PART I
CHAPTER 1
KAT
There was once a time when the letters T, G, I, and F meant something to Katherine Naylor. But in this, her twenty-eighth year, they meant next to nothing. The advertising company she worked for didn’t seem to understand the concept of days off. She would have assumed it had something to do with the fact that she was the social media manager, but her coworkers in other departments all seemed to have the same problem.
Her work friends still tried to enjoy the start of their respective weekends, though. They met up every Friday for drinks to bond without the imposition of their boss, who never could talk about anything other than work. “Are we going to Louie’s this week?” Brandy asked while Kat was busy packing up. “I forgot.”
Brandy grinned, and Kat answered, “That was the plan. See you there.”
“Hey, can we carpool?” Brandy asked. “The taxi’s sucking me dry. We can share, and I’ll pay half.”
“Sounds good to me,” Kat said. “Meet out front in ten?”
Brandy gave her a grateful nod and trotted off to gather her things.
Before long, Aiden found Kat. He poked his head around the door like he was on his way somewhere and couldn’t be bothered to come all the way into the room. “Heard you and Brandy were sharing a cab,” he said. “Care for a third? Cut the price even more?”
Kat shrugged. “Fine. But I’m not taking the middle seat.”
“The pleasure will be all mine,” he said with a wink, and Kat started to dread her upcoming taxi ride. It was going to be too crowded.
“Just like this city,” Kat muttered, realizing that her mood was maybe not right for socializing. Well, it was too late now. Anyway, theirtapas and tequilanight always made her feel better. There were four of them who went out every Friday. Jessie looked to have missed the cab share this time, but she would be there for sure. The venues were rotating, but Louie’s was one of Kat’s favorites, so she wasn’t going to miss it, no matter how unsociable her mood happened to be.
The trick was getting out of the office before their boss found one of them. It was always a race between them, and for some reason, Kat was always the loser.Taking one for the team, Aiden had called it one day. Today was no different.
“Naylor,” Kat’s boss said from about six feet behind her. She practically jumped at the sound of his voice. “You got a minute?”
“Not really,” Kat answered, holding up her purse to indicate she was on her way out the door.
“Sure you do,” her boss said. He never did take no for an answer. She wondered why he ever bothered to ask. Seemed like a waste of time, in her opinion.
She fought to keep from rolling her eyes as she answered, “Guess I do then. What’s on your mind?”
“I want to talk about pushing up the kitchen appliance rollout. Our client wants the sale to be underway on March 17th, so we need the ad campaign to run about two weeks ahead of schedule.”
Kat drew a deep breath and counted to ten in her head. “Impossible,” she said as flatly as she could manage. It never did any good to lose your temper with superiors, so she never did, no matter how upsetting the situation she found herself in was. “The designers onboard have already been given their deadlines, and the influencers are already scheduled. We can’t just demand they drop everything for one client.”
“Sure we can,” her boss said, that needlessly confident smile growing on his face. Sometimes, Kat got the distinct impression he enjoyed making her squirm. “We can ask nicely. And if they refuse, we can apply a little pressure. We’re a big enough agency that a little pressure should be enough. They’ll want to work with us in the future.”
“Sorry?” She shook her head with a frown. “I think I misunderstood. You want me to threaten them?”
He laughed. “Of course not, of course not! You don’t have to be explicit about it. Just hint a bit, you know? Give us some plausible deniability, but make sure they understand. Kind of like… say I wanted you to do something you didn’t want to do. I might drop a few hints in an unrelated conversation that you’regenerally replaceable and that the agency prefers team players. And you’d probably understand, wouldn’t you?”
A chill ran up her spine when she realized what he was saying. There was no chance she could afford rent in Houston without this job. It was relatively high-paying, and she was lucky to have it, she knew. “I understand,” she finally said. “Thanks for the tips. I think I can handle it.”
He patted her on the head and said, “Good girl,” in a way that made her cringe.
On some level, Kat knew her boss was terrible, but she also knew thatheknew that the agency’s pay rate and the lack of better jobs in the city allowed him to say and do whatever he wanted. Ever since he’d taken over the company, Kat hadn’t taken a day completely off work. When she was at home, she was plugged in, online, thinking about upcoming campaigns. Even in her dreams, she was problem-solving for the agency.
The ride to Louie’s was crowded but cheaper than it would have otherwise been. Louie’s itself was even more crowded, which unfortunately did not affect the price in the least. Regardless, Kat was happy to support a local business, and this place was still owned by the man it was named after, who always treated Kat and her friends well after they’d given him a good deal on an ad campaign three years ago.
“First round’s on the house,” their server said.
Jessie smiled and thanked him. “Louie must be here today. I thought I saw him when I came in.” She had gotten there before the rest of them and saved a table. “So what took you all so long?” she asked.
“Last-minute weekend assignment,” Kat answered, frowning. “I’ll be spending tomorrow and the next day begging designers and influencers to expedite so we can sell kitchen appliances on St. Patrick’s Day.”