Keri’s face lit up with acknowledgment and understanding. “It would be really easy to get lost in his lifestyle. But I think you’re way stronger than you give yourself credit for. I’ve said my piece. Call him. Don’t call him. I’ll still love you the same.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, feeling slightly better about the whole bizarre situation.
The red light flashed on my office phone and I was half tempted to pretend it didn’t exist as memories of yesterday’s voice mails replayed in my mind. Reluctantly, I pressed the button and allowed the messages to filter through the air on speakerphone while I filed some of last night’s paperwork into the appropriate client files at the other side of the room.
“Madison, it’s Walker again. I need you to call me back. Please don’t make me beg on your voice mail every night.”
I raced over to the phone to pick it up and stop it from playing out loud, but it was too late.
“I mean, I will. But it’s sort of embarrassing, don’t you think?”
The message ended and I wished I could reach into the stupid air and grab his voice from it and stuff it back inside the phone where no one else would hear. How could I be so stupid?
Jayson’s voice boomed from behind his office door. “Madison, get in here.”
Shit.
He had to have heard that. Sucking in a deep breath, I opened the door and entered his lair. He motioned for me to sit down, something he rarely did, and I willed my tense body to relax.
“Why does Walker Rhodes keep calling here?” Jayson asked, his tone tinged with equal parts annoyance and intrigue.
“I’m not sure exactly,” I lied.
“Do you think I’m stupid, Madison? I know he’s been asking you out, asking our clients about you. Why the hell do you keep avoiding him?” He shook his head like I was a fool.
“How did you even know that?” I asked incredulously, before realizing that Paige must have said something to him.
“He’s been asking around about you. Word travels quickly in this town. You, of all people, should know that.” He pointed and wagged a finger in my direction.
I shook my head at his interference in my personal life, as well as the rudeness of his pointing at me, my annoyance abundantly clear. “I’m sorry. Am I in trouble? Are you mad?”
He slammed his hands against his oak desk, making yesterday’s cold coffee swirl around inside his mug. “Hell yes, I’m mad. I’m mad that you keep telling him you aren’t interested and that you aren’t calling him back.”
“Excuse me?” I choked out, clearing my throat to stop from coughing on my words, my fingers digging into the chair’s spongy armrest.
“Go out with him. Go out with him and see if you can get him to sign with us. I heard he’s looking for representation.”
I shook my head firmly and swallowed hard before finding my voice. “No! He already has an agent. And I’m not doing that. That’s ridiculous!”
Jayson grabbed a pen and began irritably clicking it against the wood, the button pressing and depressing again and again. “He has a manager, Madison, not an agent. It would be huge for us if we signed him. You will go out with him and that’s final.”
Excuse me?
Without thinking, I spat back, “No, I will not.”
He couldn’t force me to go out with him.
Could he?
This was ridiculous.
Jayson’s face was devoid of emotion as his features hardened into stone, and I felt all the color drain from my own. “You will too. If you want to keep this job.”
“Are you threatening me?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“Call it workplace advancement. You go out with him, get him to sign with us, and I’ll promote you to junior agent a year before your time.”
“I don’t want the promotion that way.” My stomach churned at the nasty deal that was being presented to me. I’d never dealt with this sort of harassment in the workplace before. Yes, I’d seen people do horrible things to other people, but I’d never been a part of it.
Drawing in a gulp of air, I searched my mind frantically for an out, then leaped upon one last chance. “I thought we weren’t allowed to date our clients. That it’s frowned upon, maybe a conflict of interest? I could get fired for dating him.”
“I thought you liked this job,” Jayson sputtered as he threw the pen to his desk.
“I love this job,” I admitted honestly.
His eyes narrowed. “Then I’d suggest you do whatever it takes to keep it. I could make it very difficult for you to get another one in this industry.”
My eyes started to fill and I forced the tears not to fall, refusing to cry in front of my asshole boss. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he beat me. He had me by the lady balls, and he knew it.
“Fine. I’ll call him.”
“I knew you’d come to your senses. Now go.” He waved me away with a flick of his wrist and looked back down at his laptop.
My legs felt like shaky rods of lead as I walked out of Jayson’s office. Part of me was incredibly pissed off by the threat he’d made, while the other part was just plain defeated. I felt cornered and I panicked, so I gave in when I should have fought back. Silently, I berated myself for being so weak.
I almost turned around and marched right back into Jayson’s office, but suddenly realized that if I didn’t call Walker, I could lose it all. Jayson wasn’t bluffing, and I had worked too damn hard to walk away from this job willingly. Plus, guys like my boss were a dime a dozen in this screwed-up industry. I needed to learn how to deal with personalities like his, not run away from them.
Listening to my voice mails, I typed Walker’s number into my cell phone and sent Jayson an instant message saying that I would be right back. I couldn’t make this call in the office where there were so many people around. The conversation about to happen was too juicy for even the best-intentioned people to resist listening in on. The only way to eliminate the curiosity was to make sure they never knew it even happened.
As I walked out the building’s glass doors into the sunshine, a gust of wind sent my hair flying all around me and I struggled to push it back into place with my free hand. Dropping my oversized sunglasses in front of my eyes, I carefully walked down the steps toward the busy sidewalk. Cars whizzed and swooshed past me, creating way too much background noise, and I imagined myself plugging my ear with one finger while yelling “Huh? What did you say?” over and over again into my cell phone. Glancing in both directions, I made up my mind and headed down the side street, away from the congestion.
When the passing traffic lessened and I could actually hear myself think, I punched send and started chewing nervously on my thumb as the phone rang. With shaky legs, I hopped up to sit on the decorative concrete wall that circled my office building.
“Hello?” Walker’s groggy voice filtered into my ears and I instantly flashed back to being onstage with him. And his incredible eyes.
Good Lord.
“Hello?” he asked again.
I cleared my throat before responding. “Walker? It’s Madison.”
What the hell was I supposed to say to him? What if he hadn’t even planned on asking me out? This had been a stupid idea.
“Madison!” His voice instantly cleared and he suddenly sounded chipper. “I’m so glad you called. Paige said she didn’t think you would. What changed your mind?”
“Uh, I don’t know?” I smacked my head with the palm of my hand.
He laughed, and it made me smile. “Okay, Sparkles. I’ll cut to the chase. Will you please let me take you to dinner tonight?”