“Walking my girlfriend to work,” he replies lazily, and clearly not going back to his car.
He trails behind me and when we reach the glass office building, there are hundreds of papers taped to the office front.
They’re all pictures of Jessa and Aiden kissing at a Rays game they went to. Completely outing them to the entire office.
“Fuck,” I hiss, grabbing one of the papers and ripping it off the wall.
“Who would do this?” Lincoln asks, furrowing his brow and looking at me.
There are already cars in the lot, which means most of the employees saw this shit and did nothing about it.
What a bunch of bitches.
“That’s what I’d like to find out,” I say, swinging the front doors open and stomping into the lobby.
The cubicles are to my right, and I hold up the paper.
“Who the hell put these up front?” I say.
A bunch of cowards—including Sharon—tuck behind their cubicle walls in shame. Meanwhile, Zach comes strolling toward me. Lincoln’s at my back and I swear I feel him inch closer asZach leans against my desk, grabbing the paper out of my hand and sneering down at it.
“Serves him fucking right. Honestly, I thought he was better than this,” he says. He’s had it out for Jessa ever since their father gifted her the shares in the will. He’s been cruel, but this goes beyond what a dick he’s been.
“Did you fucking do this?” I question him.
Zach looks me up and down, like I’m something stuck under the bottom of his shoe.
“Please. Like I have time for something as petty when it comes to that bitch.”
“Your father left her those shares, and this company is rightfully Aiden’s,” I say, trying to watch my language. Technically, Zach is a part owner and I unfortunately need to keep this job.
Zach rolls his eyes, not even acknowledging Lincoln’s menacing presence behind me.
“Do what you do best and sit behind a desk, look pretty, and keep your mouth shut,” he says.
“The fuck did you just say?” Lincoln says, grabbing my arm and tugging me behind him. Lincoln is older than Zach by a good six years, but definitely more built and slightly taller.
“Lincoln, it’s fine.” I try to calm the situation and grab his arm.
“Is this what you do, Penny? Have your family handle all your problems? It’s why you have this job. It’s not like we’d ever actually?—”
Lincoln grabs a fist full of Zach’s shirt and I gasp, grabbing his arm tighter.
“You wanna finish that fucking sentence?” Lincoln says, getting in Zach’s face.
“Lincoln, it’s okay. Let’s go outside.”
The two men stare at each other for a long time, and Lincoln lets go of his shirt, slightly pushing him away. Zach acts like he’s dusting himself off and turns around to see everyone in the office watching the altercation.
“Get back to work,” he sneers, storming back to his office and slamming the door.
My heart rate is through the roof and everyone in the office is still staring, so I grab Lincoln by the sleeve and drag him outside as I angrily start ripping off the flyers.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I say.
“He shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”
“No, he shouldn’t, but you can’t just put your hands on people when they’re mean to me,” I say, gripping the papers with Jessa and Aiden’s cute faces on them. It almost feels wrong crinkling up their happy moment. But I really don’t want her to get to work and deal with this. She’s already had to deal with enough shit from Zach. Jessa and Aiden are in such a good place after the trip. This will just sour it.
