“But—”
“There’s no argument you can make that will change my mind on this.” I’ve not been in a good mood today, but my tone is neither cold nor mean. Just blunt.
But Gavin is the kind of man who probably rarely faces opposition—particularly from a small woman like me. He makes a face that indicates clear resentment.
“If you don’t like our rules, you don’t have to stay,” I add lightly. “I don’t want anyone unhappy to work with us.”
He looks like he wants to argue, but a quick glance at Ben hovering behind him must change his mind.
Ihateit. I hate that Ben’s physical strength so often makes the difference in how people treat me.
But the world is what it is. Governments might rise and fall, but some things will never change.
“Fine,” Gavin mutters. “I’ll think about it.” He turns away from me and opens his mouth to say one more thing, this time not quite under his breath. “What an icy b?—”
Before he gets out the second word, Ben takes a step forward and slams his fist into the side of Gavin’s face. It’s a powerful blow, and Gavin is completely unprepared for it. He gets knocked all the way off his feet and falls on the ground in a messy sprawl.
Everyone in the courtyard is staring now. Ben glowers down at Gavin. “If you’d finished that word, you might not get up again.”
His gruff tone carries, conveying both the threat and innate power.
I suck in a deep breath, trying to pull myself together. I’m also dizzy in reaction to what just happened, and I can’t even explain why.
“Ben is right,” I say in something close to my normal tone. “We try to treat people fairly, but you have to respectthe chain of command here. You’re not at the top, and you don’t get to talk as if you are. Again, if you want to leave, no hard feelings. If you want to stay, there’s also no hard feelings. But don’t do this again.”
Gavin hauls himself to his feet, rubbing at his jaw. There will be an ugly bruise there soon. All he says is, “Got it.”
Twenty minutes later,I’ve left the courtyard on a hunt for Ben.
I can’t find him.
And I need him. I need himright now.
He disappeared shortly after the altercation, but I had to stay for a little while to make sure everyone relaxed back into the normal mood. Gavin skulked away to pout—my guess is he’ll be leaving in the morning—and shortly afterward Ben left the courtyard too.
I thought he might be waiting nearby for me, but he’s not.
Shit. Where the hell did he go?
I walk around the building and then ask Vella if she’s seen him, since she’s hanging out near the front door. She says he went inside, so I do too.
He’s not in the command station. He’s not in the main room. He’s not near the prison cell. He’s not anywhere.
There’s only one place left, so I walk down the back hallway toward the storage room.
“There you are,” I burst out when I see his big body in the small room.
“’Bout time you got here,” he mutters, reaching over my shoulder to close and latch the door behind me.
“I didn’t know where you were,” I explain, kind of annoyed because he sounds impatient. “You’re the one who disappeared on me.”
“Are you mad?”
“I just spent fifteen minutes looking for you!”
“Why? You gotta problem with what I just did?”
“No. It might have been a bit of an overreaction to the situation, but he needed to be put in his place. It’s fine.”
