The Hockey Star’s Remorse by Riley Above Story novel Chapter 3
Evie
The boss had called me into his office this morning. Dread settled in my stomach as I stepped inside and Jasper was standing there too.
“Miss Sinclair,” he says simply. “Mister Morgan. I called you both in here to discuss a rather important matter. I can’t have two interns. One of you will be let go.”
I bristle at his statement.
“The one I keep here has to demonstrate a knowledge of client acquisition that exceeds our expectations for interns. Whoever brings me the next big client will receive the role here in this office. The other will have to go.”
Jasper chuckles smugly beside me.
“Certainly, sir,” he says. “Excellence in everything, isn’t that right, Evie?”
My nails bit into my palms as anger started boiling over.
“Absolutely,” I say, feigning sweetness.
“I expect to see your client portfolios in three days,” our boss said. “I look forward to seeing what you guys bring to the table.”
As soon as we step outside his office, Jasper began his trash talk again.
“Prepare to lose, Evie,” he says with a smirk.
“I won’t lose,” I say proudly.
“Don’t lie to yourself,” he snorts. “I know you have zero prospects. It must be hard being you.”
“Oh yea? What do you have that I don’t,” I ask, folding my arms.
“My family owns the largest shipping company in the world,” he says plainly, picking at his nails.
“That’s a cowards way out,” I snort.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said quickly, a grin plastered on his face. “A client is a client. It’s not about what you know, but about who you know. It won’t matter how smart you are when you show up with nothing. I hold it all in the palm of my hand.”
I felt my stomach drop. I hated when he was right. Jasper was second on my list of most hated people I knew. Which means he was first place loser.
How fitting.
“It might be better for you to just give up,” he says, lowering his tone. “It’s obvious you don’t belong here. You’d never understand how to deal with the one percent. I mean, look at you. You taped your heels.”
My jaw tightens. “Your attempts at scaring me are childish at best. I’d suggest you focus on your clients.”
I strode back to my cubicle, aware of how my heel wobbled beneath me. I cursed, feeling embarrassed creep onto my face.
God, I was so out of my league. It felt like I dropped right into the deep end without my floaties.
I didn’t let his words deter me. I kept reaching out and searching for the client of my boss’s dreams.
I just had to keep looking.
As the day came to a close, I felt my first wave of defeat. Not a single bite. It was like no one would come near me with a ten foot pole. I would suspect sabotage from my colleague, but something told me Jasper was much too confident in his abilities to want to put in the extra effort.
So I packed up for the night.
My phone started buzzing. I pulled it from my purse and looked down at the screen.
Aria.
I picked up her call, pressing the phone to my ear. “Hey.”
For a second, all I could hear was soft sniffles coming from the other end of the phone. “Hey,” Aria repeated. Her voice was wobbly and quiet.
I frowned. “What is it,” I ask worriedly. “Aria, what’s wrong?”
“He dumped me,” she wailed. “Ryan, dumped me!”
I inhaled deeply. “Aria, I’m so sorry,” I say apologetically. “What can I do?”
Her sniffles grew louder. “I don’t want to be alone,” she whimpers.
I nod quickly. “No, absolutely. Come over,” I urge. “We can order takeout and open a bottle of wine. Maybe watch a movie?”
Aria laughed sadly. “You’re too good for this world, Evie,” she says tiredly. “Are you finally off work?”
“He broke it off because he was ‘working’ on himself,” she says with air quotations. “But we all know what that means.”
Aria groaned. “I mean, why can’t they all just be like Timothy Hayes,” she whined. “He’s so hot. Ugh.”
“Yea,” I croaked. “That would be… interesting.”
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