May
“Malory, what can you tell me about Seattle Bay Nautical Design Subsidiary?” Watching Oran as I neatly stacked all my materials, I frowned under furrowed brows as the bridge of my nose tingled wildly. Those four women he’d called into the conference room went back to their desks, but Mark still stood by awkwardly, and I licked my lips heavily. I had a feeling he was going to do something drastic, and judging by the distaste drowning his sharp features, I was right.
Oran went on mini power trips. I got that. He looked for people to fire just so he could do it himself. It was understandable considering how powerless he must’ve felt when he lost his partner.
But exerting his power over someone like that, even if that person deserved it, wasn’t going to help him. Sadness tightened my chest and I paused what I was doing when he spoke up again.
“So, they’re just hemorrhaging money is what you’re saying?”Oh, shit. I could see where this was going, so I rounded the table to grab Oran’s forearm and pull his phone from his ear.
“Oran, no. You can’t just do that. You can’t axe the entire company because some idiot didn’t recognize you. That’s not okay.” I spoke firmly but softly, very aware of the muscles roiling under my palm, and Oran frowned darkly at me as my heart threatened to burst from my chest. “Just . . . this isn’t going to help, okay, and I think you know that. Just hang up the phone and we’ll talk about it with Mark and the two other supervisors another time, okay?”
Squeezing his arm insistently, the fabric of his shirt imprinted on my palm, and he pursed his lips thinly before doing as I requested. Setting his phone on the table, Oran’s frown twisted in distaste, and relief surged through my veins.
“I suppose you have a point.” Ducking my head in a nod at his mumble, my palm slid from his arm, and Oran inhaled deeply as he rubbed his jaw roughly. “Apparently, there are some more serious issues that need to be probed . . . properly.”
“Right, good. Okay, I presented to you, but I do have to get through the rest of the day. I’ll walk you out.” I waited for Oran to exhale heavily before striding for the door, and he opened it for me to gesture me though. Tension buzzed between my shoulders, but I tried to shake it away as we skited the cube farm and headed toward the elevator. “I know you’re trying to help, Oran, but you really didn’t do me any favors by turning the whole office against me.”
“The perfume issue had nothing to do with you, May.” Thank God the elevator opened almost immediately, and I pursed my lips thinly to hide my frown. Once the doors closed us inside, I turned to him fully, and Oran sort of squared me up the same way he’d done with Jerry. For a long second, I thought carefully about my next words, while he pushed his sleek-framed glasses up his nose a little.
“I brought you in, so you going on a rampage like that affects me, Oran. You can’t just name-drop yourself and get what you want. Jerry might be an asshole, but he was right. I should’ve at least called to ask about a room, and my team is only allowed to use room one, which is the conference room being used. He was totally in the right even if he was an ass about it. This is a subsidiary company of yours, and I know you’re the ultimate boss, but . . . how many times have you been in this building? Never. So you don’t get to expect people to know who you are.” I spoke as gently as I could, and Oran’s eyes flickered with guilt, just the faintest spark. Reaching to touch his shoulder, I managed a comforting smile while the strangest sensation washed over me. “I know it’s hard, but you can’t control every single thing at every little company under your umbrella. It’s not going to make you feel any better. Firing people left and right for the most minor thing isn’t going to do anything but ruin those people’s lives. It won’t affect you at all.”
“This has nothing to do with Kara, if that’s what you’re getting at, May.” I almost winced at that.So, her name was Kara . . . that’s pretty.Taking a stabilizing breath, I shook my head as Oran’s shoulder flexed under my palm when he tensed.
“It may not have anything to do with her, Oran, but her death obviously hit you harder than you’re willing to admit. You can’t take that out on strangers for the smallest, justifiable reason you can find.” He sucked in a sharp breath at my declaration and I stepped back to cross my arms over my chest. “Everyone deals with death differently, and you said it yourself, Oran— you’ve changed. Are you going to turn all that progress around because of a few unhappy, middle-aged women with low self-esteem?”
“You’re making this into something it’s not.”
“You mentioned her without any prompting from me. I’m not saying a guy almost dying isn’t cause enough to enforce a rule like that, Oran. I’m saying you should let the supervisors do their jobs. They have the complaints, they’re following the rules by doing the seminars, and it’s at their discretion to police their employees. Are you implying that you’re doing right by the supervisors by shutting the whole place down even though they didn’t do anything wrong? On a whim? Just because you want to flex a little?” His eyes narrowed on me, his lips thinning and his jaw ticking, but I didn’t back down. “There are over sixty people involved in this department alone, not including support staff. What about those people? They’re just gonna come to work one day to find they have no job because of something done by someone they don’t know?”
“Alright, okay, I get it.” Running his hands through his hair in agitation, Oran breathed a sigh through flared nostrils, and I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth. He looked so tortured, for only a fraction of a second. I saw how crazy he truly felt and my heart ached for him. “I’ll reign it in . . . or try to, at least.”
“Thank you.” Swinging his arms down, Oran leaned against the wall, but the elevator suddenly stopped in its tracks and the doors slid open to reveal the lobby. He hesitated before stepping off, and I held the doors open as he straightened his suit jacket sharply. “I’ll see you on Friday, okay?”
“See you Friday, May.” I let go of the doors and Oran frowned under brows tightly knit by troubling thoughts before he was fully blocked from my view. Jabbing the button for my floor with my thumb, I slumped against the metal-plated wall to heave a massive sigh. Rubbing my palms up my cheeks and into my hair, I closed my eyes as my brain flipped firmly to damage control.
This was bad.I’m gonna be the most hated person in the office now, not just on my team.Frustration welled in my chest, but guilt clawed at my throat. Would Oran act this way if we weren’t messing around? Regardless, we had sex, and he clearly wanted to have sex again, and I definitely wanted to have sex again . . . so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he was doing this shit for me.
As much as I appreciated the thought behind it, Oran wasn’t going to have to deal with the fallout of his little tirade.
“Shit. Okay.” If I was lucky, Mark wouldn’t jeopardize his job and will cite those women for health and safety violations, for which they wouldn’t get a second shot. After all, Oran was right— they were deliberately and knowingly ignoring a regulation. If someone choked on that cloud, those women would be ruined . . . permanently. They’d get sued up the ass byeveryone— the company they worked for, the people they hurt, maybe there was even a slim chance of criminal charges.
But Oran didn’t have to work there every single day, and just like with David, if he weren’t around to blame, it’d lay on me.
“This is gonna suck.” Straightening to throw back my shoulders, I took a few calming breaths to face what was about to happen. When the elevator stopped again, anxiety curdled my blood and I rolled my head before the doors slid open a final time.
Narrowed, judging, prying eyes watched me with none-too-discreet interest as I strode down the aisle. I pushed open the door to the conference room to find it empty. After I put my presentation away, I held the thick folder to my chest and braced myself before heading back to my desk.
The floor was eerily quiet, and I dropped my armful on my desk to sit down and turn on my computer.
“So . . . ” Popping her head over the short barrier between our stations, a woman not on my team arched a brow quizzically. “How many times did you have to suck his dick to get him to come in and pull rank for you, May?”
Fucking Jesus Christ.
