A Ilha do Amor Teaser

Stomping into Marcus’s office, I plopped down in the chair opposite of his desk. My boss looked contrite, pushing me a very edited copy of my article on the new parking meter proposal the city council drew up to bring in more revenue for the city. “What did his majesty deem unsuitable this time?”

“One of your sources was a liberal council member. He wanted a conservative take on it. Plus, you sounded, supposedly, like you were not in favor of this proposal,” Marcus cringed.

“This is horse shit! I’m neither for nor against this fucking proposal, Marcus! I don’t care about the fact that we need to have parking meters in the city. I have a nice, climate controlled garage and utilize public transportation if I’m too schlitzed to drive,” I spat. I scanned the article and the meat of my story was torn to shreds. “How am I supposed to get this done? I’m assuming he wants it in tomorrow’s edition, right?”

“Bingo,” Marcus said, grimacing. He also slid a piece of paper across the desk for me. “These are the approved council members he would like in that story.”

I glanced at the list and each of them are known for not talking to the press. “I’m going to honest with you, Marcus; I do not think that I’ll get a quote from any one of these douchebags. We’re going to probably have to run my original article, sources be damned. I’ll try and change the wording to avoid the supposed opinion that Alec is accusing me of, but getting these guys to talk is like getting my ex-fiancé to admit that he likes girls.”

“Try to get one of these council members to talk,” Marcus encouraged. “I’m just as frustrated as you, Bells. I get it. I truly do. But, I can’t lose my job. I’m trying to squeak under the radar. I hate what Alec has done to this paper…”

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Marcus. You do know that almost all of your team has sent out resumes to other publications? Myself included,” I said, crossing my arms. “Coming to work is a chore because of these insanely small hoops we need to jump through in order to keep the boss man happy! Fuck! I’m ready to say to hell with it all and move to Brazil with my boyfriend! Start a travel blog or something.”

“I wouldn’t blame you, Bella. If I didn’t have a mortgage, a wife and two children, I’d be with you. I’m too experienced to be hired by another paper. I make too much money with my extra credentials. The only place where I might be able to move to is New York or DC, but I refuse to uproot my family,” Marcus grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “Have you heard anything?”

“No,” I answered, wrinkling my nose. “With the influx of new resumes, the local papers are probably not interviewing. I don’t know.” However, I knew that once my lease was up, I didn’t want to stay in Seattle. I loved my family. I loved my friends, but Seattle wasn’t my home anymore. A luxury villa, with Edward, off the coast of Brazil was my home, honestly. Dreams of waking up in the sun, actually writing a travel blog or even working with the chefs on the island appealed to me more than rewriting mediocre articles because my assclown editor-in-chief deemed my writing unworthy.

“Well, you’ve got three hours until I absolutely needs to be submitted for the morning edition,” Marcus said. 

“I’ll support you if you cannot get quotes from the sources that Alec wants.”

“Marcus, I don’t want you to put your neck out for me. I know what I’m doing. I wrote a good, non-biased article. Alec is blind to not see it. I’ll take responsibility if he gives me grief. I’m telling him the truth,” I said, getting up from the chair in Marcus’s office.