Page 5
Story: Beyond the Hate
Jeremy chuckles as he sits at the table. “You have to give her credit. She’s persistent.”
I shrug. I have no interest in my secretary. She’s not the one who heats my blood. “She does her job well.”
“Do you have the presentation ready?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m not the one who thinks a deadline is a suggestion.”
“People get way too worked up about deadlines.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe you’re a billionaire.”
“Hey!” He points a finger at me. “You are, too.”
“Because I invested in your app.”
When Jeremy asked for seed money to launch his app company while we were still in college, I offered him the money I’d saved up for the next semester’s tuition. I figured I’d never see the money again and would have to take out a loan for tuition.
Instead, the app had more than one thousand downloads on the first day. And from there, things went crazy.
“Don’t sell yourself short. You worked just as hard as I did those first few years out of college.”
Between being the CFO forApparooand the CEO ofBuccaneer’s Whiskey,I still work my ass off. But now, instead of couch surfing to save money, I have a luxurious apartment here in California and my dream house on Smuggler’s Hideaway.
Life is good. If a bit lonely. Thoughts of Paisley flash into my mind again but I force them out. A senior management meeting is not the time or place to think about the woman who hates my guts.
I wake up my laptop and connect it to the screen. I open my presentation andHelp me!screeches from the speakers.
“What the hell?” I press escape to get out of the presentation but nothing happens.
Jeremy bursts into laughter. “Look.”
On the big screen, a man labelled Eli is being chased by a shark labeled Miranda. The theme song ofJawsplays in the background while the cartoon Eli screams for help.
“It’s a good thing the other managers haven’t arrived yet,” Jeremy manages to say between his barks of laughter.
I glare at him.
He holds up his hands. “It’s not me who pranked the IT team.”
I grit my teeth. “It was an accident.”
“An accident? Their coffee machine broke and you were doused in coffee. You could have at least covered your tracks.”
I throw my arms in the air. “For the last time. I didn’t break the machine. I was trying to fix it.”
He pats my shoulder. “Maybe you should stick to numbers instead of actual machinery.”
I growl at him. “Says the man who doesn’t know how a toilet plunger works.”
“You’re the one who wanted to go out for Mexican food.”
“You could have told me you were allergic to Chipotle peppers.”
“I didn’t know.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “You’d never eaten Mexican food before in your life?”
“We’ve been over this. It’s not my fault I never ordered extra spicy before.”
I shrug. I have no interest in my secretary. She’s not the one who heats my blood. “She does her job well.”
“Do you have the presentation ready?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m not the one who thinks a deadline is a suggestion.”
“People get way too worked up about deadlines.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe you’re a billionaire.”
“Hey!” He points a finger at me. “You are, too.”
“Because I invested in your app.”
When Jeremy asked for seed money to launch his app company while we were still in college, I offered him the money I’d saved up for the next semester’s tuition. I figured I’d never see the money again and would have to take out a loan for tuition.
Instead, the app had more than one thousand downloads on the first day. And from there, things went crazy.
“Don’t sell yourself short. You worked just as hard as I did those first few years out of college.”
Between being the CFO forApparooand the CEO ofBuccaneer’s Whiskey,I still work my ass off. But now, instead of couch surfing to save money, I have a luxurious apartment here in California and my dream house on Smuggler’s Hideaway.
Life is good. If a bit lonely. Thoughts of Paisley flash into my mind again but I force them out. A senior management meeting is not the time or place to think about the woman who hates my guts.
I wake up my laptop and connect it to the screen. I open my presentation andHelp me!screeches from the speakers.
“What the hell?” I press escape to get out of the presentation but nothing happens.
Jeremy bursts into laughter. “Look.”
On the big screen, a man labelled Eli is being chased by a shark labeled Miranda. The theme song ofJawsplays in the background while the cartoon Eli screams for help.
“It’s a good thing the other managers haven’t arrived yet,” Jeremy manages to say between his barks of laughter.
I glare at him.
He holds up his hands. “It’s not me who pranked the IT team.”
I grit my teeth. “It was an accident.”
“An accident? Their coffee machine broke and you were doused in coffee. You could have at least covered your tracks.”
I throw my arms in the air. “For the last time. I didn’t break the machine. I was trying to fix it.”
He pats my shoulder. “Maybe you should stick to numbers instead of actual machinery.”
I growl at him. “Says the man who doesn’t know how a toilet plunger works.”
“You’re the one who wanted to go out for Mexican food.”
“You could have told me you were allergic to Chipotle peppers.”
“I didn’t know.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “You’d never eaten Mexican food before in your life?”
“We’ve been over this. It’s not my fault I never ordered extra spicy before.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124