“Shut up, Carmen. Let me think.”
“Advice?”
Unsure, I nodded.
“Make it count.”
I arched my eyebrow.
Carmen shrugged. “Were you hoping for something more constructive? I’m sorry, I flirt like a grown up, sexual innuendos and all. Not this teen crap or whatever this is.”
I inhaled and decided to up the stakes. By the end of the business day tomorrow, I probably won’t be allowed back here.
I wrote:“I’ll just keep climbing the corporate ladder of your affections, one rung at a time. Whatever’s coming next, every bit of it, is for you. Try to trust me, yeah?”
Then I sat back, capped the pen, and Carmen read it over my shoulder.
She made a gagging noise. “That’s awful.”
“Better that way, anyway. It’s not like I have the slightest chance.”
Carmen’s eyes crinkled, and I braced for the hit of her words. “You’re right. My brother’s keeping her busy.”
I tilted my head and squared my shoulders, jealousy joining the coiling rage threatening to snap into words behind my vocal cords. “Guess he’s a slow learner if he needs that much of her time,” I said.
Her smirk didn’t falter, but her tone turned steel. “Or maybe you’re the slow learner, Carter. Sinceheis seeing her tonight and you have a date with your hand and regret.”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. She was right. I’d been a slow learner. “Tomorrow the shitshow starts.”
Her smile faded. “You mean the?—”
“Yeah.” I flicked a finger at the Post-its covering the wall. The one that sat dead center made my stomach turn every time I looked at it:LINCOLN AND NATASHA LIED.
They deleted Nina Reyes’s strategy and got her fired.
Lincoln went with it because he’s an insecure asshole.
Natasha couldn’t handle Lincoln wanting to fuck someone else.
It was crude, but it was exactly right.
Carmen followed my gaze and winced. “Curt downloaded that file on his phone?”
“Locked and loaded,” I said. “Our boy should have paid attention on that HR training against phishing. You still won’t tell me?”
Carmen shook her head. “It’s not about Infinity Weddings. You sound way too calm about this,” she said, crossing her arms.
I shrugged, leaning back in the chair until it creaked. “What do you want me to do? Panic? Lash out? I’ve done all of that.”
“You like this job.”
“Yeah, well…” I tapped the edge of Nina’s napkin, still sitting in front of me. “I like her better.”
That shut her up for a second.
“She’s not going to throw herself at you, you know.”
I laughed, humorless. “You think I don’t know that? She doesn’t owe me shit, Carmen. There’s a lot I can’t fix or undo, but this…”
