I laugh. “No, she wasn’t so bold as to suggest that. She just wants to come work for me. Oh, and her buddy Jinny, too. I’d take Jinny over Bowie any day, if you ask me.”
“What, the HR Manager?” He’s surprised.
I nod. “Yeah.”
“She walked, too?”
“Well, why wouldn’t she? I mean, as far as I remember, those two were tight. How would you be able to stay with the dipshit in that case? It would make things awfully awkward, don’t you think?”
“And you’d take her?”
“Why not. I never had a problem with her.”
“So, why don’t you. Celeste isn’t cutting the mustard, and we can’t onboard some of these recruits without a decent HR Manager. I’ve got a few here I can offer you, but if she’s open for business, I’d take her. Shit, Iwilltake her. She’s not on my radar yet, so this must be super fucking fresh news.”
“You take her I’ll punch you out, man.”
“So you are going to take her.”
“I’ll think about it. But until I reach my decision, you keep your paws off her.”
“She’ll be a package deal, Jagger.” He warns, good-naturedly. “She’s not going to come over to the dark side without her buddy.”
“If either of them are professional enough, they will. This isn’t fucking Romper Room, Halen.”
He shrugs. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Fine. But respect my wishes and we won’t have a problem.”
He changes tack. “What is it, anyway. Is it because of your past with her, or because she used to fuck your closest competitor.”
“Both, man.” I reply, growing tired of the subject. “Look, give me a day or two. I need to get the testing done on this prototype. That’s got to be front and center. Then I can focus on the meat and potatoes.”
“If you had a decent HR manager already, it would be a simple meeting and I could take over.”
“Would you focus, Halen? Seriously.”
He rises. “Fine. You get one day. But if she shows up on my roster, she’s mine.”
Chapter 7
Bowie
“Youcangoback.I’m sure he’ll take you.” I say to Jinny, returning to her place, where I’m staying temporarily.
“Like hell I will.”
“Well, what are you going to do? You need to earn a living.”
“I could say the same thing to you.” She points out. “We both need to, but neither of us are destitute. Shit, I could take the next five years off and still sit proudly on this leather sofa.”
“That’s not the point. I could do the same, Jinny. But you and I, we’re not made like that. There’s a reason why we got to where we were.”
“I could open my own firm. Become a headhunter. Hell, I’m sure that Jagger’s brother Halen could even take me on. I bet you he’s got wet dreams if he’s got any brains and knows that I’m a free agent. You and I, Bowie, are hot commodities. We’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Sure. I’m such a hot commodity that Jagger turned me away. I got five minutes of his time, and I feel like that was too much for him.”
“Can you blame him?”
