“Fine, yes. I’ll stop.” Forcing myself to be more casual, I straightened my shoulders and met her gaze. “You know it’s my job to help out. They pay me to do it.”
“But unlike those other two computer goblins”—she gave my head one final pat—“you never make me feel like an ancient moron, just this side of withering away into dust.”
Flushing hot, I nodded. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for them,” she said with a haughty sniff.
“I’ll remember to stop at your office. I have to see Mr. Uhlig.”
She gasped and moved aside immediately. “Hell’s bells, hon, why didn’t you say so? You better put speed on it.” I sputtered at her for a second, but she seemed as amused as Donahue and Kyle had been, and I didn’t know what to make of that. I tried to fight off the urge to sprint to the elevators, lost, and power walked the rest of the way there.
I hit the button for the executive suite as the spotless golden doors closed. The urge to touch one and see if I would leave a fingerprint had my right hand twitching. But no, I didn’t want to get into trouble somehow. I stood very still. I’d only been to the executive suite once, during the evening to change out a printer when the fancy rooms were deserted. Normally Donahue and Kyle took care of everything for Mr. Uhlig. The ride up past six more floors took forever and, at the same time, not long enough.
The elevator opened onto a pristine reception area, and I sidled out and to the side. The wall behind the wide executive assistant’s desk was black glass blocks on the bottom half and regular glass on the top that gave the space a dreamy feel of being an aquarium. Maybe Mr. Uhlig pretended he was a big shark. I shook the strange thought out of my head. Mr. Uhlig, who certainly resembled a predator, slouched in the sectioned-off room beyond the glass wall at his desk, making frightening faces at his computer. He was in a serious battle with the thing. My heart hammered harder, and I struggled to gasp in enough air. I stepped closer to a potted pine tree on my left and tried to get myself together enough to do my job. Lifting the tablet, I quickly typed.
Tech on the Run:I’m in. If I don’t come back alive, you can have my cinnamon roll.
Tech in the Tech Sanctum:Relax. You’re going to be fine. Also, Kyle already ate it.
Tech in the Tech Sanctum:No, Kyle didn’t. Donahue did.
Tech in the Tech Sanctum:You’ll do fine, kid.
I couldn’t tell who was typing that last bit, but I wanted to dropkick them. The fuckingaudacityto send me to do this and eat my cinnamon roll, too? I took another quick glance at Mr. Uhlig. He bared his white teeth at the computer on his desk and his scary, handsome face went red.
My stomach twisted and melted strangely hot. I could imagine something other than anger that would make him pull that face…. Fuck, why was I wasting time and giving him longer to become furious? I tongued the ball on my lip piercing again and forced myself to stop. It was a visible tell of my nervousness, and I knew it. I switched to tapping the ball of my tongue piercing against my teeth as I approached the desk that took up the middle of the reception area. Each slap of metal on tooth vibrating through my brain was both helpful and not at the same time.
The woman at the black-glass reception desk that matched the block wall sat behind three monitors—totally jealous—and had on a headset. She quirked her shoulders and nodded as she typed. It was strange to see someone so very chill while the man in the other room behind her seemed ready to erupt—like watching people making dinner the night Vesuvius blew. I wanted to tell her to run. She was pretty, the type of person I might expect to see as the Executive Assistant of the CEO at a successful company: slender in her white dress, with pink pearls at her throat. Her black hair was up in a knot at the back of her head with a sparkly stick thing through it. The nameplate on her desk was embellished with Raven Baker.
Inching forward, I tried to catch her eye, but she didn’t look up. Her fingers were nearly a blur on the keyboard. I hated this part of office work.
“Miss Baker,” I said quietly, though it came out like I was asking a question.
She didn’t look up, and I would rather sink through the floor than interrupt, so I slid around the end of the wide desk toward the inner office door. The whole place was weird and had a trying-too-hard-to-be modern vibe because the bottom and top of the door matched the walls, and I had to stare for a second to notice the knob in the center of the door, also done in black glass. I hated it when people messed with my work, so I wouldn’t bother Miss Baker. I’d just go in.
Right, that would be responsible. I took a deep breath and prepared myself.I don’t wanna do it. Maybe I’ll just pretend I’m invisible.
Miss Baker glanced up and looked like she was ready to destroy me. Her eyes narrowed. I braced for the worst but held up the IT tablet like a shield, and she gave me a relieved smile that showed two deep dimples in her cheeks as she waved toward the door with a nod. I tapped a short knock before I stepped inside. Once past the only barrier remaining between me and the giant man, my heart hammered like it was going to pop out of my chest.
Mr. Uhlig had his teeth bared at his computer, as if he might decide to take a chomp out of it—he is a shark!—and he sat there slapping his mouse against the desk as he growled under his breath. “You fucking piece of shit computer,” he seethed. “Why? I put in the same password I use every fucking day of my life.”
“Did you get a warning to reset your password?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, and stepped back until my shoulders hit the door when he snapped tall in his chair and transferred his snarl to me.
He slammed the mouse against the desk again, and there was a crack. We both stared at his hand, and when he lifted it the mouse was in three pieces. He shoved the mess off his desk and the cord ripped from his laptop as it skittered across the shiny black tiles in my direction. A piece of plastic hit the tip of my shoe and I kicked it away without thinking.
“Of course I changed the fucking password!”
My gut jerked and everything below my collarbones tightened as I fought to keep myself from running. “Are you putting in the old password or the new one?”
“What do you think?” he bellowed.
“I-I-I think you’re putting in the wrong password,” I said, my mind blanking. “Computers only know what you input.”
“Out. Get out. Now!” he shouted as he rose to his feet. He just kept going, growing taller and taller, though I knew it was my mind being weird, and he finally towered on the spot with his fists clenched at his sides.
The tablet slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor as I fumbled for the doorknob and ran out. I didn’t take the elevators. I went for the doorway to the stairs tucked in the corner of the room and raced downward. My stomping feet as I jumped steps to hit the landing between each floor echoed in the stairwell. Sweat stung my eyes, and I didn’t think—couldn’t think. I pelted through the hallways to my own tiny office and rushed in.
Donahue and Kyle stared at me as I sank onto my chair and then stood fast when my headphones jabbed me on the butt. I hooked my hands behind my neck and stared at the Pac Man screensaver on my computer. Henom, nom, nommedghosts, and I wanted to puke.
