“Why are you getting angry now?”
“Because I can be an asshole sometimes, but you should fucking know better, Hazel!” Control slipped from his fingertips, lying in shards at his feet, and his voice rose with every word. “Because I’ve never shared more with anyone in this world than I have with you, Hazel — and now, you act like it’s worthless! Like I’m a new person who’s become not only hard and ruthless, but also a fucking bastard who takes pleasure in deliberatelyhurting you! But it was you who hurtme, not the other way around, for fuck’s sake. You know me. You know more about me than the whole fucking world. I also realize you wish you didn’t, that it’s easier for you to make me out to be the villain, but don’t fucking lie to yourself.”
Hazel’s eyes widened and her full lips parted… If she’d objected now, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee anything. So he beat her to it.
“Get out,” he whispered. He gritted his teeth, battling the burning, sharp feeling in his chest. He’d said too much, so he stared at the key in his lap. He needed something to look at instead of her. Before he did something stupid. Like proving to her that not everything had changed.
“Gareth…” she whispered, her voice oddly thin.
“No.” He shook his head. “Get out. See you Wednesday at Fox’s negotiations. Freddie will give the details to your assistant — I want the revised contract by tomorrow.”
Hazel said nothing more. Maybe she was nodding. He didn’t know. He didn’t see it. He only heard her open the door and quietly slide off her seat. When the door closed, he exhaled shakily and buried his face in one hand.
Fuck. He should have written a clause into the contract prohibiting them from being alone in a room for more than ten minutes at a time.
But it was probably too late for that now.
Chapter Ten
Social conduct for hate-free inter-colleague teamwork
Short: SCHIT
Paragraph 10:
Personal issues can and should be avoided as much as possible. The parties are not interested in each other’s private lives.
It was impossible to concentrate on work. Hazel had dozens of things to do: make calls, reassure clients, and finalize contracts. But instead, she sat in her office for the next few hours, staring at the white wall.
She’d gone too far. Without realizing it. Without understanding it. But she’d never seen Gareth so…upset. It would have shocked the people who vehemently denied he had any emotion.
She hadn’t realized that he cared about her opinion. That was perhaps even more shocking than his outburst. No. The most shocking thing had been…
If I knew where to touch them to drive them crazy. And if for seven years, I couldn’t forget how they wrapped their legs around me and whispered…is that all? when I took them deeper and harder, I’d probably remember all their first names without any problem!
She shuddered, stood, and hastily turned up the air conditioning in her office. The temperature was fluctuating strangely today — Gareth couldn't possibly remember exactly what they’d said to each other in their delirious moments. She shouldn’t be able to remember it either. Or his soft chuckle in her mother’s house, which she wished she’d never heard because it reminded her of the old Gareth, the man who had always claimed that no one could twist words to their advantage as well as she could — and always with a hint of admiration in his voice that had made her ridiculously happy.
But everything he’d thrown at her, about how she should know him better than anyone else… It was a lie. Had to be a lie. She hadn’t been special to him. Jesus, the guy had saidokaywhen she’d broken up with him! He hadn’t pressed her, hadn’t tried to convince her otherwise, he’d just let her go! And she was entitled to be angry because he’d ruined her job search. Yes, of course, she’d retaliated and made his life miserable, but only because she’d been hurt.
But it was you who hurt me, not the other way around, for fuck’s sake.
Had she? She’d never realized that. Their breakup had been so unspectacularly friendly and nice… Had he been hurt?
She felt dizzy and plopped back into her office chair. Everything he’d said, everything he’d claimed — it didn’t make sense. He must have lied. At least about…
“Shit,” she whispered, jerking her phone closer. She had to clear things up, at least the one thing that could provide her withclarity. So, she texted Penny:Did Gareth actually tell you about me back then? When we were together at college?
She didn’t know how to explain to Penny why she was asking about it now and just hoped the owner of the Hawks would answer, and…
“Hey, Hazel.” Her assistant, Amber, poked her head in the door. “What are you still doing here? I was just locking up. Aren’t you having dinner with the boys?”
Oh, Shit.
“You’re late,” Fox said, greeting her half an hour later, waving her in. “Moreau’s already here, complaining.”
“Sorry. Hard day,” she murmured, giving him a quick hug before saying loudly, “Don’t be so hangry, Moreau. Otherwise, I’ll tell the press they can call youkilleragain.”
A distant snort came from the kitchen at the end of the hall.
