Mine to Steal (Mine to Love) (19 page)

“No, that was my brother, Jett. Trevor is head of the marketing department here.”

“Actually, I’d prefer if you handle this personally.”

It’s
a request - a condition that he is laying down in front of me. I have the Cavette job, but
I
have to handle it.

I
have to work with Faith.

“Absolutely.”

“Great,” he nearly shouts over the line. “Send the contracts over and I’ll have them back to you this afternoon.”

“I’ll have Hattie send them over now.”

“Sounds great, I’ll be looking for them. And Trey -” he pauses, “be sure to contact Faith to set up a meeting so you two are on the same page.”

With the receiver securely in the holster, I lean back in my chair and turn to the window behind me.
Sonofa-

“So?” Jett asks, walking into the office. He stands feet from my desk and waits for my response.

“We need to get the marketing contracts over to Cave before close of business.”

He walks over grinning, but seeing my
appearance, he drops it. “This is a good thing, right? You wanted this.”

“No, I wanted the whole thing. We won the marketing, but Faith won the PR portion of the job.”

“Maybe Doubt is the wrong name for her.”

“Get out
.” I point to the door, dismissing my brother and anything else that may come out of his mouth. “I have some phone calls to make.”
First one being to Faith.

He backs out of the office with a laugh, as if he can read my mind. I’d only let my brother get away with giving me crap like he does. He closes the door, leaving me in silence. I pull up her business card and flip it around, mulling over how best to approach it. I’m sure she’s as disappointed as I am.

Here goes nothing.

I push a button on the office phone and wait for the dial tone to sound before I punch the numbers to call her.
The phone rings three times and I wait for her voicemail to answer so I can leave a message, but decide to call later. I’m about to hang up when I hear Faith’s voice as she answers her phone.

“It’s Trey Miller. I wanted to call and offer my congratulations on the win.”

“Thanks, and same to you,” she offers, nicer than I expected. “I would have preferred to have the whole thing, but I guess part is better than nothing.”

I stifle a laugh, impressed by her candidness
. “Same here, but I guess in the meantime, we’re going to have to work together. And here I was thinking after lunch I’d be done with you.”

“Agreed, but obviously Cal has other ideas.”

“I have a teleconference with him next week to go over some things. Why don’t we schedule something after that so I can update you on everything? When are you able to meet?”

“I’d like to be in on that call, if you don’t mind.”

I think it over for a moment, but I don’t like the idea of my competition knowing my business strategies. “That’s not necessary. I’ll be presenting our marketing plan, so will Thursday work for you?”

A small huff sounds through the line
. “I suppose you don’t give me much choice.” I can’t help but wonder what’s changed between lunch and this phone call. For a shark, she sure doesn’t bite. I expected a full-on battle for her to be a part of the meeting, but she concedes defeat rather quick.

Too quick.

“I’ll be in touch soon,” I say before I hang up the phone.

My cell phone is resting on the edge of my desk when a text comes through.

Jett: So we’re celebrating. Right?

Me: Can’t. Have a date.

Jett: Tomorrow

I roll my eyes because I know he won’t let up until I agree.

Me: Tomorrow

Kayla called me the other day to give me hell about my social life, or lack thereof, as she likes to say. I don’t know why she cares so much about me dating, but she was unwavering. I told her I would call Vivian
, a blast from the past, to see what she was up to, but I never got around to it. Not to mention, we didn’t end on the best terms.

All of this
means I was lying when I told Jett I had plans tonight. The way I figure, he’ll never know, because he’ll be long gone by the time I get home anyway. Those nights when I would come home to an empty apartment are long gone. So far gone, I'm not sure what it’s like to live in silence anymore.

Evidence
that my brother lives here is all over the place. There are clothes in random piles I assume are for laundry. I hope he realizes I’m not doing that shit for him. I slam the door shut behind me a little harder than I need to and toss my keys on the counter next to his takeout boxes from two nights ago and the beer bottles he can’t seem to walk the two feet to toss in the trash.

“Are you kidding me?” I ask out loud. Jett looks up from what has become his spot on the couch and nods before returning his attention to his phone call.

Busted.

“Shit, I’m just worried for him. It’s gonna fall off if he doesn’t do something with it soon.” He grunts, and I laugh, listening to his end of the conversation. The other person must be talking because Jett is actually quiet for a beat.

I grab a beer from the fridge and sit down on a chair at the counter and thumb through the emails on my laptop. “I’m not in his room. Who the hell knows what he does?”

This time, I look at the back of his head and wait to hear what else he has to say, because I think he might be talking about me.

“All I know is, he’s walking around here like a moody bitch. You should take care of that.” I hop out of my chair and grab the phone from his hand. “Hey, Kayla’s on the phone.” I slap the back of his head before walking away and shut the door to my room behind me.

“What exactly are you and my brother talking about?”

“You and your knack for lying these days. You told us you had a date, yet here you are. Home. Besides, he’s worried about you and your junk. Says you haven’t seen anyone since the last girl you dated. So I take it that means he doesn’t know about the girl from the bar.”

“Em and I didn’t date
, and no, he doesn’t know about Faith,” I argue, though I know it’s useless.

“
Faith? You found out her name?”

“Yeah, interesting turn of events - she’s the competition.”

“So who won?”

“We both did
. The old man split the work between the two of us.”

“That’s unorthodox
.” She laughs. “So, why didn’t you go out tonight?”

“
You know it’s because I’m waiting for you,” I say seductively, knowing she hates it.

“Cut the crap, Trey. You need to date
, and I’m setting you up.”

“You’re setting me up? Kay, you’re in Chicago, how are you going to set me up from there?”

“Your brother and I are on it.”

“
Noooo,” I protest and shake my head, as if she can see me. “Jett isn’t setting me up with anyone.”

“Fine, I’m setting you up. Cancel your plans this weekend, you are having lunch and dinner dates all weekend long.”

I groan in frustration, but she ignores me, because it’s what she’s always done.

“Okay, starting tomorrow afternoon, you will have four dates this weekend.
All with different women. I want a report at the end of the weekend. You have to choose one to go out with again.”

“And if I don’t?”

“We’ll do it all again next weekend.” Her even tone tells me she’s serious.

“You know, you could make this easy for everyone and move out here. You and I could give it another go.” I know she’d never go for it
in a million years. Hell, I wouldn’t go for it.

She completely ignores me
. “I’m going to make some calls, and then I will text you with the name of the girl and the place you’re going to meet her.”

“Am I
so pathetic to you you’ve created your own version of speed dating? And how are you going to find girls in my area?”

“Don’t you worry about that, I have my ways.”

“What do I get if I go along with this stupid game?”

“Hopefully a new girlfriend. I’ll talk to you Sunday.”

She doesn’t bother to say anything else; she simply hangs up the phone, and I mentally berate myself for agreeing to this project Kayla created.
Did I even agree to this?
When I walk out of my room, I see Jett grabbing his wallet and turning off the TV to head out.

“You knew about this?”

He starts laughing and gets a beer. “Whose idea do you think it was?”

“You’re a piece of shit, you know that, right?”

He laughs, nodding before downing his beer. “You’ll thank me later when you’re knee deep in vag, Bro.”

As soon as he’s gone, I grab the remote and lounge on the couch in silence, something I haven’t been able to do since he got here. No one has ever had to tell Jett to make himself at home, he does it all on his own. I scan the channels and decide to leave it on the Rockies game, but I’m too distracted by my own
thoughts to pay attention.

I wonder when Kayla and Jett started scheming behind my back. I have no doubt Jett initiated the whole damn thing, and Kayla is always looking for a project. As if she can read my thoughts, my phone vibrates and there it is. She’s not kidding.

Kayla: Logan. 26. Financial Planner. Flycatcher @ Noon

Me: Is Logan female?

Kayla: Yes.

Me: Flycatcher?

Kayla: It has 4 stars. Just go and report back.

* * *

The Rockies are up six to three, and I’m bored out of my mind. Jett said he wouldn’t be home tonight, which I think was planned in advance so I wouldn’t get on his case about everything. I don’t get nervous about dates because I know whom I’m meeting; I’ve done the asking. But a blind date - scratch that - four blind dates is new to me.

What am I getting myself into?
I need a distraction, so I get back on my laptop and grab another beer while I take a look at my marketing plan for Cave. I wasn’t lying when I told him I already had things worked up. There are several different products he wants to promote, and my goal is to start on it as soon as possible. Hopefully, he’ll see how proficient we are with the marketing, and eventually T.M. will get the entire job.

Several windows open immediately on the screen, one of which is my email. There are several new messages, but one catches my eye over the others because it’s from Faith, but not from her Rock Solid email account.

Young, Faith

September 5, 2014 6:37 PM

To: Miller, Trey

Subject: Marketing



Trey,

So, I think it’s safe to say we got off on the wrong foot. Perhaps we’ll never be best friends or anything, but we do have to work together. I know we both wanted to win the entire job, but we didn’t, so we’re going to have to make up a very competitive, albeit, strange team. But a team nonetheless.

You won the marketing, clearly you had a more impressive presentation, but I have some things I’d
like to share with you. Before flying out to Chicago, I had worked up some ideas on my own I was planning to show my boss. I think I had some really good ideas. You’re probably wondering why I’m sending this from my personal account. (You should be wondering anyway). If they found out I was sending this to you, I’d probably be fired.

Bottom line, I really like Cal
, and I want to see him succeed with this entire campaign. Consider this my olive branch. Would you be able to meet sometime this weekend, before you meet with him, so I can show you my ideas? 

-Faith

She’s right about Rock Solid. If they knew she was coming to me with marketing ideas, she would be fired in an instant. But I’m also impressed she worked up a marketing plan on her own, in case they won the job. That’s not how
the company operates. They wait until the job is won, because they don’t want to waste the hours on something they may or may not get. I’m intrigued, so I decide to respond to her email.

Miller, Trey

September 5, 2014 8:13 PM
To: Young, Faith

Re: Marketing



Faith,

I’m curious as to why I should bite. This sounds like a nice setup to screw me over. If you really have marketing ideas worked up, why didn’t you present them to Cal when you had the opportunity?

-Trey

She sent her email a couple of hours ago, so I doubt I’ll hear back from her, but I press send anyway. There’s no way I’m committing to a discussion of any sort until I have more details.

The Cave folder on my desktop contains the contracts, client information, and the three promotions I want to show him Thursday. It would have been hard for him to participate in the teleconference because the technology is new to him. Fortunately, Grayson knows what he’s doing and should be able to make the meeting flow without any glitches. I start to read through the first promo when I get another email.