Bristol made a frustrated sound.“You make me crazy, taking the independent thing so damned far.”
Her polite stepsister using the word “damned” was a sign of how pissed she was.“I know.It’s a personality flaw.”
Bristol sighed.“They’re not gonna fire you, Cass.Even TJ said so.You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“We’ll see what they have to say.”Her stomach was a mass of nerves.But better to face the music now instead of living in constant dread of what might happen.
“Text me the minute it’s over and let me know what happened.”
“I will.Love you.”
“Love you too.Even though you’re ridiculously, frustratingly stubborn, and I wanna shake you right now.”
She smiled because it was true.She was stubborn.“Bye.”
There were still at least a dozen other messages on her phone she had yet to respond to.She’d finally called her mom a couple hours ago to stop her from worrying or showing up at her door.Without going into too much detail, she’d explained what had happened and that she was fine—and that she definitely didn’t want company right now.
Tristan had texted to check in on her several times as well.She had yet to respond to him.
The company had dropped her car off in the driveway.She climbed in and glanced at the two messages from him, feeling a little bad for not responding earlier.
She was an adult.The intense chemistry between them and her own baggage weren’t excuses to avoid him or be rude when he’d reached out, especially when he’d done his best to be there for her in a crisis—again.
She typed out a reply.Had that shower and a long nap.Feeling better.Heading into the office now.
“Hopefully not to get my ass fired,” she murmured to herself, then added:Thanks for checking on me.
The tension inside her continued to build on the drive across town to the CPS building, located partway up the hill, overlooking the waterfront that hugged the curving bay.Management would have reviewed all the evidence and dashcam footage by now.
If she’d messed up and they found her at fault, her job and reputation were both on the line.Penny’s family could file a criminal suit against her.They could also file a civil suit even if she wasn’t found criminally responsible.
The thought of being fired or put on probation was humiliating and unbearable.She’d worked so hard to move forward after everything that had happened in Vegas.She didn’t want to lose everything and have to start all over again.
Game face on, she took the elevator up and stopped at reception.The woman behind the front desk smiled at her warmly.A good sign?Or maybe she wasn’t aware of what had happened.
“Hi, Cassie.They’ll be ready for you shortly if you just want to take a seat and wait in the lounge.”
“Thanks.”She waited there in a plush leather chair, telling herself to calm down.This could go any number of ways, not necessarily all bad.
A few minutes later, Kerrigan appeared with a friendly smile.“Hey there.You ready?”
The smile seemed genuine, but was it a bad sign that the head of HR had been called in after hours for this?“Yes.”She followed Kerrigan down the hall to Ryder’s office, steeling herself.
Ryder, Callum, and Walker were all there waiting for her inside.
And shit, so was Tristan.
