2 - Flirtin' With Disaster

~Bailey’s Point of View~

“Girl, you got those files from the vault or what,” Attorney Rogers snapped.

Girl?

Fucking asshole.

No one gave a damn that the name “Kline” on the building outside was also my name because I wasn’t actually the senior partner’s daughter. I was his niece which is apparently akin to gum on the bottom of your shoe. These douches spoke like this right in front of my uncle too, and he didn’t care.

“Yes sir, they are already on your desk as requested,” I said, looking up to match his gaze.

He made a face and turned to stomp back to his office. While my mom may be a Kline, she never married, so basically having a bastard daughter did not sit well with society. My dad left us before I was born, I don’t even have a picture of him. My mom claimed he wasn’t ready for a baby, and she told him if he wasn’t all in to fuck off. So he did.

I was supposed to be grateful that uncle Greg got me this job, that he was also helping pay most of my tuition. I even had to stack my classes all on the same two days just so I could be here slaving away for fourteen hour days three days a week. I hated college, I hated this job. But I really had no direction in my life anyhow. I was majoring in communications but I didn’t even know what I’d end up doing with that.

It meant everything to my mom that I finished school but I was half way through my third semester and all I wanted to do was quit. My grades weren’t the best, I couldn’t focus. My mom made me go to all these different workshops where they’re supposed to help you figure out what career you might like. Literally none of them were appealing. 

My mom hovered over my every little thing, I had no life. To help alleviate the cost of college I was living at home so I had zero privacy. Zero chance to date or even really make friends.

I told myself I just had to suck it up, get through school and I’d be on my own. But I never really had any money that was mine, only ever worked bullshit low paying jobs. My mom didn’t have a lot of extra despite sometimes working three jobs so what little money I got mostly was used for groceries. Then a couple months ago uncle Greg offered this secretary gig and the money was too good to turn away. 

But the hours … the people … fucking hell. It’s just too much.

However, every once and awhile there are some silver linings … like eye candy. And that is exactly what just fell in front of me, completely out of the blue. Normally any decent looking men in this place were way older, mostly stuffy and just looking to have an affair. I completely ignored them but oftentimes it just made them work harder. 

I got busy with answering the phones, setting up appointments and the morning flew by. I nearly forgot about hot Trey in a leather jacket that helped me when I dropped some files. Nearly forgot him … until he was in the hall again, getting yelled at by a man I recognized as Congressman Ulmer. 

Everyone knew his face, he made sure of it. I remember hearing how he out spent his opponent in advertising this last election by nearly four times as much. Maybe I was a bit of a news junkie, what else did I have to do with my time?

We had celebrities and high profile people in the office all the time, I never usually paid them much attention. They certainly didn’t see me or give me a second thought. This was California and everyone was pretty much in their own world … especially rich people.

But what was it about leather jacket Trey that made me feel … noticed? Sure people gawked at me, it was the braces. The sad truth was that I was supposed to have them off a couple months ago but we didn’t have the money. Pathetic I know. But with all the hours I’ve been working I hoped to have enough next month. Get the braces off and get a retainer. It’s pretty damn expensive without insurance, and my mom lost her job that carried it months ago when her company went under.

“I won’t have it,” Mr. Ulmer shouted.

Suddenly a pretty blonde got in his face and I recognized her as his daughter. They had all been here to see one of the senior attorneys that had his own secretary, so I hadn’t handled his calendar or affairs. I hadn’t known who all was in that conference room. The bodyguard looking guy that was with Trey got in the Congressman’s face too, and suddenly they all were shouting, pointing fingers in each other’s faces. 

I leaned back in my chair, completely amused. Stuff like this didn’t happen here, it was normally very quiet, dull really. The only real controversy was the fact that several attorneys were drunk most of the day, trying to hide booze in their coffee.

“I did my part, fuck you! I don’t answer to anyone least of all you,” Trey shouted.

“You can’t control me and it kills you! I’m signing and you can’t do anything about it,” the blonde shouted, running back into the conference room. They all stormed back in after her, and more shouting ensued.

I grabbed my phone and looked up who Halsey Ulmer was dating, and it wasn’t anyone named Trey. It was some unknown guy named Toby who was kind of chubby and basic looking. She didn’t have kids so … what was their connection and who was he?

I tried to act busy, thankfully the five junior attorneys who I was responsible for had either gone out for lunch appointments or were on conference calls. I had so little excitement in my life and for whatever reason this just seriously piqued my curiosity.

I found myself going into the files for the attorney handling the Ulmer case and found that it was a divorce. Trey and Halsey were … married? I quickly got back online and tried to search whether Halsey had been married, there was nothing. She was basically California royalty, her entire life was on social media and in the tabloids. How was this not public knowledge?

I finally found the name I was searching for in the documents … Trey Comstock. Didn’t ring any bells so I searched it online … guitarist for Feisty. 

Holy fuck balls. 

Daddy’s princess, Miss Teen California and Miss Perfect Role Model was married … to someone in Feisty?

I didn’t know much of their music, I mostly listened to pop and house music, not so much hard rock. But you’d have to be living on Mars not to know who they were. People mostly knew their frontman, Jude Stone because he was hot as hell and known to be a ladies’ man to put it mildly. He also very publicly overdosed during a set. That was actually pretty awful, people thought he was a goner. Literally people were glued to the gossip sites for weeks as he struggled to recover.

The whole band were mostly known for constantly being with different women, but never settling down. Except for the worst of them, Jude himself had recently come out publicly with a girlfriend and they’ve been seen together all over. And they were so adorable it made everyone sick.

I quickly tried to search more about Trey and found him with tons of different women, but it seemed as though he never really had a serious girlfriend. Again, how the hell did the media not catch wind of this marriage?? Surely it would be big time news. Feisty were bad boys, pretty much came from nothing until they were signed in their late teens and blew up. They were basically American rock royalty. 

The last thing I was desperate to know? 

My fingers flew over the keys on my phone as I searched, “Trey Comstock net worth.”

$65 million.

Holy shit. 

Holy…

shit.

The unsavory part of my brain remembered that he was mildly flirting with me. What if I tried to flirt back? 

No, no you idiot. He’s fucking married to Halsey Ulmer … a billionaire and a goddess. What the hell would he want with me other than an easy lay? Was I an easy lay? Shit if I could get some money out of him I might be.

What the hell was I saying?

That wasn’t me. Granted I’d only ever slept with two guys in my whole life, mostly just to see what the fuss was about. They were both terrible in bed, I mean I’d seen porn and I knew it was supposed to be better than that. I could barely tell anything was happening and when it was over all I wanted to do was leave. Between work, school and a helicopter mom that I shared a one bedroom apartment with, there was no time or possibility for a lovelife.

I nearly jumped when the conference room door down the hall burst open. Shouting immediately filled the hallway as Mr. Ulmer and his daughter continued to fight. Trey walked quickly with his bodyguard looking muscle at his side. The big guy seemed pissed but Trey just had an amused smile on his face. His eyes immediately locked on me and I found myself unable to look away.

“I can’t even stand this shit, it was supposed to be in and out. What the hell is he thinking? This is a fucking PR nightmare,” his friend said, clearly pissed.

I just continued to stare at Trey and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recognized him earlier. He gave me a small wave and I returned it, not at all wanting to stop myself. Was he still married? Was he with her? I was dying for more information but I also knew it wasn’t my business. I knew from working here there was no waiting period for divorce in California if all the parties could agree then it can happen relatively quickly.

I suddenly felt my phone vibrate as the loud group all filed out, the Ulmers still fighting. I looked at my screen under the desk and it was an alert from “Happening Now,” one of the top gossip sites.

“Bombshell exclusive: California’s Princess Halsey Ulmer secretly married Feisty badboy Trey Comstock and has been wed for years! Where does that leave her janitor boyfriend Toby?