“Shadowmere, there you are!”
I turned to find my boss standing there, tablet in hand, expression tight as he looked between us.
“Why the fuck are you still out here!?”
I swallowed hard before pointing out,
“I was on time,” I said, though the automatic response didn’t help, nor did glancing at the clock on the wall as my mind struggled to catch up and make sense of what the hell was going on.
“Didn’t anyone tell you the meeting was rescheduled?” he asked, already ushering me toward the corridor as I was left to try to shake my hands dry.
“But… but I thought the account was being handed over?” I argued weakly, but he just waved a dismissive hand.
“That’s not the case anymore. You’re back on.”
I stumbled slightly.
“I am?”
“Yes. And the client is already here waiting for you,” he snapped, clearly not happy about making what would be our biggest client wait.
My heart lurched.
“Wait… he’s here now?” I asked, my voice shrill with panic, seeing as I was totally unprepared for this!
“Yes,” he repeated, stopping just long enough to fix me with a look.
“And if you don’t hurry and get yourself into that boardroom, there will be no more presentations to give, understood?”
Erh yeah, loud and fucking clear. Although, I’m not sure he would actually be allowed to fire me for that. Of course, Tara would know, seeing as she practically ran the HR department.
Okay, this was so not the time to be questioning company policies, I thought as I spun around instinctively, ready to lay down one last warning to Bo, only to find empty air beside me.
He was gone.
The unease crept in slow and unwelcome as I scanned the hallway, my thoughts scrambling for explanations that didn’t involve my luck spectacularly running out. Maybe this really was my lucky day, I thought weakly, forcing myself to breathe.
The thought died instantly as I took a deep breath and pushed open the boardroom door.
The room went quiet the second I stepped inside, and not the normal kind of quiet. Not the polite pause that happened when someone important entered late. But the kind that felt like I was the loser who didn’t get that the joke was on me, and that lady luck was currently laughing her ass off.
The boardroom was long and sleek. All glass and polished wood that was familiar enough that it took my brain a few seconds to register that something was very, very wrong.
Every chair was occupied.
Every head turned.
And at the head of the table, seated with an effortless authority like he had always belonged there, was none other than my mind’s personal stalker.
The man that consumed my dreams…my thoughts… my fears.
My secret desires…
One, Wyedari Oblivion.
17
THE PRICE OF PRAISE
