Page 90 of Feel It in the Air

The walls close in on me. Everything around me starts to spin, my lungs burning making it harder to breathe. Fuck…

How the fuck does she even know?

“That’s a very serious allegation, Teresa,” Percy replies.

How he’s maintaining any kind of composure, I have no idea. It’s taking everything I have in me not to scream. And frankly, that’s mostly because I can’t move. I can barely think past the not screaming.

No. No. This isn’t happening. She doesn’t actually know that. She’s not making these claims.

She making this up. It’s all part of whatever it is that she has against Margeaux. Trying to rope me into it. She doesn’t know anything. There’s no way.

“This entire conversation is a conflict of interest. He’s been fucking Margeaux behind everyone’s backs, and as the interim head of the department, she was a direct report, and that’s a breach of Hayes policy.”

A wave of nausea takes over, and I fight back the urge to throw up. An urge that is growing stronger by the second.

“If what you say is true, then HR will have to investigate,” Percy states, voice still level and calm.

Fuck, how is he doing that? Guess that’s his lawyer training hard at work. Never show any weakness. Even as he picks up the phone to dial who I assume is Carl.

I close my eyes, thinking that might stop the room from spinning. It doesn’t.

If anything, it just makes things worse. Because behind my eyelids is a slideshow of all the moments Margeaux and I have shared. All the happy, love-filled moments. From the first meeting at JFK, to her snuggled in my arms last night on the couch as we joked with my brothers over what to watch after dinner. So much happiness in such a short amount of time. Most of it in secret.

Our public outings have been few and far between. And always in a group setting. We’ve always been surrounded by other people. We’ve never been alone in public.

And there is no way she was around that night in the office. None. No one was here. Not even the janitorial staff.

This doesn’t make sense.

“Gus.”

Percy calls my name and it takes a moment to register. Looking over to him, he’s holding out the phone receiver, a solemn, almost downtrodden expression cemented in place.

“Hello?”

Carl’s voice is stern, no-nonsense, and cold. I know the second I hear his words that I’m in deep, deep shit.

“Your father’s office. Now.”