Fuck me!

Where did that come from? That wasn’t anything at all like it was supposed to be!

Courteous. Helpful. Gentle.

Not abrupt. Challenging. Rude.

Gavin finally turned away from his screen. A scowl took hold of his aloof expression.

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve obviously had a problem with me this week, Gavin, and I believe I deserve an explanation of what you find so lacking in my performance.”

Oh my God! Where was this coming from? Worse, why couldn’t I stop?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Paige.”

“The silent treatment isn’t productive.”

He leaned back in his chair. The creaking leather registered as an ominous sound in my ears.

“I discussed this with you when I hired you. I can’t expect to have to babysit your feelings in this office, Paige. Once was enough, don’t you think?”

His words had the power of a slap.

Unfair as it may have been, I expected more out of Gavin. He was purposely trying to provoke me into backing down. I’d experienced enough of that to know—courtesy of my father and later boarding school.

Submit or not.

Do or die.

“I also discussed with you when I accepted your employment that I would tell you when you were out of line with me. You’re out of line, Gavin. I am here to help you while you run your business. I can’t do my job properly when you don’t even acknowledge my presence.

“It doesn’t help me. It certainly doesn’t help you. Now, what do you find so onerous about my work that you need to close me out?”

Fuck me twice over.

Welp, it was good while it lasted. I’ve always wanted to visit Prague. I can probably fly out tomorrow and put this whole episode behind me. Far, far behind me.

Gavin got up and rounded the desk. He stood there, arms crossed, towering over me. I felt awfully small. My heels were hardly a match to bridge even half the distance.

It was a power move. No doubt about it.

“You’re holding an awfully high opinion of yourself, Paige, to think I won’t just come out and tell you if I have a problem with your work. Let’s disabuse you of that notion right now. I don’t have a problem with your work.”

I mirrored his position and crossed my arms.

“That’s good to hear.”

“I’m not finished.”

I didn’t say anything else, but I knew what was coming next wasn’t going to be good or something I really wanted to hear.

“However, I do have a problem with working with someone who was so quick to bail on me when things went a little wrong. That tells me you can’t be trusted to stick it through when things get tough. Our conversation here only confirms it.”

“That’s hardly—”

Gavin held up his hand. I immediately cut my words off.

“So tell me, Paige, are you ready to pack your things now? Is that the point of this little confrontation? Or are you going to leave me a note and skulk out of here?”

Although his tone was, at least on the surface, normal, I could hear something old and dank underlying each word.

Distrust. Disappointment. Pain.

I heard the notes, subtle though they may have been, because I lived with them each and every waking minute.

What could’ve hurt him so much? He had everything—gorgeous looks, money, family…

My breath caught in my throat. His mother. Melissa. She was the cause of it.

How could I have been so dense?

As someone who’d become one with pain a long time ago, I nearly threw my arms around him out of empathy. I wanted to whisper in his ear I would never do to him what Melissa had done. But I wasn’t insane enough to give into that dangerous temptation.

Not only would he probably fire me for real, but he might have me arrested for assault.

And if he didn’t do any of those things, Gavin would want to know why I decided to hug him as if I had a right to do it. Considering how out of control I’d been lately, I’d probably blab about everything—including who I really was and who Gavin unofficially was to me.

That would definitely be the end of my working relationship with Axis 3.

What could I do?

Pretend as if I didn’t understand why he chose the words he did while my heart continued to break for him.

“No, no skulking out for me. At least not for the foreseeable future, Gavin. Now I might tell you to take this job and shove it if you continue to keep me from doing what you hired me to do.”

Gavin didn’t appear the least bit moved or abashed by my statement.

“I hired you to make my life easier. Not complicate it.”

“I agreed to work for you for the same reason.”

“I’m not the one starting an argument.”

“Neither am I.”

“Then what do you call this?”

“A clarification of duty and the relationship stemming from that duty.”

Gavin cocked his head. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“It means stop being a jerk to me and communicate what you want.”

“I just did.”

“All right. You want to count on me. Fair enough. I want to count on you too.”

My words definitely offended him if his wintry gaze was anything to go by.

“Explain.”

Just the one word was enough to drive a shiver down my spine. Not out of fear either. I never suspected I had a taste for danger.

“I want to know if you have a problem with me. Directly. Don’t ignore me as punishment.”

“Come again?”

Gavin appeared baffled and insulted at the same time. I definitely wasn’t helping my cause here.

“You’re punishing me for my mistake on Friday. I get it. I messed up big time. But if you regret not firing me then tell me now. Otherwise—”

Gavin took two steps towards me. Mere inches separated us. “Wait a minute. I don’t regret not firing you. That’s not what this is about.”

Deflated and relieved, I lost the tenseness in my shoulders.

“It’s not?”

“No. It’s not. The only person who’s thinking about that is you.”

“Then what is it?”

Gavin studied me in silence as if I didn’t ask him a question. It went on for many uncomfortable moments. His bright gaze was like a physical thing, probing me for answers to questions he didn’t ask.

At least not any I could understand.

“Why is this important to you? Is it because my silence makes you uncomfortable?”

“You know it does. That’s why you’re doing it.”

Oops. Once again I shouldn’t have spoken so bluntly. I had to get this mouth/brain thing under control. Fast.

“You’re right.” Gavin let out an impatient breath. “I’ve ignored you on purpose.”

Panic opened the gate on my speech. It lost its measured tone and quickened in cadence.

“Why? Is it because I let you down? If so, I’m sorry.”

“Paige.”

“I’m not normally so sloppy. I just got so comfortable...” I almost said “around you” but substituted it instead with “being here and I made a terrible mistake. I understand why you’d be concerned that I’d repeat it again. I don’t blame you at all. Honest.”

“Paige.”

I just couldn’t stop talking. Each word tumbling out of my mouth seemed to drag ten more behind it.

“I swear to you, Gavin, I’ve been going over my work several times to make sure it’s flawless. I promise you I’m telling you the truth. I’m also going to promise it won’t happen again. I swear it.”

Gavin stepped forward and placed one finger across my mouth. “Paige, would you be quiet for more than a second?”