The One of Many Read online

  The One of Many

  M. Jane Early

  Amazon

  Copyright © 2021 M. Jane Early

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 9781234567890

  ISBN-10: 1477123456

  Cover design by: Art Painter

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  For those who voted...Thank you.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty One

  Twenty Two

  Twenty Three

  Twenty Four

  Twenty Five

  Twenty Six

  Twenty Seven

  Twenty Eight

  Twenty Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty One

  Thirty Two

  Thirty Three

  Thirty Four

  Thirty Five

  Thirty Six

  Acknowledgement

  Books By This Author

  One

  I think we should see other people…

  I stared at the phone’s screen for longer than I thought possible, trying to comprehend the words staring back at me in the blue bubble. My boyfriend had been MIA for the last five days. I figured he was filming or busy doing something involving his newly found Hollywood fame. Ever since he landed a lead role on a TV show, I’d seen less and less of him. I expected as much, so I didn’t complain. But I never expected him to turn into a chickenshit who’d break up with me over a text.

  “Is he fucking kidding me right now?” I whispered, sitting at my desk on the ninth floor of Imperium in Santa Monica, California. I stared at the words like maybe if I stared long enough, they would change. I shook my head, then thought about how to respond.

  I rose out of my chair and left the cubicle, frantically scrolling through my contacts, finding Crew’s name. I bumped into someone’s chest without looking up, trying to conceal my rage. My fingers gripped the gray suit as a pair of firm hands caught me before I fell.

  I leaned into his chest, catching his scent. The combination of mint, rosemary, and seawater was dizzying, but I resisted the urge to look up.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, moving past him quickly.

  “It’s okay,” I heard, but I didn’t turn around.

  The conference rooms ahead of me would have to suffice for the inevitable meltdown I was about to have. I’d usually wait until lunch to make these kinds of calls, but I wouldn’t torture myself for another two hours wondering what I did wrong—I needed answers. I closed the glass door behind me and tapped Crew’s name. Striding around the table, I waited for him to pick up.

  “Farren?” he answered.

  “What the hell, Crew?” I enunciated each word.

  “I’m sorry. I know this is bad timing.”

  “Bad timing?” I laughed. “Yeah, because next week would’ve been better for you to break up with me over a text message.” My voice involuntarily rose.

  “I didn’t want to call you. I knew you were at work.”

  “We were supposed to have dinner tonight. Why not just wait until then?”

  “I’m leaving for New York in an hour. I was going to cancel anyway.”

  I paused. “Is that the only reason you wanted to see me? To break up with me?”

  Crew’s end went silent.

  “Oh, you son of a bitch!” I said as I paced, livid. I wanted to snatch him through the phone.

  “Farren—”

  “After everything, Crew? I’ve been here since day one, helping you with your career. I paid for the headshots, acting lessons, your fucking rent.” I slapped my hand down on the hard-wooden table in front of me. My palm throbbed as the tears collected.

  “I’ll pay you back, I promise. You’ve done a lot for me, Farren. I just… I think we’ve outgrown each other.”

  He thought I was a moron. My anger grew. “Who is she?”

  “Who?”

  “Whoever it is you want to fuck. Who is she?” I seethed.

  The silence was all the answer I needed.

  I exhaled. “It’s Nina, isn’t it?”

  Crew’s co-star had always been handsy with him, even while I’d been on set. She had no boundaries and treated me like his assistant rather than his girlfriend. The show they starred in had a racy storyline with graphic love scenes and nudity. I questioned Crew several times about the amount of contact they’d had. He’d always dismiss my concerns, saying there wasn’t an attraction there—it was just a job. Standing in the conference room, I wondered how many jobs they’d done together without the cameras.

  “Listen, Farren, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, I just didn’t know how…” He paused. “I’m in love with her.”

  I closed my eyes as my heart lunged out of my chest and flopped onto the floor. I sank into a chair at the head of the table.

  “Two years, Crew. Two years I’ve been with you, willing to put up with your shit. Now you’re telling me none of it mattered?” My voice broke.

  “We haven’t been getting along for a while. I know this lifestyle can be hard on relationships. I just think I need to be with someone in the business. Someone who understands the pressures of what we go through. The fame, the spotlight…it can be hell.”

  I rolled my eyes as tears continued to fall down my cheeks. I wiped them away with the back of my hand. Crew was using bullshit excuses to sleep with his co-star. Someone more glamorous and prettier. He was telling me, in so many words, he didn’t want me anymore. I had nothing left to say.

  “I’ll come and get my stuff when I get back from New York. I’ll try to come when you’re not there. I’m sorry, Farren. I really am.”

  The silence continued on my end.

  After a few moments, Crew cleared his throat. “I gotta go, Farren.”

  I sniffed into the phone. “So go,” I whispered.

  “I’ll always love you,” he said, then ended the call.

  I let my phone drop out of my hands and put my arms on the conference table, resting my head against them. I hadn’t had a good cry in a while, and whether I wanted to or not, I was going to have one then.

  Two

  “He broke up with you over a text message?” Yvette asked incredulously.

  We sat in the cafeteria of our telecom company for lunch. My forehead was resting on my arms again. I looked up at her with my tear-stained face and nodded.

  “Let me see.” She put her hand out for my phone. Her maroon nails matched her silk blouse. The color contrasted well against her warm-olive skin.

  I pulled it from my pocket, handed it to her, and watched her scroll through until she saw the message.

  She furrowed her brow at the screen. “What an asshole.” She set the phone down. “And then he told you he was in love with her?”

  My face contorted, and the tears flowed again.


  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” She reached over and touched my shoulder as I put my head back down.

  After a few moments, I raised my head again, setting my chin on the back of my hand. “I knew this was coming. But fucking Nina Huxley?” I sat up, grabbing napkins forcefully out of the dispenser, then wiped my face.

  “I thought she was with that R&B singer.” Yvette tucked her long, thick black hair behind her ear.

  I sniffed. “Apparently not anymore.” I made a frustrated sound. “I’m so stupid. I knew she wanted him. I thought he was smarter than that…or loved me more.” I shook my head. “I didn’t think I was this easy to throw away.” My kid-like tone annoyed even me.

  “Stop it, Farren.” Her golden-brown eyes changed from sympathetic to pissed. “This has nothing to do with you. He’s weak, that’s it, and you don’t need nor want a man like that anyway. You’re too good for him, and believe me, he’ll figure that out and come crawling back. They always do.” She picked up her fork and dug into her chicken Caesar salad.

  I gave a shaky exhale and put my elbow on the table, leaning my forehead against my hand. The pain still radiated in my chest from the blow to my heart. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep until the breakup was a memory.

  “Did y’all hear about the new CEO?” Trevor pulled out a chair between Yvette and me, then sat and set his lunch on the table. His bald, dark brown head glistened under the fluorescent lights.

  Yvette swallowed. “Why are you sweating?”

  “I took the stairs. The elevator’s too slow.” He fanned himself with his hand.

  She shook her head. “The gossip was that good where you just had to run down here?”

  He grabbed a napkin and dotted his forehead with it. “Yes, it was,” he said with heavy sarcasm.

  He glanced at me with disgust. “Ew, what happened to you?”

  “Crew broke up with her,” Yvette answered.

  “What?” Trevor’s ebony eyes widened.

  “Over text message,” she answered for me again as she took another bite.

  Trevor’s lips parted in shock. He shook his head and opened his plastic container. “See, I told you he was an asshole.”

  I furrowed my brow. “You never told me he was an asshole.”

  “I was talking to Yvette.” He pointed his fork at her.

  “Oh, so you two were talking behind my back about my relationship?” I looked between the two of them.

  “We were right, weren’t we?” Trevor said confidently, moving the noodles around with his fork. “I don’t know why you were with him anyway. He was nothing before that terrible show came calling. You basically supported his ass.”

  My shoulders hunched. “I was trying to be the dutiful girlfriend,” I answered quietly.

  “You were trying to be his own personal doormat.” He rolled his eyes and took a bite of his pasta salad.

  I winced.

  Trevor placing me in the “he used you” category made me angrier. Crew’s dream of being an actor was there before me. It shouldn’t be a crime to help someone you thought you’d be with forever. I’d hoped we would build our empires together. Him becoming this massive star and me being the head of a marketing department. While he was on his way to getting what he wanted—with my help—I had held the same title at the same company for years. I had made Crew my priority and not done what was best for me.

  Never again.

  Not wanting to dwell on this issue any longer, I changed the subject. “What did you say about the new CEO?”

  Trevor’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Yes! Seems David Powers is the new man upstairs.” He opened his bottle of water.

  “David Powers? Isn’t Samuel Powers the CEO?” I asked.

  “David is Samuel’s son, and rumor has it, he’s trying to remove his father in a power grab for the company.” Trevor sipped from the plastic container.

  “He’s stealing his father’s company out from under him?” I scoffed. “I’ll bet their Thanksgivings are fun,” I said sarcastically.

  “Maybe he thinks he can do something better with it.” Trevor shrugged.

  I wondered if this meant Imperium was about to take a drastic turn. Layoffs, then mandatory overtime to make up for those layoffs. The last thing I needed was more stress with my job. My boss was a giant roadblock in my upward movement within the company as it was. Now, I would have to deal with a fresh pain in the ass who would step over his own father to extend his lined pockets?

  “But here’s the kicker,” Trevor said, pulling me from my thoughts. “He’s gorgeous.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Trevor, who cares if he’s gorgeous?”

  “I do,” Trevor said, as if I were an idiot not to share the same sentiment.

  I looked at Yvette and made a face at her. “He’s probably forty-five and married,” I mumbled.

  “Thirty-four and single as all get out. I googled him,” Trevor said, smiling.

  “Is he gay?” Yvette asked.

  “I don’t think so. Maybe. Doesn’t matter, fine is fine.” Trevor continued to eat.

  I chuckled and shook my head.

  “And you bitches better be ready. Especially you.” He pointed at me. “That tangled mess of blonde sitting on top of your head is disgusting, and your face is all red and puffy. Fix it.”

  I glared at him.

  “The new Mr. Powers wants us all in the conference room at two for a meet and greet, so he can introduce himself to the marketing department,” Trevor said.

  I threw my head back and sighed loudly. Today was not the day I wanted to force a fake laugh and bat my blue eyes at the new, and apparently gorgeous, CEO. He was probably an egotistical jerk. Most good-looking men with money were. I would stay out of the way and keep contact to a minimum. There were plenty of other people on the floor David Powers could interact with—I didn’t have to be one of them.

  After lunch, I went into the bathroom to clean myself up and apply a little lipstick. Nothing too drastic, just enough so I didn’t look like my ex-boyfriend shoved me into a blender and pushed purée. I pulled the elastic band out of my hair, letting the loose waves fall past my shoulders. Brushing through the strands with my fingers, I got myself to a presentable place. That’s all I could ask of my reflection at that moment.

  I sulked back to my desk and picked up the framed picture of Crew and me beside my computer. We were in Hawaii against the sunset on the beach. His tanned, tall, slim frame pulled me closer as I kissed him on the cheek. My bright orange bikini barely held my chest, but Crew said it looked sexy. I had bought a matching sarong to wrap around my bottom half. I loved the way I looked, both physically and emotionally. I was happy. We were happy—at least I thought we were. I threw the picture—frame and all—into the trash can.

  My boss, Nick Dumas, came to my desk just before two o’clock. He was in his late thirties, tall, blond, and physically handsome, but his personality made him unattractive. He was the company yes-man. Nothing was ever the company’s or his fault. A brick wall would be more receptive when we had a complaint or a suggestion. As one of the more senior members of the marketing department, most of the associates came to me instead of him when they needed help with anything. If I couldn’t solve it, I would talk to Nick about whatever their issues were. I didn’t enjoy being the middleman, but it was the only way things got done.

  “Farren, we’re having a meeting with the new CEO in a minute.” Nick looked towards Powers’s office.

  Thanks for the heads-up, dick. I can read emails and calendar reminders.

  “If he asks you any specifics about what we’re doing, I need you to make sure you talk about the marketing department as one cohesive entity. Remember, it’s not me, it’s us.” He put on his jacket.

  I inhaled gently through my nose and rolled my eyes without Nick noticing. I’d grown tired of hearing that same lecture. He had a terrible habit of taking credit for other people’s work then hiding behind the guise of the “we’re all one team” line. We all
worked hard to pull this company into the twenty-first century with an unusual amount of pushback from management—specifically Nick. He had often touted how he’d saved Imperium an exorbitant amount of capital per year because of his lack of “spending.” The more Nick pushed aside our ideas, the less pay upper management distributed in raises. The board and Mr. Powers gave him increases, while the rest of us gritted our teeth in frustration.

  “If the group does well, we all do well,” he said and winked at me.

  I frowned at his profile and noticed him fidgeting nervously with his collar and cuff links.

  The entire ninth floor knew Nick was petitioning for the marketing director spot, however much he didn’t deserve it. I imagined he assumed he’d have to get an ample taste of David Powers’s ass to accomplish that feat. It seemed he was preparing for that feast today.

  He patted the top of my cubicle partition with his hand and sauntered into the conference room. I gave an irritated exhale and rose as Yvette and Trevor entered my minimal space.

  “What did Nick Dumbass want?” Yvette asked.

  I laughed humorlessly. “How I needed to make sure I didn’t mess up his plans to leapfrog to director and convince everyone he’s the brilliant mastermind behind our ideas,” I said as we walked to the conference room.

  Most everyone had already filed in as I sat at the far end of the table with my back facing the door. Yvette sat across from me while Trevor stood by the window. I set my hands on the table and looked at my nails as we waited for the arrival of our new CEO. Someone in the room asked how everyone’s weekend was. A few people answered while I closed my eyes and exhaled impatiently.

  I leaned my watch towards me to see the time. Our new boss was now running six minutes late. I drummed my unmanicured fingers on the black table as the room grew louder with individual chit-chat.

  “Wanna go see a movie this weekend?” Yvette asked me.

  My face inadvertently grimaced, letting her know I wasn’t interested in the least. All I wanted to do was find the most fattening ice cream available and hide under the covers. I needed to mourn my asshole boyfriend for a while before I became social again.