Page 54 of Greed

“And here I thought we had a thing last night. You know, a moment where you didn’t hate me?” He glanced at my coffee. “You could offer me one of those. I like double cream,” Michael said as he sat in one of the black leather chairs I used for meetings.

“And waste my expensive blend on you? Not likely.” Michael rolled his eyes at me, and I grumbled and found myself making the ass a coffee anyway. I hated him. I really hated him, and yet I missed him. How could both realities be true? We were once very close, best friends and spent a great deal of time together, and now I could barely stomach looking at his face.

“Here.” I plunked the mug down on the marble table in front of him and proceeded to get comfortable since it didn’t look like he was leaving anytime soon. “You can stay or go, Shilo, your choice,” I said. Shilo hated to be in the same room as Michael even more than I did, and I wouldn’t force him to stand inside the room with him here.

“Don’t leave on my account,” Michael said as he looked over at the fallen angel who refused to glance in Michael’s direction.

“I will take my leave, Sir. If you need me, just ring.” Shilo bowed and left, closing the door behind him.

“He never speaks to me. It’s like I don’t exist.” Michael stared at the closed door like he might actually feel bad about that.

“Can you blame him? You did toss him out of Heaven and force him to leave his wife of almost a millennium and his three daughters behind.”

Michael sighed and sipped at the coffee, obviously not wanting to discuss that particular situation. “Fine, don’t say anything, but you know what I say is true, and you also know that he didn’t deserve it. Now, tell me, what do you mean Minetta has cast you aside?”

Michael lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Just what I said. She sent me a text this morning saying that she thought I was a great guy, but she didn’t feel we were well suited for each other and didn’t want to waste either of our time by going on a second date. Apparently, she doesn’t find either of us appealing. Some archangels we are. Maybe our looks and charm are slipping.”

“Ha! More like the girl has some sense, at least where you’re concerned.” I smiled over my cup. “Why are you here again gracing me with your presence,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I came to see my brother and wanted to have breakfast. Maybe we can commiserate over a mimosa?”

My eyebrow lifted at him in question. “I find it very difficult to take you at your word Michael. I’m always looking for the other layer to your motives.”

“I know, but I just wanted breakfast before I leave town.” Michael stood and buttoned up his suit jacket.

“I’m not sure why I’m agreeing to this. Fine, I’ll eat with you, but I’m driving.”

The odd thing was that it should’ve become the perfect deterrent to stay away from Minetta with Michael out of the way. There was no longer the challenge of beating Michael to have her, yet it only fueled my interest more. She’d turned her back on myself and Michael? Who was this girl?

This Minetta was a challenge, and I loved it. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to show Michael that I could win her over. More precisely, that I could have something he’d wanted and been denied.

Minetta might have thought she’d seen the last of me, but I was just getting warmed up, and I had the perfect idea how to get her attention next.

Minetta swallowed hard as she walked up the stairs to her boss’s office. She hated coming in here, and she’d only been summoned a few times. The office had an overwhelming smell of moist dirt, and she wondered if the place had a mold problem. It didn’t help that she couldn’t tell if Eric had a family or not. There wasn’t a single personal item anywhere. Not even a fake beach picture on the wall, just bland grey surrounded him, and it always matched the emotionless look on her boss’s face.

Eric rarely spoke to her. It was more like he preferred to never speak to her unless he was forced. Minetta knocked on the closed door, his deep voice barking out to come in.

Her initial trepidation turned into full-blown panic as she stared at the two officers in the room.

“Minetta, come in. We need to talk.” Eric beckoned her forward with his meaty hand. His reddish face wore the same flat, emotionless mask it always had, giving nothing away.

“What is this about,” she asked, keeping an eye on the two officers watching her.

Eric pointed to the men and leaned back in his chair, the thing squeaking under his portly stature. She turned her eyes up to the officers, their little notepads and pens in hand.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry that we’re here. We don’t take pleasure in questioning our fellow emergency members.” The man that spoke had the name badge of Morris on his chest, and his eyes were shadowed under his hat. The handlebar mustache gave him an uncle-like appearance, but they were not there as her friend no matter how he looked. “Did you hit one of your co-workers today?”

Un-freaking-believable! Jared had actually done it. He was going to press charges. How many times had she let his shit slide, and this was what she got for it?

“Is this one of those moments I should be asking for a lawyer?”

“Only if you did something wrong.”

Every swear word known to man ran through her mind, and she suddenly wished she knew more languages. It would give her a longer list to throw at them. Turning back to her boss, she leaned forward.

“You have to know this is wrong, don’t you,” she pleaded. The issue with not having a lot of money was that you couldn’t afford things like fancy lawyers. If she was charged with assault, she could lose her job, have a record, and lose her volunteer positions. Eric’s eyes were flat as he shrugged. There was no way this man was going to help her. What choice did she have other than to tell her side of the events? Maybe she could get ahead of this before Jared found a way to make the situation worse.

“I did hit Jared in the call center, but I only did it because he was sexually harassing me and has been for months. His comment would’ve made you want to hit him too. I felt threatened and highly uncomfortable,” she said and watched as those pens began jotting down what she was saying.