23 Attempts at Love

Chapter 18: Boys' Club

"Hey Lucy! Great work on the manuscript the other day!" My friend James passed by my desk with a smile.
"Ah thanks! Did you read it?" I asked.

"The whole thing," he grinned. "I borrowed your notes on it too: I really liked your thoughts on character development, and really bold of you to suggest slashing chapter 17 entirely!" I blushed a deep beetroot red. I was doing well at work still, but I wasn't used to the praise even though John was now taking me out for a monthly one-on-one coffee which mostly consisted of him telling me I was doing great, and me insisting that I was floating. I hadn't found a winning bestseller in a while, but I was working on it.

"Do you still have a relationship with Joseph King?" James asked. "I need a favour from him." I hadn't heard the name in a while, not since Ed was my boss.

"He's basically dropped off the face of the earth, but I still have his email somewhere. What do you need from him?"

"Well, I have a friend who works at Penguin, says he's been emailing the guys there trying to sign some new exclusivity deal with them. They're put off after he tried to peddle his trashy authors you already rejected with them, but he's apparently trying to re-brand himself as the new Joseph King. He's trying to make a comeback and apparently he's got some talent backing him up," James had taken the seat next to my desk. "That email address would be great."

James was the perfect guy to charm Joseph King back into sending us his work: in a similar way to Ed he charmed people by flirting with their intelligence, doing extensive research into their best work so he could flatter them with knowledgeable compliments, and ultimately winning them over by negotiating the best rates for them. He'd also been recently moved into the department which shared an office space with the one I worked in, so I was seeing a lot of him recently. I gave him the email.

"Let me know how it works out," I smiled as he walked off.

"Don't worry, you'll know how it works out when he starts pumping out best sellers with us again," James grinned back.

James joined us for Friday drinks for the first time in a while, with a smile on his face telling me he'd got something to brag about.

"Guess who just signed an exclusivity deal with Joseph King again?" He announced to the table. "The next round is on me! Lucy, what you having?" I shook my head.

"No, no, I'm about to leave to go home and have a quiet night..." James stopped me before I could finish.

"Perfect, so a white wine or a gin and tonic? One last one won't kill you!" He grinned at me again. How could I leave his celebrations?

"Didn't Joseph King stop being relevant like a year ago?" Hannah scoffed. She made no secret of the fact she hated James and his cocky, arrogant attitude. I don't think she liked me much either. She tolerated Ellie because she knew Ellie was the key to the entire company's secrets, but Ellie couldn't' stand her.

"You say that, Hannah... But he's just been given the rights to represent Jamie Price's new trilogy. Can you argue with that?" James couldn't hide the smugness on his face as a collective gasp from the table went up.

"Jamie Price hasn't written anything in years! What made her come back? And why is she with King? Wasn't she with Spencer or Robbins or someone?" Hannah was almost hysterical, and everyone knew why: she'd stepped into Ed's shoes after he was fired and Joseph King was his first major deal. She should've been the one to bring him back to the firm now he was making a comeback, but someone in another department, junior to her had made it happen instead.

"You fancy James, don't you?" Ellie asked over our now-regular sushi lunch on Monday. I shook my head.

"I get on with him. I wouldn't date someone from work," I stuffed my mouth with spicy tuna rolls to avoid adding anything else.