“You were playing hard to get.”
“No, I was playing leave me the hell alone.”
“I bought you dinner and drinks. Twice,” he said stubbornly. “We were dating. Then you made me get an apartment.”
Oh god.
“Get out of here,” I said forcefully.
“I can’t afford rent without you,” he whined.
“Get a roommate.” I crossed my arms.
“It’s a studio!” he yelled.
“I’m calling security,” I threatened.
“You’re going to move in with me,” Kaden insisted, shifting erratically on his feet. “I’m going to make you come to your senses.”
“I don’t like him,” Annie stated after Kaden had left.
I made the girls some tea to try and calm them down.
“We need to tell Beck,” they insisted.
“No way!” I didn’t need Beck involved in my stupid dating attempts. He would probably think I was too much trouble and fire me right on the spot, then I might really have to move in with Kaden or be homeless. “Your brother has enough on his plate. Besides, Kaden’s not coming back.”
“He sounded like he was.” Enola was skeptical.
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured them. “I handled it.”
Didn’t I?
26
Beck
“For the next item of business,” Owen said, “the recruitment numbers. Universities are going to be graduating their next classes in a few months. We need to start reaching out to attract more new employees.”
“We have employees scheduled to attend career fairs at their alma maters to talk to prospective hires. We should also be able to accommodate the increase in numbers of interns you requested, Beck,” Cressida said. “And the marketing department sent out the new brochures and posters for people to take with them.”
“It would be a lot easier to recruit if Beck didn’t fire everyone.”
“Ashley needed to go,” I reminded Walker.
“Tristan is an idiot.” My brother scoffed.
“And as such, we have to protect him. Ashley was probably trying to trap him so she’d have a guaranteed paycheck for the next twenty-five years, assuming she had found a good lawyer.”
Walker’s phone rang. He sent it to voicemail.
“The next item on the agenda is the Holbrook contract. Cressida, I think we’re good for now, if you have other work to do,” Owen said.
As Cressida gathered her things and left, Walker’s phone pinged with incoming text messages.
“Shit,” he said. “Several of our little sisters were expelled.”
“You mean suspended,” I corrected.
