“Cheater!” Across the room, one of the ops team pointed accusingly.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Kelly said coldly. “You think I’m going to cheat at shuffleboard?”
But the ops guy stumbled forward, taking a clumsy swing at her. Kelly dodged, shocked. One of the other developers grabbed him, trying to hold him back.
“Ow!” the developer cried out. “Bro, did you justbiteme?”
“You said I couldn’t bite people,” Luke turned to Morgan, wounded.
“That’s it, you’re all cut off from the bar,” the equipment manager declared.
“Who’s ready for the next round?” Brad demanded. “Vijay just went. You’re up, Molly!”
“Morgan,” she muttered. She took a deep breath. Focus. People scuffled in the background. Office workers plus midday alcohol were a shitshow. But Brad wanted to win and she needed to impress Brad even if they couldn’t offer him a Deal, so right now she had to concentrate on hitting a little plastic disc. Luke caught her eye and raised his eyebrows. She supposed a little demonic help winning would count as part of the miracle budget if it made Hayley’s work event successful. It wouldn’t take all that much. But some stubborn part of her still wanted to prove she was at least marginally competent, even if she didn’t have magic. She just needed to stop pulling her own blows. She lined up and gave her biscuit a sharp tap. It sailed over the dead line, continuing right into the triangle at the top. It tapped into Vijay’s, sending his sliding into the negative zone.
“I—I did it!” She turned and Brad gave her a blinding grin.
“Attagirl!”
Hayley stood, wobbling, and without warning, threw up all over the shuffleboard court.
12
Luke offered to help get Hayley home after they all got kicked out. It took Morgan a moment to realize why.
“One more big step, you can do it,” Morgan coaxed.
Hayley reached the top of her stoop mostly through Luke’s power. He didn’t look comfortable with her arm draped over his neck.
“Brad’s going to kill me,” Hayley groaned for the fifth time.
“He’s not going to kill you,” Morgan said reassuringly, despite not being at all sure of that.
“He doesn’t want to kill you because he wants you to keep not arguing and he wants to not have to replace you like the last HR person,” Luke added.
“Oh, right,” she slurred. “That’s me. I never argue with him, even when somebody should.”
Morgan managed to fumble Hayley’s key into the lock in the vestibule. Beyond lay another dauntingly narrow set of stairs to the upper floors of the brownstone. Hayley’s building was definitely nicer than hers, but it was also a walkup entirely too far from a subway station. Morgan couldn’t really afford the Lyft, but she was not going to tryto maneuver Hayley through the subway, so Lyft it was. But now they still had to accomplish the walkup part.
“I didn’t argue with him when he picked the dental plan with the extra-high deductible, or when he said he wouldn’t hire that one developer because he said no one could type well that limp-wristed, or when he fired Wendy Xi for getting pregnant. That’s me. No-argue Hayley.”
Morgan tried not to let her disgust show. She’d noticed the dental thing: it was why she hadn’t had her teeth cleaned in a year. But the other two were so much worse.
“Do you want this job?” Luke prodded.
“I need this job,” Hayley said, barely making it around the banister.
“What would you do to get something else?”
“Anything,” Hayley said emphatically. “I’d sleep with him if it thought it would help, but I think the only thing that gets him off are funding rounds.”
“Sell your soul?” Luke asked lightly.
“In a heartbeat. This is me,” Hayley declared, trying unsuccessfully to get her key into the lock.
“What are you doing?” Morgan demanded as quietly as she could as Hayley continued to fumble.
“That’s pretty obvious,” Luke whispered back.
