Page 6 of Faking It With My New Boss

“Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning. My name is Courtney Reynolds. I have an interview.”

“Go ahead up to the fourth floor,” the receptionist said. “They will help you there.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I went over to the elevator at the side of the lobby and pushed the button to bring me up. The doors opened and I stepped inside. A second later, I noticed the man walking toward the elevator. The pace of his steps picked up, telling me he fully intended on coming into the elevator with me.

Without even thinking the action all the way through, I pressed the button to close the doors and smirked at him as it closed right in his face. It was petty, but at least it gave me a little moment of satisfaction.

When I got up to the fourth floor, I approached another desk.

“Good morning,” I repeated. “My name is Courtney Reynolds. I’m here for an interview with Greg McNally.”

The woman glanced at the calendar in front of her and nodded. She gestured to the other side of the open floor and I saw a small waiting area set up with several chairs and a coffee table.

“You can wait right over there. It will just be a few minutes,” she said.

I nodded and thanked her before heading over to sit down. A quick glance at my phone when I sat told me my appointment time was in just ten minutes. I’d used more time at the coffee shop than I intended and wasn’t as early as I liked to be to things like this. It was a relief to be asked to wait. At least that meant I hadn’t kept them waiting.

Chapter Four

Bryan

I got to the fourth floor a little later than I intended to because of the vile woman who shut the elevator door on me. I was hot, sweaty and ready to take a quick rinse in the shower I had installed in my old office years ago. Since I was still working on getting my things together and there was still the scepter of the event hanging over my head, I had decided to leave the top floor office for now and stay in the one I had since I took the corporate job right out of college.

The fourth floor was the center of the action when it came to the administration stuff. We had rooms all over the floor and offices for most of the managers and executives. Mine was the front left corner office and included its own suite in case I felt like crashing at the office, which I had done on a few occasions. I didn’t spend a lot of time in the building the last few years, opting to be on the road and checking other locations, but when I was there, it wasn’t unusual for me to stay in the suite rather than go home. At least at the office, there was always someone tooling around the building.

The secretary my father had employed for years decided to retire when he passed, but I had asked her to hire a new assistant for me before she left. It worked for me, since my plan was pretty simple. We were both new to the job. She wouldn’t know that her duties didn’t, in fact, include doing all the legwork to prepare for the party, leaving me to waltz in and host and be done with it.

I really despised the idea of the party at all. It was so unnecessary. What good was it going to do? Were they hazing me? Was it some setup to make sure I failed at the job? I didn’t know. All I knew for sure was that it was dumb and I didn’t want to do it. That meant forcing the job on someone else, and since the new assistant wouldn’t know it wasn’t her job, she was the ideal candidate.

If I could just get through it, everything else would fall into place. They would give up on trying to run me out of the company or hazing me to make me feel like part of the team. Then I could quietly and ruthlessly fire each one of the ones I felt was responsible for it over the next few months. By this time next year, they would all be gone, and I would be the primary shareholder in the company.

My appointment was set up with the new assistant for just fifteen minutes from when I got off the elevator. It didn’t leave me a lot of time to get clean and change. The gym in the basement of the building was a key piece of enticement for me since it meant I could just work out while I worked half the time, but since I had to be presentable for my first meeting, I needed to get back in and get dressed in a hurry.

I brushed by the receptionist just outside my door and made my way into my office. It was gorgeous in there, and not for the first time, I wondered if I should ever take the top floor office when this one was so perfect for me. Sure, the top floor office had a few more amenities and its own gym, which was nice, but this one felt like mine. I would forever be in Dad’s office up there.

Flipping the television on in the suite, I ducked into the bathroom, turning on the water and setting out some towels. Placing a new suit on the bed, I hopped in the shower and rinsed off as quickly as I could. Time was ticking away and I needed to do my meeting before people started to think that I was as out of practice and unprofessional as apparently the rumors about me were floating.

Once I was out, I got dressed quickly and checked myself in the mirror. I didn’t clean up too bad. Sweeping my hair into a part and running a little mouse through it, I looked professional enough that I felt comfortable conducting business. The tie was a little loose and the cufflinks probably didn’t match, but I was in a suit and had a little less than thirty seconds to spare.

Making my way out of the suite, I shut and locked the door, walked to the main door to the receptionist area and made my way out. The assistant should have been waiting on me, but there was no one out there, so I ducked my head into the waiting room. Usually, the waiting room was empty. There was almost never more than one person there to see me, though I figured that might change now that I was in charge. Still, it was a sparse room and I didn’t like keeping people in it.

Other than her. When I saw who was waiting in the room, I was kind of glad she had been shoved in there. She deserved worse.

Rolling my eyes, I made my way to the break room area just beyond the waiting room. I had a coffee maker in my office, but it was one of those pod things and I never liked how it tasted. I’d much rather have the coffee out of the pot in the breakroom. Filling up a cup, I walked back by the waiting room, feeling her eyes on me as I did, and into the office. As I passed her, I glared at the receptionist.

“Send her in,” I said.

“Oh, but sir, she’s not,” she began, fumbling over her words.

“I said send her in,” I said, cutting her off.

I went into the office and sat the coffee down on the desk. Looking out over the city from the large windows, I took a deep breath and grinned. I had several options. I could go for revenge and outright deny her like she denied me the ride up the elevator. I could string her along and make her think the job was hers, only to crush her spirit. Or I could hire her and torture her for a while.

I had to admit that last idea had some merit. After all, the entire point of hiring this assistant now was so she could do the jobs I absolutely did not want to do. This way, I could not only avoid the work I was hoping to avoid, but I could punish this woman for being such a raging bitch by making her do it anyway. It was a win-win situation.

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