“Interim?” he snaps. “Interim what? Bitch?”
“That’s uncalled for.”
“Oh, I’msosorry.”
“I’m the interim department head. Until you get back.”
“I don’t need a fucking interim.I’mback.”
“Maybe you should talk to Graham about that.”
The sound that comes out of the man is startling. When he raises his hand and rolls it into a fist, I take two giant steps back and attempt to get behind his desk before he does something foolish. “Sam—”
“Get the fuck out!” he screams at the top of his lungs. “I knew you were fucking trouble. I knew it.” He spits. Really spits. Some of it lands on top of his shiny desk.
“Calm down,” I say loudly because he’s not listening.
“Excuse me?” He rounds the desk, making me move backward again. When the back of my legs hit the chair, I fall into it, causing it to roll, then suddenly flip backward. Now I’m stuck with my feet in the air and an angry man standing above me like he’d stab me if he only had a knife.
“Get up,” he shouts again.
The thing is, I can’t move. I’m trapped in this chair, essentially upside down. There’s no room to move the chair to its side so I can crawl out because it’s caught between the desk and the wall. I’d need help to get out of this, and it doesn’t appear that Sam’s going to offer his assistance.
I look up at him and realize he’s definitely not going to help. He’s moved in close and is leaning over me. I’m getting scared. More so every minute. I can see his hand rising again. Is he going to hurt me?
“Sam? What’re you doing?”
“You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?”
I shake my head because he’s right, I couldn’t. It was my job.
“Little did I know you were gunning for my job the whole time. Bitch,” he spits.
“No. That’s false.”
“Shut up!” he practically screams, and when he does, his hand rises higher. It’s a fist again.
“Sam.” I can’t think of anything else to say. The guy’s unreasonable.
He leans closer just as the muscles in his right arm go rigid.
This is it. He’s going to swing at me, and I can’t do a damn thing about it. Well, I can protect myself. I draw my arms over my face and hold my breath, waiting for impact.
“What the fuck?”
I can’t see who’s speaking, but it’s a man’s voice. I move my arms slightly to see who’s just stepped into the room. When the person attached to the voice appears next to me, I see Brendan Lang. “Alison? Are you okay?”
“No.” I’ve started crying, my own voice sounding weak.
I watch as he turns to Sam. “Sam? What’re you doing? You hit her?
“What?” He scoffs. “No.” His arm drops suddenly as he glares at me. “She wouldn’t get the fuck out of my office.”
“Sam—”
Brendan doesn’t get to finish because pounding footsteps come rushing in. Meghan rushes to my side and quickly lowers herself to the floor beside my head. “What happened? Did he hurt you?”
“No. Not yet.”
