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“Jamie.” Liam called from behind her, all three of us whipping our heads towards him as he marched down the hall. “Meeting at the Verten site. Now.”
He didn’t stop as he spoke, making me scramble to my feet, gather my stuff, and run after him, meeting him right in front of the last place we should be together right now.
The elevator.
Chapter 9
Liam
Jamie Harden was a walking contradiction. She was reserved and shy at times, coming off as fragile, but then there was this fire in her that blasted everyone to a safe distance when she felt cornered against a wall. Figuratively and literally.
She had thrown the mother of all bombs at me yesterday. Something so small that had a corrosive effect I hadn’t seen coming.
She was going on a fucking date!
A motherfucking date!
Why that filled me up with so much rage was beyond me. I could have torn my office into shreds as soon as I walked her out. But I couldn’t show her how much it got to me, and it wouldn’t have been a silent affair if I did.
I had made her a fucking promise. For her well-being, not mine, but fuck, did I want nothing more than to break it, and her, every way I knew how. She was leaving, and that concession seemed necessary at the time, but I was starting to regret it with every fiber of my being. I didn’t want her to leave, but it shouldn’t have been at the expense of letting her run loose in this world full of… men!
I thought it was what she wanted. What I wanted. Fuck, was I wrong.
Why do I even care? She sure doesn’t.
Jamie was standing behind me. I could feel her uneasiness without even glancing over at her. The sight of what’s-his-face hanging over her wrecked the final layer of restraint I had left in me. So she knew she got the dark side of me today.
“Did you get it?” I spoke as we walked into the elevator, the two of us alone in it once again. Damn, if these fucking walls could talk, they’d be singing a symphony of lust and stupidity right to my face, a tone of mockery underlining each spirited note.
“Get what?” Jamie asked. Her voice was small and weary as she stood beside me, watching the side of my face intensely as I locked my eyes straight ahead as if the stainless steel doors were more interesting than her.
“Something to wear to your date tonight.”
“Hum, yeah. I did.”
“Let’s hope this meeting doesn’t run late then. Prince Charming shouldn’t be kept waiting.” I was bitter. I could feel the acidity on my tongue as I spoke those words.
Jamie was about to counter, her mouth opening only to shut again as the doors dinged open, letting in a couple more people.
I had no idea what I was looking for with my provocation. Even if she wanted me as badly as I craved her, we still couldn’t be together. It wasn’t fair to her. My life was too messed up, too complicated to tangle her into a web she most probably couldn’t handle.
We drove in silence to the construction site, avoiding each other the whole time we were there.
Once again, she had blown Verten’s representatives’ minds away, captivating them just as she had me. At least it wasn’t Mr. Mercier attending today. I wasn’t sure I could take his crap light-heartedly today as instructed by father dearest. I was unfit for ass-kissing on a good day. Today I’d tell him to fuck off without shying away from the crass language.
Soon enough, I was driving back to AD alone. Jamie had some bullshit excuse she threw at me, avoiding being in the same space as my moody ass. I couldn’t help it. If only she knew how fucking enraged I was… but she couldn’t. I was nothing to her and it should stay that way, I reasoned with myself over and over, hoping it would stick.
Yet reason held nothing over the bloodlust and punishment I was craving. Hers, of course.
I wanted to see if she’d crack, if she cared enough to react. To see her squirm and hurt for me, and I knew just the way to do it.
Yeah… reason was a word my dictionary didn’t hold when it came to Jamie Harden.
I didn’t care for mixing business with pleasure, meaning AD employees were out of the question – don’t eat the meat where you earn your bread. I didn’t date, fuck, or mingle with anyone from the office, even though my father thought I fucked every female who ever had a job here. It wasn’t my fault they wanted to, but I didn’t need that messy shit.
Michelle was the sole exception, and only because I had slept with her before she was hired. We occasionally still hooked up to get the edge off, an itch-and-scratch kind of situation. The deal was crystal for both of us, no mixed lines or misunderstandings.
And suddenly today I was feeling an itch I needed to have scratched.
