Aurora didn't get back to the hotel until just after six. She had been working more than twelve hours a day and actually enjoyed herself. On the way back, she realized she had turned her phone off just because she didn't know what to expect and found that Michael had called her five times and sent her three texts, asking where she was and if she was in contact with Arizona's GM.

She called him back immediately.

"Where have you been?" he demanded instead of greeting her first.

"With Katella Hanson." She pulled into the left lane and turned on her blinker. Her heart was jumping around in her chest. On the one hand, she was happy. Helping Kat and her team organize the beach party was fun. It was hard work, certainly, but each challenge the team faced was fun to resolve. "Seraphina called me into her office a couple of days ago and asked if I would be able to help. I said okay since you didn't require me to do anything for you."

"I called you a few times," Michael said. His tone was crisp. Cool. Aurora couldn't decipher it but it wasn't one of his more pleasant tones. "Even if I didn't have specific tasks for you today, you're still on-call. There's a reason I brought you along with Tom and me, and it wasn't so you could run off and do something without first letting me know about it."

Aurora was glad that she and Michael weren't face to face in that moment only because she wouldn't have been able to control the bristle that took over her body. Aurora was decent at hiding her reactions, especially when Michael said something condescending or Tom said something offensive. Today was not one of those times.

"I'm sorry," Aurora said slowly, releasing the break and putting her foot on the gas to turn into the parking lot. "I turned off my phone when I arrived at the Ice Palace, not knowing if I needed to keep it silent for this. I got so wrapped up in everything that I forgot to turn it back on or even check it. That's my fault."

"I know it's your fault," Michael said. "You don't need to tell me that." He let out a frustrated sigh. "Where are you right now?"

"Parking," she said quickly. "Why? What's up?"

"We need to talk," Michael said. "Tom and I will be going to dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Grab us a table now and we'll be down in a few minutes. I just got off the phone with Arizona's GM and he told me he'd been in contact with you, and—" He cut himself off. "I'll get into it when I see you."

"Sure."

Aurora hung up the phone and turned off the car.

Shit.

This wasn't good. Why was the GM reaching over her head to talk to Michael when Aurora already took care of everything? And why was Michael upset with her choice? If he had wanted something different, he should have told her.

Aurora cleared her throat and got out of the car. Even if he was upset with her, she would never know until faced it herself.

Aurora headed into the lobby and to the elevators. She took a breath, nodding at the hostess behind the table and forcing a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She tried to keep her mind quiet from the possibilities that started to pile up in her mind about what Michael wanted to talk about.

It didn't work.

She started to breathe in and out slowly, shifting her focus on that. By the time she reached Michael's door, she’d managed to keep her heart rate down for the time being. Until she knocked and had to wait for him to respond.

It took a few moments, which only ignited her trepidation. When he did finally pull the door open, Michael gave her one long look and shook his head, stepping aside. He was telling her to come in without using his words.

Which meant he was pissed.

The second he closed the door, he said, "Did you get an email from the GM from Arizona about a decision that needed to be made last night?"

Aurora glanced at what she should do. Michael's room was still neat and tidy thanks to the maids that came in and fixed up the room. She wasn't sure if she should sit somewhere or if she should remain standing. Since Michael didn't offer her a seat, she thought it would be best if she stayed standing.

"Yes," she said. "I got it at 10:41PM and when I got it, I went into the bar to find you. You weren't there. I didn't know where you were."

"I didn't get a call from you," Michael pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

Aurora released a slow breath. She wanted to react. She wanted to point out that she shouldn't have had to respond to emails this late, that she would already have been sleeping when he sent it, that Michael specifically requested her to be a designated driver even though that was nowhere in her job description so she wouldn't have been on her phone anyway, but she kept all of that to herself.

For now.

"I did not call you," she agreed.

"Yet you responded."

"I responded."

"You told him we would be staying."

"I did." Aurora nodded. "That was the plan. You hadn't told me otherwise."

"I didn't know until he reached out to me, confirming a decision you made," Michael said. "Good thing I stepped in or else your careless, thoughtless decision would have ruined everything."

Those two words—careless and thoughtless—stung like slaps across her face. Aurora took great pride in her job. She always made sure to go above and beyond for her one and only client: Michael Tucker. Hell, she drove him to a bar at eleven o'clock at night because he asked her to. She picked up his brother at two in the morning because his dumb ass thought with his dick rather than head. And she said nothing to Michael because the last thing Tom needed was another lecture.

Or maybe he did need another one.

Honestly, she was done stressing out about it. She wasn't Michael or Tom's mother, and yet, the past three years, she acted more like that than an assistant. Rather, they treated her—even Tom to a degree—like a mother who would clean up after them, get them out of their messes, and do things they probably should have been doing on their own.

"I disagree," she said before she could stop herself.

"I'm sorry, you what?"

"I said I disagree. You called me careless and thoughtless and I disagree with that assessment." Aurora crossed her arms over her chest to prevent herself from using her arms to gesture in an over the top manner. "You never told me what you wanted in regards to Arizona. I did what I thought was the best decision based on what we discussed before. Maybe it wasn't the right decision, but it wasn't thoughtless or careless."

Michael pressed his lips together and let his eyes linger on Aurora. Aurora wanted to shift under the glare, wanted to look away because it made her feel uncomfortable. Instead, she continued to look at him and refused to let him intimidate her. Before, she would have agreed, would have apologized, would have promised it wouldn't happen again. This time, she didn't want to apologize. In her opinion, she hadn't done anything wrong.

"What's going on between you and my brother?" he asked, seemingly from out of the blue.

Aurora blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't pretend, Rory," Michael said. "He came over here, upset because of what happened between you and Eddie Reno. Upset I would ask you to drive us around Newport for a pub crawl. He looks at you different."

"I don't know how he looks at me," Aurora said.

"But certainly you've noticed a difference," Michael said.

Before Aurora could respond, the hotel's phone shrilled a ring. Aurora jumped. Michael shot it a glare but released a sigh. He walked over to the desk and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

Aurora wasn't sure what to do, exactly. Part of her wanted to listen in and see what the hotel wanted from him, but the other part of her didn't particularly care. She wanted to leave the room. She wanted to take some space. But she had a feeling this conversation was far from over.

"Yes, I've already confirmed. What? How could that be? I'll check. I don't know, I just said that. I'll have to check." A beat. "You can expect me when I'm there. As far as I know. Yes."

Michael hung up the phone and flashed his eyes up to Aurora.

"You said you confirmed the flights to Arizona?" he asked. There was no doubt in his voice, which should have made Aurora feel better but, strangely, it did not.

"I have a confirmation and everything," she said.

"Well, I just got word from Arizona that they tried to check on the flight I'm coming in on and said that I am not registered."

"That's not possible." Aurora grabbed her phone from her back pocket and typed in the keycode to unlock it. "I have the confirmation right here. Hang on…" She stopped typing and looked up. "You said ‘I.’"

Michael furrowed his brow. "What?" he asked.

"You said ‘I,’" Aurora repeated. "You said, ‘the flight I'm coming in on,’ not we. You said ‘I.’"

"What difference does that make?" Michael asked. Aurora could instantly tell Michael was getting defensive, which was strange, because Michael typically wore his feelings close to his chest. Rarely did he ever get defensive.

"Well, that depends," Aurora said. She pulled up her email with the confirmation. "Did you cancel the flights I confirmed in order to book a day earlier?"

"I—"

"Because if you did, I wouldn't have that information," she continued. "And since you used the word ‘I’ rather than the word ‘we,’ I take it I'm not going on this trip. Is Tom?"

"Tom can choose to do what he wants," Michael snapped. "What I do is no concern of yours, or his, for that matter."

"Considering it's my job to be in your business, yes, it is," Aurora pushed. She had no idea where this confidence was coming from but she didn't back away from it. She wanted more. She liked this person. "Which means you don't want me to come. Why?"

Michael had the decency to look away. "After everything that happened, I think it's best if we part ways professionally," he said in a low, crisp voice. "I'm happy to write you a recommendation—"

"You're not happy, you're selfish," Aurora snapped. "All this time, I thought Tom was the selfish one. But Tom would never sneak away from you, from me. Tom is more of a man than you'll ever be. More of a hockey player, too." She shook her head. "Since I'm already fired, I'll let you figure out your whole confirmation plane ticket stuff. You got yourself into that mess. I'm sure someone as cold and as calculating as you can get yourself out of it."

"Rory," he said as Aurora brushed passed him, already heading for the door.

"No," she snapped, looking over her shoulder. "You don't get to call me that. Treat me like garbage, it's fine. I'll get over it. But whatever you're doing, you better have the decency to talk to Tom about this because he doesn't deserve you ditching him when you know he wants to stay here."

She made sure to slam the door on the way out of his room.