“So, if you don’t want people continuously poking around, you have to back off and keep the personal stuff out of the office,” I said.
He grinned. “Is that your way of saying you’d like to see more of me outside the office?”
I shook my head. “No. This is my way of saying to leave me alone unless you have business to discuss. And even then, if it can be discussed in an email, I’d prefer that method until the heat dies down.”
His face fell. “You’re not the one calling the shots.”
I shrugged. “I am now that my reputation is on the line. You’re the rich white man that owns the company. I’m a fat white woman who’s only been working here for a few months. If our shit gets out and around the office, who do you think they’re going to fire for it once it becomes a scandal the news gets ahold of, huh? You, or me?”
His temples pulsed with anger. “I see your point.”
I nodded curtly. “Good. Now, if that’s all, I really do have a lot of work I have to dig into.”
He stood and buttoned his suit coat as his eyes stayed locked with mine. I turned toward my computer and started typing away, trying to ignore him as best as possible. He intimidated me in all the best ways, but I wouldn’t let him screw me out of a job simply because he wanted what he wanted during inappropriate times. It was fun in the beginning, but now my livelihood was on the line.
Which meant I had to start making boundaries.
“Miss Loren?”
I didn’t bother looking up at him. “Yes?”
He cleared his throat. “Miss Loren.”
I didn’t give him the satisfaction. “Spit it out, Mr. Ryker. I have to respond to this email within the next few minutes.”
He slammed his fist against my desk. “Rebecca!”
I jumped before I leapt to my feet. “Call me by my first name while people are listening one more time and see what happens. You think you’ve seen scandal? I’ll take everything that’s happened not just to H.R., but the press.”
He glowered. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Watch me. This little game of ours? Sure, it’s fun. But don’t think for one second that you actually own me. Don’t think that you can call me a ‘good girl’ and get me to do anything you want, because that isn’t how I work. I thought that playing your little game might get me close enough to you to fish out what my sister did that was so terrible to you, but now, I don’t even care. All I care about is saving face and saving my job because this is the first time in my entire life that I actually enjoy where I’m sitting. So, if you don’t mind, stop trying to ruin my life because you can’t get your hands on my sister.”
I’d never seen the kind of anger that swept over his face. I’d never seen someone turn the shade of red he did. I held my breath, waiting for him to crack me across the face, or fire me on the spot, or walk out into the hallway and blurt out everything just to further embarrass me.
But instead, he straightened his back and nodded. “Enjoy your day, Miss Loren.”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
He charged out of my office without another word spoken and the crowd of people that had gathered outside quickly dispersed. I watched in horror and in awe as he left without so much as peering over his shoulder, and that’s when Brit and Kelly came rushing in. They batted off people left and right before closing my door. I heard one of them flip the lock before Brit helped me back into my chair and it was Kelly that pulled a bottle of water out of her purse.
“Here, drink this,” she said.
I guzzled it down before I collapsed against the leather cushions. “Holy shit.”
“What the hell was that?” Brit asked.
My hands started trembling. “A hard conversation that needed to happen.”
Kelly rubbed my back. “You want to talk about it?”
There were so many things rushing through my head. JoJo and I were teetering on a fine line and our facades were failing us. I didn’t want him to get in trouble. I didn’t want to lose my job. I didn’t want either one of us to get in trouble for this weird, purposeless dance we were doing around one another. But he had to be talked to. I had to get him to back down for the sake of my fucking future.
However, the pain that rushed behind his eyes at the mention of my sister made me sick.
“I think I’m gonna puke,” I murmured.
Brit bent down to get the trash can under my desk. “Here, you can use--.”
