I was on my way to Tyson’s room to give him the daily tour brief. Normally Lacey would’ve been the one to deliver it, but now the job belonged to me. I’d had no problem dropping the same thing with Flynn, Cole and Gavin, but I was shaking as I stepped up to Tyson’s door and knocked. My anxiety was annoying, and I detested the way my nerves went haywire when I was around him. I’d fought for years to be as calm and unflappable as I could, but Tyson Allen frazzled the heck out of me. He made me feel like a mixture of complete incompetence and total stupidity. I kept hoping some miracle would occur, and he’d lighten up around me, but it wasn’t happening.
The worst part of it was I liked him, and by that I mean I had a crush on him. He all but ignored my presence on the planet, yet I found myself pining over him. I knew my sister would be worried if she knew, given my history of atrocious choices in men. I thought I’d outgrown my inherent need to chase after inappropriate men, but apparently I was dead wrong.
When he swung the door to his hotel room open, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind he was annoyed I was there. His entire demeanor was hostile.
“Goddammit, where’s Lacey?” he barked, confirming my assumption he wasn’t happy to see me.
“She’s meeting with management. I’ve got your daily brief,” I answered as I held it out to him. I cursed myself silently when I noticed my hand was trembling.
He snatched it out of my hand like it was contaminated. “This is Lacey’s job,” he stressed angrily. “Why are you doing it?”
I was torn between the desire to skitter away and hide or knee him in the nuts. He acted like I was toxic and it was embarrassing, which meant I could barely string two words together.
“I’m, like, um, uh, from now on… it’s like, my job?” I squeaked.
I wanted a portal to open and suck me out of the hallway. I’d ended a statement with a question, which was bad enough, but even worse, I knew my face was purple with embarrassment. I didn’t need to worry since he focused like a laser on a spot over my head. It seemed setting eyes on me was somehow offensive.
“Then from now on you can just slip it under my door,” he decreed like a giant fucking prick.
My mouth opened, lips forming a perfect O as my eyes went wide. What were we, eight? He was acting like I had cooties. Maybe he really believed I did.
“Lacey says I have to hand it off to you all personally,” I said once I stopped staring at him with my mouth open. “It’s part of my official duties to make sure—”
The hand he used to hold the daily brief waved dismissively. “I’m Lacey’s boss which means I get to make the rules. I don’t want to be disturbed by you,” he said flatly. “You just slide it under the door each day and go on your way.”
Feeling the prickle of tears in my eyes was mortifying. I’d done enough crying in my life, so it didn’t sit well with me. I loved my job, and wanted to keep it, but I was at the end of my rope with him. He treated me like I was a complete idiot and he made it patently obvious he detested me.
“Why do you have to make this so damn difficult?” I questioned angrily. “You’re downright rude to me and there’s no reason for it.”
His head reared back as his eyes went wide. He seemed stunned as he stared at me. For the fraction of a second, I thought he was going to soften. When his jaw clenched and he crossed his arms over his chest, I knew he was shutting down.
“If you can’t handle me then I suggest you quit,” he said snidely. “This is a job, and I expect you to do it professionally. Just slide the daily briefs under my door and be on your way.”
With that, he turned around and went back into his room, closing the door behind him without so much as looking in my direction. I wanted to cry and then bang on his door so I could slap him when he opened it. Although Tyson Allen was easily the most good-looking man I’d ever set eyes on, he also had one of the ugliest personalities I’d ever come across. Personality trumped looks for me every day of the week. I vowed to stay as far away from his miserable ass as humanly possible.
“And everyone else says he’s one of the nicest guys ever?” my sister questioned.
Our FaceTime session was a little blurry, but there was no mistaking the concern on her face.
“Yes! The worst thing is people are noticing how dismissive and standoffish he is to me, and it’s embarrassing,” I admitted.
“Dais, honey, come home. You don’t need to put up with this. Ryder and I always have a place for you.”
I looked away from my phone and tried to keep myself from crying.
“I can’t,” I said forcefully. “This is my big chance, and I can’t let one asshole ruin it for me. I’m not a quitter, Vi.”
“No, you’re not,” she agreed. “But if the choice comes down to taking shit and quitting, then you know what you need to do. If this keeps getting worse…”
“It won’t,” I assured her.
Even as I said it, I knew there was no way I could be certain. Tyson was, for lack of a better descriptive, a dick.
“Mm-hm, sure,” she said. “If he keeps this up and you won’t throw in the towel, Ryder’s going to be flyin’ in for a visit to resolve it one way or the other.”
I didn’t doubt it. My brother-in-law was amazing, and I knew he had my back.
“Don’t stress me out,” I pleaded. “I’m having a hard enough time.”
“Humph.”
It was clear she wanted to insist I quit. Violet took her job as big sister very seriously. She always had, but a few rough years in our lives had strengthened our bond to something stronger than steel. My sister would walk through fire for me, as I would for her.
“All I want you to know is this,” she said finally. “Just because once upon a time you made a bad choice—”
“Violet,” I interrupted in a warning tone. “Don’t go there.”
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m not trying to make you feel worse. I just love you so much, Daisy. I hate to see you unhappy about anything.”
“I’m not unhappy,” I assured her. “I’m only anxious about Tyson. Everyone else is great. It’s the dream job with one teeny-tiny flaw. Everything has one drawback. In this job it’s him.”
What I didn’t tell my sister was that dealing with him was so much more than a drawback. It was a constant source of anxiety for me and I wasn’t certain I would be able to withstand it for the rest of the tour. My stupid heart wanted something different than the reality, which meant it hurt like hell to have him dislike me the way he did.