The short blast of cold air from the doorway hit me, but it was enough to send a chill down my spine. I was tired and drained. Emotionally and physically shot.
“I’ll start a fire,” Bodie offered. “We’ll sleep down here.”
He nudged me, pointing in the direction of the floor in front of the fireplace.
“All three of us?” I asked hopefully, slipping my hand into Carter’s. Bodie was still holding the other.
Carter’s smile was enough to make my stomach do somersaults.
“Grab all the pillows and blankets you can,” he said, squeezing my hand. “I promise you’re gonna sleepgoodtonight.”
~ 36 ~
HAYDEN
“Hayden, wait! Hang on a sec.”
I paused in the hallway, halting my momentum. It wasn’t like Regina to stop me on the way to my next client. She also wasn’t speaking with her normal, cheerful cadence, either. Her voice was tight. Strained.
That worried me.
“Dana’s in her office,” she half-mumbled. “She’d uh… she’d like to speak to you.”
She was staring down at the floor. Not even my feet, but the floor itself.
“Right now?” I pointed to the waiting room door. “I have a one o’clock.”
“Evan’s got it. He already took him.”
My coworker turned away quickly, without meeting my gaze. This couldn’t be good.
“Fine.”
Frowning, I headed straight into my boss’s office. Dana wasn’t in her chair, she was sitting on the edge of her desk. It looked uncomfortable. But not as uncomfortable as me.
“Hi, Hayden,” she said. “Please, sit down.”
I sure as hell didn’t feel like sitting down. Especially not with her hovering over me from the corner of her desk like a gargoyle.
“What’s up?”
“Well…”
“Just spit it out, Dana,” I sighed. “I’m not sure why Evan would take one of my clients last minute, especially when I’m right here and ready to—”
“We’ve had a complaint,” Dana said quietly.
I tilted my head, curiously. “A complaint...”
“A very serious complaint, yes.”
Now I did sit down. I’d never been in Dana’s office for anything other than cross-referencing client lists, and to go over my schedule.
“A client called earlier this morning,” Dana began carefully. “According to what they say — and these are their words, mind you — you ‘touched them inappropriately’.”
I blinked through the five longest and most confusing seconds of my life.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
