“Because my personal life shouldn’t affect The Company. And I know you left a ton of work hanging to be with me. But we’re good now, right?” Jude nodded, and Mason smiled. “So let’s get to it, and when we get home tonight, we can celebrate with you telling me how wonderful I am.” He snickered and finished dressing.
Jude dressed as well, straightened his shirt and tie, and they left his apartment.
At the entrance to the office building, he stopped Mason. “Before we go upstairs, I want you to know I fired Pryce.”
“What? Why’d you do that?” Mason shook off his hand.
“You have to ask? For him to pull this shit while I’m struggling with what happened to Doug and Ilana is inconceivable to me.”
“I’m going to bitch-slap him about that, don’t you worry. But don’t fire someone because of what they did to me. I can handle my shit on my own. Pryce might be a jerk, but I think we can figure out how to work togetherif I have a chance to talk to him face-to-face.” Mason glared at Jude. “I hope he hasn’t left yet. Maybe I can talk to him. Jesus, what a dumbass move.” Leaving Jude behind, Mason rushed to the elevators and slipped into an open one. The door closed in Jude’s face, and he stood there dumbfounded.
Why would he want to work with someone who did that to him? He’s even crazier than I thought.Shaking his head, he headed to the elevators, wondering what the hell was going on.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The last thing Mason wanted was for someone to lose their job, even someone like Pryce. He barely waited for the elevator doors to open before sliding through them sideways and racing to the office.
“Mason, oh, have you heard from Jude?” Miriam called out.
“He’s coming up. Is Pryce still here?”
“Yes, but—”
“Thanks.” Giving her a sunny smile, he strode to the back. Pryce’s door was closed, and Mason stood for a second, composing himself. He took a deep breath and released it, remembering all the yoga and meditation he’d done.
At his knock, he heard a subdued, “Come in,” and opened the door.
“Hi.”
In the middle of taking down a picture from the wall, Pryce dropped it when he met Mason’s gaze. “Shit.” After retrieving it and putting it in the box on his desk, Pryce folded his arms. “Come to gloat?”
“Can we talk? And no, I’m not gloating.”
“Suit yourself.” Pryce gestured to the chairs. “I’m assuming you’ll be moving in here and taking my accounts. Sorry, but I won’t be wishing you good luck with that.”
Girding himself up for a fight, Mason sat. “Look, that was never my intention. Whether you believe me or not, it’s the truth. I enjoyed working with you, and I learned a lot.”
“Well, I hope you took notes.” He tossed a few items from his desk into the box. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your way in a few minutes. I went through all the files, leaving notes on what needs to be done next for each account. I didn’t want to leave The Company in a lurch.”
“I asked Jude not to fire you.”
Pryce, who was busying himself with papers, stopped and gaped, his pale-blue eyes almost comically round before they narrowed with mistrust. “Wait. You? You asked him not to fire me? Why? And why’re you being so nice to me?”
“I didn’t come to The Company this summer with any intention of working on accounts. I needed a job to get out of my parents’ place, and with Doug away and Deirdre leaving, becoming Jude’s assistant was the perfect short-term solution.”
“Until it wasn’t and you decided to stay and make your mark by showing me up.”
Frustrated, Mason held his temper in check. “So should I have sat by and not said anything to placate your fragile ego? How is that helping The Company? You know, when I got my business degree, I told Doug I hoped to come to work for him, and he was happy. So all this bullshit pouting of yours wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference in the end because ultimately, now or in a year or five years, I was coming to work here.”
“Yeah, and walk right in as an account manager.”
“Says who? You? You don’t know anything. I never planned on starting out at the top.”
Pryce tugged at his jacket sleeves. “Oh, I had you pegged as a bottom from the start. Especially with Jude.”
“You dumbass.” Mason rose from his seat and charged Pryce. “Do you want to lose your job? Why’re you making it so hard for us to get along?”
“Why do you want to? I humiliated you in front of Jude. A normal person would tell me to go fuck myself and let me leave.”
