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“I’d walk any of my sister’s friends to their cars as a courtesy,” he said just as coldly as I’d answered him. I shrugged, not showing that it hurt me to know he thought of me as Maria’s friend, not as myself, Hailey, a future marketing genius and potential sex goddess. I may have snorted at the thought.
But all humor vanished when I got to my car. “Shit,” I said, kicking the front tire that was cut up and deflated. “They didn’t even steal the hubcap this time. The back passenger cap got nicked last year…” I muttered.
“Hailey, get over here,” he said, getting me by the arm and basically yanking me to his side. “We’re going back in the building. Now.”
“What are you talking about? I’m leaving,” I protested. “As soon as I get the spare out of the trunk and change this out.”
“It’s not just one tire, Hailey. It’s all of them. Now get inside.” I looked at him in disbelief. “Somebody slashed your tires, and we’re calling the police to report it. I have extensive security surveillance, so we should be able to determine who did it and if the vehicle was targeted or if multiple cars were hit. Right now, I want you to go in the building.”
“Rick, it’s not a hate crime or anything, I’ll just call and get a Lyft,” I said, wanting to get out of there, not wanting to stay and talk to cops and let Rick see me unspool from the stress of having to figure out how I was going to replace four tires at once even if I could get them from salvage.
“Hailey, now,” he said, and I could tell he was tense because his voice may have said ‘Hailey, now,’ but his tone said, ‘get your ass in that building before I pick you up and carry you myself.’ I’d be lying if I didn’t get a tiny, shameless thrill at the idea.
“Fine,” I said, and started back toward the office. He was beside me and put his arm around my shoulders protectively. I thought how differently it felt to have his arm around me than it had felt when Josh touched my back earlier and made my skin crawl.
When we were in the lobby, Rick went to the security desk and instructed them about what to do. Then he took me to his office and set me down in his own big leather chair and made me coffee with a lot of sugar and told me to drink it.
“You’ve had a shock. Your tires were slashed, you have to make a police report, and the sugar and the hot drink will help. I want you to drink it all.”
“Won’t the caffeine make it worse?” I said stiffly.
“You’re not going to have an easy time sleeping tonight anyway, are you? After this?”
I shook my head and took a drink of the sugary coffee. “This is really good,” I said and laughed sort of stupidly. “I didn’t know you could make coffee. You’re the boss. You have people to do that for you.”
“I make great coffee. Myabuelataught me,” he said.
I sipped the syrupy coffee and swallowed hard. It made me want to cry the way he was taking care of me.
“What’s the matter?” he said, and I realized he was leaning on the desk right beside where I sat, so close to me. “Are you cold?”
“We live in California,” I said.
“Right, I forgot that no one in the entire state ever experiences cold,” he said just as sarcastically, and I tried to smile but I failed miserably.
“You look a little—”
“Tired?”
“Demented when you smile like that,” he said with a short laugh. “It had a Joker quality.”
“Scare you?” I teased, feeling the knot in my chest ease a little.
“Maybe,” he said archly. “I’m sorry about the car. The company’s liability insurance will take care of the repairs of course and pay for a rental in the meantime.”
“What? You’re kidding.”
“Not at all. The property damage occurred in the REM employee lot. It’s unacceptable that my staff vehicles are at risk in that way, and I’m going to discuss increased security measures such as fencing with fob access when I meet with the board of directors. I won’t have company property vulnerable to vandalism and attack. I won’t have my staff in danger. What if it had been less obvious? It could have been your brakes or fuel line instead of the tires.”
Rick set my cup aside and took my hands in his. “You could have been hurt or worse. You could’ve been out by the car when they came, or they could have taken you and done God knows what, Hailey,” he said, his voice low and thrumming with a mix of fury and fear. His dark eyes met mine and the shiver I felt wasn’t from fear at all. “Hailey,” he said, as if just for the pleasure of saying my name, just for the sake of it. I shut my eyes for a second.
“You said we can’t, and that we both know why,” I said, but my voice was smaller than I intended, more tentative. Wanting him to tell me it doesn’t matter, wanting him to contradict me.
“I know,” he said, and released my hands, turned away.
The intercom buzzed and security let us know the cops had arrived. I sighed. I didn’t want to deal with any of this whatsoever, and I knew it was going to take forever.
“Will you stay with me?” I asked, “while I talk to them?”
