I raise an eyebrow as Emmett comes into my office and closes the door behind him. It’s twelve thirty p.m., and everyone’s out for lunch, except me—because I have some stuff I need to go over while I munch on my beef and cheese burrito.
“Took you long enough.” I expected him to barge in much earlier.
“Because Amy was at her desk until noon!” He sighs. “She works too hard.”
“That’s why she’s the best. But I thought you’d be having lunch with her.”
“I told her I had a call with some people in Hong Kong.”
I laugh. I can’t decide which is funnier, his terrible lie or her pretending to believe it. There’s no way she bought that—it’s three thirty a.m. in Hong Kong right now.
“So, what’s up with making everyone on your team run at four thirty in the morning tomorrow?” Emmett says as he takes a seat, propping an ankle on the opposite knee.
“If you need me to explain it to you, you should give up your Stanford diploma.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Amy’s a new mom! She needs more sleep and time with Monique in the morning.”
I’m not getting in the middle of this. “Fine. If she asks me, I’ll make an exception for her. Considering her circumstances and all.”
Emmett’s face scrunches. “You know she’s not going to do that.”
“Exactly, and I’m not going to offer, since she’d murder me for treating her differently.”
Frustrated resignation crosses his face.
“Why are you even here?” I ask. “You know it’s going to piss her off, right? You should stop before she finds out. I’d hate it if you had to sleep on the couch.”
“I never do that.”
“It was a figure of speech. I expect you’re smart enough to take one of the spare bedrooms.”
He rolls his eyes. “When did you start running so early, anyway? You should quit that shit.”
“Since we started the bet, which I plan to win.”
“Wait…” His jaw hangs loose. “Are you making Aspen run with you?”
“Yup.”
“She’s going to hate you.”
“Oh, I know.” I smile, even as my chest starts to burn. I glance at the half-eaten burrito. The beef’s probably bad.
Emmett shakes his head. “You are so going to lose.”
“I don’t think so. Unlike you, I don’t care about anything except making Aspen quit. And she’s going to, because I know all the buttons to push. And I will. Push. All of them. Hard. Repeatedly.”
She fucked me over last time. It’s my turn to fuck her over, with a lot of interest.
* * *
By Friday, everyone is dragging their feet like brain-deprived zombies. Aspen should be in the worst shape—she’s been doing the runs for two weeks—but she’s actually the most alert, other than Amy. What’s her secret? The coffee in the breakroom? But we can’t have anything special in there. If we did, the others would be fine too.
Annoyed, I get to my feet and stalk over to the breakroom. As I turn the corner and am about to enter it, I hear Jesse whining.
