Page 35 of Minus
When Maisie had sold her multi-million-dollar sex toy company, she’d made some provisions for me. Firstly, she’d promoted me from her assistant to Marketing Director, then elicited a promise from Jeremy that I’d have one year to prove myself. If I couldn’t make myself indispensable to him, I was on my own.
But here I was, a few years in, and all was well; unchallenging, boring, and predictable, but well. I mean, who wouldn’t want the chance to test out every new sex toy coming on the market and figure out which demographic to sell it to? And considering I hadn’t dated anyone seriously in almost the same amount of time I’d been working for the company, I needed anything new that could ease my pain, so to speak.
“Christina?” my assistant knocked and peeked her headinto my office for the third time in an hour. “Jeremy’s wondering if you have that proposal ready yet?”
I smiled. “No. I still have two hours. But you can tell him, nice try.”
She chuckled. “Um, no, I don’t think I will be telling the CEO of the company I work for anything other than, ‘yes, sir,’ or ‘how high would you like me to jump’?”
“Would you mind grabbing lunch? I don’t think I’m going to be able to get out today.”
“Of course. What do you want?”
“Surprise me,” I said, digging thirty dollars out of my purse. “Grab yourself something too, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to take your break.”
She grinned and took the money from me. “I know the drill.”
I’d hired Melody when I was promoted and I adored her. Mostly because she was awesome, but also because she loved her job. She didn’t want to be anything other than an executive assistant, which meant, I would never lose her. Well, unless someone fabulous stole her from me, but that had already been tried and I won. Stupid big five tax company. I had more money at my disposal, so they could suck it.
I bit back a yawn and focused on my screen again. I had gotten next to no sleep last night because every time I closed my eyes, visions of Jase going down on me danced in my head. No sugar plums for me. Nope, just his tongue on my clit. Although, I’m pretty sure he could figure out something creative to do with sugar plums.
Damn it, I needed to be writing this proposal, not fantasizing about Jase sugaring my plums.
Forcing my focus back to the job at hand, I picked up the jar of Uncle Milton’s Elbow Lube and tried not to laugh… or groan. I couldn’t figure out which one was more appropriate. I could have pawned this off to one of my staff, but it was a source of pride to be able to put together a successful campaign for the most challenging products.
Jeremy and I had met with Uncle Milton (yes, his name was really Milton, and he was in fact someone’s uncle), andtried to get him to change the name of the product, but he wouldn’t budge.
I originally advised Jeremy to pass on Milton’s lube, but the truth was, it was a great seller, even if people more than likely bought it for a novelty gift. If Uncle Milton was aware of this, he certainly never let on, he was simply happy cashing the checks.
Sitting before me was the new “Spring Meadows” scent and I cringed at what this stuff could possibly be used for or why it needed to smell like fabric softener, but tried my best to focus on coming up with a marketing plan that would get it into the hands (or onto the elbows) of every dry pervert in the tri-state area.
* * *
Minus
The Sanctuary was a ghost town compared to how I’d seen it lately and Cutter’s office was quiet.
“So, Viper’s an even sneakier snake than we’d thought?” Cutter asked, before taking a pull from a portable oxygen tank.
“It would appear so. How do you want to play this?” I asked.
“It’s your money, it’s your show,” he replied.
“Mymoney? What do you mean?” I asked. “You’re the one who’s secretly called in every outstanding debt to the club.”
“It’s yours, because with this cash you and Cricket are going to lead the Burning Saints into a new era. Think of the club as a new tech startup, and this is your seed money.”
“I figured this money was for cancer treatment, or for your retirement, as it very well fuckin’ should be.”
“Kid, I’ve been living my retirement out for the last 40 fuckin’ years. I’ve been doing what I want to do and going where I want to go for most of my life. What am I gonna do now? Take up fly fishing? As for treatment. Shit, I’m not gonna spend the few days I have left on this planet tied to apoison drip, and I don’t wanna hear another goddamned word about it.”
I nodded.
“Aren’t you forgetting something else?” I asked. “Cricket hasn’t agreed to go along with any of this. Hell, I haven’t even talked to her yet.”
“Listen, Minus, she’s smart. You explain it to her in business terms, just like I did to you, and she’ll understand just fine.”
“Then why don’tyoutalk to her? You’re the man with the plan. Why do I have to be the one to give her the pitch of the century?”
