Jada

I took a sip of my cocktail as I watched my friend, Kennedy, thumb through a listing of jobs on her iPad. We worked for the same temp agency but we were both in the market for new jobs.

We got laid off after the firm we worked for downsized and move headquarters to a different city. They had offered very few people job transfers and neither me nor my boss made the cut. They handed me a pink slip, gave me one month’s worth of severance pay, and sent me on my merry way. Since I’d gotten hired on temporary gigs here and there but none of the jobs had really stood out for me. Although I wasn’t in any position to be choosy, most of them only wanted temporary help to begin with which wasn’t a big motivator.

Kennedy scrambled something down on a notepad. I wished that I was as enthusiastic as her about job hunting, but I had given up hope on ever finding the perfect personal assistant position again. Maybe it was time I applied in other fields or weigh the advantages and disadvantages of moving back home to the country.

Kennedy had received her pink slip from the same firm right about the same time I did. Except for the CFO and a few other finance executives, the entire accounting department had been laid off. Like myself, Kennedy had taken on some temporary positions hoping to find a permanent one. The job market in the city wasn’t what it used to be, and we were competing with a slew of recent college graduates.

“Oh, Jada…look. Here’s one for you…corporate secretary at BossUp Entertainment,” she said, sliding her iPad across the table and pointed to the job listing she found.

“BossUp Entertainment…hmmm, that sounds familiar,” I said, reading through the job requirements. I opened up another browser and did a search on the company. “Oh…I know why it sounds familiar. This is a shell for a company that owns a handful of strip clubs.”

“Wait? How do you know that?” She leaned over and glanced at the tablet. “All it says is food and beverage industry.”

“Of course that’s all it says. You don’t even want to know how I know this.”

She nudged my shoulder. “Oh, come on. Have you worked there or something? Are you a stripper on the side?”

“No. I handled my old boss’s personal credit card bills. The charges showed up often, and he wasn’t exactly shy about his visits there. In fact, he took potential clients with him to close on some of his contracts.”

“Really?” Kennedy squealed in laughter. “But…I wouldn’t put it past him. I snuck in on a company owner’s meeting once and they repeatedly pitched to executives on doing whatever it takes to earn the sale.”

I nodded. “Exactly. But at this point, I’m not in a position to be picky. I’ve got a couple months to search around before I go broke.”

“Didn’t you say you were invited to interview with a petroleum company here in the city tomorrow?”

“The interview at the petroleum was on Monday. They wanted me back for a follow-up meeting, but that position was put on hold. The one you’re talking about is for an imports and exports firm and it’s tomorrow afternoon.”

“Really? What for?”

“A temporary PA. It’s not even temp to hire. I only agreed to interview because of the pay. It’s almost double what I’ve been offered in the past.”

“What company?”

“Vetrov Corporation.”

Kennedy’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “Do you know how hard it is to get an interview with that company?”

I shrugged. “Must not be too hard. I got one, and I wasn’t exactly trying.”

“No, seriously. My recruiter tried to push my resume to someone in HR and they told her flat out that they only hire directly. They don’t work with agencies or third-party recruiters. So I submitted my resume directly to them three weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything back.”

“Maybe they changed their policies. You should follow-up,” I told her.

“You know what they are, right?”

I frowned. “What do you mean…what they are?”

“The owners. The two brothers. You know about them, right?”

I glanced at her and there was an awkward moment of silence between us. “I didn’t even know the owners were brothers. I’ll be interviewing with one of them though.”

Kennedy glanced around us suspiciously and then whispered, “They’re not like you and me.”

“They’re rich as fuck and they’re bachelors. Of course, they’re not like us,” I exclaimed.

“Yes, they’re millionaires, but that’s not what I meant,” she said.

“So…what did you mean?”

Kennedy rolled her eyes. “I forgot that you don’t get out much.”

I nudged her playfully. “What is that supposed to mean? I get out. And I go places. I even met you for lunch.”

“That’s only because I came to your apartment and dragged you out here,” she said.

“So…about these two brothers…what do you mean?”

She toggled through some pages on the internet and slid the iPad closer to me once again. She’d opened it to a website of the local newspaper. The headline read: Do we have our very own shapeshifter pack here in Red Beach Valley?

“Shapeshifters,” I mumbled, scanning the article and reading about how a wolf pack had apparently just taken up residence somewhere in our town.

“We had two wolf shifter packs in Montana where I grew up,” Kennedy said. “Their existence was already out by the time I was born.”

“How do you know the owners of Vetrov Corporation are shapeshifters?”

“Wolf shifters, to be exact. My dad has worked at the property appraisers office for over thirty years, so he knows just about every family in this county that owns large tracts of land. And I’m not just talking small lots and fields, I’m talking mega acreage like neighborhoods, farm lands, and isolated woods. Woods that were deemed uninhabitable a long time ago, but folks already knew people live out there. A while back, the County was able to link a few of those properties to prominent families who had already identified themselves as primarily shifters. Among them was the family name Vetrov.”

“Sounds like myths and legends,” I said, not sure what to make of it. Was it just a story or was I about to be interview to be a PA to a known shifter?

“Yeah, of course, but that’s how they stay so low key. A small portion of our city believe they're here but many of us don’t, which means the Vetrovs and the rest of the shifter families are left alone and unbothered most of the time. But I know the difference.”

“But what makes you think that these two owners are shifters? Maybe they were adopted or something. Maybe they're only related by marriage not blood.”

Kennedy shook her head. “I don’t think so, but I could be wrong.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it. Either way, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me. If shapeshifters are here in Red Beach Valley, they could literally be everywhere. Our neighbors. Our hair stylists. Our politicians.”

“Or that sexy ass guy sitting by himself,” Kennedy added.

I started to turn around, but then Kennedy hissed, “Don’t turn around. I think he’s looking at us.”

I giggled. “Maybe you should go talk to him.”

Kennedy grinned. “Maybe I should. I haven’t had good sex in ages.”

“Um…you told me you had sex a couple weeks ago. Your mechanic? Remember?”

“It wasn’t good sex. It was awful. He doesn’t count.” She cringed. “Awful sex. No job. I don’t know about you but that’s just a recipe for one super disgruntled bitch.”

I shrugged. “You don’t seem disgruntled to me. If anyone should be disgruntled, it should be me.”

“I don’t know how you do it. You were married for years and then—boom—you’re divorced just like that. It’s been what…a year since you dated anyone?”

“Well, I’ve had friends…”

“Friends? With benefits, right?”

I shook my head.

“No sex for over a year?” Her eyes widened. “Noooooo.”

“It’s not that hard. Sex is overrated anyway.”

“Oh, honey. Poor girl.” She frowned. “Tell you what…why don’t you go talk to the hottie in the corner?”

“I agree. He’s hot, but I don’t need any attachments right now.”

“Okay…suit yourself. Let’s do lunch tomorrow. Maybe after your interview. And you can tell me all about that Vetrov brother. I hear he’s eye candy.”