I was contemplating it when the receptionist sighed. “His line is busy. One second and I’ll go see if he’s available. What was your name?”
“John Keen,” I lied because I was intending to follow her, anyway.
Sure enough, the security guard just gave her a barely there glance as she pushed open the double doors, so I snuck in behind her, letting him think I was supposed to be following her. Then I slowed, waiting for her to make her way through the busy open-plan office. There were messy desks everywhere and while there were privacy screens between desks, everyone was loud and social as they went about the business of publicly gossiping about people’s fucking lives.
I sneered at them as I followed the receptionist through the room. When she stopped at a desk, I picked up my pace. I’d almost reached it, seeing the top of a bloke’s bald head when my arm was yanked.
“Baird!”
Callan was somehow there and had a hold of my arm, expression hard and determined.
John stood behind him, glancing over his shoulder at the security guard who stood nervously at the top of the room watching us as he spoke into a walkie-talkie.
“He’s not worth it, mate.” Callan’s grip tightened.
“Maia is.” I yanked my arm and turned back to see Craig standing, looking nervous but with a defiant tilt to his chin.
“Baird McMillan.” Craig Bennet had a reedy voice that irritated me as much as his crap journalism did. “I think you should listen to your teammates and leave before we call the police.”
I was going to knock his teeth out and then break his fingers. See how he’d get on writing his shitty articles then.
“Baird.” Callan leaned in, tone harsh. “You do this, and you really lose Maia forever. You’ll lose everything.”
I breathed hard, shaking against the urge to take it all out on this bloke. Because someone needed to pay for the pain Maia was in right now, all the pain I couldn’t fucking fix! “You said in your latest piece-of-shit article there was a source. Who?”
“I can’t tell you that. They emailed me the information and asked to remain anonymous. I have to respect that.”
“Respect that? I’m going to?—”
Callan tightened his grip. “He’s not worth a prison sentence. And Maia needs you.”
“She broke up with me,” I gritted out. “She thinks … she thinks I deserve better.”
“Jesus.” Callan squeezed my shoulder. “She’s just hurting, mate. She doesn’t mean it. You’ll fix it.”
“I can’t!” I turned on him. “That bitch fucked her up so badly andhe”—I stabbed a finger in Bennet’s direction—“fucking let her do it again!”
Callan gripped the front of my shirt and shook me. Hard. “I know where Maia is right now,” he hissed under his breath. “I’ve been right there in her shoes. And trust me … she’ll come around. But she can’t come around if you are in prison for beating the shit out of a sad wee prick who doesn’t deserve a single second of your time.”
“He’s right, man,” John urged softly. “Let’s go. Walk away.”
Callan’s wisdom started to penetrate, and the fog of fury that had driven me here dissipated as his words gave me a bit of hope. While my dad had walked out of my life when I was a bairn, I’d had my granddad tofill that void. Callan had his stepdad and mum, but when they were killed in an accident, he was left with nothing but a waste-of-space dad. His dad had screwed over Braden Carmichael when they were younger and that history had messed with Callan. He’d almost lost Beth because of his own bullshit about it … but she’d pulled him back.
Which meant I could still fix things with Maia.
Shit.
I sagged as the worst of the anger drained away and Callan sighed heavily in relief as he released his hold on me.
It was then I realized it had grown quiet in this part of the room as people waited to see what would happen next. I eyed the receptionist who had stepped to the side, nervously, afraid of me.
Fuck.
That cooled my fury fever too.
Bennet still stood, but he swallowed hard as he forced himself to hold my gaze.
“You’re not worth it,” I told him quietly. “You’re bottom-feeding scum. And I feel sorry for you that your life’s work is basically fucking gossiping and not giving one shit what damage your stories do to people’s lives. I wish you a lifetime of misery and loneliness, you pathetic.Little. Turd.”
