That was how reputations were destroyed.
I had spent far too much of my life focusing on this business to the exclusion of everything else for it to go down in flames with a stupid mistake like this.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he said.His voice was miserable and small.Like a child.
“For God’s sake!”I shouted.Panic flashed through me.Couldn’t he see what he was doing to me?The way he affected me when he looked like that?Sounded like that?Was he trying to put me off my game?“Go.Get me a coffee.”
He stood hesitantly.He looked across the room at the coffee machine like it was a tiger about to pounce on him.
“No!”I exploded.“Not there.Goout.I need you out of my sight.Get me a coffee from the furthest possible café and don’t fucking rush back.”
Keaton gave me one last stricken look and then rushed out of the office.The doors banged shut behind him.
He’d forgotten to take his coat.
I slumped into my chair and groaned.I covered my face with my hands.I shouldn’t have shouted at him.I knew that immediately.It was a bad thing to do.I’d upset him even further.And I had made him go before he actually told me where the cheat sheet was.
I opened the top drawer of my desk and there it was.There was everything that had been removed from my desk.Neatly placed and straightened at the edges.
The paperwork had been alphabetized.
I groaned out loud.
I shouldn’t have yelled at him.He was just trying to be good at his job.I was also very aware that I hadn’t given him much in the way of guidance.The truth of it was that none of my secretaries lasted very long.I didn’t see the point in trying to teach them everything when they would be out of the door within the month.
And it wasn’t his fault that I had panicked.
He didn’t know how important the cheat sheet was to me.How it covered my one vulnerability.
A huge vulnerability that I didn’t want anyone to know about – least of all the secretary who would be gone within the month.
The thought of him leaving so soon made my heart clench painfully in my chest.But it would happen.It always happened.Either that or he would give me a reason to fire him.Now that I had yelled at him he was probably out there writing up his resignation letter already.
I covered my eyes with my hands for a moment.I tried to think.To calm myself.To get back on track.
My thoughts kept coming back time and time again to one thing.
The way he had flinched when I stood up.When I hit the table.The way he had run out of the door like he was in danger.
Had someone hit him before?
An ex?
Jordan.That was what he had called him.The ex who was stuck in the closet but wouldn’t leave him alone.
I shouldn’t.
But I did.
I grabbed my phone and scrolled through social media until I found Keaton’s profile.Checked his friends and tags until – there.Jordan Muriel.An old photo of the two of them together.Jordan’s arm around Keaton’s neck in a group setting.They could easily have just been friends.
But they weren’t.I could tell.Something in the way that Keaton flushed pink in his cheeks.Pleased to be near Jordan.To be touched by him.
The primal jealousy rising up through my brain almost stole my breath.
Jordan.Did he look like the hitting type?I couldn’t tell.He looked like an asshole.Anyone who treated Keaton like that had to be one.
Muriel had dark hair.Long enough to flow in short waves.Not as long as Ace’s.Definitely longer and darker than mine.He was tall but not particularly muscular.Was that what Keaton liked?
