Page 1 of British Billionaire
1
Poppy
“Can’t we wait inside?”I have to shout over the sound of the rain and the wind. My hair keeps flapping in front of my face and getting in my mouth. It’s really starting to piss me off.
“Boss said to meet him here.”
“Great!” I throw my hands in the air. “That’s just great.”
I’m standing in the middle of a field somewhere in the north of England. I don’t even know what town I’m in. Terry, the man standing next to me, picked me up from the airport. He drove me straight here. He’s barely said a word since I met him.
The tattoos on his knuckles and up his arms and on his neck and the scars around his eyes indicate he might like to do most of his talking with his fists.
When I pictured coming to England, I imagined myself walking around London. Walking around all the famous luxury stores and trying on clothes I can’t afford to buy. Eating delicious food overlooking the Thames.
I definitely didn’t picture mud and rain and wind and mascara running down my face at seven o’clock in the morning.
“This is crazy,” I say. “We’re in the middle of nowhere!”
“You don’t like it,” Terry says, “you can leave.”
“Fuck.” I turn away and look into the distance. So far, England sucks. And I can't turn around and go home. I don't have anything to go back to.
I told my boss I was going on vacation. Somehow he found out I was coming here for an interview.
He threw a fit.
“Don’t you dare come back,” he said. “And you can forget about a recommendation!”
He gave me a forty-five-minute lecture on loyalty. Honesty. The virtues of being a good assistant.
Words I didn’t think he even knew the meaning of.
By the time I left, I was glad to be out of there. He’s lucky I didn’t slap his stupid, smug face.
The guy’s a douche, with a capital D.
I’ve been working for him for nearly five years and he’s never once given me a raise.
The number of social events I’ve missed slaving away for him. It’s ridiculous. I barely have a life anymore. And he’s never shown me the slightest hint of appreciation.
What he did probably wasn’t legal. But, there’s nothing I can do.
Even if I take his ass to court, it won’t put food on my table next week.
My whole life is riding on this job interview.
If I fail, I’m screwed.
I just wish I didn’t have to stand outside getting wet and freezing my ass off. I haven’t even had time to go to a hotel and change. My eyes feel tired. My body is weak.
Jet lag is definitely real.
“Here he is.”
Terry’s deep voice wakes me from my thoughts.
I squint into the distance and see a grey-brown smear gradually getting closer.
