Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment and Warren & Rinsler Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories.
Chapter Title: Cold Hard Bitch from Jet's 2003 album, Get Born. Produced by The Hothouse Team; Craig Harnath and Finn Keane.
Love Conquers All
Chapter 3
Cold Hard Bitch
July 1, 2019 – Offices of Raven Daniels Designs – downtown Manhattan
The day was at hand for Raven Daniels, the company and the person. Both entities would begin their collaboration with the design diva, Devyn Shelby. Understanding the woman that is Devyn Shelby requires you to think in three dimensions. Dimension number one is the most obvious; her stunning beauty. Devyn was once described by a fashion expert as the tallest five-foot, five-inch woman he had ever seen. He noted that her legs stretched for days. There is no doubt that the micro-mini skirts that she was famous for wearing had something to do with that assessment. The one-half Korean, one-half African American beauty began as a model at the age of fifteen and quickly discovered her love of fashion design after determining that the clothes she was being given to model were ill-suited to her. The matter-of-fact way that she let this it known to the ones supplying her outfits led to the genesis of her reputation in the industry as a cold, hard bitch which is dimension number two. Then you come to dimension number three which is in stark contrast to the other two. Devyn Shelby is also known as one of the more charitable people in her industry. She has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to various charitable organizations ranging from Alzheimer's disease to juvenile diabetes. So while people within her industry know her to be very difficult to work with, she is seen by the infirmed as a godsend.
Raven sat in her office going over some new designs when the force of nature that was her assistant, Tristan Macauley, came into her office. Tristan Macauley was a five-foot, six-inch, slender young man of Italian descent who was also half Irish. His sharp tongue and biting wit always kept Raven on her toes. His competence and knack for being cool in a crisis is what endeared him to her and has kept him at her side for the better part of five years. The only enigmatic thing about him was the ambiguity regarding his sexuality. No one in the office could figure out if he was gay or straight. He never mentioned dating anyone and was always equal in his compliments toward men and women in the face of the large number of attractive men and women that came into the office.
"Your meeting starts in ten minutes and you're sitting here as cool as a cucumber?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah." Raven replied as she sat the sketch in her hand down on the desk. "What should I be doing right now, pacing a groove in the floor?"
"Pacing, sweating, chewing on some bricks, something! I mean, Devyn Shelby will be here in ten minutes!" Tristan said.
"You know, everybody is walking around here trembling in fear like the woman is demon spawn or something. Yeah, she's bitten a few heads off and has rubbed people the wrong way from time to time, but she's not the devil. She is a flesh and blood human being that we will be working with on a new clothing line for Lord and Taylor. So I need you, of all people, to relax. People in this office key off of you. If you're not nervous, they won't be nervous." Raven said calmly. Seconds later, there was a knock on the door.
"Excuse me Ms. Daniels…" The young woman said. "Devyn Shelby and her team are in the conference room."
"She's a little early." Raven said softly to herself. "Thank you. Tell them that I will be there in just a couple of minutes."
"She… told me to tell you…" The young woman hesitated and winced at what she was about to say. "… that time is money in her world and that ten o'clock to her means 9:50 and that she would appreciate it if you would start the meeting now."
Raven dropped her head to her chin as her mouth opened in reflexive disbelief over what she had just heard. Tristan looked at Raven, raised his eyebrows and frowned at the corners of his mouth as if to say 'I told you so.'
"She said that." Raven said rhetorically.
"She anticipated that you would make her wait." The young woman said, ignoring the rhetorical intent of the statement.
Raven paused for a moment in thought. "Toni, please tell Ms. Shelby that I am in a meeting with my assistant and I will be there momentarily and that she and her team can help themselves to the refreshments that have been provided while she waits." Raven said with calm that belied the simmer that she began to feel under the collar.
"Of course Ms. Daniels." Toni said as she exited the office.
Tristan was about to speak when Raven put her hand up to stop him. "She's trying to feel me out. Once she realizes that I won't snap to attention when she says jump, she'll stop. It's like training a puppy." Raven said. A moment later, the door to her office opened without so much as a knock. Standing in the door frame with hands on hips was the indomitable Devyn Shelby. Raven was shocked to see her standing at the threshold to her office. Nonetheless, she remained as calm as she could under the circumstances. "Ms. Shelby. I… appreciate the personal visit but I was coming to the conference room shortly." Raven said with polite calm.
"I'm sorry." Devyn said in sweet but condescending fashion. "I thought I told your little minion that I would appreciate your presence in the conference room. Every second we sit idle, is a second that someone else is beating us to the drawing board." Devyn said with polite but arrogant calm.
Little minion? Who the?... Raven thought to herself before speaking. "Ms. Shelby, I apologize if you feel inconvenienced by waiting, but our meeting…"
"Is supposed to begin the melding of the creative processes of the number one…" Devyn motioned to herself before motioning to Raven. "… and number two couture designers outside of Milan and it should be met with a little more enthusiasm than I'm seeing from you."
Tristan's head quickly swiveled toward his boss, turning just in time to see her eyes begin to blaze. When he saw Raven's right index finger moving from her side to the front of her body, he sensed a Ravenesque explosion of four-letter expletives about to spew and moved quickly to save the collaboration before it started.
"MS. SHELBY!" Tristan exclaimed as he stepped in between Raven and Shelby's positions. "I'm Tristan Macauley, I'm Ms. Daniels executive assistant and she has assigned me to be your personal concierge while you're in the office so whatever you need, just ask."
Devyn's eyes lingered on Raven's face for a moment, almost daring her to explode as she looked past Tristan at her before deliberately closing her eyes, rolling them behind her eyelids and fixing them on the man standing closest to her.
"That's better. Thank you Trent. I appreciate that." Devyn said with the air of an aristocrat. "I'm going to need…" Tristan spun around and snatched the pen and pad lying on Raven's small round table. "…six large bottles of Fiji water, two packs of Twinkies and the latest copy of…" Devyn stopped in mid-sentence as she spied the latest copy of In Style magazine on the corner of Raven's desk. She walked past Tristan and cut her eyes over at Raven before picking up the magazine, glancing defiantly at Raven once more before returning to her position several paces in front of Tristan. "Oh and Trent, we're going to need lunch reservations for a good Japanese restaurant. I'm in the mood for sushi."
Raven stood leaning on her desk with a neutral look on her face. However, she was seething on the inside. Tristan flashed a sheepish smile at Devyn and held up the notepad that he was scribbling on. "Trent is on the case, Ms. Shelby."
Devyn nodded then turned her gaze to Raven, cocked her head to the side and smiled a toothless, smarmy smile. "I'll be in the conference room. It was a pleasure to meet you." Devyn said sweetly before Tristan and Raven watched her turn and walk out of Raven's office.
Tristan looked at Raven, whose facial expression had not changed since Tristan stopped her from going ballistic on Devyn. He was afraid to say anything to her, afraid of a thermonuclear meltdown. Raven, whose eyes never left the closed office door, blinked twice and allowed her head to drop to one side before she spoke.
"I'm going to kill her." Raven said in an eerie calm. "If she so much as scratches her cheek wrong at me, I am going to snatch her uterus out." Tristan tried to cut her off but to no avail. "That fake Amerie-wannabe lookin' bitch comes into my office and is going to try to chump me… in front of my assistant." Raven paused raising her index finger and pointing it at the door. "I will slice… her ass up. I'm from the south side of San Francisco."
"No you're not." Tristan said. "You're from the north side."
Raven snapped out of her trance and gave Tristan her death glare. "Did you say something… Trent?" Raven asked in a calm but ominous tone, butchering Tristan's name the same way Devyn did. Tristan's response was to put his hand up to his mouth and lock it with an imaginary key. "You saved me from a murder conviction. You know that, right? Some tatted up chick named Spike would have been running up in me with the handle of a toilet plunger at Bedford Hills but it would have been worth it to kill Devyn Shelby." Raven said, referring to the New York state's correctional facility for women.
"Are… you gonna be all right for this meeting?" Tristan asked.
"I am the Chairwoman and CEO of a Fortune 1000 company. I sit on the board of directors for three other companies and can handle the New York press corps with one hand tied behind my back. I'll be fine." Raven said. "But I want you to promise me that if I do go to prison for killing that bitch, you'll smuggle me in two cartons of cigarettes every two weeks to keep me from getting raped every week."
"Newport or Lucky Strike?" Tristan joked.
Raven's face threatened to crack a smile but she wouldn't allow it. "Go fetch Milady's water and Twinkies. I hope she chokes on the creamy filling and drowns in the bottle… Skinny bitch." Raven spat.
Raven managed to swallow the lump of bile that had built up in her throat and went into the meeting with her professionalism intact. There were very few direct conversations between Raven and Devyn during the initial meeting which suited Raven just fine. At the two hour mark, just before lunch, the subject of office space was brought up by Raven's chief administrative officer, Antoine Caldwell, who was guiding the agenda for Raven's team opposite Shelly Tomlinson, Devyn's CAO.
"We have given Ms. Shelby the corner office on the northeast side of the floor when she is here. It has more than enough space for her to work with." Antoine said.
"Oh. Well thank you for your generosity but Ms. Shelby will be working exclusively from her offices in midtown and won't require an office here." Shelly said causing Antoine and Raven to raise their respective eyebrows.
"It's no trouble at all. Raven simply felt that it would be convenient and comfortable here for her." Antoine said.
Shelly began to speak when Devyn cut her off. "I appreciate the offer but, how do I put this, this office doesn't exactly… do it for me." Devyn said.
Raven sat up straighter in her seat and touched Antoine's arm before he responded. "Excuse me Devyn but what exactly about this office doesn't… do it for you?" Raven said in a professional tone that had a hint of irritation with it. Members of both teams were also slightly taken aback by the fact that Raven addressed Devyn by her first name, something that only her family did, and that Devyn allowed her to do it with no reprisal.
"Don't get me wrong Raven, this is a… cute office. But my office has the… ambiance that I need to get my creative juices flowing. You understand, don't you… Rae?" Devyn said.
Devyn's last statement was laced with intent to put Raven down. It was one thing for Devyn to come out of her mouth with veiled insults and sarcasm in the privacy of Raven's office, but a public putdown in the conference room was something that Raven was not going to tolerate. The only problem was that this woman had already pushed several of Raven's buttons, diminishing Raven's reserve of professional behavior. With Devyn punctuating her statement by calling her "Rae", a name reserved only for her closest friends and family, Raven was ready to give Devyn a definitive lesson in crossing Raven Daniels.
"Antoine, I'm calling a timeout here because I need to say something." Raven said as she stood up and pointed a finger at Devyn.
"From the second you walked into this office, my staff has treated you with the kindness and respect that your triflin' ass doesn't deserve." Raven began with a verbal right cross, stunning everyone in the room with the exception of Devyn who sat stone-faced. "You called one of my most respected employees a minion, couldn't give my assistant enough common courtesy to get his name right, disrespected me in my own office and now you have the audacity to sit in MY conference room and try to belittle me in front of my executive staff? Let me tell you something, Heifer…"
"Raven!" Antoine whisper-yelled.
"No Antoine, let her finish." Devyn said.
"Unh-uh. And you are NOT gonna sit there and take the high road either." Raven said. "See I heard about your reputation; Devyn's a spoiled brat, Devyn's a pain in the ass to work with, Devyn's a bitch. But I stood in my office seconds before you BARGED in and told Tristan, his name is Tristan by the way, not Trent. I told Tristan that you weren't the devil, that you weren't a demon spawn, that you were a flesh and blood human being that I was going to make clothes with. And you know what? You're not the devil or a demon spawn. You're a low-class skank trying to pass herself off as a diva that has one more time to come out of her mouth disrespecting me in my office before I come across that table and drop kick your ass back to midtown where you came from! My company doesn't need this and I don't need this. The only thing keeping me from walking out of this conference room right now is the contract we signed with Lord and Taylor. So guess what BITCH? You're stuck with me and the threat of an ass-whuppin' hanging over your head. Now are you gonna straighten up or am I gonna go Monday Night Raw on your ass?"
Raven stood glaring defiantly at Devyn who was seated directly across from Raven at the large conference table. The tension in the room was as thick as it could get. No one on Devyn's staff had ever heard anyone talk to Devyn in that manner. For those in the room that experienced her wrath or knew of her reputation, it was a telling off that was long overdue. The question that remained in the air was how she would react to Raven's diatribe.
Devyn looked down at the floor where her purse sat. She picked it up and reached inside to pull out her cell phone. She hit one of the speed dial buttons and waited.
"Walter, it's Ms. Shelby. Bring my car to the front. Thank you." Devyn said before hanging up her phone and standing up. "I think we're done here for now."
"Ms. Shelby…" Antoine started as Devyn's team began packing up and standing as well.
"Let her go Antoine." Raven said as she sat down.
"Don't sit down Ms. Daniels." Devyn said, using Raven's formal name for the first time. "I'm treating you to lunch." Raven furrowed her brow in disbelief as the two staffs looked at her, puzzled by her offer. "No one has had the nerve to talk to me like that since before I left home. Anyone that can stand up to me in a conference room is someone that can trade ideas with me and not flinch. That's how great clothes get made. Now… if you can hold off drop-kicking my ass back to midtown, we can make Old Man Lord and Old Man Taylor's heads spin."
"I don't eat sushi." Raven said.
"Whatever you want. It's on me." Devyn said. "The check, not the food."
Raven paused before reluctantly relenting. "I'll get my purse."
"Guys, leave your stuff here." Devyn said to her team. "We're coming back after lunch."
Devyn's team sat their portfolios and other materials on the conference table as Raven's team let out the collective breath they had been holding since Raven's monologue began. Raven walked out of the conference room and headed back to her office. When she came into Tristan's view, he hopped up from his desk and followed Raven into her office.
"Well? How did it go?" Tristan inquired expectantly as he closed the door behind him.
"I don't believe this!" Raven fumed. "I tell that bitch off in front of a conference room full of people and do you know what she did? She pulled out her cell phone, called for her car and then TOLD me she was treating me to lunch! I mean she didn't ask me, she told me!"
"So I know you let her have it then!" Tristan said as he watched Raven get her purse. "Where are you going?"
"To lunch with Devyn." Raven mumbled.
"Wait. If you're so pissed at her for telling you she's treating you to lunch, why are you going?" Tristan asked.
"As much as I want to play rat-a-tat-tat on her skull with my fist, we signed a contract with Lord and Taylor and I do not feel like going through arbitration to break the deal. So I am going to put on my flea collar, lie down with this dog and get through the next year or so." Raven said colorfully.
"Rat-a-tat-tat. Can I use that one?" Tristan asked playfully.
"Smart ass." Raven spat in response to Tristan's joke before cracking a slight grin. "Clear your schedule after lunch. You're sitting in on the second half of this train wreck."
"Me?" Tristan asked.
"You don't want to be my assistant forever, do you? It's called upward mobility." Raven said.
"You want another referee in the room, don't you?" Tristan asked.
"I've become that obvious, huh?" Raven asked.
"That's okay. I'll sit with you. At least you smell good today. That perfume you had on last Thursday smelled like funky socks." Tristan said.
"That perfume was French; Amor Vincit Omnia." Raven said.
"Is that French for smells like shit?" Tristan joked.
"First her, now you! I'm gonna have to kick two asses before the sun sets today!" Raven said before taking her purse out of her desk drawer and slapping Tristan on the arm as she breezed by him causing him to say, "Ouch!" before chuckling to himself as she left.
Raven went down to the street in front of her building to the waiting stretch limousine. Devyn was waiting inside for her. When Raven got in, she barely acknowledged Devyn, choosing to thumb through the copy of In Style magazine that she reacquired from its resting place on top of Devyn's padfolio on the conference room table.
"You really told me about myself in there." Devyn said with a smirk as the limo pulled out into the downtown traffic.
Raven glanced up from the magazine and looked at Devyn from the corner of her eyes. "With your sparkling personality, I'm surprised I had to do it." Raven said sarcastically.
"Touché Raven… touché." Devyn said with a French accent. "I bet between you and Chelsea there's never a dull moment." Raven felt another bit of bile back up in her throat. Never did Chelsea's name sound so bad as it did coming off of Devyn's tongue.
"Moments between me and my wife are none of your concern." Raven said in a matter of fact tone.
"Okay, look. All bitchiness aside… I respect what you did in that conference room and I figure that since we have to work with each other for the next year we should try to get along. I just mentioned your wife as a way to break the ice." Devyn said. "Look, since I don't have any social graces, why don't you teach me some?"
"You have no clue how to have a normal conversation, do you?" Raven said. "Look, I already have a seven-year old daughter. I don't need a thirty-six year old daughter too."
"Ouch. Pulling the age card. That hurt. It really did." Devyn said.
"Is this what you invited me to lunch for; your witty banter? I am a busy woman that doesn't have time for this." Raven said.
"You don't like me, do you?" Devyn asked.
"Up until you asked me that I thought you were an intelligent woman." Raven said. "What have you done today to make anybody in my office, least of all me, like you? Guess what sweetie? Just being Devyn Shelby doesn't even come close to being enough."
Just then, the car pulled up to the front door of the restaurant and Raven and Devyn were let out of the car. They went inside and were escorted to a private table. Just as they went to sit down, Raven's cell phone rang. It was Chelsea calling her.
"Hey Baby." Raven said.
"Hey! Tristan told me you went out to lunch with Devyn Shelby. How's it going?" Chelsea asked.
Raven glanced over at Devyn who was looking at the menu. "Getting to know each other."
"So how is she?"
"Katie Allen." Raven said, referring to the crazy girl from college that got into a knock down, drag out fight with Eddie's wife, Gina.
"Wow. That bad, huh?"
"What? No. Katie was wonderful." Raven said.
"Damn! She's worse than Katie? Poor baby! Where are y'all now?"
"Chang's. Right down the street from your building." Raven said.
"Well, I'd stop by to say hi but I'm due in court in an hour."
"That's okay. I'll see you tonight."
"All right. Keep your head up."
"I will. Love you."
"Love you too."
Raven hung up the phone reluctantly turned her attention back to Devyn who looked up at her and smiled.
"Sounds like you really love her." Devyn said. If Raven didn't know better, she sounded almost normal when she said it.
"I do." Raven answered curtly.
"How long have you been married?" Devyn asked.
"Twelve years last month." Raven said of their June 2nd anniversary.
"Married, two kids, house in Montauk, apartment on the Upper East side… you have it all." Devyn said.
"You do your homework, I see." Raven said. Devyn shrugged with a simple smile. "So what about you? Married? Kids? House?" Raven said in a less than friendly tone.
"I'm divorced. I was a stepmother. And now I live a quiet existence in a Park Avenue penthouse." Devyn said.
"So what led to the demise of your marriage?" Raven asked flatly.
"Let me see, that would be the affair." Devyn said. "People tend to get pissed off when you sleep with their sister."
"He slept with your sister?" Raven exclaimed, finally perking up at the juicy tidbit.
"No." Devyn said. "I slept with his."
Raven's expression darkened. "For a second, I had a crumb of compassion for you." Raven spat.
"He had it coming. He cheated on me two or three times that I didn't know about. But when I caught him in bed with our nanny, well…" Devyn trailed off.
"So you get back at him by fucking his sister." Raven said.
"She came on to me." Devyn said. "And besides… she was hot."
"So you're bi?" Raven asked.
"I'm a free spirit." Devyn countered. "A very good one by what she told me."
"A good bisexual, excuse me, free sprit with corrupt morality. Nice combination." Raven said.
"Now that was a cheap shot." Devyn said. "I loved him and he hurt me… several times. I was angry and I paid him back. Maybe it wasn't right but… okay there is no but. Look, can we order lunch and talk about something a little less depressing like how I am going to save your company?"
"Save my company? It doesn't need saving." Raven said.
"If I wanted to eat you for breakfast, I could. But you have something to offer this industry and I want to help you realize your full potential." Devyn said.
"So you are going to mentor me?" Raven asked incredulously. "I outsell you two to one in every age demographic and you are going to help ME realize my full potential?"
"You are a sales juggernaut, that I do not dispute, but you have lost that funky edge." Devyn said. "When you first came out with Ravenesque back in '09, I said, 'Holy shit!', she's gonna revolutionize this industry. But then you went commercial. Yeah, your sales went through the roof but your creativity, your edginess wasn't what it was at the beginning and that… I can help you reacquire."
Raven sat in contemplative thought. Was it possible that Devyn had a point about her edginess? Had she sacrificed cutting-edge fashion for a bigger cut of the commercial pie? For the first time since meeting Devyn, she understood why people put up with her shenanigans… the woman was savvy.
"Let's assume for a moment that you are right. What would you do differently if you were me?" Raven was intrigued by what Devyn had to say.
Devyn began giving Raven her philosophy on design, pulling out her laptop to illustrate her point. During their hour and a half working lunch, Devyn made Raven's head spin with her ideas pertaining to colors, fabrics, patterns and style influences. When they were finished, Raven's professional opinion of Devyn had grown immensely. Her personal opinion of her still left much to be desired.
"Well, it looks like we've got a lot of work ahead of us." Raven said.
"I'm notorious for pulling late nighters. I hope Chelsea doesn't mind." Devyn said.
"Chelsea is an attorney. She understands the need for the occasional late night work session." Raven said.
"Good. I'd hate to think that I would be behind the break up of a happy home." Devyn said.
"You really have an inflated sense of self." Raven said as she stood to leave. "It's not cute."
Raven pushed in her chair, slung her purse over her shoulder and headed for the exit to the restaurant. Devyn signed her credit card receipt and stood up to leave.
"I am as advertised." Devyn said out loud to herself. "You'll find that out just like everyone else does." Devyn then picked up her purse and confidently strode toward the exit.
So what do you think of Ms. Devyn Shelby? She's a piece of work, isn't she? Raven's gonna have her hands full. And what about Tristan? He's not afraid to mix it up with Raven either. By the way, the name of the perfume Tristan was teasing Raven about is not French, it's Latin. Amor Vincit Omnia. And what exactly does that mean in English? Amor Vincit Omnia translated into English is Love Conquers All. Clever, huh? See you in chapter four. PLEASE REVIEW.