Played (Elite PR) by Clare James

want to you be blindsided when you saw your boss.”
    There went her upper hand. Okay, but it wasn’t enough to stop her. This time, her ass wasn’t the only one on the line. She had Aaron to think about. She honestly believed in his talent, and she was confident Elite was the right place for him.
    “Well cowboy, if you really want to help me, there’s something I need you to do.”

    “T iffany, I need your expertise with a video component for the meeting,” Mel said as she walked into the conference room. “And graphics as well.”
    Tiffany was ready and waiting. “Got it, but you need to see this latest press about Aaron’s comeback.”
    His what now?
    Mel couldn’t move as Tiffany delivered the news, blow by excruciating blow. Looks like Mr. Major had done this before. The bastard. Why didn’t he tell her? He warned her about Rita, but had told her nothing about his own life of debauchery. And what really got her goat? She didn’t do the checking on her own. She relied on an intern to do it for her. Still, she’d been busy researching the label, searching Elite’s archives for other country ‘launches’ and scrambling to find successful debut examples. And hey, what did Frankie say? She didn’t have to be the smartest person in the room. Just the most informed.
    Okay, consider her briefed. Now she had an hour to prove it.
    The next sixty minutes flew by in a blur of fact-checking and copy-writing and putting together a last ditch backup plan should it all go to hell. With ten minutes to spare, she reapplied her lipstick, tamed a few rogue curls from her updo, and took a seat next to Tiffany at the long conference table, sipping coffee while they waited until the team filtered in.
    Those pitching always took a seat with the rest of the management, while everyone else stood. Just another protocol Miranda liked to use to make the staff uncomfortable. Mel didn’t have time to rework her pitch to factor in the comeback, so she was going at it as if launching a new brand. She’d talk about the ugly backstory later.
    It wasn’t exactly as she planned. Still, she was ready.
    But before she even had the chance to warm up her boss, Miranda came at her first thing once the meeting began.
    “So, Melody.” Mel hated the way Miranda said her name, long and drawn out, turning up the last syllable so it sounded like she was addressing a kindergartener. “I had an interesting conversation with a Nashville manager today, would you like to fill in the rest of the group?”
    Miranda sounded nice. Too nice, and Mel worried she’d never get the chance to pitch her idea. Still, she’d told Rita that she wouldn’t send over paperwork until the meeting. She hoped that bit of information made it into the conversation with her boss. Misrepresenting Elite was a surefire way to win her walking papers.
    “Right.” Mel set her shoulders and stood up. “I’m so glad you got the chance to speak with Rita this morning.” Then she looked around the room at the rest of her colleagues. “I’m happy to announce I’ve found an opportunity for new business with an up-and-coming country artist.”
    She nodded to Tiffany, who passed out the flyers. She’d doctored up a factsheet that looked like a concert flyer to get everyone pumped up about the client. And from the expressions of all the ladies in the room, she’d killed it.
    “Who is he?” Frederick asked, studying the photo. Shoot. She could see The Weasel’s wheels turning. He was the office pain in the ass, and slicker than owl shit, always willing to sell someone out to get closer to Miranda.
    “His name is Aaron Major and he’s with Jumpstart Records,” she said.
    “Ah, Mel.” Fredrick smirked. “That story’s been done before. Aaron Major? Country music legacy out of West Texas makes good, heats up the charts, and then crashes and burns. End of story.”
    Mel embraced her inner Scarlett and prepared to take over the show.
    Fiddledee fucking dee!
    Returning