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“Stop being a tourist in their world and go live that life. I’m sure that you’ll come crawling back in a week, and I’ll be here with the fortune I’ve built for you. Just to give that statement some teeth, I’ll make a deal with you. If you can not only survive, but thrive, as a normal worker bee for a month, I’ll stop worrying about your desire to live like a peasant.
“Maybe living like them will give you some perspective. Maybe you’ll finally get it out of your system. Then you can come back and focus on what matters instead of this stupid infatuation you’ve had for so long.”
I know this is a trap since he wouldn’t be smiling if it weren’t, but I can’t figure out where I lose in this deal. He’s giving me permission to step back for a month. Even when I went to college, I never had time to live outside of Loughton House. I was expected to take care of my coursework and then spend my free time here so that when I graduated, I’d be ready to step in as upper management.
This will be the first time that I’ll have any real freedom. A whole month of doing exactly what I’ve been desperate to try. I’d be an idiot to pass it up.
“Deal.” Instinctively, I put my hand out to make the arrangement binding. Just like he taught me from childhood, a handshake is all that’s required of a Loughton. Other people may back out of deals, but our name is built on an integrity that the rest of the industry only flirts with.
He takes a long look at my hand, considering whether he’s making the right deal with me. Russel Loughton is a confident man, but even he has to admit that I’m the only person who knows a negotiation as well as him. He’s taught me to be his equal, and no matter how many times he treats me like a child, he knows that I’m the man that can carry the torch when it comes to Loughton House.
“You’re sure about this?” he asks, his smile gone now that it’s come to brass tacks.
I nod, feeling no need to say anything. I’m desperate to experience something other than Loughton House. Anything. Even if it’s harder than I’ve ever known.
As he takes my hand and gives it a shake, he says, “From this moment until August 15th, you are no longer the Director of Publishing with Loughton House. Since I’m not a monster, I’ll let you continue working here so you don’t have to experience genuine desperation. You’ll be a junior editor making the typical starting pay.”
He pulls his hand back and says, “Give me all your debit and credit cards. I’ll set up a new card for this little experiment where your pay will go.”
I pull my wallet out. This is exactly what I wanted. How hard can it be, anyway?
As he takes away all of my access to my and my family’s fortune, he pulls out a handful of money from his wallet. “Here’s five hundred dollars. Make it last. You may need a second job to make ends meet, but that’s on you to figure out.”
I take the money and slide it into my wallet. “So do I just go home?” I ask as Father turns away from me.
He laughs and doesn’t even bother to face me. “What home?”
Eight
ADDISON
The Drunken Goatis a dive bar, but it’s packed tonight. Like an outdoor Applebees, it’s filled with people that come from all walks of life. A true middle-class bar that probably has more middle-aged soccer moms than drunken college students. Strings of lights hang from trees around the “stage”, and a light breeze carries away the scent of spilled beer and cheap wine. It’s the kind of place that would be right at home back in Kansas City, and I’m surprised that it’s survived this long in Brooklyn.
“Wait, you slept in the same bed as Phillip-The-Frozen-Loughton?” Sera asks as I sip on my third Long Island.
I shrug. “He was a gentleman,” I respond, not wanting anyone to think too terribly about the man that I might be both fantasizing about and pissed at.
Trish smirks, and I’m quickly realizing that she’s not exactly the most professional friend I could have. “Did you cuddle after he took the hot dog bus to Taco Town? Or was he just a gentleman because he didn’t fire you afterward?”
I nearly spit out the Long Island. “There was no bus to Taco Town. Plus, he didn’t know I was going to work for him. It was pure happenstance, and he offered to let me sleep with him after my room literally tried to kill me. Did you miss the part where he saved my life?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he rented out every room in the city just to make you suffer,” Sera says with more than a little venom in her voice. Why do Trish and Sera dislike Phillip so much? I’m just pissed that he’s my boss and I can’t do anything with him.
“What’s wrong with Phillip?” I ask.
Trish laughs. “He’s fucking ruthless. Two weeks ago, he cut a lead marketer because he didn’t meet his projected numbers. This wasn’t just some guy who’d been around for a few months. No, he’d been with Loughton House for ten freaking years.”
Sera gives Trish a side-eyed look. “Yeah, but I don’t think anybody actually shed tears over Roger getting the boot. He was creepy as fuck. Do you remember the whole dress code ‘suggestion’?”
Trish cringes and shivers. “That’s true.” She turns to me to explain it. “See, the marketing team is basically a combination of advertising and business-to-business sales. They convince companies to endorse and carry books. There’s very limited space on bookstore front windows, and the marketing team works to get our books there.”
Sera picks up where Trish started. “Yeah, and Roger’s grand idea when their success rate fell was to convince that side of his team to show a bit more skin. Specifically, he didn’t allow women to wear pantsuits and suggested lower cut tops.”
I thought that of all the businesses in the world, the publishing world would be the best for me. It would be filled with people that loved the same things as me. I guess that there are rotten apples in every business.
“How’d he keep his job for that long if he was such a creep?”
Trish glances at Sera who says, “Because he never officially broke a rule. He just made it very obvious that he preferred to work with young women who liked to flirt. They always moved up faster. Everything was documented, and no one could find any actual reason to fault him, but it was impossible to miss.”
