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Oh Lord, how did you ask your boss if he’d messed with your ass?
“Hmm?” he asked, lifting his brows in innocent question.
A little too innocently for my peace of mind.
“Nothing,” I mumbled, frowning because it felt like I was losing my mind. “Sorry. I’ll just…”
I started to turn back toward the cabinet, but Mr. Draper lifted a finger. “You know. I might have the file in my office after all. Why don’t we head in there and look for it?”
Um…
What?
One: I was sure I’d seen the file on my desk this morning.
But two: we both did not need to look for it in his office. Limbs flooding with cold dread, I paused, not sure how to answer. Was it okay to tell your superior no to such a simple-sounding request? And what if he asked why I was refusing? I couldn’t tell him it was because he was giving me a sudden, serious case of heebie-jeebies. That would be rude.
Oh God. I wasn’t sure how to handle this.
Reading the panic on my face, he stepped forward and softened his voice, saying, “Hey, hey. Relax. It’s okay.” He reached out and patted the side of my arm. “Everything’s fine. I’ll take care of you.”
Take care of me?
Warning bells gonged through my system. I was confident I didn’t even want to know what that meant.
I started to pull back, but his grip on my arm tightened, keeping me there.
Not cool. Totally not cool.
“No one ever has to know,” he whispered as he reached up with his free hand to touch my cheek. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Eww!
I reacted on instinct, striking out with a balled fist and aiming for his face. Except I missed and kind of caught him in the windpipe instead, hitting him as hard as I could.
He immediately let go of me, choking and grabbing his throat, trying to find air.
“Oh my God!” I cried as I slapped my hands over my mouth, hoping I hadn’t accidentally killed him.
From behind me, a nearby voice yelped, “Holy shit.”
I whirled, totally caught in the act, and merely gaped guiltily at Gracen, unable to formulate words as I tried to explain what happened. “He—he—”
Oh great. Panic filled my throat.
An attack seemed inevitable.
Black spots danced in my eyes. I think I was having as hard a time attempting to breathe as my boss was. I pointed at him, hoping that would somehow clear things up.
Gracen recovered from his shock first. Shaking the surprise from his expression, he turned all business and curled a finger at me, beckoning me forward.
“Miss Nicksen.” He sounded like a principal who’d been called in to reprimand a child. “Come with me.” Then he speared a lethal glare toward Mr. Draper. “And you.” He pointed threateningly. “Don’t go far.”
He cast me another hard look before turning away. I fell into step behind him as he marched back to his office, calling someone on his phone as he went.
When whoever was on the other end answered, he said, “You need to come in. Right now,” and he hung up again.
I drew in a big bolstering breath as Gracen held open the door to his office and motioned me to enter ahead of him. Then he followed me in and closed us alone inside.
