Cheetah's Mate

Chapter One CIRCE Circe Cole was being yelled at by her boss. It was her very first day on the job. She was absolutely loving it. “Yes, Ms. Jennings,” she replied in as diffident a manner as she could muster, nodding her head, looking down at the bright purple toenails wedged into the woman’s peep-toe pumps. “Look at me,” her boss snapped, and Circe did, but was unable to stop a grin from parting her lips. “Is there something you find funny about all of this, Ms. Cole?” Circe shook her head, and cleared her throat, before shifting her weight a little. In front of her, seated behind a large, chrome-plated desk, empty but for a single laptop and mug of coffee, was Stephanie Lee Jennings, the most influential woman in automobile journalism. Scratch that. She might be the most influential person in all of automobile journalism. The distinction was important in the male-dominated genre. Ms. Jennings was editor-in-chief of Speed, the world’s best-selling English-language car-enthusiast magazine. That the stern, fiercely intelligent, and no-nonsense woman had made it to the most coveted position in a near-entirely male arena was simply astounding to Circe. Stephanie Lee Jennings was something of a personal hero. “You’re an intern,” her boss continued, pointing a jagged, bony finger at her. Behind the finger lay a sharp and severe face that was frowning. “That means you do as you’re told, and nothing more. No taking the initiative, cute as that may be. No setting out on your own. We give you work, and you do the work. Simple.” “Yes, Ms. Jennings,” Circe said, hating herself that she was still smiling. She was too excited to be stung by her boss’ admonitions. Stephanie Lee Jennings sighed, and tapped a finger to her temple. “What’s the problem, Ms. Cole?” “There is no problem,” Circe replied. She managed to wipe the smile from her lips this time, and looked at her boss level in the eyes. The two were almost polar opposites. While her boss was tall – over six feet – with an alarmingly skeletal body that turned dresses to drapes, Circe was short – barely over five feet – and had an a*s and thighs that made shopping for jeans a chore. Where her boss had a long face that could double for a Halloween scream mask, with deep, dark eyes and a vicious mouth that barked severely and bit much worse, Circe had a delicate, round face, soft cheeks ever slightly reddened, and large, shallow-set eyes that gave her a perpetual look of wide-eyed naiveté younger than her years. “It’s just…” Circe continued, and she locked her fingers together and squirmed. Ms. Jennings tapped her matching fingernails against the metal desk with metronomic precision. “I’m a little star-struck right now, and I’m finding it hard not to smile being here, being shouted at by you, Ms. Jennings.” She corralled a stubborn strand of red hair and tucked it behind her ear. “You’re, like, my hero.” Her boss’ features softened, and the deep lines that joined the outer edges of her nostrils to the corners of her lips changed from canyons to creases. “Circe,” she said. She paused, and touched her thin lips, behind which were perfectly straight teeth stained by coffee and cigarettes. “Ms. Cole. I appreciate that you were trying to do a good job.” Circe nodded. “That’s true.” “But surely you know that Speed caters to the high-end. Street-racing, no matter how exciting, does not fall beneath our umbrella.” “I understand,” Circe said. “It’s just that it’s getting really popular, and I thought it might open you up to a new demo—” “Stop right there,” her boss said, and Circe immediately clamped her mouth shut. “Our demographic is highly targeted at the moment, and neon lights and twenty-two-inch chrome rims” – she ran her veiny hands over the surface of her desk – “is something our demographic does not care about.” Now that the initial giddiness had worn off, Circe was beginning to feel rather stupid. “Understood, Ms. Jennings. It won’t happen again.” “Damn right it won’t. Don’t get me wrong, Ms. Cole. I find the scene fascinating. Do you remember that exposé two years ago on street-racing g**g culture, drugs, and prostitu—” “Drifts, Drags, and Drugs by James Verhoven,” Circe interrupted, recalling the groundbreaking article’s title and the man who penned it. He had exposed a vast underground network in the greater Seattle area, and with it a set of unique and complex rules for not just initiation into the gangs, but interactions between them. Verhoven had also exposed the rampant d**g culture, and the branching-off of the gangs into other streams of crime, such as d**g dealing, p**********n and turf warfare. “Yes,” Stephanie Lee Jennings said, and Circe thought she caught a glimmer of a smile on the stern woman’s face. “Well, that was me.” It was a moment of softness as she said that, a moment of shared, secret pride. Circe’s mouth fell open. “Really? That was you? You used a pseudonym?” “Yes. So it’s not that I’m not interested. Got it?” “Got it,” Circe echoed, and she returned her gaze to the ground, expecting to be dismissed. Her respect for this woman had just doubled. For a woman to go undercover, infiltrate the highly-misogynistic scene… It would take a whole lot of bravery. If it were a man, he’d be lauded as having balls of steel. For women, such colloquialisms didn’t exist for acts of courage. When Circe wasn’t told to get back to work, an intense wave of awkwardness and dread washed over her. She wasn’t about to be fired, was she? Was that what her boss had meant by ‘damn right it won’t’? “Ms. Cole.” “Yes, Ms. Jennings.” Circe held her breath, steeling herself for the worst. “As you know, the Formula One season starts next week.” Circe nodded, but raised an eyebrow. Stephanie Lee Jennings was always at the opening Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia. Her editorial coverage at the start of each season was incisive and pertinent, and her predictions were downright Nostradamic. Of course, picking the winner year after year wasn’t entirely difficult, considering the same man had won the drivers’ championship seven years running. But who she pegged for positions two through ten were often scarily accurate. “I usually go alone.” Circe nodded. “Yes, Ms. Jennings.” “But I’m getting old now, as you can see.” The woman sighed, and gestured at her silver hair. Circe actually thought it gave her a look of authority, command, and confidence, rather than that of the fragility that comes with age, but she didn’t say anything. “I’m in my late fifties, but I look and feel like I’m twenty years older.” When she didn’t say anything further, Circe realized that she was waiting for a reply. “Well, you work hard,” she offered a little pathetically. “Indeed. Something has come up this year.” “Oh?” Circe sounded, wondering why one of the most successful and important female journalists on the planet seemed to be confiding in her. The woman before her was not just professionally acclaimed, but came from old money, too. To her, Circe must have seemed… entirely insignificant. Just an ant, not even an inconvenience. “Cheat has granted me a no-holds-barred one-on-one interview after he wins the Grand Prix opener.” Circe thought for a moment. She wasn’t all that keen on racing. Actually, she wasn’t keen on racing at all, and had only applied for an internship at Speed fresh out of her journalism degree out of reverence for the magazine’s esteemed editor-in-chief. The woman had once given a speech, and Circe had pretty much fallen in professional-love at that point, and had made it her mission to work beneath Ms. Jennings. “You don’t mean Miles ‘Cheat’ Cohen, do you?” Circe asked, referring to the driver who had won the previous seven Formula One championships consecutively. Her boss nodded gravely, but in her eyes was a spark of amusement. Circe put a hand to her mouth in shock. “But he’s never given an interview before!” Everything she knew about the enigmatic and devilishly handsome man was flooding back into her memory banks. “He’s pretty much a total recluse. At least, it's a total media blackout.” “Indeed, Ms. Cole. You are correct.” “Well, then that’s great!” Circe said, clapping her hands together once. “Wow! Talk about flying off the shelves, then.” “Exactly,” her boss said, staring at her with an eyebrow raised. “So, let’s just cut right down to it. Do you want to come with me to Melbourne?” Circe inhaled so quickly that a glob of saliva went down the wrong way, and she coughed and sputtered through embarrassed, watering eyes. “Yes!” she gasped, nearly shouting it, nodding her head furiously in between coughs. Her boss seemed entirely unfazed by her sudden clumsiness. “Good,” she said, nodding at Circe. “Go get a glass of water. We leave on Wednesday night. I’ll have the details forwarded to you, and make sure you’re on time at the airport for our flight.” When Circe had fully recovered from her fit and was confident that she could once again speak without making a fool of herself, she asked her boss, “Why me?” “Because, Ms. Cole,” the woman responded, her thin lips curling into a grin. “I sort of like you. It’s a well-worn-in cliché, but I see a lot of a younger me in you.” Circe blushed and beamed, quietly whispering, “Thank you.” “That’s not a compliment. I was an i***t when I was your age.” Circe could only blink dumbly. “Now go. Get out of my office. No more street racers. I don’t want to have to call you into my office again, Circe. Don’t screw up anymore. Make sure of that, or I’ll replace you in a heartbeat.” “Yes, yes!” Circe blurted, and she spun around and made her way to the door. She pushed at it, and heard the glass rattle loudly in its hinges. Pull! As smoothly as she could manage, she pulled the door open instead, not daring to look back at her boss. Weaving through the cubicles, Circe went straight to the disabled bathroom, locked the door, and screamed with excitement. The calm came after a few moments, her heart rate slowed, and she stopped sweating, shaking, and smiling. “Oh my God,” she whispered to herself. She had to call her mother! And her friends! Oh, and this one was better: She had to call her classmates! No, she thought after entertaining that idea for a moment. She wasn’t going to brag about this. That would be petty behavior. Putting the lid down, Circe sat on the toilet, and rested her head in her hands. She had just been given the opportunity to shadow Stephanie Lee freaking Jennings while she gave the world’s first and exclusive interview to Miles ‘Cheat’ Cohen, widely known as the best race-car driver to have ever lived. She was going to be shadowing her professional hero! “Holy cow!” Dizziness took hold of her mind momentarily. The implications were immense. This could be a massive boost to her career. Scratch that, this could make her career! If she could get involved in some way, no matter how miniscule… if she could somehow earn a byline, then it would mean she got her pick of the lot in terms of where she wanted to work! Imagine that! The world’s first interview with Cheat Cohen, by Stephanie Lee Jennings and Circe Cole! No, no, no, no! That was ridiculous. She’d never get a byline. That was out of the question. But was it? The urge to scream was welling within her again, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Be quiet!” she hissed. She couldn’t scream anymore! Because what if somebody was walking by the lavatory outside and heard the scream? They might think something was wrong! They might call an ambulance! And Circe wasn’t about to let a concerned and well-meaning coworker ruin her chances at going to Melbourne with her boss. No way in hell!