He shrugged and walked out. The firewhooshedin the grate, the only sound in the room that was now unbearably quiet, and I stood for a long time staring at nothing in particular.
16
WICK
The weekend was awful.
I didn’t like rattling around in the estate alone, but I was worried Maurice might show up to discuss things now that our tempers had cooled—or at least, I was hoping he wasn’t angry with me anymore—so I didn’t go in to the office or anywhere else.
He didn’t come to my house.
He didn’t call.
He didn’t text.
As far as I knew, he stopped existing.
Monday and Tuesday were not good at the office because I relied on Maurice to do quite a few necessary daily tasks I’d been happy to hand off to him—including fielding a good ninety percent of customer questions. So, despite being busier than usual, I left late each evening feeling as if I’d accomplished less than ever.
Maurice made my whole life function, and my heart ached that he wasn’t here.
AndI still hadn’t gotten around to firing Xadrian. He’d sent out a few more rabble-rousing, nasty emails to the entire office. God knew what he was doing on the internet where there was no chance I would catch him. Shelby had told me she hadn’t noticed anything else on Slack, but that just meant he hadn’t posted his shit-stirring nonsense where she could see it.
Yes, I was fucked at work, and it was all I could do to keep my head above water without adding new issues. I let the thing with Xadrian drag on.
Wednesday afternoon I was digging through a drawer in Maurice’s desk, wondering what type of apology it would take to get him to come in and be angry with me here at the office, when the door slammed open and bounced off the stop. The painting on the wall wobbled and slid until it was crooked.
Xadrian stomped in, and it was infuriating that he looked good while he did it. He was one of those awful people who were both irritating and handsome, and his face was part of why I’d considered trying to keep him—clients were inevitably charmed.
“Yes?” I was one catastrophe away from snapping.
“Why have I been locked out of all my files?” He ran a hand through his dark hair, which was already messy.
“I have no idea. The only people who can do such a thing are myself and Maurice. Well, and the IT department. Did you contact them?” I sighed. “This really is entry-level stuff.”
His face blazed red, and satisfaction bloomed like a flower in my chest. Yes, it was well past time to fire him. “I did. They said someone with the usernameoffice admin twodid it.”
“Maurice.” I shrugged. Maybe he was doing work from home after all.
“I want access back—and I want that highway hotel back!” He was dangerously close to shouting.
“I’ve already passed that project to Tony’s team. They’re a good fit for it.”
Xadrian’s nose wrinkled. “You have a thing for their team. Is it because Bern is gay, too? Giving your own kind a little boost?”
I blinked at him and anger had me shooting to my feet. “I like that team because they consistently bring me excellent results under budget. They do their jobs. Maybe if you tried to do what they do, instead of complaining about every perceived slight, you would be doing better yourself. Apply some creativity if you want better projects. Put in the work!”
“That design was fine for the job!” He grabbed the door as if he was about to slam it, but then all at once he stared at me like a deer in headlights and let it go. “Shit, I’m at work.”
“You are.I am your boss.And I disagree. It was dull and a first-year architecture student would’ve done better. I’ve given you a team with a wide range of expertise—there are engineers and architects, and Hartlee even did research on polymers. You have more resources than you would get anywhere else in St. Loren, right there at your fingertips, and you ignore them because you want to be a glory hog.”
His nostrils flared and he grabbed the door again, which I thought for certain he would slam on his way out, but last second he let it go. I could hear him stomping along the hallway, though. I hammered my fists on Maurice’s desk. I wanted him here to help me deal with this, and I should’ve already started the process of firing Xadrian, but I relied too much on Maurice. I flopped into his chair.
Was Maurice ever coming back? He’d gone no contact with his ex, then talked to him... and now he wasn’t here. I squeezed the arms of the chair until they creaked and only let them go when my hands began to ache.
For the rest of the day I couldn’t think of anything except Maurice. I tried to focus on work and did a half-assed job. I couldn’t even take pleasure in poking around through the contract Xadrian had signed to try to find loopholes that would allow me to fire him outright. I went to the gym but left after ten minutes. Nothing helped because all I could think about was how much I’d enjoyed being with Maurice. My stomach felt hollowed out and I had trouble eating dinner.
By the end of the night, I was lying in bed with my phone in my hand, trying to talk myself into calling Maurice, but I lost my nerve and typed out a text instead.
