Page 5 of King of Wands

Now that was news. Halifax had been with the team since before Braun Racing became Braun-Evans Racing. He was in charge of managing King’s publicity—something he wasn’t happy about and had no problems telling you why. For one, King was the second driver, meaning he was second fiddle. His job was to support the team and make sure Yedlin won. Halifax did not like working with a second driver. And for two, he didn’t like King.

Actually, alotof people didn’t like King. Most of these people were either older or part of families that had been in racing for three or four generations. King was a newcomer. He had zero ties to racing. He was poor and came up through a charity league. Seeing his potential, Evans (yes,theEvans of Braun-Evans) sponsored him. In addition to being one of the tallest and heaviest drivers, he was also one of the youngest at twenty-one.

Basically Halifax hated everything about King and instead of doing his damn job (excuse the language) he was sabotaging him in hopes the team would drop him. If Jess was right, it looked like it was Halifax who was getting the boot instead.

“Remind me to cry.” Did I mention Halifax was the one who called us “young pretty things?” Yeah, total loser.

“I’ll bring the tissues. And by tissues I clearly mean tequila.” She made cheering gestures, then disappeared back into her cubicle.

An hour later I grabbed my favorite notebook and made my way to the conference room. It was still empty so I chose a nice quiet seat in the back corner. I was excited to be included in something for a change but also nervous. I felt out of my depth here. At school I was a beast. It was my world and I was confident in my abilities. But here...nothing made sense. Not the perfect people, not the gobs of money, and definitely not the emphasis on said money. I’d prefer to fade into the background until I found my sea legs or my job was over, whichever came first.

The public relations team came in all at once. Halifax, Leslie, Arthur, and the head of the department, Jeremy. Last into the room was Richard. He closed the door, giving me a kind smile and a nod before he took his seat at the table. It wasn’t a huge group but everyone in the room was super important.

“Let’s get on with it,” Jeremy said, looking around the table. “What’s the plan?”

Halifax droned on for fifteen minutes about King’s performance over the first races of the season. Honestly, I still had zero clue what the meeting was about.

Richard made a face at me once, clueing me in that he was equally bored.

“Well, that was...enlightening,” Jeremy practically rolled his eyes. “Richard, what are your thoughts?”

My heart beat faster when his eyes slid my way. “I’d like to make a point, if I can.”

“By all means.”

“Isa?”

Every head swiveled my way. I cleared my throat. “Yes?”

“What do you think today’s meeting is in reference to?”

I was going to kill Richard. Sit and listen my ass. “Uh, well, it sounds like we’re reviewing King’s performance statistics.”

Richard grinned. I’d clearly given the correct answer. Then he turned back to Jeremy. “King is never going to have the fan support he’s capable of commanding if the team in charge of delivering that result can’t articulate a simple plan of action. As Isa has just pointed out, the only information Halifax has communicated so far is meaningless.”

Halifax turned beet red.

I wanted to slide under the table.

Jeremy burned a hole in Halifax’s bright red forehead. “I’m going to ask one more time. It will be thelasttime. What is your plan of action for branding King Reynolds?”

Halifax cleared his throat rather nervously for a man who usually carried himself with such self-importance. Before he could answer the door opened and King strode in. And I do meanstrode. As in, confident, sure, and unwilling to be bothered unless something was of value. He didn’t glance my way. Instead he directed his attention to Jeremy as he sat in the seat beside Richard.

“I apologize for being late,” he said. “Adam wanted to run a change to my Austria set-up by me and it took longer than expected.”

Adam Callaway was King’s head of strategy.

“It’s not a problem,” Jeremy nodded. “You haven’t missed anything yet, unfortunately. Halifax here was just about to explain his branding plan for you.”

Any doubts I had about King’s attitude toward Halifax were obliterated by the fiery glare he fixed on the older man. “Please continue,” he bit out.

Halifax had no notes, computer, or tablet. He was the only one at the table with nothing in front of him. Was he really so confident that he was more important than King that he could walk into a meeting like this and walk out alive? If I wasn’t so disgusted by the jerk I’d be impressed with his confidence.

He cleared his throat again. “Yes. Well. Given that Yedlin is the senior driver and has a significant fan base we should focus our energy and money there. The more King appears to be friendly with Yedlin, the more fans he’ll accumulate.” Then Halifax sat back with a smile.

That was it.

That was his entire plan.

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