Page 17 of Pride and Privilege

Reassured himself.

Aubrey glanced up. He met Roscoe’s eyes, but for a moment he did not speak.

“What?” Roscoe said.

It took Aubrey another moment to weigh his words. “I know how much it means to you to feel like you’re one of us. And I know how hard you’ve worked to prove that you deserve to be here. And I believe it. I do. Even without your name, you could apply for a job anywhere—any of our competitors—and you’d be in the door, no problem.”

“But?”

“But youareRoscoe Blackton. And pretending otherwise doesn’t change that fact.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to quote Spiderman at me?”

Aubrey smiled slightly. “‘With great power comes great responsibility?’It’s true enough. Your name carries weight. And you might want to forget it, but the rest of us can’t.”

“So everyone’s brown-nosing, are they? Everyone’s cowering, too scared to say no, and no one here is really my friend?”

“What I’m saying is, as the kids may or may not still put it, you might need to check your privilege.”

But the first thing Roscoe actually checked when he arrived at his desk was his emails. And then, eyes fixed on the name written there, the next thing he did was call HR.

No matter how much she was dreading it, Poppy went to work on Monday. Quitting was hardly an option. Besides, she was outof food, and BlacktonGold provided complimentary fruit in the staff kitchen.

She would get paid in twelve days—the Friday after the Easter Bank holiday. BG’s payday was the fifteenth of every month. Which was extremely inconvenient, but it was a whim of George Blackton. Legend had it that he’d taken his first pay cheque out of the newly founded company on the fifteenth. And so the tradition continued. Screw everyone else’s monthly budgets.

Maybe people would bring cake to the office. Easter chocolate. And, as always, she’d be the one who took what was on offer and never contributed anything in return. She knew she had a reputation for being stingy, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. The way life was going, she’d probably get caught swiping excess fruit from the kitchen and be sacked for theft.

Maybe her life was a Dickens novel and she was bound for debtor’s prison, for the street, for grubby rags and a begging bowl.

She’d already attempted to sell her body. And look how well that had gone.

Her heart raced as she stepped into the building. Raced harder as she got into the lift. Practically killed her as she walked quickly past his office, head down, no idea if he was there.

This would be how she survived. Never look at him. Keep her head down and develop a highly specific and severe case of Roscoeblacktonblinditis. And amnesia.

But when had the world ever cared about what Poppy Fields wanted? Thirty minutes after she sat down at her desk, her boss Liz walked in beaming and said, “Good news, Poppy. You’re going to be Roscoe Blackton’s EA!”

EIGHT

“I don’t need anExecutive Assistant,” Roscoe told the woman in HR over the phone.

Poppy Fields…

The name was there on his screen, in black and white. He’d been stuck staring at it unblinking for so long it was probably going to be burnt into his retinas forever. The same way the feel of her waist was burnt into his fingers.

The sound of her dismayed laugh when he tried to kiss her.

Let’s be honest…everyone knows how it works at BG…

Melanie in HR left a polite pause. If Aubrey was right about his supposed influence at BG, she ought to nod, agree, and cancel this ridiculously unnecessary staffing arrangement right away. But Roscoe clearly held less sway than his friend assumed. Because Melanie said, “Of course, it’s entirely up to you to structure your team as you see fit.Butit’s going to take a while for you to recruit the people you want, which is why it’s a great idea to take Poppy on secondment from George’s EA team. We’d normally recruit a temp, but with your current workload, Georgesuggested that someone who knows the company already would be a better solution—someone who can dive right in. And Liz and I agree. Liz suggested Poppy, and I have to say, I know her, and she’s extremely capable. Very bright.”

Heat prickled the back of his neck. His hand was sweaty on the phone. It felt more like anger than embarrassment, but the two had been mingled together in a fairly toxic brew ever since Friday night and he could barely tell them apart.

“Just get me a temp. No need to take anyone out of George’s team.”

“I’m sorry, Roscoe, but Liz already discussed it with Poppy. If it’s really not what you want, we can rescind the offer. But as I said, it’s only a secondment until you recruit your own people. Is there, ah, any reason for not wanting Poppy Fields in your team?”

Because she thinks I’m an exploitative man-slut?

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