“Hi, Jared,” I said.Play nice.“I didn’t realize you’d gotten a new job. Congrats.”
“Some people in this industry appreciate my insights,” he replied, preening. “And my sense of humor. I’m sure it was a shock to you all when I left BuzzCorp, but I had to go where I would be valued.”
“Of course.”
A flicker of annoyance crossed Lloyd’s face. He shooed Jared away. “Leave us.”
Chastened, Jared frowned, but I wasn’t surprised. Lloyd never knew how to be anything less than the center of attention. I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from smiling at the cosmicjustice of it all. Jared got a job with Lloyd’s company to get one over on us at BuzzCorp…and now he was reaping the consequences of that decision. Newton’s Third Law hard at work again.
Once Jared was gone, though, my own smugness melted away. Hudson might have been standing beside me, but I felt totally alone under Lloyd’s stare.
“Scout Porter,” he said, voice smooth and cold and artificially beautiful as carved butter. “What the hell’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”
“Hi, Lloyd.”
“Funny, running into an old friend. Such anold,goodfriend.”
Fuck.
I’d talked such a big game to Leelah and Addie. Been so confident that Lloyd wouldnotget under my skin again.
Reality was different. Seeing him was like getting knocked through space and time.
I was once again the sad, scared girl who’d been called to the CEO’s office to have her sexts read aloud in front of the all-male board who would determine her fate.
“Yeah,” I said, eyes tracing patterns across the carpeted floor. “Good to see you.”
When I added no follow-ups, he turned his attention to Hudson.
“Lloyd Exeter.”
“Hudson Bailey.”
Neither of them seemed particularly pleased to make the other’s acquaintance, but they shook hands anyway.
“Name sounds familiar,” Lloyd said. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
“I sincerely hope not.”
Not the response Lloyd was looking for, clearly.
“I hear you’re doing well for yourself, Scout. That’s great news.I was so worried about you when you left GalacticSolutions. You weren’t ready for the big time, but you had potential.”
Gee, they really put a lot of work into the carpet patterns of the Javits Center. By the time this conversation was over, I’d have the whole design memorized. “Thanks.”
“Loquacious as ever, huh? Hudson, I assure you, she used to bemuchbetter with her mouth.”
Vomit burned the back of my throat. I would not let it make an appearance.Don’t be rude. Just endure the interaction and get out of here unscathed. Do not let Fluorine Scout out of her containment unit. You have got to keep yourself under control—your career is at stake here.
He clucked his tongue at my nonresponse. “Anyway, I want you to know, I don’t hold a grudge.”
“About what?”
“About everything that happened back then. I mean, I’m sure you know thatIdon’t hold a grudge, considering how well we set you up for success when you left GalacticSolutions, right?”
Finally, the anger broke through. Not enough to say anything, but enough that my stomach roiled with unspent adrenaline.
Hudson, on the other hand, didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.
