I don’t know why, but I expected him to, at the very least, have that one covered up. I still remember my reaction when he showed me what he had done. I wasn’t sure how to feel—that he had permanently marked his body with my initials. I’m still not sure how to feel, seeing them still there today.
“I’ve got the count done for the day. Three ships logged and unloaded. I was just getting ready to enter the numbers into the spreadsheets.” I curse the slight shake to my voice.
“Far cry from spinning around on a stage.” His words cut through me like fire, lighting my insides aflame.
It takes everything in me not to walk into the trap he’s so clearly setting.
Pulling in a deep breath, I blow it out slowly.
“It certainly is. But work is work and right now, any will do.”
“Funny.”
“What is?” I hate that his back is still to me, but at least he’s speaking.
“The girl who was too good for Wren Cove and everyone in it... Now look at you.”
“The boy who hated everything about this industry and swore he’d never walk in his father’s footsteps. And now look at you...” I throw his words back at him.
“Do not speak of my father.” His voice drips in warning.
“Do not speak to me like you still know me,” I fire back.
“Maybe you should take your own advice.”
“Maybe you should stop being such a baby and actually look at me!” The words come out louder than I intend them to, bouncing around the small space like a pinball in a machine.
He turns, so slowly I’m convinced I’ve made a mistake and he’s about to fire me, but when he actually faces me, it’s not anger I see on his face, but resentment.
He’s not pretending to hate me. Hedoeshate me. The realization is as surprising as it is painful.
“Let’s get one thing straight...” He grips the desk behind him with two hands, squeezing the edge so hard that the wood groans. “You are here for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to do a job. If you don’t like how I manage my employees, the door is right there. You can leave at any time. But something tells me you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t have to be, so why don’t you do us both a favor and just do your job. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to talk to you. I just want you to do your job. Can you handle that?”
His words hurt more than just my pride, but I’m way too stubborn to let that show on my face.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be. I wouldn’t be anywhere near Wren Cove or near you! But here I am. So either learn how to speak to me like an adult, or fireme now, because I won’t be your punching bag because seven years ago I hurt your little heart.” I say it in the rudest, most condescending way I can muster.
His expression darkens and I can’t tell if he’s contemplating doing just that or even worse.
“Still the same spoiled brat you always were.”
“I could say the same to you. You can cut your hair and grow a beard, but deep down, you’re still the same immature jackass you’ve always been.”
“You about done?”
“I don’t know, Penn, are you?”
He looks at me for a long moment—stares daggers at me really—but I would take this over his silence any day.
“Get back to work.” He pushes off the desk and heads for the door. “And if you ever talk to me that way again, you’ll find yourself without a job. You are my employee, and you will respect me. That is nonnegotiable.”
With that, he steps outside, slamming the door behind him with so much force, the entire building rattles.
Well, hell...
CHAPTER SIX
Penn
