City of Sin - Chapter 57
Mason
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I quickly pulled it out and looked down at the screen. I had been hoping it would be Bee, but it was James. I swiped my finger across the screen. "Hey, man."
"Tell me you saw that broadcast?"
"What broadcast?"
"The one where the weather girl predicted penis sizes and then fucked some guy during the weather report."
I laughed. "What is that, some weird porno that you and Penny are into? Sounds weird."
"Just turn on the news, Mason."
I grabbed the remote and turned on the T.V. Owen Harris was reporting about some scandal. In the corner of the screen was an image of a blurred out couple in front of a Doppler map of Miami. "What the hell?"
"Sword Body Wash was sponsoring the segment, Layla's Predictions. Their marketing rep upped the stakes without their permission. They had her having sex live during the news segment. Sword Body Wash is in deep shit."
I laughed. "That's hilarious." As soon as I said it, I realized what this meant. Bee had said that Kruger was currently working ona body wash account. And in her notebook she had mentioned Jenkins' pitch...measuring penis sizes. "Wait, was the marketing rep from Kruger?"
"Bingo. Which means they need someone to help them clean up this mess. They need you."
I thought about Bee. "But what about Kruger?"
James laughed. "No one's going to want to hire them again. I'm friends with a guy on their board. Their investors bailed. They're going to go under, Mason. They'll be bankrupt in a matter of days. I'm sure I can get the rest of their client list. This is what you've been waiting for."
Bee was going to lose her job. I couldn't swoop in and steal all her company's clients. I stared at the T.V. "I don't know, James."
"This is a huge break. Why don't you sound excited?"
"Bee works for Kruger."
"Oh. Shit." James cleared his throat. "Mason you can't tell anyone about this, especially Bee. The company hasn't announced what's going on yet. If anyone from Kruger finds out it could lead to insider trading. My friend on the board would go to..."
"I won't tell anyone."
James sighed. "I'm sorry. I only told you because I knew you didn't have stock in Kruger. I had no idea that Bee worked there. I guess that's a conflict of interest for you?"
I stared at the screen. James had just handed me the biggest opportunity of my life. But it meant keeping a secret from Bee. She trusted me. I didn't want to mess up what we had. "What am I supposed to do?"
"This is your dream. These clients are basically being handed to you on a silver platter. You have to do this."
"Fuck." I put my elbows on my knees.
"Just hire her when you start your own agency. She doesn't have to be out of work for long."
"That's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Hiring my girlfriend to work beneath me? Jesus."
James laughed. "Wait. Girlfriend?"
I ran my hand down my face. "I don't know. I think so?"
James whistled. "Well, as your girlfriend, I think she'd want you to do this. Although you can't actually ask her because..."
"Yeah, I got it. Insider trading. You really think she'll understand after it's over?"
"Kruger is already dissolving. There's nothing that you can do to fix that. You don't even work for them."
