Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 15945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 53(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 53(@300wpm)
My phone rings and I answer it. “Hey Jinny, what’s up?”
“When are you going to come to see me?” she asks. She lives in Gatlinburg and is still in school. I am proud of her for going after what she wants.
“When I get a chance, girl. But soon,” I promise.
“I’m going to hold you to that, Hope. I miss you. I miss everyone.”
“We have to get together soon,” I tell her.
“Ooh, I’ll plan something,” Jinny says.
“Well, let me know. I’m about to walk into a restaurant,” I tell her, and we end the call. I can’t help noticing the long line of limos parked across the street from the sushi place but ignore them. Limos are a dime a dozen in the city. I’m used to eating alone because I have a problem. I fall in love with the wrong men all the time, but I fall out it just a quickly. It’s a problem because all I want is to be loved, really loved but I ruin that by falling too fast for straight up douche bags. I’ve promised myself that in the future, I’ll use more discretion when it comes to men. Pessimism in my new motto.
It has to be.
CHAPTER 2
AYERTON LOTUS
I hate shit like this. My gaze sweeps the room and I see people smiling, bottles being popped, and champagne being poured like its water. Never mind the fact that I put this shindig together to welcome my new VP of Marketing. Hell, it was the least I could do. I was fucking lucky to steal him from Swanson and Lake investments.
I met Esteban Jimenez last year when he was just a grunt. A low-level investment baby, clawing his way to the top, being overlooked in a sea of nepotism. He had no idea he was hitching his wagon to the wrong horse. Hell, Jasper Swanson knows his son is a piece of shit and is going to run his business into the ground. That’s the reason I was at the damn meeting where I first met Esteban. Jasper and his partner Joey Lake called me in under the pretense of trying to bridge the gap but what they really wanted was me to bail them out. Again. I have this uncanny ability to know talent and potential when I see it. So, on my way out I handed him a card and told him when he was done getting nowhere, to come and see me.
Six weeks ago, he showed up at my office, frustrated and fed up with his job. He brought his portfolio with him, showing me the growth he helped his clients get. To say I was impressed was an understatement. He took one client's retirement fund and doubled it in sixteen weeks with investments alone. That is brilliant. I asked him about his non-compete clause he told me something that fucking shocked me. They didn’t make him sign one. I found this unbelievable. No company in this industry in their right mind would leave that out. But then he told me JJ, Jasper’s son, was the one who gave him his employee contract. Yeah. Makes sense now. Right then and there I stood, shook his hand, offered him a job and sent him to HR.
I called and gave his notice to Jasper. I listened to him stutter, wax on about how unprofessional it was to poach his employees. He then tried selling me on the non-compete. When I informed him he didn’t sign one thanks to his son, I damn near laughed out loud at the way his voice changed. Dumb fuck.
Now here I am, throwing a welcome cocktail party, looking for a way to escape. I have never been one for crowds and loud places. “You look like you're ready to bolt.” I turn and look at Val, my HR person. Of all the people here, she has been with me the longest and knows me the best.
“No shit,” I grumble and turn back to the room.
“Then leave, A.” I grimace at her when she calls by the nickname only she could get away with. At the mere suggestion of leaving my shoulders begin to relax. “You already did the speech, stayed longer than anyone expected and paid for all this. You are free to leave. Hell, most will be happy when you do because they will really let their hair down.” I mentally shutter as my mind conjures the ways that will happen.
“If I go you have to stay and make sure nothing that happens turns into an HR nightmare tomorrow.” She rolls her eyes at me and puts her hand on her hips.
“What do you take me for? Get out of here,” she says before walking away to go babysit.
“Are you leaving?” Esteban asks as he walks towards me.
“Yeah. This is not my type of scene.”