Damaged (new adult romance) (Never Leave Me, #2) Read Free Page B

meetings and just because Mr. Walker is letting you read manuscripts doesn’t mean you’re suddenly some hot, up-and-coming literary agent. Don’t get outraged. Take a deep breath and smile.
    “Welcome,” I said with a big ole smile.
    “Here’s what I need you to do,” Mr. Walker said directly to me. “Give him any manuscripts you haven’t read yet.”
    Keep smiling.
    “What about the ones I’ve already read?” I asked, resisting the urge to snap at Mr. Walker.
    Mr. Walker scratched his head. “Did you like any of them?”
    “Yes, a few.”
    “Okay, well, give him the ones you liked along with any notes,” Mr. Walker said. Then he faced Tom. “Look through those first and let me know what you think. If you agree with Jadie, pass them along to me, if not, set them aside.” Turning to me, he said, “I’ll need you to write the rejection letters for the ones he puts aside, okay?”
    “I’ve never…written a rejection letter.” I was fuming. Blonde Tom was now between me and Mr. Walker. No more going directly to Mr. Walker.
    “We have form letters.”
    “Should I use those even for the ones that showed promise?” I asked.
    “Hell, write ten-page emails if you want explaining all the things you liked or didn’t like. But, if you decide to do that, you do so at your own risk,” Mr. Walker said, frowning.
    “Understood,” was all I could bring myself to say.
    “All right, now let’s all get to work.” Mr. Walker patted Tom on the back. “Tom’s sitting in the office at the very end of the hall,” he then said to me. And with that, he disappeared into his office.
    “I’ll come find you in a few minutes,” I said to Tom.
    “Cool, also, how about we have lunch today? That way, we can eat and work.”
    Tom was probably only a year or two older than me and here he was already directing my day on his first day at a new job. And he even had his own office. Okay, I know what you’re wondering. You want to know if he’s handsome. The answer is yes, but so what. I feel threatened. I so wanted to impress Mr. Walker and now I can’t. I’ll have to go through Mr. Blondie, first.
    “I’d love to, but I have plans,” I said.
    “I understand,” he said, clearly disappointed. “I’ll check with Mr. Walker, maybe he won’t mind if I tag al ong with him to lunch today.”
    Was he serious? He was obviously trying to bully me into agreeing to have lunch with him. Mr. Walker was having lunch with a big editor from New York today; no way, I was going to let Tom attend that luncheon. What was I worried about? Mr. Walker would never agree to it. Tom was new. But then, Mr. Walker did seem highly impressed with him already, so much so that he poached him from another agency.
    I decided to call his bluff. “Would you like me to ask him?”
    He pulled his lower lip. “On second thought, I’ll just eat at my desk today. That way, I can review some manuscripts.”
    “Okay, well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get to work.”
    “Yeah, no problem, of course. Just come over whenever you’re ready with the manuscripts.”
    I bit my lip; otherwise, I feared I would have said something awful, something like, “Fuck off!” I’m sorry you had to hear that. I promise, I don’t normally curse. It’s just that Tom has really irked me.
    Slouching down into my desk chair, I massage d my forehead and tried to relax. Then I opened my drawer and pulled out a stack of manuscripts. I stared at them for a long time. I had read them over and over again, taking notes as I read. These were the ones I was going to give to Mr. Walker with a big thumbs up. These were the ones I was excited about; the ones I wanted Mr. Walker to represent and try and sell. I was already imagining him meeting with editors and pitching them, encouraging them to buy, buy, and buy. And yes, in my head I also imagined Mr. Walker giving me a pat on the back, a “good, no great job, well done, keep it up, you’re on your way to bigger and