“Harley,” I said. “Find someone else.”
“We don’t want someone else. We want you.”
I crossed my arms. “So much so that you had your assistant call me.”
“Holly is our head of Human Resources and this is really more her realm of expertise.”
“Yet you were clearly on standby.”
“I know how stubborn you can be. You were the same way in school.” He snickered. “Holly, you can go. I’ll handle this.”
I didn’t even like the way he said ‘handle’ as though I was some menial task that he had to get off his plate. “There’s nothing to handle. I’m not interested in the position.”
“We are prepared to offer you $175,000 a year, paid weekly. It comes with full health benefits, including totally covered physical health, mental health, dental health, and eye. We fully fund 401ks and invest in company stocks on your behalf, and we’d lease you a penthouse nearby for easy access to the studio.” My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. I was glad I was sitting in my living room alone and not in Harley’s office. I’m certain I shattered my poker face. “Alexa?”
It was a dream salary. I could work my whole life and never come close to making that much. It wasn’t worth sacrificing my dignity though. Not by a long shot. “I’m not interested.” God, I couldn’t imagine admitting to anyone that I turned down a $175,000 salary. “Thank you, but find someone else.”
“Alexa.” I hung up the phone before he could get another word out.
I splayed out across my couch and stared at my ceiling. “That wasn’t a funny joke, God. You owe me one.”
Maybe travelling the world and not having roots down in America was the best choice after all...
2
Harley
I stared at my phone, now singing nothing back to me but a dead dial tone. To spit in the face of a damn near a fifth of a million dollars took some resolve. I laughed just thinking about it. Well, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy convincing Alexa to come work for us. Having Holly call and make her the traditional offer was really just the first wave of my line of attacks. I stood up from behind my desk, grabbed my phone, and made my way out of my office. Holly was standing just outside, her red hair tied up in a bun on top of her head.
“I’m really sorry, Mr. Foxx.”
I tapped her on the shoulder. “Don’t be. I knew this would be a slippery fish.”
“Should I pull another file?” she asked.
“No. Alexa Storm is the one I want.” I started to walk down the hallway and Holly trailed behind me.
“But sir, she very clearly said that she isn’t interested in the position.”
“I’m aware of what she said, Holly. I’ve known Alexa for many years, and I know that she’s a rare bird.” In truth my brother and I had wanted Alexa in the position ever since the day we took over. Thankfully that other, poor excuse for an anchor jumped in a lake and gave us an excuse to go after it. “I’m going to consult with Huxley and figure out what we’re going to do next. I’ll keep you posted. You can go back to your office for now.”
Holly nodded. “Yes sir.” She flitted away without another word.
I travelled the hallways of Foxx tower until I was entering my twin brother, Huxley’s, office. He was sitting behind his desk, reclined back in his chair, with his black boots up on the desk. He was way too casually dressed for work, in a t-shirt and jeans, compared to my full suit. Ignoring that, we were identical twins in every sense of the word, with the only thing distinguishing us being the tribal, barbed wire tattoo that he had on his left bicep, where I had a matching tattoo on my right one. Apart from that, we had the same wide shoulders, the same amber eyes, and the same short brown hair. Where he chose to allow his to just stick straight up in more of a spiked fashion, I typically combed mine back. Eagle eyed onlookers could tell the difference between us at a single glance, but the rest of the world was doomed to mistake us for one another often.
Huxley was flipping through a magazine with a slender, well-endowed blonde on the cover with only her intentionally placed arms covering her intimate parts. Despite looking at a dirty magazine, he was looking at it like it was no more interesting than a magazine about paint drying. He looked completely bored.
I walked over to him and ripped the magazine from his hands and threw it down on the desk. “She said no.”
An evil smile skated across Huxley’s face. “Oh, I was hoping you would say that.”
The other thing that distinguished my brother and I was his total penchant for immaturity. Any chance that he got to be annoying or childish, he took excitedly. It was the one thing about him that made me wish people didn’t confuse him for me. I watched as Huxley opened up his computer and aggressively started typing. If only Alexa knew that it was probably in her best interest to accept my very formal and professional job offer. Now she’d have to fall under whatever Huxley had in mind.