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“Sir, she was in the server room without permission.” The guard pulled her backward to straighten her stance, and a wince crossed Joey’s face. The man was hurting her. Cole clenched his fists. He had to stop this, but how?
* * *
Joey’s eyes watered with the increase in pain as the security guard tightened his hold, wrenching her arm behind her back. He was going to dislocate her shoulder, she was sure of it.
Cole stepped toward them. In a low, commanding voice, he spoke again. “Remove your hands or I will remove them for you.”
Relief was immediate in her wrist and shoulder as the brute of a security guard finally let her go.
“You’re dismissed,” Cole’s commanding tone came again. He’d used the same words with her earlier, and she’d thought them haughty and cold. It had been nothing compared to the iciness she heard in his voice right now as he spoke to the guard.
“But, sir,” came the argument from the guard.
Cole held up a hand to silence the objection. “Go. Grab your things and get out of my building. Now. You’re fired.” She’d heard rumors around the office about Cole’s hard demeanor and unforgiving standards. But since the first morning in the towncar, she hadn’t seen much of it. He’d been a serious CEO, but the hard edge had been absent.
Until now.
“Cole,” she said with a gentle warning. She shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s okay. He was just doing his job.”
His jaw clenched, and his palm came to her cheek, brushing away the wetness from the corner of her eye. “It’s not okay,” he said after he pulled it away.
He looked up at the guard. “You’re on administrative leave. Effective immediately. I’ll discuss this incident with Tommy, and we’ll decide the appropriate discipline.”
“Come on, man. She was in the server room. The system said there was no one in there. What am I supposed to think?” Joey winced. Her foolproof plan to spoof her access badge hadn’t accounted for someone doing physical rounds and verifying the occupancy.
Cole raised his eyebrow and glanced at Joey. “Miss Rodriguez. Are you not an employee of the ITS department?”
She nodded. “I am.”
“And is part of your job description performing server maintenance during off-peak hours?”
She nodded again, unsure what he was doing here.
“Does your clearance level grant you access to the server room?”
She nodded. “It does.”
Cole opened his hands to his sides and looked back at the guard. “Then it sounds to me like we have a simple computer error, doesn’t it, Mr. Elgin? Which certainly doesn’t warrant dragging Miss Rodriguez around the building like some sort of criminal. I payyouto secure this building. I payherto secure those computers. You’re on the same team. You’d do well not to jump to conclusions next time and to treat people with respect. Got it?”
Joey rubbed her wrist as the security guard mumbled a weak apology, dropped her bag, and walked away.
Cole pulled her to the side of the hallway. His hands caressed her shoulders then her arms. Then the side of her head. He murmured quietly, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, Joey.”
“I’m fine, Cole. Seriously. It was all a misunderstanding. Don’t fire him.”
His lip twitched up, and she stared at it. Then she looked up at his eyes, which studied her with amusement.
“What did you say?” she asked. She’d missed something, her focus entirely on his half-smile for those few moments.
“I said, was it actually a misunderstanding? I’m assuming you’re not here on official business? Which is why the log showed no record of your presence?”
She shrugged. “That is a distinct possibility.” She huffed. “I didn’t realize the security rounds would include the server room. That’s on me.”
“Come on. Let’s get you home. Do you have your car?”
She shook her head. “I took a cab. I was hoping the only person who would have any memory of me being here would be the front desk guard.” She glanced down the hallway where the guard who’d found her in the server room had gone. “So much for that.”
“It’ll be okay. We’ll write him up and suggest that telling anyone the details of the incident would find him looking for a new job instead of taking three days of unpaid vacation.”
