“Hunter swear at an employee?”
“He’s in a foul mood today. Which doesn’t make sense, as you landed the guy for him. Right?”
I moved toward the office, desperate to see Hunter’s face, but dreading it all the same. “Stole him right out from under Hunter’s slimy father.”
“Good. That rat deserves it.” Brenda moved around her desk as I entered the office.
The light shone in as it always did, cascading around Hunter’s large shoulders and glancing off the side of his handsome face. I slowed, savoring the view. Remembering his kiss.
When I got to his desk, I put his coffee in the usual spot and noticed his shoulders tighten. He didn’t turn to look, though.
With a stiff back and tears coming to my eyes, I turned quickly and walked out, then settled into my chair and stared at my desk for a moment. It was Brenda’s glance that had me pulling out my laptop and firing it up, pulling up emails that I would never work on.
I pulled up instant message and fired off a question, not daring to go into Hunter’s office to ask it personally.
Olivia Jonston: What should I work on?
Hunter Carlisle: Pull up the various job openings and see if anything fits your desires.
Nail. Hammer. Coffin. Today sucked.
I wiped a stray tear from my face and clicked into the intranet. I kind of wanted to pull a Milton from Office Space and set fire to the place. At the very least break a fax machine. Office violence seemed mandatory in this situation.
I saw Brenda look over again. I should probably stop sighing so loudly. Or did I sniffle?
“I’m not going to turn into a puddle of misery. I’ve been here before,” I assured her. “This too shall pass, and all that.”
“It’s just…have you decided to leave?”
I couldn’t stop my shoulders from hunching. “Ah. That. Is Hunter looking for a new admin already?”
“He’s having me set up interviews. The first he scheduled himself for later today. He’s in a hurry.”
My gut twisted. It felt like a Buick was sitting on my chest. In as nonchalant a voice as I could manage, I said, “Yeah. Probably doesn’t want to lose momentum with Bruce. The buyout, I mean.”
I could see Brenda’s stare for a moment longer out of the corner of my eye before she said, “That’s my girl. He didn’t give you what you wanted, and you stuck it to him, huh? Well, good. He’ll do this—he acts like a spoiled little baby when he doesn’t get his own way, but he’ll come around. Don’t you worry. It’ll eat away at him until he buckles. Just hold out.”
I shook my head as a tear leaked out, thankfully on the opposite side of my face Brenda could see. I couldn’t very well tell her this was all his doing, because that would raise questions. I didn’t want questions. The situation was embarrassing enough.
Instead, I started looking through job listings, trying to find something out of the city, preferably, where I wouldn’t even have to be reminded of him.
The day passed in a slow grind of boredom. There were no questions to deal with, and I’d been through all the departments that were hiring. Most jobs sounded terrible, so I started looking at the departments that weren’t hiring. Maybe Hunter would pull some strings.
The elevator chimed. Brenda murmured, “Brace yourself. Incoming.”
I glanced up in a fog of misery to see a tall, beautiful blond saunter in wearing an expensive suit and displaying miles of cleavage. Brown eyes and a pretty face decked out in makeup smiled in a condescending way as she laid eyes on Brenda.
“Hello, I’m Candice, here to see Mr. Carlisle.” She batted her eyelashes as Brenda checked her in before glancing at me. A tiny line developed between shapely eyebrows, probably at my appearance, before refocusing on Brenda.
“Please have a seat and he’ll call you in,” Brenda said, pointing toward the waiting area.
The woman turned gracefully on her high-dollar heels. My breathing got shallow and heavy as my heart started to ache, knowing that Hunter might just try her out today. Right now. He’d touch her intimately, only twenty feet away, while I sat, pining over him.
I bowed my head over my computer, seeing the keyboard turn foggy as my eyes filled with tears.
“He’ll see you now,” Brenda said.
The woman sauntered by, walking on those heels like she’d worn them all her life. Quite the contrast from my wobbling and staggering around.
“He won’t go for her. Too tight-ass.”
I ignored Brenda as I opened the programming notes from Bruce. I had nothing else to do, so I figured I might as well get lost in codes and programming. It was the only place I could totally shut off.