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With enough passion to make me believe in miracles, I could still tell that it had taken a toll on Killian to hold back. There’d been no choking, hair pulling, ass smacking, bites, hickeys, or dirty talk. Oh, he’d spoken plenty, but it’d been all about how much he needed me.
After the third round, it hadn’t been hard to figure out why he’d been doing it. Somewhere between my sexual conditions, my attempt to tell him about my rape, and what I did for a living, I suspected that Killian had an idea of what my secrets might be, but I’d chosen to ignore what he might know. I hadn’t wanted to ruin the most perfect night of my life.
I was also confused enough that I could appreciate waking up alone this morning. While it would have been nice to wake up in his arms, Killian Warrick had me so confused that I knew that I was going to have to call Lennon tonight after work. I needed time, and I needed some perspective before I ended up asking the man to marry me after only one night together.
“Did you hear?”
Snapping out of my thoughts, I turned towards Hillary Nichols. “Huh?”
I’d been waiting for the elevator, ready to get this day going, so that I could call Lennon tonight, but I must have been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t even heard Hillary walking up to me.
“Laurie Vernon got fired yesterday,” she rushed out, the elevator door dinging open.
Though I’d known that Killian had planned on firing her, I hadn’t expected the news to spread so quickly. “When did you hear this?” I asked as we made our way into the elevator.
“She posted her drama all over social media last night,” she answered, and it was hard for me not to wince. I never understood why people did that. I mean, I was all about venting, but I had too much respect for privacy to put all my business out there. Besides, it was the stupidest thing on the planet to put your business out there, then get mad at people for commenting on the business that you put out there.
“Was she talking crap?” I asked as I pressed the button for our floor.
Hillary shook her head. “No,” she admitted. “Just that she’d been unjustly fired and was now looking for a new job.”
I snorted at that. “It’s nearly impossible to get unjustly fired these days. Everyone’s too sue-happy. Companies know better than to let someone go without just cause.”
“Well, you had everyone commenting with their ten-cents labor law degrees, so you could only imagine how out of control her post got,” Hillary agreed.
“Well, at least she wasn’t badmouthing the foundation.”
“I think she knows better,” she replied. “She probably doesn’t want it coming out why she was fired.” The elevator dinged open, and Hillary lowered her voice as we exited the metal box. “What I found curious was that her work BFFs, Janie and Brenda, hadn’t commented at all on her post.”
“Perhaps they have a little more sense than Laurie,” I suggested. “They still work for the company, so it’d be in their best interest to stay away from Laurie’s social media posts.”
“You’re probably right,” Hillary sighed, knowing that the gossiping was coming to an end.
“Well, we better get to our stations,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
She gave me a beaming smile. “Talk to you later.”
Making a quick stop at the breakroom to get a snack bar, I hadn’t expected to see Janie and Brenda all huddled up in the corner, but I didn’t let that stop me from getting my snack. Their guilt or gossip was none of my business.
As I punched in the numbers on the vending machine, I heard Brenda ask, “Are we getting fired, too?”
I turned to look at her. “How in the hell would I know?” I asked, my voice snappish.
“Well, Laurie got fired,” Janie said.
“And?”
She glanced over at Brenda really quickly before adding, “Well, we figured you must have reported us, and-”
“I didn’t report you,” I clarified for them. “Mr. Warrick overheard the conversation for himself.”
“Bullshit,” Brenda spat, clearly wanting this to be all my fault.
I bent down to grab my snack bar, not caring if they believed me or not. Looking back at them both, I said, “Look, I don’t care if you believe me or not. If it feels better to blame me for your mess, then go ahead, because I honestly don’t care. However, the truth of the matter is that Mr. Warrick was on our floor when he overheard us getting loud. When I left the breakroom, I saw him standing in the hallway, and it was clear as day on his face that he’d heard everything.”
“Then why didn’t you warn us?” Janie cried out.
That was the problem with a lot of people; they expected loyalty without really thinking about what that word meant. Real loyalty didn’t come without the possibility of sacrifice, so I didn’t hand my loyalty out freely. If there was a chance that I might have to sacrifice my job, my life, my freedom, a good night’s sleep for you, then you had better be worthy, and around-the-mill coworkers didn’t fall into that category.
