Page 13 of Resting Grump Face
“No.”
“Name your number then.”
“Is that all that I am to you?” She feigns outrage, then dramatically lets her head fall back onto the sofa. “Just another number?”
I grumble as quietly as possible. People don’t say no to me. If there’s anything I’m good at, it’s taking care of business, efficiently. I might not enjoy it, but I am good at it. And yet, here we are, at an impasse, something I don’t encounter all that often, albeit something that seems to be a common occurrence with her. I consider my options and double down. “You wouldn’t be my assistant. You’d be hired as a PR consultant. Would that be of interest to you?”
She looks at me for a moment, but averts her eyes quickly. Another of my questions goes unanswered.
“$3000,” I say.
“Why do you need a personal PR consultant, anyway?” she asks. “Too many Casanova stories? Fostered too many illegitimate heirs? Dead bodies in your closet quelling over? Did you kick a puppy on camera?”
“Say, what was the reason your last boss actually fired you? Did you get axed for being rude? Was it your problem with accepting authority? Or because you can’t follow rules? All of those would make perfect sense.”
“I got fired for having a backbone. Not that you would know anything about that, Mr. Hands… ful Who Eats Babies For Breakfast.” Sienna reaches into her purse and pulls out her phone. She whispers my name while typing away, which inevitably forces me to think about her doing more than merely whispering my name.
“Here we go,” she finally says, then reads out loud. “First headline:‘Ruthless Ryker - Successful But At What Cost?’” Her eyes glance over to me. “Second headline: ‘CEO Of Grayson Holdings Likes Racist Tweet By Notorious Right-Wing Account’. Yikes! Third headline:‘Ryker Grayson Caught With His Pants Down. This Time Literally.’”
Fuck, it really says that? That was quick, although unsurprising.
She looks up from her screen and over to me, her eyebrows raised. “You want me to fixthat? It would probably be easier to just buy yourself a new identity and start over.”
“Lies and slander.” I wave her off. “Except that last one, and that is entirely on you.”
Sienna continues skimming through the never-ending headlines on her phone. “So you’re not a heartless asshole who does whatever it takes to make more money?” She shakes her head. “And you don’t go through ten assistants per week? Seriously, it would be easier rehabilitating Christopher Columbus. Half of this isn’t even about your company, it’s just about you and the shitty things you seem to do on a regular basis.” Sienna looks at me with what I assume to be disgust, and loathing, and contempt all at once.
“First of all, I run a tight ship at work. It is what it is, and it benefits everyone. My employees get paid handsomely every month because I’m good at what I do. Secondly, it’s all bullshit based on this dumb blog anyway. You shouldn’t believe everything—” I watch as she violently starts typing on her phone. “What are you doing?”
“Insulting my best friend,” she mumbles.
Despite her cattiness, she usually seems to have a sunny demeanor, at least when she isn’t talking to me. That has all but vanished now, her eyebrows are drawn together in an angry line.
I get up, stealthily adjust my pants a little (since I am still needlessly aroused somehow), walk over to the loveseat, and take the phone from her hands. In doing so, I accidentally press the send button.
Hey, instead of fighting with the psychopath that you locked in this room with me, I used the time to read your latest novel. Gotta say it’s very raw. Unfortunately, it’s the uncooked chicken kind of raw. Now let me out o
“Maybe they fired you because you have a temper.” I watch the three dots appear on the screen. “A bad one.”
“Yeah, well,” Sienna grumbles without even trying to get her phone back, “don’t tempt me to make that balcony thing reality.”
Olivia’s response is almost instantaneous.
Oh, quit whining. This is what great love stories are made of.
I can’t help but laugh. She is out of line, so I quickly type a reply and hit send:
Great love stories? You mean mediocre porn, right?
Well, I’m not surprised your mind would automatically go there. He is yummy, and it’s been a while since you’ve gotten laid, hasn’t it?
No, actually, it hasn’t.
Also, I’ve seen your latest review, @I<3OliviaRay69. I know the book made you —and I quote— ‘horny-cry’. I’ll check back in with you guys in half an hour or so.
“And? What is she saying?” Sienna is lounging on the chair upside down now, her head hanging off the seat, her legs raised all the way up in the air, her butt pressing against the backrest, and her dress sliding down rather low. She has nice legs too. I try not to imagine myself nestled between them.
“She’ll let us out soon enough. We are supposed to give our speeches at dinner. She can hardly keep us locked up during those.”
