Blair Ashton sits across from my desk, her legs crossed, her pitch black hair nearly hanging in her eyes. Her bangs are straight cut and her teeth look like they’ve been filed into fangs, and there’s a rumor that she’s a vampire.

I know she’s not a vampire. She told me so the first time we met.

She’s wearing all black, which is pretty normal for Blair. She’s thin, almost emaciated, and her fingers are constantly twitching like she’s typing at some invisible terminal. I have no clue how old she is, and I don’t think anyone else does, either. I’ve heard she’s fifteen, twenty-six, and seventy, so I’m just assuming she’s around my age until proven otherwise.

As far as I can tell, she appeared out of nowhere, her company fully formed. Spine VR’s tech ranges from portable glasses-type augmented reality stuff to the fully immersive virtual reality units that basically are so realistic, people never want to leave them.

In interviews, Blair insists she’s never tried her own tech and never will. It’s too dangerous, she says.

Everyone thinks she’s insane. I think she’s the sanest person I’ve ever met.

All of her idiosyncrasies, all of her weird little rumors, it’s all giving her company more attention. She’s the product as much as her actual products are, and people buy her stuff because they’re fascinated by her. She’s either truly insane, or she’s the most calculated evil genius in the world.

Which makes me wonder why the fuck she wants to hire a full-service advertising agency, but I’m not going to question it. I was trying to sign her back when I worked at my previous job, and it wasn’t until I got this CD job that she suddenly decided to take me up on my many offers to take care of her company.

She clicks her teeth and stares at me. For a second, I think she’s a wild animal with nothing going on behind those eyes.

“Thanks for coming in, Blair,” I say finally, breaking the short silence. She never seems to mind silences, but I find them totally agonizing with her staring at me like that. “I know this wasn’t an easy decision.”

“Diane Graves used to work in this office.” Her comment is abrupt, her shift in logic hard to follow. It’s pretty normal for her. “Did she sit in that chair? Was her butt right there?”

I can never tell if she’s joking or not, so I always take her seriously. “No, I replaced all the furniture and redecorated.”

“Good, have to take control.” She leans toward me, looking up through her thick, dark bangs. “Did you fire anyone yet? To assert your dominance?”

“Fortunately, no,” I say. “I didn’t have to resort to that.”

“Turned them instead?”

“Turned someone important to the staff, and I think they’re all falling in line.”

She nods slowly and seems happy with that answer. I clear my throat, very uncomfortable with the turn this conversation has taken.

Before I can steer it somewhere else, she starts talking again, almost like her voice is disembodied. “I like your dad’s movie.”

I wince a little. “Which one?”

“The first one.”

I sigh. Amazing was a smash hit years ago, one of the highest grossing animated films ever. It was about two rats that get superpowers and fall in love while battling evil robots. It’s actually pretty good, but I despise that movie more than anything else in this world, for unrelated reasons.

“I’m glad you like that one,” I say.

“Changed my life. Made me want to be a rat.”

“A… rat? Not, have superpowers?”

“No,” she says flatly. “Made me want to be a rat.”

“Oh. Well. That’s good.”

She grins at me, suddenly and viciously. “Superpowers are so overrated, Justin. I’d rather be able to scurry around, invisible to everyone. I’d rather happily live on trash. That’s reality.”

“Of course.” I have no fucking clue how to respond to what she says sometimes.

“That’s why I decided to come here,” she says. “Because of that movie. I thought, if you’re the son of the man that brought it to life, then you might be able to bring my vision to life.”

“I can do that,” I say, suddenly eager. This is what I wanted to talk about, and I see an opening. “I have an amazing team surrounding me, some of the best in the business. I actually want you to meet one of them.”

She frowns, just a little. “I’m not in the mood for more humans today.”

“You’ll be happy with this one.” I stand and walk past her, over to my office door. I pull it open and wave at Remi. She’s sitting in a chair across the hall, waiting with her portfolio tucked under her arm.

“You okay?” I whisper to her.

“I’m good.”

I wish I had more time to prep her, but it’s been a crazy few days. I’m just hoping Blair’s reputation precedes her enough that Remi is braced for some weird-ass shit.

“Remi Brooks, meet Blair Ashton.”

Blair stands, sweeping to her feet. She stares at Remi’s outstretched hand for a second before Remi lets it drop.

“Ah, nice to meet you,” Remi says.

“Brooks.” Blair’s voice is toneless, flat. “Same Brooks that his father stole from?” She motions to me with her head.

I wince, like someone just kicked me in the shin. Remi looks horrified for a second before getting herself together.

“Yes, the same one,” she says finally. “We don’t like to talk about that.”

“I understand. Your father lost a lot of money because of his father.” Blairs cocks her head. “The offspring of the writers of Amazing. This must be my lucky day.”

“Uh, yeah, definitely.” Remi looks at me for support but I can only shrug at her.

“Blair’s a fan of the movie,” I say.

Remi sighs. “We didn’t have much to do with the final product. My dad only helped write the script, everything else was Justin’s dad.”

“Still. I’ve heard, in forums, in the deepest forums where the fandom is strong, that your father was the real brains behind the movie. Is this true?”

Remi looks at me again, but this time it’s not panicked. This time, there’s a flicker of anger.

“I think it’s true,” she says. “But he doesn’t talk about it much.”

“Yes. I know. To the chagrin of many, many people.” She sighs, but it comes off like a child pretending to be upset. She sinks back down into her chair and I lead Remi around.

Remi sits next to Blair ad I get behind my desk, not sure where the fuck this is going to go. I’m pissed that Blair had to go ahead and remind Remi about all that shit. I mean, that’s why she hates me to begin with, but she doesn’t need to hear it out loud.

She doesn’t need to be reminded that my dad fucked her dad out of millions.

“Blair, Remi here is going to take the lead on your branding,” I say. “She brought in her portfolio for you to take a look through, if you’d like.”

“I’d be happy to show you—” Remi starts, but Blair reaches out and snatches the portfolio away. She’s surprisingly quick.

Remi glances at me again as Blair flips through the pages. She makes absolutely no sound and her face gives nothing away. When she’s done, she hands the portfolio back.

“I want both the offspring of the Amazing authors to work on my account. I want them to work on it together.”

I frown a little. “I’d be happy to help, but working directly with clients isn’t exactly—”

“Both of the offspring,” she repeats. “I wish to bring the two halves back together.”

I look at Remi, almost pleading with her to back me up, but she’s not looking back.

She’s staring at Blair with rage in her eyes.

“I won’t work with him,” she says softly, but the anger bleeds through her tone.

Blair smiles at her. It’s the most awkward, forced thing I’ve ever seen, but also somehow calming. It nearly humanizes her.

“I understand your position,” she says, “but understand mine. I am offering your company potentially millions of dollars in billing, and this money is entirely contingent on you and him working together.” Her wicked smile gets bigger. “So you will do it.”

There’s silence in the room. Remi stares at Blair, looking angry, and I’m afraid she’s about to lose her temper. I want to speak up, stop her from ruining this. We can work together, it won’t be that hard. I’ll stay out of her way and let her take the lead, I’ll do whatever she needs. I just can’t lose this client.

Remi opens her mouth, closes it again, and opens it. “Why do you even want an agency? Your company doesn’t do any marketing at all and yet you’re selling like crazy.”

Blair nods slowly. “I am the brand,” she says. “I hate being the brand. I am not the way I am to amuse the world or to sell my virtual worlds. I am what I am because that’s how I am. I am tired of being the brand as well as myself.”

Remi glances at me and I just shrug helplessly.

“I understand,” she says finally. “Are you sure there’s no other way?”

“There is no other way. You will be reunited.”

“I don’t think we’ll reunite, but we’ll work together.”

Relief floods through me. I need this client to establish myself here, and if we lose Spine, that’s a huge knock against me right up front. Remi could easily screw me here, and yet she’s not.

Actually, I don’t understand why she’s playing along. Blair stands and we say our goodbyes, and I’m busy trying to figure Remi out.

If she wants me gone, she could probably just refuse to work on this project. Blair will walk and I’ll look like a moron. They’d probably fire me and hire her within a week.

And yet here we are, working together, despite how much Remi hates me.

Once Blair is gone, I turn to Remi. “Couldn’t help yourself, huh?”

Remi cocks an eyebrow at me. “What do you mean?”

“You couldn’t help working with me.” I give her a charming little grin. “You act like you hate me, but I don’t think you do.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not doing this for you, moron.”

“What are you doing it for then?”

I watch her chew on her lip. It’s such a familiar habit, something she’s been doing since she was a little kid. She does it when she’s nervous or uncertain about something, and I’ve seen her do that lip chew many, many times over the years.

I never thought I’d see it again, but here we are.

“I’m doing it because I feel bad for her,” she says. “I can only imagine what it must be like for her… being the mascot.”

I frown a little. I was not expecting that.

“You’re an impressive specimen, Remi,” I say softly. “You haven’t changed one bit.”

Her eyes flash at me. “You haven’t either. You’re still an arrogant asshole.”

I laugh softly, unable to help myself. “There we go. I was wondering how long it would take you to insult me.”

“Whatever. We’re going to work on this together, but I’m in charge, got it?”

“Got it.”

“You defer to me in everything.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I give her another charming smile.

She looks at me warily. “And we don’t talk about… all that.”

“All that?”

“You know what I mean. What Blair brought up. I don’t want to talk about any of it, okay? We pretend like it never happened.”

I hesitate a second. I don’t know how we can possibly ignore that much history between us and our families, but… if she needs this, I can try.

“Fine,” I say softly. “We’re total strangers.”

“Exactly right.” She glares at me one more time before shaking her head and walking back to her office.

I watch her go, eyes on her beautiful ass.