Jacques was all smiles when he rolled into Reverie’s parking lot on Monday morning, but when he didn’t see Natasha waiting for him in her SUV sipping her coffee, he knew something was up.

Ever since their very first lunch together, they’d always made it a point to touch base in the mornings before clocking in. His intuitions were correct. He wouldn’t see Natasha until that afternoon. She’d called him while he was seated out in the courtyard to tell him that the people down at the DMV had an issue with processing her car registration. She probably wouldn’t make it in before the lunch hour. She expressed an urgent need to speak to him about something private and she didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. He knew asking her out on a real date after work when she wasn’t so busy would solve the issue, but he struggled with the uncertainty of whether she was his to spend this much time with. The wolf seemed to think otherwise. He agreed with the wolf on at least one thing—he was ready to open up to her.

Lunchtime rolled around and she still hadn’t arrived. He waited by the lake and ate his BLT sandwiches in silence. How he felt during her absence only confirmed one thing for him. She’d come into his life at the right time. In a few months time, he’d have most of the pressing issues clear. And then he’d be in a better position to infinitely give her what she truly deserved—his undivided attention—even when they weren’t at work together.

Jacques entered the building through the lobby, making a pit stop at the soda machine to grab a Pepsi. Just as he was pulling out his key card to access the security room, he felt a presence behind him. Even before the man called his name, he recognized the scent was from Rogers, his boss.

“Kent. We need to talk,” Rogers said before Jacques had turned around completely.

By the morbid sound of his voice and the distant look in his eyes, Jacques assumed this wasn’t going to be an uplifting conversation. Had he done something wrong at work? Not followed all the security protocols? He had just gotten a promotion and high praises from Roger a couple months ago for being the most hardworking employee in the department.

Jacques swallowed and his gut tightened. Something told him that this day was only going to get worse.

“Sure, we can talk,” Jacques replied.

“Right this way. Let’s take the elevator.”

As soon as they stepped onto the elevator, Jacques cell phone rang. It was Natasha. Talk about bad timing. He glanced in the direction of an impatient Rogers, who was tapping his feet as the elevators ascended.

“You need to take that now or something?” Rogers asked.

The cell phone stopped ringing. Either that or it had lost reception as it reached the highest level of the building.

“I can take it after our talk,” Jacques said.

“Good. We have a meeting with Bennett and Eli on the executive level.”

At the mention of the name Bennett, his attention piqued. Bennett was Natasha’s dad. The man had always made it a point to keep his distance from Jacques. Whenever Jacques was close enough, he sensed how uneasy the guy was around him. He could smell the apprehension. Jacques was used to it by now. He braced himself for bad news because he knew it was coming.

Once he and Rogers reached the room, Bennett and Eli were seated at a small meeting table with the same morbid look on their face. They didn’t take long to get to the reason for the meeting when Jacques sat down.

“Jacques,” Eli started. “You’ve been working with us for quite some time. During that time, we were grateful to have you with us but a matter has been brought to our attention and we have to address it.”

He knew exactly where this was going. He settled back in his chair.

“Your extracurricular activities outside of Reverie are a little…how can I put this…unsavory,” Eli continued. “Although we understand that you were suspected of manslaughter and the charge later lifted, we don’t want to take a chance on our company’s image. In addition, we have to protect the interests of every employee working here.” His gaze shifted to Bennett who shuffled in his seat and wrung his hands together.

Jacques cleared his throat. “So, what’s this about?”

Bennett leaned forward in his seat. “I told you to stay away from my daughter and you didn’t lis—”

Eli swiftly held up his hand. “Bennett, please…we made it clear you wouldn’t do this.”

Jacques’s blood was on fire and he could have sworn he felt his veins filling with anger. “This is about me staying away from Natasha, is that it?”

“No,” Eli replied quickly. “This decision was made on the grounds of your conduct outside of the workplace as it relates to your involvement with the victim that night, which led to a short period of incarceration.”

“You’ve failed to remember that I didn’t kill anyone. The MMA fight clubs here in this town are considered legal. My fists didn’t end his life. Someone else’s did.”

“We’re aware. But still, we question your character. We’ve decided to terminate your employment with Reverie effective immediately. You’ll be granted six weeks worth of severance pay which I think is very generous.”

From the decisive tone of his voice, Jacques knew the decision was final and that any arguments from his side would more than likely be met with opposition. They’d let weeks go by after he was cleared of charges, and yet today they’d made the decision to terminate him. He knew exactly what this was about. Mr. Bennett wanted him to have no further contact with his daughter, and this was one way of assuring that her chances of seeing him again were slim to none. The man was making the wrong accusations about him, but he was only protecting his daughter—something any dad would do. Maybe Mr. Bennett was right. Maybe he was no good for Natasha.

Ready to leave this claustrophobia, he stood up. Every heart in the room sped up and he felt the stench of fear emanating from them. He would never understand why. Only that he was different and people feared different.

He removed his badge and dropped it along with his building keys and entry cards in the center of the table. Without another word, he walked out. There was nothing else to be said and he didn’t want to lose his breath by stating his case to men who had already judged him thoroughly.