Eli turns toward the door, then pauses, looking back over his shoulder. “CJ?”
“Yeah?”
A sly smile stretches across his lips. “You know, I can help with… whatever it is, right?”
He turns and walks out, closing the door behind him.
My mind blanks. My pulse pounds against my ribs.
Eli just flirted with me.
Holy shit.
13
CJ
The days roll into weeks, and the office grows lighter.
Deck and Finn still orbit each other in constant collision, and I still end up playing referee while Eli sits back and watches like it’s entertainment. A faint warmth settles in my chest. The chaos feels different now, less sharp, less volatile. Almost like the office is learning how to breathe again.
Now and then, Eli will toss in a comment or opinion. His eyes track everything: every shift, every tone. It makes something protective rise in me without warning.
Today, Finn and Deck finally hit their limit. Or rather, Finn hits it, and Deck reacts like it’s his personal responsibility to enforce survival.
It starts while I’m talking to Deck about a client, leaning against his desk. I glance up and see Finn storming toward me with a look of pure outrage. My shoulders tense automatically.Finn only looks like that when he’s about to make his problem my problem.
“Deck threatened me,” Finn announces.
“Did not,” Deck replies without looking up.
Finn turns on him. “He told me not to touch his lunch.”
“Again,” Deck says flatly, leaning back in his chair, “that wasn’t a threat. It was a warning, Finn.”
Finn climbs right onto Deck’s desk. I rub my forehead; I can already feel a headache forming. I don’t have the patience for this today.
A second later, Deck stands, hooks an arm around Finn’s waist, and lifts him straight off the desk like he weighs nothing.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, but the sheer absurdity almost drags a laugh out of me.
“Put me down, you great big lumberjack!” Finn immediately starts yelling.
“No,” Deck growls, walking quickly through the office.
“You can’t just throw me around! That’s assault, Deck!”
Deck keeps walking toward the back exit while Finn dangles and complains loudly, upside down, face inches from absolute disaster. And then Finn makes a decision that feels like it should come with consequences:
He bites Deck on the ass.
My jaw drops. For a moment, I genuinely consider walking out and pretending none of this ever happened.
Deck freezes. “Ah, fuck!” He shifts his grip, reaches up, and smacks Finn’s ass.
Hard.
The sound echoes through the office. My pulse jumps, not from shock, but from the sudden silence that follows.
