Page 13 of Mr. February

A laugh burst out of Wade against his will.

“Fuck that guy,” Wade said.

“Don’t curse me like that.”

“How the fuck does he still have a job here?” Wade sat heavily on his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. “He is such a dick to everyone who works here and to customers. How is he not a huge liability?”

“I don’t know, man. There was a rumor that he was related to Elizabeth, but I asked her flat out, and she said no. I can’t see her lying about that, but he doesn’t belong here. I’m fucking glad he’s not on our team.”

“Yeah, no shit, though I would have gone to HR about him if that were the case. Sucks for Kenny. I thought for sure I was going to be saddled with Jeff on this trip, and I might have been tempted to break my own tooth to get out of it.”

“But now you get Jenny instead. That’s interesting, don’t you think?”

“I am so pissed off right now, I can’t even think about that.”

“Don’t let Jeff get to you. I don’t like him, either, but he’s not nearly as much of an asshole when you’re not around. For some reason, he’s always trying to get a rise out of you.”

“Well, it fucking works. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t spend the whole conference hitting on woman, cheating on his girlfriend, and harassing Jenny. God, can you imagine if the two of them had to drive up there together?”

Wade’s temper flared again as Jeff’s words about her zipped through his mind. He clenched and unclenched his hands, but it wasn’t enough. After a few seconds, he popped up from his chair.

“I need to go for a walk to calm down, or I’m going to march across the building and punch that fucker through a wall.”

“Am I supposed to dissuade you?” Kyle asked with a snarky grin.

“Except for Jeff, I like this job. And I like not being arrested, so I need to calm down. But if I run into him on the way, I’m not sure I can be held responsible for my actions.”

“You want some company?”

“I don’t think I’d be very good company right now. I just want to break something.”

“Or someone,” Kyle said.

“Yeah, or someone.”

WADE

“Do you have a playlist you want to listen to?” Wade asked Jenny once they got on the highway.

The past week had flown by as he prepared to be out of the office for several days. As a result, he hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with Jenny since the surprising announcement that she’d be attending in Kyle’s place.

Robert, Elizabeth’s executive assistant, took care of changing all the travel arrangements from Kyle to Jenny. Other than that, all he knew was to meet her at the office today, and they’d take a company car to the conference together.

“You’re the driver. Shouldn’t you get first pick?” she said.

He shrugged. “I like all kinds of music.”

“Even pop music?”

Her tone made him think her question was a trap, but he couldn’t see the pitfalls. He liked pop music, as well as hard rock, heavy metal, Mongolian throat singing, outlaw country, hip hop, drum and bass, nineties alt rock, and more.

“Sure. Pop music is popular because it’s fun and catchy.”

Jenny referenced a popular singer, and Wade grinned widely.

“My sister and I saw her in concert a few years ago, and we had a blast.”

“Really?Youwent to one of her concerts?”

---