AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Jesus Christ, Percival, get your shit together.” I hunch over the sink to catch my breath before I wash up.
I need to get a step ahead of this, and I need to do it fast.
* * *
“Percy, I wish I could help you man, but without more information how am I supposed to find out who this woman is?” Greg asks me from across the desk.
“I told you all I know, she’s a journalist and she’s trying to fucking ruin me.” I run my fingers through my hair. Usually it doesn’t take much for me to get what I want done, but having to be so mysterious really isn’t helping my cause. Not even Greg knows about Ian and he’s my closest friend.
“Well if she’s a journalist and she smells a story I doubt this is going to be the last time you see her. What does she have on you that has your fucking panties in a twist like this?” Greg leans forward, probably trying to get some dirt on me himself.
“Don’t worry about it.” I look away.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say, look honestly if you’re worried about it that much then maybe you should just give her what she wants. I mean you have more money than you know what to do with. Pay her off and get on with your life.”
I turn my head back and squint my eyes at him, if it were that fucking easy why the hell would I have called him in here to figure this shit out with me, “She doesn’t want money, she wants me to do an interview.”
“Interview? You? But you nor your father, fuck I don’t even think there’s ever been an official statement from your grandfather that has run in the news before.”
All I can do right now is stare at him. He’s only saying shit that I already know. The Snow family doesn’t give interviews, our secrets stay in the dark where they should be.
“No shit Greg. That’s why I’m having a fucking dilemma right now. I can’t do the interview and she won’t take fucking money.” I hold my head in my hands starting to feel like I’m back at square one.
“Then friend, all I can do is tell you to pray she loses her nerve. Maybe she’s bluffing. You never know.”
Bluffing, no, this woman didn’t seem to be the type to bluff.
“I thought you were here to help me?” I sit back in my chair and look at Greg again.
“Getting the ladies, securing a fine bottle of cognac, even finding a little hotel on a remote island for you to have a tryst … I can do. Trying to figure out which of the thousands of journalists in the city has some dirt on the one person I thought was squeaky clean, not my forté.”
Squeaky clean, I thought I was keeping myself that way. No, it seems if I want to get this woman out of my life I just might have to get my hands a little dirty.
8
ella
It’s beentwo days since I confronted Percy, and so far I’ve gotten nothing from him besides a stonewall. He’d even stopped responding to my emails completely. Right now I’m pretty much back in the same exact spot that I was in a few days ago. I need to figure something out before I lose my job.
“Hey Ella, how ya doing?” Larry leans over the wall of my cubicle with a pen in his mouth. I smile at him and have to stop myself from reaching up and playfully caressing his face. He and I had dated for a while when I first got into the writing pool, but it didn’t work out. There was no fire, just a bit of smoke.
“I’m good Larry, what about you? Have we heard back from our friend in the DMV yet?” I may have a lot of connections, but Larry has way more. I’m sure he could take down anyone if he only put his mind to it, instead he is comfortable skating by on the bare minimum. I think the last article he’d pushed through was about Miley Cyrus and how she is dating her bodyguard. It was a big thing for a while, but just like everything else it lacked any real merit.
“Nah, nothing yet. But she’ll get back to us as soon as we get a hit. She told me that the car was registered out of state, so it may take a few days.” He lingers over me like he has something to say.
“Cool, did you need something else?” I have work to do and right now all Larry’s doing is distracting me.
“Uh … yeah ... Well I was wondering, I mean I know we—“
The door to Sam’s office slams open and Megan, a second year reporter comes storming out crying. “You fucking asshole, I worked my ass off for this company.” She screams at him over her shoulder.
Everyone is standing up, all of us have that bit of nosiness to us. I mean, everyone in here chases after stories for a living.
“What’s going on?” I say keeping my voice low. A second later the door to Sam’s office opens again and five more people walk out. All of them are either crying or looking downtrodden.
I watch as each of them walk over to their cubicles and start packing up their belongings.
“Oh no, did he fire them?” I look over to Larry who shakes his head in disbelief.
