"No, I don't need a lawyer," I barked.
"Mia, what he is doing is against the law."
"It's okay, Bryce. He will calm down once everything settles down there. He says I will get paid out everything and not to worry." I reached into my bag, pulling out a pair of clean underwear and a bra. I grabbed the clothes I had already decided to wear for the day and bundled everything in my arms. "I'm going to hop into the shower."
"All right, you have an hour," Bryce said, watching me with a worried expression on his face.
I walked over to the bathroom, stepped inside, and shut and locked the door behind me. I just needed a few minutes to myself.
Twenty minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom, my hair wrapped up in a towel, and I sat down on the bed. I was starting to feel better already, and I dug through my bag to find my hairdryer. I was almost back to the bathroom door when my phone rang. I hesitated to answer at first but decided to anyway. As soon as I had the phone to my ear, I could hear Mark’s angry voice pouring over the phone. "I need things, Mia, please."
"Mark! I told you—"
"No! I need those reports in two hours or else you are fired!"
Instantly the fight-or-flight response kicked in, and all the stress I had lost over the last three days was now back and stronger than ever. I went to say something back to Mark, but he was already gone. I dropped the phone onto the bed and forgot what I had been doing. I went over to the small desk where everything had been left yesterday and sat down and began working, quickly forgetting all about Bryce and my day at the spa.
Half hour later, I heard a gentle knock at my door, followed by Bryce calling my name. I ignored him. My boss was pissed, and now I was on an even more serious deadline than before. I had struggled to hold onto this job, and I wasn't going to lose it now.
"Mia, we have to—" He stopped mid-sentence as he pushed the door open to find me still with a towel wrapped around my head. He stood in my doorway looking down at me. I didn't look at him. I couldn't. I hadn't even gotten dressed, still sitting in the bathrobe I had put on after my shower. Work, as always, won.
"Mia, we have to go," he repeated.
"I can't," I bit out, typing away on the keys of my laptop.
"Mia, I watched you last night nearly have a nervous breakdown over this job that has broken so many laws. Does your employer not care about your mental or physical health? Does he not know that this is actually a form of harassment?" he bit back, standing there with his hands on his hips. I could see the lawyer in him coming out.
"You don't understand, this is my job."
"No, I understand fully. I see an employer who is taking advantage of you and an employee who is so afraid of losing her job that she will do anything to prove to them she is worth keeping. Now you are going to put that laptop away after you write him and tell him you will get right on that paperwork when you return to the office at the end of your vacation and not a minute before."
"I can't!" I shouted, pushing the hair from my face.
"You can, it’s simple."
"I will lose my job, Bryce."
"Mia, you are not going to lose your job."
"I will, he told me so. You aren't going to be the one to have to pick up the pieces, I am. So, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I can't continue on with this party."
I stood up and pushed him out the door, slamming it in his face. I sat down and put my head in my hands, sobs racking my body. I didn't need some guy I hadn't seen in years coming back into my life and telling me what was right or wrong. I let the crying continue for a couple of minutes before I sucked it up, wiped my eyes, and went back to my laptop.
I worked straight through the afternoon and most of the evening until everything was completed. I sent off the final email, my phone ringing as soon as I received the notification it had been delivered and read.
"Hello."
"Mia, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to let you go," Mark’s voice rang out over the phone.
"What? Why?" I asked, choking back tears.
"I wasn't kidding, Mia. You had a deadline. You missed it."
My heart sank. I had nothing to say, and even though I had just spent hours working away, pushing away the one person I so badly wanted to be with, it hadn't mattered. In the end, I still lost.
I didn't argue. I physically couldn’t. I simply hung up the phone and got up from my chair and looked around at the mess before me, papers scattered everywhere. I was so defeated, I flopped onto the bed. All of this had been for nothing. I had been fired anyway.
In that second, my life, up to this point, flashed before my eyes. My mom was gone, I hadn't seen my brother in seven years, I had never met my niece or nephew, I didn't have a significant other in my life, and I had lost every single friend I had ever had, and all for what?
I thought back to the last few days here. They had been the best days I'd had in a long time, and I had just pushed it all away too. I wiped at the tears that had started to form in my eyes. I needed another shower.
I turned the water on and climbed in, letting the heat soak into my aching muscles. I was frozen, and so I turned the hot water on, reducing the cold. As I sat on the floor, letting the hot water run over me, I heard Bryce's words in my mind. I felt awful for how I’d treated him. He had been nothing but kind, and I had treated him like shit. All he had really done was show me that he cared enough to try to help me, which had been more than anyone else had done for me in a long while.
When I was as warm as I was going to get, I shut the water off and dried off, quickly dressing and going in search of Bryce.
I poked my head out of the door and saw the light on in the front room, while the rest of the house was dark. At least I didn't have to look far, I thought as I made my way down to the doorway. The TV was off, soft music playing in the background, a single light on by the couch. Then I saw Bryce kick his foot up on the back of the couch. I wandered in and walked around to the face him. Bryce laid there reading a book.
"Hey." I sniffled.
"Leftovers are in the fridge, if you’re hungry. Help yourself to whatever you want." He didn't look at me. He kept his face down in the pages of his book and said nothing more.
"Is everything okay?" I asked, sitting down on the edge of the couch beside him, resting my hand on his thigh, which he pulled away as soon as I touched him, as if I had burned him.
"No, not really, and I am not even going to try and pretend that it is."
A funny feeling crept into the pit of my stomach at the tone of his voice. I had been in this situation before. It was all too familiar to me. Don and I had these types of conversations numerous times before, each of them ending in a fight.
"Bryce, why won't you look at me?"
He kept his face down in his book, not necessarily ignoring me but not acknowledging me either. I started to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"I'm sorry. I felt that was important to take care of, but it really doesn't matter now."
He slammed his book shut and threw it on the table. "Yes, I noticed. You should have seen yourself, or maybe you should have seen yourself the night before, too, when you were on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. You barked at me to go, so I left." Bryce sat up and rested his arms on his knees. "You know, Mia, you once had a backbone and would never let anyone walk on you the way they are walking on you. Open your eyes."
"I have a backbone, and I do stand up for myself. You need to understand, what I do at times needs to be fully explained because if the other person doesn't understand then I have failed. And it’s my job! Who is going to pick up my life if I don't have one? Who is going to provide for me if I can't provide for myself? For me to blow him off so I can go and spend the day with the guy I've shacked up with for some weekend fling is completely irresponsible and it’s not going to happen."
I could see the hurt in his eyes immediately after the words fell from my mouth. I instantly wanted to take them all back.
He did
n't say anything. Instead, he got up from the couch, picked his book up from the table, and was just about to leave the room when he stopped and turned to look at me. "One thing I have learned over my years as a lawyer, there are ways of getting your point across without losing control. You had no control. I really hope the hours you spent behind that computer today makes a difference for you."
"Why do you even care, Bryce? Why do you even care how I am being treated?"
"I care because I hate seeing people get taken advantage of and I hate wasting my time, which I can plainly see I have done nothing with you but that. I was trying to show you there is more to life than paper and offices and deadlines. I'll be spending the night in my office. Don't bother coming down there. I think it’s best that we both be alone tonight."
I watched him make his way back around the couch and go to leave the room. I wanted to scream, “Stop, don't go,” but I couldn't. Tears filled my eyes, and just as he was about to step around the corner, a sob escaped my throat.
"I got fired," I blurted out. We were standing here hurting one another for nothing. None of it mattered anymore.
Bryce stopped and slowly turned around, looking at me. "What did you just say?"
"I got fired. You know what though? It’s okay. Everything you have said to me this weekend has been true. None of it has been worth it. It wasn't worth it for me to throw away every friend I had. It wasn't worth it to not see my brother or meet my niece and nephew, and it wasn't worth it for me not to take the time to mourn the loss of Mom when she passed away either."
I flopped down on the couch, tears pouring down my cheeks. It was only a matter of seconds before I felt Bryce's arms around me, holding me. He pulled me into his chest, and I rested my head on his shoulder, and he held me until the tears finally stopped pouring.
It had been two hours and I was still sitting beside him, leaning into his chest, his arms still wrapped around me, running his fingers through my hair. The fire was now nothing but a bunch of glowing embers, the TV was on, casting a glow over the room, the light having been shut off a while ago. My chest was tight, and every once in a while, when I would inhale, I could still feel the upset within me.
"You need to talk to my brother. We will get this all sorted out," he whispered in my ear.
I didn't answer, but I thought about what he was saying.
"For real, Mia. He will make sure you get your job back."
I sat there thinking about what he was saying. "What if I told you I don't think I want it back." My voice was barely audible, even to me.
"Well, if you don't want it back, that is okay, but they still owe you a lot of money."
"What will I do though? It’s all I have known."
"You will find another one, in time. There's no rush." He kissed my forehead, pulling me against him. "I think for now, though, we should get some sleep."
I nodded. Sleep sounded like a wonderful idea. The exhaustion from the last few hours was catching up to me.
He took my hand and pulled me up off the couch and we walked to the bedroom. I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over me. I just wanted to sleep everything away.
At first, I thought he had left the room, going to his office as he had said he would, but instead the light went off and I felt the opposite side of the bed sink. He pushed his arm under my head and wrapped his other arm around my waist, pulling me tightly against his chest and into the warmth and safety of his embrace.
Chapter 14
Bryce
When I woke the next morning, I found her face buried in my side, tears streaming down her cheeks. I had done the best I could to comfort her, but this was a battle she needed to take care of on her own.
We ate breakfast, and then Mia asked me if it was okay if she had some alone time. I understood completely and gave her some directions to a trail out back of the house, and off she went for a walk.
I knew this had been hard on her. We had decided on something easy for dinner tonight, so I took some time while she was out to surprise her with my mother’s beef stew recipe. She and Grant used to love it when we were younger. I had also pulled out all the ingredients for us to bake chocolate chip cookies later.
After I got the stew slowly simmering on the stove, I pulled out all the bowls and measuring cups from the cupboard for the cookies. I was expecting Mia to be back soon when something caught my eye out the back window. Mia was sitting down on top of the hot tub looking out toward the mountains. She looked lost in thought, and I was just about to go make my way out the back door when the phone rang.
I popped a handful of mixed nuts into my mouth and grabbed the phone, still watching Mia out the back window. "Hello."
"Bryce, how are things going?"
"Hey, Hunter. Doing much better, thanks," I said. I owed my brother a lot for sending me on this vacation. He had been right, as he normally always was.
"Good to hear. Are you doing okay with all the snow? We were getting a bit worried. We hadn't heard from you. Autumn forced me to check in with you."
I let out a laugh. "Good to know someone cares about me. Really there is no need to worry. Everything is just fine."
"Good to hear. You still planning on coming home this weekend? Autumn and Hope want to know if you will be here for family dinner."
"Yep, I'm coming home." I stood there debating telling him about Mia, my gut practically screaming at me to just go ahead and do it. "Listen, I ran into an old friend. Mia, Grant's sister. You remember her?"
Hunter chuckled into the phone. "Yeah, I remember. The looker who used to crush on you so bad it made my head spin."
I frowned. "She did not," I answered back.
"Yeah, whatever. The way she paraded around you? Carter and I always laughed whenever you and Grant hung out. She was like static cling, man. In a good way, that is. Don’t hate us, but we took bets on when you were finally going to wake up your cock and notice her. We seriously thought perhaps it didn't work properly." Hunter let out a loud laugh.
I didn't say anything as I looked out the back window at Mia. She was gorgeous sitting there, the sun bathing her in a orange hue. Thinking back to those days—something I had done a lot of this week—never had I thought she crushed on me.
"Listen, I went by your condo the other day. I stopped in to check on things. It looks like Alyssa is gone," Hunter said, pulling me away from my memories.
"Good to know. We'll be heading back tomorrow. Nice to know I can return to my home."
"We'll?" Hunter questioned.
"Yes, Mia and myself."
"She is there with you? As in you shacked up with her for the week?"
I cleared my throat, getting tired of his behavior. "No we didn't shack up, Hunter. She was stranded at the airport. I simply offered her a place to stay."
"Sure...I am sure you did. You probably parked your car in the garage too." He chuckled.
I guess I deserved his response, after all the years I picked on him.
"I have a favor to ask of you. Mia needs some legal help from you, if you are so inclined," I said, being as vague as I could be. It wasn't my place to tell him what this was about; it was hers.
"No problem. She can talk to me at family dinner?"
I frowned. "At family dinner? I wasn't planning on bringing her."
"Well, you are now. Autumn just added an extra seat. We will see you then."
I let out a breath. "Okay, we'll be there."
We said our good-bye, and then I hung up the phone. I grabbed another handful of nuts, turned the burner down on the stove, and headed out the back door.
"Hey." Mia turned to look at me, a smile lighting up her sad eyes. "Dinner is cooking. I also have everything out to make those chocolate chip cookies you have been talking about," I said as I walked around to face her, forcing her legs open so I could stand between them.
"Sounds good." She wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder.
"I just got off the phone with my brother. H
e said he is willing to help you." She was quiet. "He also said you used to have a crush on me." She pulled away and looked me in the eyes, her face going red. "Did you used to have a crush on me?" I brushed a strand of stray hair away from her eyes.
She nodded her head, her cheeks on fire with embarrassment. "Maybe a little." She held her forefinger and thumb close together and let out a cute little giggle. "Well, until you broke my heart, that is," she said, getting serious.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," I said, playing dumb and putting my hand to my chest in an innocent gesture. I seriously didn't believe that she crushed on me that long anyway, and I certainly wasn't expecting the next words that fell from her mouth.
"Mary Maguire’s party, do you remember that?"
My breath caught. She really had crushed on me. What I had seen in her eyes that night had been the truth.
"Yeah, you remember." She let out a laugh. "It's okay, though. I dropped my friend like a hot cake." She winked at me.
"Listen, I feel like I owe it to you to tell you this, even though it happened years ago. That night, I was really searching for you. Your friend only got me up there because she said you were waiting for me. It was a ploy, a trick played on me. Apparently, your friend had a crush on me as well.” She looked at me with curiosity.
“When I saw you in the door that night and the hurt in your eyes, I tried to run after you, but the crowd of people kept getting in my way. Then I saw you with Grant, and well, you know how that would have turned out. I tried to come after you after Grant left, before I went to school as well, but you were either ignoring me or weren't home."
"It's okay, Bryce. I got over you. It took three months, but after that, I forgot about you."
"Geez, thanks. Way to make a guy feel special!"
"Okay, well maybe I didn't forget all about you."
"Let’s get inside and get those cookies baked, and after that have some food," I said, wrapping my arms around her waist and throwing her over my shoulder in true caveman fashion. I loved listening to her laugh as I smacked her on the ass and carried her into the house.
His to Hold (The Malone Brother Book 3) Page 9