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Not likely, but I didn’t say that. I just wanted this guy out of my office. All of a sudden, I wanted him totally, completely gone. He didn’t need to be in here with me. Not like this. Something about him made me feel like he was a total creep. Perhaps it was my self-preservation instincts kicking in. I couldn’t be sure. I just knew that something about him was wrong. Something about him was messed up.
There was a darkness there, an anger. It was something I didn’t need anywhere close to me. In the past, I would have sucked it up. I would have toughed it out. Now I knew that I didn’t have to. The biggest social consequence this decision to kick him out would have was irritating my boss, but I knew Annie well enough to know she’d have my back.
“No,” he said.
“No?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not leaving. I need someone to fix my Internet reputation. You’re the person who’s going to do that. I just expected someone more...masculine.”
“You think a man is going to do a better job?” I asked, trying to understand. There was a subtle nod from Reynolds. Ok
ay, so he wanted a dude to work for him. Whatever.
“A man simply understands these things better,” he explained.
“Sure,” I nodded. “Well, go ahead and leave my office, and I’ll let Annie know that you need to reschedule with someone who has a penis.”
“Excuse me?” Zander Reynolds placed a hand on his chest, as though I had mortally offended him. What the hell was with this guy?
“Dude, just leave,” I went back to my seat and sat down, overwhelmed and tired. I didn’t want to deal with this anymore. The idea that marketing was a boy’s club was pervasive, but women had been working their asses off to change that idea.
“I don’t believe I gave you permission to talk to me that way.” Zander kept standing there, as though he didn’t know what to do or where to go. He no longer seemed menacing. Instead, he just looked pathetic. How many times could I tell him to leave before he finally would?
“And I don’t believe I gave you permission to come into my office and act like an asshole. Now leave. If you choose not to comply with this very simple request, I’ll call security.”
I looked back at my computer and blatantly ignored him. Was this the kind of guy who would leave if I pretended he wasn’t there? I was about to find out. Guys like Zander got away with this sort of shit because nobody ever called them out on it. You couldn’t just act like a petty little child because you were going to be working with someone who wasn’t a gender you liked.
Nope. Ignoring him definitely didn’t work. Instead, he kept standing in my office and staring at me. Finally, I picked up the phone.
“Annie? I need help in my office. I’d like a client escorted out. Can you help me? Thanks.” I hung up the phone. Before I’d even turned back to my computer, he was there with me. Zander was standing beside me, and instantly, I shrunk back into my seat. I hated myself for it, but he was so damn big.
“Get. Up.”
“Fuck. You.” My response probably wasn’t very kind, professional, or appropriate, but I was playing with a big dog. That called for big words.
Zander reached out before I could stop him. He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to my feet. I was instantly struck by how weird the situation was, and how this type of gesture, done by the right person, could be so very different. When David was the one touching me, I felt wild and alive. I felt like my entire body was on fire in the best possible way.
When Zander touched me, I felt like I was going to crumple into a ball and be thrown into the trash. It was a very different feeling, and I hated it. I hated him, too, in that moment, for what he was doing to me. Zander tugged, pulling me, and I didn’t know what he was going to do next, but I stopped caring about propriety or making a scene, and instead I opened my mouth.
And I screamed.
Zander was taken back, surprised that I’d dared to do such a thing. His mouth dropped. His jaw practically hit the floor. Maybe he’d thought that I would struggle or try to fight him, but I hadn’t. Instead, I’d yelled. I’d screamed so loudly that I could hear the entire office fall silent, and then we both heard the footsteps that filled the hall.
“What was that?”
“Who screamed?”
“Was it Zoey? Is she okay?”
“Zoey!”
Then the knocking on my door started. Zander covered my mouth before I could call out again. He was still holding me by the hair. He hissed the next words at me, and I saw his eyes clearly in that moment. There was a darkness there. There was a stillness that I had never seen before.
“You’re going to regret that.”
Suddenly, he threw himself to the floor, knocking a few pictures off of my desk in the process. One of the frames broken, shattering, and he took a piece of the glass and sliced his arm through the shirt.
“Help!” Zander cried out. “Help me!”
