Page 36 of Love.V2 (Occupational Hazards #2)

Tess

“I’m wondering if we could push those timelines up even more.”

My eyes narrowed at Dylan’s question that wasn’t really a question.

“Um.” Noel glanced at me.

“I took another look at that opportunity to pitch the pharmaceutical campaign. That weight loss drug? I think it’s worth a shot. If we can shift some things around, we could free up bandwidth for the pitch. It’s a hot market right now.”

Every red flag, alarm, and shred of intuition in my body began waving, blaring, and pointing straight at Dylan. Something is wrong.

I forced myself to take a breath. It had been a few days since our misunderstanding about California.

His pitch had gone well, and all our Jinx projects were on track.

Our team usually liked to spend some time on Monday morning celebrating recent wins and debriefing on priorities for the week ahead, but Dylan had hijacked our usually peppy, laid-back touch-base.

I didn’t like it one bit. Just like I hadn’t liked him walking around the office last week, asking people about progress on various projects. Just like I didn’t like how he still slept in my bed, held me close, and brought me coffee, while his mind was clearly somewhere else .

Every cell in my body was alive with warning, along with a healthy dose of déjà vu.

Noel’s face looked panicked. I used my newfound corporate confidence to interject. “We’re at capacity right now. Besides, we all decided that project wasn’t for us. We’d rather work with smaller organizations.”

“That aren’t evil,” Henry muttered, bumping his fist with Chassie. I bit back a grin.

“That aren’t evil. Exactly.” I glanced back at Dylan, who looked deep in thought.

“Weight loss drugs aren’t evil.”

I scoffed. Were we really doing this? “Of course not. Medicines aren’t intrinsically bad. But when the organizations that sell them jack up the prices of things like insulin for no other reason than to turn a profit, one might reasonably say the corporation isn’t squeaky clean.”

“I’m with Dylan on this one.”

I just barely stopped my eyes rolling. Of course, Victoria just had to wade into this. She’d been oddly quiet since I’d taken her off the Botto account. I knew it couldn’t last forever.

“The vision for Jinx before most of you joined was to get bigger and better accounts. I’m in favor of pushing ourselves harder.”

“Botto is a bigger account, and we’ve almost closed that deal. I don’t want us to take on more than we can chew and get burned out.”

“But if we don’t take on bigger clients, we can’t expand.

Hire more people,” Victoria argued. She leaned into the table, looking past me to Dylan.

“I’d be happy to take the lead on the pharma pitch.

I’m not afraid of a little overtime if it benefits the company.

” She speared me with a glance and a raised eyebrow.

She probably wanted this shiny new account all to herself. Something else to lord over me.

Maybe it was the weird there-but-not-there tension simmering between me and Dylan, or my newfound courage, or the fact I was just over it with Victoria, but I snapped. “Victoria. I am the creative director. I think I know how to run this team, and the direction the organization wants to go in.”

Awkward stillness fell. I wasn’t sure what I expected after my clipped words, but her triumphant grin wasn’t it. And I certainly wasn’t prepared for what she said next.

“I don’t think you do. We all know this role was a huge jump for you. I think you’re only here because you happened to be fucking the right person at the right time.”

I froze as the knife-edge silence in the room sharpened.

“What did you just say?” Dylan’s voice was hoarse and low. If you heard it on the street after sunset, you’d throw your wallet in his direction and run away.

Victoria’s face transformed into something pinched and ugly.

“You heard me. Danny is so interesting, isn’t he?

And such a talker. Yapping away on his phone in the parking garage about how happy he was that you two were back together.

” She cast her eyes around the stunned faces of the Jinx staff.

“She and Dylan dated since college. He got her a job at Worther in the first place. But Tess gets an offer from Jinx and suddenly she up and leaves him. Super convenient timing to rekindle that flame right as Worther puts pressure on us to close more deals. Worked once, right? Maybe putting out again will help you keep your job this time around.”

I gasped, unsure if I could dignify that with a response. Dylan didn’t have the same issue.

“Everyone. Out.” His words snapped like a whip, emptying the conference room of everyone but the three of us.

Dylan stood, glaring down at her. “Pack your things. You’re done at Jinx.”

Shock registered on her face. “You have no right to do that. You might be a big deal up at Worther, but here, you’re just a consultant.

All I did was expose this for what it is.

Fraud. Favoritism. I should have gotten the creative director job.

We never hire externally for leadership roles.

Our culture is too important. But then she shows up?

” Victoria sneered at me. “It didn’t make sense.

But now it does. You just happened to be sucking the right cock. ”

Adrenaline and disbelief surged from my hair follicles all the way to the tips of my toes. Everything inside me wanted to curl up into a little ball and crawl under the table. What was happening?

“That’s enough.” Dylan’s voice echoed through the empty room.

“I have months’ worth of documented harassment not just of Tess, but of your other Jinx colleagues who have had enough of your bullshit.

As to your claim that I don’t have the authority to fire you, Eric was planning to announce next week the plans for me to take over as CEO.

I guess we’re announcing a little earlier than planned. Now, pack your shit and go. ”

In the back of my head, some disconnected train of thought floated by, noticing that Victoria looked like a puffer fish, gaping, cheeks round and flushed. “You…CEO? You can’t.”

“Can. Did. Eric gave me the green light to fire you weeks ago. Obviously, this isn’t how we wanted to announce my transition, and I was hoping this issue could be resolved without my intervention, but you’ve forced my hand.

” Dylan punched numbers into the conference room line.

“You have ten minutes to collect your personal items. I’ll call security while you pack. ”

Within minutes, two security guards appeared, hovering as Victoria threw pencil cups and picture frames into a box.

“You will never last as CEO here, you hear me? This place used to mean something. Everything changed since it’s gone corporate,” Victoria ranted. “You know what? I don’t even want to work here anymore.”

“Works out for the best, then,” Dylan drawled, scrolling on his phone while everyone else watched the drama unfold. Meery looked like she wanted to grab a box of popcorn.

Victoria rattled off more sputtering, angry vitriol as the security men walked her to the elevators. The office was quiet as the doors closed.

“Too soon to blast ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ through the speakers?” Chassie asked.

“On it!” Meery cheered, rushing back to her desk. Dylan cracked a grin, pocketing his phone.

“I hate to let people go, but I think we can all agree this one was overdue.” Murmurs of agreement met his words.

He projected his voice across the space for everyone to hear.

“I know this isn’t how we wanted to announce I’ll be taking over for Eric.

A lot more drama than I’d envisioned.” A few people chuckled.

“You might have noticed Eric is pulling back from the company. He has his own reasons for leaving, and I’ll let him tell you.

He’s on his way in and we’ll hold a meeting in about an hour to talk it out.

I guarantee he’ll be sticking around for a while here, making sure we’re in a good groove before he officially leaves.

I have a feeling we won’t be able to get rid of him completely, anyway.

” More laughter. I wasn’t sure how he made this seem important and lighthearted at the same time. He sounded so…in control.

“In the meantime, if anyone has any questions about Victoria’s departure, or concerns, my door is always open.

On that note, it hasn’t been a secret, but I’ll go ahead and officially inform you all that Tess and I are dating.

We’ve been together almost since college, so this is not new, and our relationship has nothing to do with her getting a job at Jinx. ”

He paused to smile back at me, teasing. “Though she might have had some impact on my moving here.”

Noel audibly sighed in her cubicle.

“Again, let me know if you need anything. I know this is a lot, but we’re all going to be better off. We’ll talk more when Eric gets in.”

Mutters of agreement, even thanks, followed me as I trudged down the hall to my office. I couldn’t feel my feet. What had just happened ? The click of the door sounded behind me, and I realized I’d been standing in the room, staring blankly out the window.

“Are you alright?” Dylan’s voice was quiet behind me. “What she said, how that all went down. It was unacceptable. ”

I turned to face him, lips numb. “I agree.”

“Angel, I’m sorry she said those things.” Dylan stepped closer, but I shuffled away.

“Not her. You.” Dylan’s head reared back, but I kept going, my words keeping pace with my racing heart. “I told you I wanted to handle Victoria myself.”

His demeanor shifted on a dime, frustration reading in every line of his body. “Are you serious right now? Did you not hear how she spoke to you?”

“I would have handled it, but you didn’t let me. You can’t just come in here and take over everything.”