Tongue Tied

Chapter 13

"You're kidding me right? This is a joke?" Carlie accidentally spit popcorn across the room as she spoke, staring wide-eyed at me. "You're fired in two weeks if you don't get Sean to change his mind? This is insane, Bree! Why would you put yourself in this position?"

I'd just spent twenty minutes detailing the situation to Carlie and having to repeat myself two or three times. Saying it out loud and then hearing her say it made it sound a whole lot stupider than it had when I mentioned it to Mr. Hilliard.

"I need to keep my job. I can't just let him fire me without a fight," I groaned, burrowing further into her plush sofa pillows. "If there's a chance I can stay with Corbin and Hilliard for another year or two until I can get a promising offer elsewhere, that's what I want to do. I want to keep my plan."

She shook her head, sipping on a glass of pink lemonade. "Yeah. We all want to stay employed. But why, of all things you could've suggested to him, did you pick something this difficult?" she frowned. "I mean, I don't know this Bald Asshole guy you talk about, but-"

"Ass-worth." I burst out laughing, correcting her on the juvenile nickname I'd given Sean.

"Right." She tried to keep a serious expression. "He's a bald asshole as far as I'm concerned."

Neither of us could contain ourselves, rolling around the couch in a fit of laughter. Carlie managed to spill a quarter of her lemonade on her new jeans, as if the popcorn mess on the floor wasn't already enough to clean up.

"My point is," she coughed, finally calming down. A broad grin was still plastered on her face but quickly faltered as she continued. "This guy doesn't sound like the type to reconsider. What makes you think he will?"

I didn't think Sean would reconsider. I was sure he was perfectly content with Harper Media and the ideas they'd presented him with. But there was always a possibility. A possibility I was more than willing to go after.

I sat up straighter, pulling a soft, squishy pillow onto my lap. "It's not that I think he will," I tried to explain. "But if there's a chance he might, that's good enough for me. People like Sean are always looking for the best option that fits the budget they've set for themselves and is sure to bring in the crowd they're trying to attract. If I can take Harper Media's idea and improve it to something Sean would be crazy to refuse, how can he say no?"

Carlie looked skeptical. "It just that... You know, I knew the agent you were before you and Alec had that truce or whatever it was, and Competitive You versus Competitive Him just sounds like a wildfire waiting to happen. I don't want this to backfire and you end up getting hurt."

I understood where she was coming from, but I was already hurt over Alec ignoring me and Harper Media getting Rutherford Laurence's business. I was already hurt over Mr. Hilliard wanting to fire me. How much shittier could it get? The worst that could happen would be Sean telling me no and Mr. Hilliard going ahead and firing me. I was prepared for that. I could survive that. There were plenty other agencies I could apply to.

"I know," I agreed. It had been awhile since Alec and I had competed for clients but the bad memories and residual scars were still fairly fresh. "I'm not necessarily looking forward to it, but if I want to keep my job, this is what I've got to do."

Later that evening was the Hawthorne Hills Gala, an annual black-tie event put on by Hawthorne Hills Hospital - try saying that five times fast - to raise money for cancer and heart disease patients, as well as research into the illnesses. Hawthorne had been doing this for nine years and since the first gala, they'd raised over fourteen million dollars. It was a fancy event, complete with a red carpet, chocolate fountain, and full band. I felt like I was attending the Oscars every time I went. There was speculation as to how much of that fourteen million had gone into just putting on the event every year but no one ever publicly brought it up.