Page 6 of Is It Casual Now?

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“Kettlehouse!” Her boss’s voice boomed through the open plan office the moment she stepped out of the elevator at work. “My office. Now!”

“Oooh, someone’s in trouble.” Scott, the typical misogynistic journalist who hadn’t quite made it to the new century, smirked as Jamie stepped past. She wished those cigarettes he acted like no one knew about would get to killing him already.

What the hell had she done now?

She didn’t let the thought smear her features. She had been at this too long now to make such a rookie mistake. Instead, she pushed her shoulders back as she walked through the sea of desks and cubicles. It might as well have been a gauntlet.

It wasn’t as though she hadn’t had to run it before, but usually she knew what the hell the soon-to-be ass chewing was all about. Right now, she didn’t have a clue. In fact, she had even gotten an almost-grin and nod in relation to her last story.

The eyes that watched her as she passed bored into the back of her head. She’d been on the other end of this situation, so she understood the desire to stare. It had always been a schadenfreude deal—that complete relief it wasn’t her in trouble.

But still, couldn’t they at least pretend like they were too busy to want to know what was going on?

“Shut the door.” He didn’t look up as she stepped over the threshold.

She let the door fall closed behind her with a loud click. What was the point of trying to close it gently? The entire office knew she was in trouble.

“What’s up, boss?”

“ What’s up? ” Now he did look up, and how she wished he hadn’t. His eyes were filled with complete fury. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Ah.” She couldn’t keep her eyes on his as she tried again to work out what was going on. “No.”

“I’ve had call after call about you and your blog.”

“ My blog?” That was the last thing Jamie had expected him to say. Sure, she hadn’t any clue what the problem was, but it never crossed her mind that it might have anything to do with her blog. “What about my blog?”

“You’ve really put me in the shitter now, Kettlehouse.”

Damn, that was twice he’d used her last name. That didn’t bode well at all. She had to figure out the issue and find a resolution immediately.

“I told you about my blog when I first started it. You didn’t have a problem with it then. What’s happened to make it an issue now?”

“This happened.” He held up a stack of phone messages and flicked them across the desk. Some fell to the floor but most scattered over the surface in front of Jamie.

Tilting her head, she picked up some of the names. Her blood ran cold.

“How did they know to call here?”

“For a journalist, you can be a real dumbass sometimes.” He growled. “You’ve got a unique voice, kid.” Kid? Kid was a good sign. Now she just had to get him further away from Kettlehouse so she could feel like breathing easy might be possible again.

“They figured out it was me, I get that. But why bother harassing you? I’ve got all the right disclaimers on there, stating that the opinions and facts were on me and me alone. That I wasn’t associated with any paper or publication in relation to what’s written on my blog.”

“Come on, Jamie.” Jamie was good as well. This could be okay. “You aren’t that stupid. Yeah, I know you have all the right disclaimers, but that isn’t how the world works.”

“Yeah.” She rubbed her palm against the back of her neck, beneath her hair. “I know. But what are they hoping to achieve by harassing you?”

“What do you think?” His eyes met hers, and what little relief she had been clinging to fled away.

She swallowed the lump in her throat but couldn’t answer.

“Siena Frazee isn’t the kind of person to let herself be smeared and turn a blind eye.”

“Siena?” The lump hadn’t completely been swallowed, and her voice came out in a croak.

Her boss snorted. “Do you really think anyone in the industry didn’t know exactly who you were talking about?”

“I was talking about the entertainment industry as a whole.” Her defenses were up, and it was going to take some work to get them back down.

“And how the managers were the secret faces behind the stars, keeping the truth from the public while doing things like lining their pockets and taking advantage of their clients.”

Fuck. She had said that. The article had been well-researched and all the information she cited was accurate.

However…

Shit .

Her cheeks burned hot in spots, and she dreaded to think how splotchy her face now looked.

However, she had put the last touches on the article after Siena had run out on her and her fury had known no bounds—apparently.

“Okay. So what happens now?” Jamie asked hesitantly.

“They want you gone.”

“Gone?” Downgraded or reprimanded sure, but gone? “As in fired?”

“Out on your ass.” He nodded to reinforce his confirmation.

“You can’t…” Jamie trailed off, not seeing any weakness in his gaze. “This wasn’t anything that bad. I swear it wasn’t.” She didn’t have it in her to beat around the bush any longer. What the fuck? It was a single blog post. “What do I need to do?”

Sure, it had gotten a whole lot more traffic than previous blogs but still.

She shook her head, still trying to process the information. Surely, he wouldn’t just fire her.

Then again, it wasn’t the first time she’d pissed him off, but he’d never been harassed by entertainment managers either. Not like this. Were they all asking for her to be sacked? Were they all coming to Siena’s defense?

“You need to fix it!”

“Fix it?” The fear of being fired was nothing compared to the anger that rose in her chest. “You mean rescind it. Fuck that. I didn’t write anything that wasn’t true.”

“I’m sure you think using a theoretical example somehow makes it true that you didn’t lie. But that means shit in this industry, and you should have figured that out long before now.”

“I’m not rescinding it.” Jamie wouldn’t back down. She knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she had regretted doing the smart thing too many times in her life. No way in hell would she take that path with her blog. She’d worked too hard to get it to where it was and rescinding now would ultimately mean the death of her baby. She might not be the most business savvy, but she sure as shit knew this would be the nail in the coffin.

“You don’t want to rescind it, that’s your choice. But you better find some other way to fix it if you want to keep your job here.” He pointed at her as if to make his point even more clear than before.

“Like how? Getting an interview with Siena Frazee herself?”

“For that…” His eyes lit up like beacons, the idea sending thrills through him that made Jamie shudder. It didn’t help that a colleague had once commented that she bet he made the same eyes during an orgasm. “…I’ll run the article here, parallel with it on your blog.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jamie’s own eyes widened at the very idea. If she could get him to run a story alongside her blog, that could be just what she needed to get some real traction of her own.

If she could get the interview.

As if reading her mind, he smirked over his desk at Jamie. “If you can get her to agree, then absolutely.”

“Right.” That sobered her in an instant. But still, she had to at least try.

She’d managed to get Siena in bed, surely an interview wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibilities. Even if they hadn’t known each other’s names when they’d gotten to the bed, and she was damn sure of that because Siena Frazee never would have fucked her three ways if she had.

Jamie walked out of the office in a stupor. Had that really just happened? She’d been fired before, but this felt…worse. In so many ways and so much more devastating than any of the ot her times. She needed this job. And she was going to hit middle age before she knew it, and it was about damn time that she become an adult, right? At least that’s what her parents kept telling her—comparing her to Jessie every single second.

“Cleaning out your desk, then, JK?” Scott sneered.

“Now, why would I do that?” How she wished she hadn’t been so quick to use her initials on the blog. Seemed too late to change it now, despite the association with another JK who would not be named—ever. She refused to be guilty by association.

“Give you enough rope to hang yourself, did he?” Scott scoffed.

“Oh to be so insecure as to have to badger someone just to feel like a man.” Jamie rolled her eyes and looked over at the other two female journalists on staff. They sniggered, and Scott all but stomped his foot in a tantrum.

“Yeah well. Won’t be long before you fuck up again and the gay woman card only gets you so many passes.”

Jamie bit back another retort.

She could only fake that much confidence while her heart thundered at the idea of calling Siena’s office. But what the hell other choice did she have?

Sure, she’d been angry and had stupidly let that affect the last edit of her post, but didn’t she at least owe some of the entertainment managers a chance to defend themselves? She had asked for their comments before she published but none of them had gotten back to her. Amusing that so many wanted to talk about her now.

Well, not so amusing from her end.

And not really to her, but to her boss.

“Ugh. Just do it,” she muttered to herself, forcing her thoughts away from the spiral she was creating and making herself crazy over. “Stop being a chicken shit. ”

It was easy enough to find the number. She already had it in her files for the post to begin with.

Quickly, before she talked herself out of it again, she opened her files, found the number, and dialed.

“Good morning, you’ve reached Siena Frazee’s office. How may I direct your call?”

“Hi.” Jamie used all her charm even as she knew it would get her nowhere. The receptionists for these media managers were warriors in their own right. She would have been impressed if she hadn’t been so damn frustrated with the walls they put up to stop her getting through to the managers themselves. “I was wondering if Ms. Frazee was available?”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“For a call?” Jamie wrinkled her nose and cringed.

“Yes.”

“No, I don’t.”

For a moment, all Jamie could hear was the click clack of fingers on computer keys. The sound washed over her and sent a pleasant sort of electric thrill over her skin.

“If you give me your name and reason for the call I’ll see if she’s available at her earliest convenience.”

“Um…” Ever articulate, Jamie rolled her eyes and mentally chastised herself. “My name is Jamie Kettlehouse, and the reason is—” personal “—regarding an interview.”

“Let me put you on hold.”

Music filtered through the phone, and Jamie blinked, pulling the thing slightly from her ear to get a better view. She wasn’t sure what she thought the plastic receiver might be able to tell her, but somehow, she expected an explanation for having gotten through the first gate of the manager barricade so easily.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” The voice came down the line a mere second after the hold music was abruptly cut off. “You’re calling my office regarding an interview? ”

“Well, nice to hear your voice as well, Van .” Jamie knew she should have stayed professional. Kept their history, no matter how recent, pushed to the awkward margins of the conversation. But the tone in Siena’s voice had put Jamie’s defenses up instantly, and the pain and anger at being fucked and dumped burned fresh.

“Well, Julie , I wish I could say the same about you.” There was something in the petulant tone of Siena’s voice that made Jamie snort laughter before she could stop herself.

“Charming,” Siena muttered.

“Well, apparently not nearly charming enough to require an explanation, but that’s not why I called.”

“Ah, yes.” The way Siena said it, Jamie imagined the woman dressed to kill, legs crossed as she moved her chair back and forth with the heel of her pump. The queen in her domain. “The interview.”

“I was hoping to get on record?—”

“No!”

“You didn’t even let me finish.”

“I’m pretty sure I did. Several times.” Siena was quite fucking pleased with that response, Jamie could tell in her tone. Heat pooled between her legs—damn why did she like the icy ones with quick tongues and sharp wits the best? “But whoever it is you’re wanting to interview—forget it.”

“I want to interview you,” Jamie rushed the words out as quickly as possible. She had to at least get the ask out there before Siena hung up on her.

“Me?” The shock was genuine, and Jamie’s lips twitched slightly.

“Yes. Seeing as you and all of your entertainment friends have such an issue with my piece about the corrupt nature of the music industry, even though when I requested a comment from more than a dozen of you, they went without a single reply, I thought I would offer you the opportunity to have your say on the matter.”

“Seriously?” Siena’s snarl came through as clearly as though she had pressed her forehead against Jamie’s.

Damn it, it was still morning, and Jamie already wondered if her clothes showed just how much she had been sweating through this conversation. She hadn’t been prepared for this. But she wasn’t about to let anyone else know that.

“If you don’t want to, I can always request the interview with one of the many other managers who have been in contact since my article was published. Ingrid Bauer for example.”

Siena snorted again. “Good luck with that. And it was hardly an article.”

“Oh.” Jamie wished it didn’t delight her to know that, yes, Siena had read the piece herself. “So you have read it?”

“Yes. I’ve read it.” Siena’s voice was tight, and she spoke with barely contained anger or frustration.

“Would you like to be the one to set the record straight then?” Jamie chuckled, seemingly unable to antagonize the woman. “So to speak, at least.”

“Fine!” Siena snapped. “Hold the line, and I’ll transfer you back through to reception, and they’ll arrange a time.”

“Oh.” But the hold music had already returned, and soon, too soon, Jamie had an interview organized, and she sat staring at the phone that was now back in the cradle on her desk.

“What the hell are you staring at, Kettlehouse?” The boss’s voice so close behind her made her jump and turn in her chair.

“I have an interview with Siena Frazee.”

“No shit?” The boss’s eyebrows disappeared beneath his shaggy fringe.

“No shit.” Jamie knew she wore her this is insane grin, but soon it was wiped from her face as the boss did nothing more than humph at the confirmation and tell her to get her ass onto the work he actually paid her for.

She did, though her mind was never entirely forgetful of the fact that in two days, she would see Siena Frazee again.

And of course, she didn’t at all wonder if she would finally get to see the delicious skin that hid behind the power suit Siena would undoubtedly show up in.

Nope.

That didn’t cross her mind for a single moment as she worked well into the evening.