Spencer spent the night arguing with himself over whether he should have asked Trina if he could stay the night. Keeping their relationship a secret wasn’t an issue anymore—not that they had one to keep secret.

He’d gotten infinitely more sleep before he ended things, and he was close to deciding that text message was the biggest mistake he ever made.

Monday morning, he met with the company providing furniture for the new building. He walked through with their sales rep and went down the list of selections already decided, ensuring everything was still on track now that they had the property.

The tech install team stayed out from underfoot, and he was grateful for that. The last thing he wanted was to run into any of those people.

Furniture walkthrough done, he retreated to his office, to finish reviewing the Floor Two security footage, to check out the cameras. The images of Trina cut straight through him, and hearing her voice didn’t help.

But as he watched her interact with Doug, his blood pressure rose until his pulse thundered in his ears like angry drums. Half of the things out of the man’s mouth were insulting or sexist or both, and every time he made a mistake, he took it out on her, calling her clumsy and incompetent.

Voices drifted in to his office. Laughter from the install crew.

Spencer pushed back from his desk and stalked toward the door. The group was gathered in the break room, talking.

“Are you kidding?” Doug said. “I’m so much better off without her here. The only thing I miss now that she’s gone is that I didn’t get my turn in the dick sucking line. I guess once you’ve had money-wrapped cock, you’re too good for anything else.”

Spencer let the rage pour through him, hot and indignant, as he stalked toward the techs. Everyone, including Cody, was laughing at the comments, until they saw Spencer.

“Want to find out of if that’s true?” Spencer asked when he reached them.

Doug looked startled, but his shock rapidly shifted to a sneer. “Don’t take your homo fantasies out on me, because your cum receptacle was fired.” He looked around, as if expecting more laughter.

Cody winced.

Brian said, “Dude.”

Spencer fisted Doug's shirt near the collar and shoved him against the closest wall. The whimper-gasp that escaped Doug’s throat was satisfying, but not nearly enough.

“Are you going to deck me in front of all these witnesses?” Doug’s taunt wavered.

Spencer smirked. “No. In front of all these witnesses, I’m going to remind you the entire building is wired with security cameras. I’ve seen a good portion of the things you said to Trina Hough.”

“So you know your girlfriend was shit at her job.”

The guy had balls; Spencer had to give him that. He wasn’t impressed, though. “I know Ms. Hough is an exceptional technician, who had every one of your stupid fuckups blamed on her, and put up with your abuse and disdain because you held the power to get her fired.”

Because you’re insecure and probably have a tiny dick. Spencer wouldn’t resort to pettiness. Yet. He’d keep this professional as long as he could, despite what Doug tried to do.

“So I’m going to tell you, in front of all these witnesses—including those same cameras—that if once I’m done talking to my contacts, you won’t be able to find a significant job in tech anywhere in the country. And I’m going to recommend to your management that they terminate you immediately, because I’m currently reviewing hardware contracts, and I need to know I haven’t hired a company who tolerates your kind of behavior.”

“You’re going to blackmail them into firing me because you’re a statutory-raping asshole with more money than brains?”

“Doug.” Cody’s voice was sharp.

It was too little too late. The insults about Spencer didn’t bother him, but every new word said about Trina seared away more of his restraint. “No. I’m going to make the recommendation—not the extortion—because I have a Master’s of Science in Engineering, my networking certifications are current, and I know shitty, sloppy tech when I see it. And you are a shitty, sloppy tech. I’ll leave out any comments about your manhood and intelligence, as much as I’d like to bring them up, because I’d like one of us to stay professional through this.”

Doug planted his palms against Spencer’s chest, shoved him back with a grunt, and swung a fist.

Spencer rubbed the spot on his chin where he’d been clipped, and frowned. “Now I’m going to hit you.” He landed a punch square against Doug’s cheek. Soft tissue was the best. Not so hard it would break bone, but so it would leave a healthy bruise and not hurt Spencer’s knuckles too much.

“I’m going to sue your ass off.” Doug’s threat was a low growl.

Spencer barked a laugh. “Do that. Find a lawyer. Tell him the big mean CEO of Ride & Surf decked you. Neglect to mention to him that it’s because you’re a jackass with tiny-dick syndrome. Do you want to know how it goes from there?”

Doug glared.

Spencer took that as a sign he should continue. “He’ll file a complaint on your behalf, and I’ll make you a settlement offer out of pity. You’ll accept, because one—you’ll never see that kind of money again. Not with your skill. And two—your attorney will advise you not to take this in front of a jury. Because even if a jury sides with you, once the security footage goes viral, it will follow you and haunt you.

“And if you do sue me, and you do settle, I can’t guarantee that footage will stay private anyway.”

“Fuckstain.” Doug spat the word.

Spencer rolled his eyes. “You can do better than that. Tiny dicked, basement-dwelling neck-bearder.” He looked at Cody. “I was serious about the staff working on my building, as regards your contract. In fact, how about we do a quick walkthrough, to get an idea of where you’re at and what else needs to happen, to keep me happy.”

“Sure.” Cody’s voice wavered, but he stepped forward without hesitation. “Doug. You’re done for the day. You’ll be in the office tomorrow morning at ten, to discuss your termination, and I don’t want to see you between now and then.”

This felt good in the most twisted fucking way possible, and Spencer didn’t regret a second of it. He suspected Trina wouldn’t appreciate the show of testosterone if she were here, but the issue was that she’d lost that privilege due to no fault of her own.

And Spencer was going to make these people squirm for it.

****

TRINA STILL HADN’T called Tristan back to finalize moving arrangements. Maybe she should pack as much as she could into her car, and ship the rest back home, rather than dealing with truck rental. She could make the trip in a day. It would be a long day, but then it would be over.

She’d be back in Utah, with way too much distance between her and Spencer.

This wasn’t working for her. She missed him. Why did she let him walk away? Why didn’t she fight breaking up harder? Why didn’t he?

Her phone rang. She scowled when she saw her former employer’s name on the screen, and hit Answer. “This is Trina Hough.”

“Trina, this is Janna, with Human Resources.”

“Hi, Janna. What can I do for you?” She didn’t try to keep the irritation from her question.

“I’m wondering if you can come down to the office for a few hours. Whenever your schedule allows, of course.” Janna sounded too kind, too flexible, for Trina to take her seriously.

“Not unless you can tell me what it’s about. I have a busy week ahead of me. Looking for new work. Moving. You understand.”

“Of course.” Janna’s response came too quickly. “And that’s why I’m hoping to talk to you first. I don’t like the way we handled things with you, and I personally want to offer an apology—”

“That’s nice.”

“—and let you know that Doug has been let go. Mr. Powell isn’t happy with his work, without you here to cover for him, and we’ve placed him on terminated him for that and for the way he acted toward you.”

“Awesome.” Trina let the sarcasm ooze into her retort. “Glad to hear we both lost our jobs over it. Thanks for your call. I feel a lot better now.”

“We made a mistake, and I’d like to make things right with you. Extend a severance offer.”

A thought that had been nudging the back of Trina’s thoughts clicked into place. What Spencer had told her about walking away—how it gave him a new perspective on things—suddenly made sense. If she were still in the job, she’d have jumped on this kind of apology. She might have even begged for them to let her stay on.

She’d only been on the outside for a week, and turning down this olive branch could have consequences, but she wasn’t willing to sacrifice more dignity for it. “A severance offer? Really?”

“As long as you’re willing to sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement that comes with it, agreeing not to discuss what happened with Doug.”

“Ha.” Trina almost choked on her amusement. “No. Fuck that, and fuck you. I’ll be out of your company apartment by this weekend, and you can shove your buy-my-silence money up your ass.” She disconnected before Janna could say anything else.

Holy shit—that felt good. Incredible, even.

And wow, she missed Spencer.

Time to start the timer over again.

Fuck that, too. She wanted to see him and was done making excuses for why it was a bad idea. Maybe he’d say he wasn’t interested, though she doubted it. Perhaps they’d get together and it wouldn’t last. She was willing to admit it was a possibility, but she wasn’t willing to give up on them yet.

She sent him a quick text. Can we talk?

His reply came through seconds later. Yes. Please yes.

When and where? She was grinning as she typed her response.

Nothing.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, as the minutes ticked away. Two, then three.

She was being silly. He was probably in the middle of something.

Five. Ten.

She needed to calm down. It was the middle of the day, and one of them had a job.

At the sound of a knock, her stomach dropped into her shoes. She peered through the peephole, and her smile returned full-force and then some, when she saw Spencer.

She opened the door.

“How about here and now?” he asked.