“If he tries to mess with you again, and I have the uncomfortable feeling he will, because men like that get tetchy when people don’t just lie down and give them what they want, then I will defend you again,” she said.
I managed a wobbly smile for her. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to have to move you to the registration team for the Tech Expo,” she went on, sitting back in her chair, like the important part of the impromptu meeting was done. “I know it’s a huge downgrade for you.”
“I’m definitely not going to complain,” I said.
“We’ll get through the next week together,” Amelia said, leaning back in her chair. “And then I think I’m going to ask that our entire team be treated to supper in the dining room as a reward.”
I smiled and pushed myself to stand. Amelia was particularly fond of the chef that The Grand had hired two years ago to run all of its kitchens. A staff supper in the main restaurant was her idea of the biggest reward possible.
“Thanks again,” I said as I headed for the door. “You have no idea how much it means for you to stand up for me like this.”
“Any time,” she said. And then, just as I stepped into the hall, she had to go and add, “Just don’t do anything else that will put my job on the line, too.”
I could have stepped out of her office and into a gaping hole that plunged all the way down to the street fourteen floors below. I was absolutely doing something else that would cause a total disaster if Salisbury found out.
The only thing I could do was to keep things with Jack as quiet as humanly possible until the Tech Expo was over. As I walked back to my office, I wrestled with myself over the idea of not texting or calling or contacting Jack at all for a week until the whole thing was over. I hated the idea, but it might be safer for both of us.
“Um, you’ve got someone waiting for you in Meeting Room Two,” Steve, one of my coworkers, told me as soon as I stepped into the office.
I paused before I’d gone all the way to my desk and blinked at him. “Someone waiting for me in Meeting Room Two?”
Had Jack somehow beat me to the hotel or come in when I’d been talking to Amelia?
I rejected my first thought immediately as I turned and walked out of the office, then down the hall to the meeting rooms. My second thought was that Salisbury had lingered around the office to threaten me personally. But Amelia would have known about that, and Steve probably would have known who he was.
As soon as I turned the corner and stepped into the meeting room, I nearly threw up.
“Hey, Quincy,” Chester said, turning away from where he’d been gazing out the window at the ocean.
My sever burned like fire all over again.
Which was weird. Earlier, I’d felt something from the stump of our bond before I’d seen Chester. That’s what the prickling,horrible feeling I’d had even before I’d come down from the office onto the ground floor was, I was sure. It was totally unsettling that I hadn’t guessed Chester was in the room before I saw him.
Now that I was face to face with him, my inner omega screamed.
“What do you want?” I snapped, ready to turn and run.
“Not even a hello?” Chester asked, taking a few steps away from the window.
I was deeply relieved there was an entire conference room table between us. I didn’t want Chester to come anywhere near me. My omega was instantly hysterical, and the old bond demanded my attention like it never had before.
“What do you want?” I repeated, moving to the opposite side when Chester continued around the table.
Chester sighed and stopped. He had his hands in his pockets, and his whole body was tense. I had the fleeting feeling that he didn’t want to be around me any more than I wanted to be around him, which was odd. Odd because I had a sense of what he felt still, even though our bond had been severed years ago, and odd because he had no reason to be there if he didn’t want to be.
“I mostly just wanted to see if you were alright,” Chester said, standing a little straighter and rolling his shoulders. “Things were…a little tense down there.”
I huffed a laugh and rolled my eyes. “You think?”
“I didn’t realize you worked at The Grand,” he said without really answering me. “I was just as shocked as you were.”
“Shocked,” I repeated.
“Well, yeah.”
He started moving around the table, and again, I moved to counter him. I didn’t want the bastard anywhere near me.
