Toto and the Boys I: Jackie

Chapter 4

If she had to do this, she had to do it right. And once she started, she couldn’t back out. This was the perfect plan she had so far, she thought. It might be a crazy plan but she was desperate. Jackie was certain it was the fastest, easiest one. It would be easy because she would have full control over it.

“Jackie,” Joseph’s voice said above her. “The report?”

“It’s here,” she answered, picking up the folder without looking at him. She was too busy looking at her computer.

“Then give it to boss Dean. What the hell is wrong with you?”

She looked at him blankly. “Won’t you check it first?”

He gave her one of his warning looks.

“Fine, I’ll take it to him.” She minimized the page on her computer, stood up and strutted her way to the Devil’s Room. “Sir,” she said, calling Dean Gamboa’s attention. He looked up from whatever he was doing and raised an eyebrow.

Handsome bastard, she muttered inside her head. You’re the perfect candidate, she added.

“Here’s the report,” she said when he didn’t say a word.

He held out his hand and she walked into the office.

There was a long silence as he studied her report. Jackie was crossing her fingers behind her back as she waited in anticipation. She was completely confident that she did a great job.

“This will do,” he finally said with a frown.

This will do? What the hell! It was the best report she had ever made in three years! When he didn’t say anything further, she slowly backed away and started walking to the door.

“Miss Ramos,” he called.

Jackie closed her eyes before she turned and faced him with a fake smile, one she perfected over the years.

“Don’t ever give me a crappy report again. Yesterday should be the last one.” His gaze was dangerous and intensely gorgeous at the same time.

“I promise,” she bit out before she faced the door and walked. “Arrogant jerk,” she added under her breath as she made her way to her desk. “Now,” she whispered to herself, going back to her work at hand. “Let’s make you a Facebook account.”

  *****

Her intention to put her plan into action was immediately cut short when Joseph told her she needed to contact people for the event, which was going to be a themed runway event sponsored by big companies for the victims of the recent typhoon. As an advertising company, it was their job to make sure that all companies would be well-exposed. And as the events planning department, it was their job to make it right.

She wanted to make a good impression on Joseph so she set aside her plan on making a Facebook account for Dean Gamboa. She accomplished one task as of the moment and that was to make a fake email address for him. Next step, make the Facebook account.

But as she searched her phonebook for the contacts Joseph was talking about, something occurred to her. How could she get a picture of Dean Gamboa, something that would seem real and not--well, stolen?

The good thing about her plan was that she could easily hide everything from her co-workers, thanks to the privacy settings of Facebook. And an additional bonus was the fact that Dean Gamboa was not a friend of anyone else. Well, maybe Joseph, since the two were almost friends. But Jackie highly doubted that Dean Gamboa had an account. The man obviously didn’t have any social life at all. And if he had one, no one was aware of it. He was single as what she heard from gossips (which was another plus) and she was grateful for that because the lady would be the unluckiest girl around.