I want You Deeper

This is Alyssa Kennedy. She’s going to be working with us on,

“T the upcoming campaign.”

Alyssa was seated at a conference table filled with people who knew exactly who she was. She’d interacted with almost every single one of them at some point during her time here. Plus, she’d headed the marketing department. If they didn’t know her, they knew her name, surely.

“Thank you,” Alyssa said, smiling over at Justin. “I’m glad to be here.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

The words didn’t feel genuine, though. Emily’s words were weighing heavily on her today. Alyssa’s reluctance to speak up for herself was a real problem. She’d thought back over her life and realized how many times she’d been silent when she should have spoken, and now it was all she could think about.

“Brooke will be handling the day-to-day stuff,” Justin announced. “We’ll have Alyssa serving in more of an advisory capacity.”

Alyssa looked over at Brooke. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but Brooke was smiling at Justin like he was her hero or something. None of this was Brooke’s fault, nor was it Justin’s. Alyssa wasn’t mad at the two of them.

She was mad at herself.

“Wait, wasn’t she fired?” came from one of the board members, a guy who had stuffed himself into a suit jacket that appeared to be about two sizes too small. He was staring at Justin, eyes narrowed as if trying to figure out what he was missing here.

“She was part of the downsizing,” Justin started, “but only-”

Mr. Too-Small-Suit let out a snort-laugh. “I hardly think we need to take advice from someone who wasn’t good enough to keep her job.”

There were a couple of gasps around the room, and Alyssa was pleasantly surprised to realize none came from her. This dude had a heck of a lot of nerve. Old Alyssa would have been upset, angry even. But she would have been both of those things silently.

This wasn’t old Alyssa.

“Brooke is an excellent marketing consultant.”

Everyone turned to look at Alyssa, seemingly surprised she’d spoken. What? They didn’t think she had vocal cords or something.

She wanted to make it clear, first and foremost, that she had no plans to throw Brooke under the bus. This wasn’t about Brooke. Brooke had always been an amazing employee. Eager to learn and a hard, hard worker. Sure, it would be easy to feel bitter over her firing and take it out on Brooke, but that made no sense. What she was about to say was one hundred percent true.

Alyssa stood, picking up her tablet and lifting her laptop bag from its spot on the floor next to her. “There’s no reason for me to be here. Brooke can handle every bit of this. She’s amazing. The clients I work with hire me to manage campaigns, not to teach. This just… isn’t the right fit for me.”

It was weird. Part of her winced inwardly as she said those words, fearful what she was saying right now would come back to haunt her professionally. But she was erring on the side of professionalism, even as she stood up for herself. It was about integrity. It was about having basic guiding principles she wouldn’t cash in, no matter what the offer.

“Alyssa…” Brooke’s voice filled the room.

It didn’t stop Alyssa. She was out. She would go back to Emily’s cafe, maybe help out a little, then head upstairs to send out letters of introduction to a few more marketing firms throughout the Bay Area. She had a goal of just a few per day, and already, they’d paid off in the form of two meetings scheduled for later that week.

She sped from the conference room to the elevators, never looking back. “Alyssa!” This time, the voice was louder. Still Brooke’s.

Alyssa was kind of stuck waiting for the elevator to arrive, so she had no choice but to turn to face Brooke as she approached.

“I’m so sorry about that.” Brooke sounded out of breath. Her enthusiasm always seemed boundless, like a high school cheerleader. She hadn’t even run very far, but she was breathing in quick gasps. As she stopped in front of Alyssa, though, Alyssa saw she was nervous.

“That guy was totally out of line,” Brooke said. “Anyone with half a brain knows why they kept me and not you. My salary is nothing.”

Alyssa bit her lip. Honestly, she’d pretty much suspected as much. But she also worried that was her ego, refusing to let her believe that maybe they’d gotten rid of her because they thought Brooke was better at this than she was, even though she was slightly less experienced.

“That’s not why I’m turning this gig down,” Alyssa finally said. She knew she had to let Brooke off the hook here. “You’re, what? A year or two behind me in experience? It’s ridiculous. There’s nothing I can teach you that you don’t know already.”

“That’s not true. That’s not true at all. I feel like I’d just started learning from you when they split us all up. You always took the time to explain everything-and then, when it was time for me to apply what I’d learned, you stepped back and let me do it on my own. I’m the one who requested you.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened in surprise. “You?”

She didn’t know what to make of that. It felt a bit like a slap in the face. Here she’d been thinking that TravTech wanted her for her expertise when their marketing person just wanted a mentor.

“I feel like I’m in way over my head, but I don’t want Justin to know.” For some reason, Brooke waited until then to look around to see if he’d overheard. “Plus, Justin’s going to be working with your friend’s brother, so I thought-”

“Jeremy?”

Now Brooke was the one who looked surprised. “You didn’t know?”

Alyssa shook her head, feeling a little numb. “I’m so confused.”

“No big deal. They’re just working on a new venture together…”

Brooke’s words drifted into the background as Alyssa’s mind reeled. In all the time they’d spent together, Jeremy hadn’t once mentioned he was working with Justin Travers on something. Justin Travers, the man who had fired her. She’d felt like, of all the people he could partner up with in this town, Justin should be the last.

“Excuse me,” Alyssa said as the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. “I have to go talk with someone.”