Page 112 of Savage Bosses

I made it to my desk with two minutes to spare. A head popped up from the other side of the cubicle. It was Kathy Valetti. She was very helpful on my first day. Kathy was one of my new colleagues and a seasoned FuSeWater employee. She had short, dyed red hair. She looked about fifty-five, but I didn’t know for sure.

“Good morning, Aerica! You came back.” She seemed genuinely surprised.

“Good morning.” I replied, trying to sound confident in my return. “Yeah, I need to be here.” She didn’t know I needed this money.

“Believe me, we all do. Well, good luck with day two,” she said, her smile faltering for a moment. “Kyle can be intense. Hang in there.”

“Thanks for the heads up. I got an earful from a few people yesterday.” I replied, determined not to let Kyle’s reputation intimidate me. After all, I’d faced challenges before, and I was tough enough to handle whatever Malibu Ken threw at me.

“I’m not sure if anyone told you, but Mr. Caldwell’s parents died recently. He was really close to his father and mother. So he might be a little extra grumpy. He was gone for two weeks and that has never happened before. He’s never taken off unless it’s work related.”

“No, I didn’t know that about his parents.”

“They were very nice people. Kyle and his father ran the company together. Now it’s just Kyle.”

“What about his brother?”

“Uh, Wesley, he has a title and no power. He has substance abuse problems.” Kathy placed her index finger under her nose and sniffed twice.

“Oh, my.”

“Wesley is harmless. You know rich kids, they all can’t turn out great.”

“True.” I said, because I didn’t know what else to say.

“No problem. Oh, yesterday he arrived here at eight, but he always is here at seven, sometimes before seven. I’m not trying to scare you, but he fires people for stupid reasons. The turnover rate here is unbelievable. He usually fires people in groups of threes.”

“Thanks for the info.”

I took a deep breath and placed my purse in the bottom drawer. I was familiarized with the company software, hoping I remembered everything Marjorie told me.

The first few hours went by smoothly until his glass door swung open.

“Temp girl, my office, now!” Kyle barked, his piercing blue eyes locked onto mine. I could see why people feared him. His presence was commanding and intense. But I wasn’t the one, the two or the three.

“Of course, Mr. Caldwell,” I replied coolly, gathering my notebook and pen. I rushed out of my cubicle and to the few feet to his office door. When I walked in, he had already made it back to his desk.

“Good, you’re taking notes. I like that,” he said, his voice dripping with contempt as he led me into his office.

“Wouldn’t want to forget anything important that came out of your mouth?” I shot back, refusing to let his condescending tone get to me.

“Watch it, temp girl,” he warned, his eyes narrowing. “You’re new here. Don’t think I won’t replace you in a heartbeat.”

“I’m well aware,” I said, keeping my voice steady despite the anger bubbling up inside me.

“Alright, then. I need you to go through these reports and find any discrepancies. And I mean any. I don’t want any surprises when we present the new product,” he ordered, pushing a stack of papers across his desk toward me.

“Of course, Mr. Caldwell,” I said, trying to hide my irritation at his imperious tone.

“I need you to set up a meeting with our Southwest distributors.”

“What kind of meeting?”

“In person if they are available to fly to Chicago? WebX if they’re not available.”

I jotted his request in my little purple notebook. “Is there—”

“My brother fucked the deal up, and now I have to fix his shit. Have you seen my brother today?”

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