“Mae, woman to woman, you need to make the guys see reason. They can’t ignore these allegations. I’m giving them the chance to have the same platform as those bringing these truths to light. I’ll show them the evidence my source has provided to me. Stone is documented as the individual in question for the friendly fire, Mae. He might have worked to save their lives after the incident, but he ultimately is responsible for their deaths. And Sebastian’s actions to cover it up are so telling. I’ve held off on running the story to give Stone time to heal, but it’s going to my editor in a few days. Once I dothat, there’s no coming back. They can get out ahead of the backlash?—”
“Woman to woman,Lo,I don’t trust you. But I do trust those incredible men I work with.”
“And sleep with,” Laurel smiled, her eyes dropping to Mae’s belly before she let out a laugh. “Can’t forget that.”
Mae snapped. “Aw, is that what this is about? You’re mad that Stone and I have something incredible and my brother dumped you after a few non-memorable dates? Hawk’s always been a great judge of character. Probably dropped you as soon as he realized you had the personality of a wet newspaper. Fitting, seeing as how you write articles that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Mae pushed past Laurel, waiting for the woman to try and get in the last word, but she never did. As much as she wanted to, Mae refused to look over her shoulder. She walked back to the office, her face turned towards the afternoon sun, letting the warmth soothe some of her frayed nerves.
Time seemed to stand still the second Mae sat down at her desk. She found herself watching out the window as people passed by in the golden sunlight. Some were smiling. Some focused purely on their next step.
A few of their gym regulars came and went, sharing niceties with Mae when they logged in and out. And Mae just sat. Waiting for the moments to roll by until it was time to go back upstairs.
The thought suffocated her.
“Hey.” Nash tapped his hand on the corner of Mae’s desk. “I just sent you those documents I need printed and bound for The Trident. Do you think you can still have it all to me in two days?”
Finally! She was so thankful to be talking about an actual work topic. Mae wiggled the mouse to her laptop and clickedinto her email, skimming through the first document while Nash reached over and took a ginger candy from her dish.
“Yeah, it should be fine. This first one looks easy. How many pages is the other document? The printer has been acting up and I’m not sure I can get a thousand pages out of it before the service person comes.”
Nash chuckled. “It’s only like a hundred pages total.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. Let me get working on it and I can have them for you in… like… an hour?”
“Thanks, Mae. You’re the best.”
Printing and binding were mindless, robotic tasks. Perfect for losing herself into the mundane motions of sorting, hole punching and binder organizing.
And she was doing a good job of staying calm… until the printer refused to recognize her print request. No matter how many times she sent it, and the little screen popped up on her laptop screen saying it was being sent to the printer, it just was not working!
God damn stupid fucking printer!Mae swiped at her cheeks, furious that tears even dared to leak out. And then she let the rage get the better of her. Mae slipped her foot out of her shoe, lined up with the base of the printer and gave it her best soccer kick. Nothing happened with the printer, but Mae sure felt better.
“Whoa! What’s going on in here?” Gunner chuckled behind her.
“I just… it refuses to print my document and that’s the fifteenth time I printed it. Nash needs the records updated and I’m trying to get it done before we close because I promised him it would only take an hour like three hours ago, but thisfuckingprinter that’s been nothing but a spawn of the devil since thefuckingday we got it decides to eat everything that I’mfuckingtrying to print. Today! Of allfuckingdays in the year, today, it has to do this!”
His face dropped the instant she turned to look at him.
“Mae.”
“Gunner.” She held up her hands, whether in defense or surrender, she didn’t know. “Honestly, unless you have a printing emergency right now, it’s probably best to just walk away. I can’t… I just need to deal with it on my own.”
Gunner’s arms fell down by his side as he pushed off the door frame. She stood still, another annoying tear slipping from between her lashes as he reached over to unplug the printer.
“Don’t tell Gage, but when in doubt, I always turn the power off and walk away for a few minutes. Nash went to get Lacy from Petals, by the way, and they’re going to get Embrie from school. Which means it’s just the two of us left here.”
“Thanks.” Great. She’d failed at the one task she felt like she could actually tackle that day. “I’ll remember that trick for next time.”
Gunner’s eyes remained glued to her as she picked up the papers already printed and the empty binder sitting wide open on the floor. Empty and waiting to fulfill a promise she couldn’t keep. Because that was the theme of her life lately.
“I know you have a brother. And I already have an annoying pain in the ass little sister…”
Mae scoffed. “Although it’s super fun to weirdly dive into our family trees, is this going somewhere?”
“I just… You know I think of you as a sister? Right? We all do. You’re our family just as much as Stone is. And we’re here for you. You don’t have to deal with it on your own. The printer. The stuff we’ve been through with almost losing Stone.The reason you’ve been feeling sick lately.”
Her eyes snapped to him. “Lily told you?”
The way his eyebrows raised in surprise told her everything she needed to know.
