, though, this Carla person has fucked up big time. Arianne knows never to send me chicks. I booked a guy called Ned. Nick. Nigel. Something like that.”
“Noa?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Noah... something.”
“Noa Hale. That’s me.”
“Your name is Noah?”
“Correct.”
“So, you have a dude’s name?”
“Well, it’s my name, so technically not a dude’s name.”
“Semantics. I’m sure you know what I mean. Normally Noah is a name given to
boys.”
“N-O-A-H, for sure, but that’s not how my name is spelled. It’s N-O-A.”
“More semantics. If a chick is called Kevin, but it has an extra e at the end, does that make it any less a guy’s name?”
“I mean, I’d say that the name belongs to whoever is called that. But in any case, mine isn’t a feminization of Noah. It’s genuinely completely separate. Its origins are Hawaiian, as are mine. It’s derived from the word for freedom. But it’s also not an uncommon Hebrew name, or Japanese, either, for that matter. In Japanese it means my love. I think that’s so cute.”
“So much talking. But when it boils down to it, you can’t tell me that you don’t mostly get mistaken for a dude, purely from seeing your name on paper.
“Oh no, I absolutely do, but I’m not responsible for other people’s understanding—or lack thereof. I guess you must find the same thing.”
“Excuse me?” What the fuck was she talking about?
“Well Raine. Surely lots of people must mistake you for a female until they meet you.” What?
“No, I can’t say they do, and while I’d love to stay and chat about the etymology of names all day long—and by love, I mean, I can’t think of anything worse—I actually have shit to do and an agency to run, so...” She just stood there staring at me, not filling in the blanks like any normal, sane person would.
“You have to go.” I figured she’d have stood there staring the whole day, if I’d let her.
“So, you’re discriminating against me because I’m female?”
“If you want to call it that, I guess you can. I only have male PAs. That’s just the way it is. It works better for everyone. Trust me.” She looked at me as though I was about as trustworthy as a venomous snake.