“What?” I asked, dropping my briefcase next to his feet. He was mining for details about my night with Georgina, but after our argument that morning, I was in no mood to shoot the shit.
“You stopped answering my text messages after the movie last night,” Justin said, “so I can only assume . . .”
“You know what they say about assumptions.” I kicked the rolling chair so his feet fell.
He jumped up. “What the hell, man?”
“I’ve told you a million times to keep your grimy shoes off my desk.”
“Jesus. For a guy who just got laid, you’re in a pretty shitty mood.”
“Yeah, well.” I took my rightful throne. “I got some bad news earlier.”
“Really?” Justin asked as he moved his plebeian ass to the couch. “Just completed my morning rounds for office gossip and didn’t hear shit. What is it?”
I was still reeling, even though I’d suspected this could happen. I wasn’t sure what pissed me off more—that Vance had told Georgina before me, or that she’d had the audacity to accuse me of manipulating her with sex. Maybe it was how she’d treated me like her ex when I’d only wanted to convey that her kindness was a strength, not a weakness.
I got up and shut the office door before returning to my desk. “Vance offered Georgina my position.”
“What?” Justin shot forward on the sofa. “How are you not throwing things right now?”
“Georgina and I already had it out at her apartment this morning.” I had thrown out some words I regretted, but the strange part was that I hadn’t been as angry about potentially getting fired as I’d expected. That’d only come once she’d started in on me. “At least, we began to until she slammed the door in my face.”
“The whole point of having sex was to release the tension you two have been forcing on us for months. Where does she get off being mad at you?”
The argument had happened so fast and gone downhill so quickly, I was still trying to figure out what the fuck had happened. “She’s upset because I didn’t consider what the job could do for her career. Instead, I just assumed she wouldn’t take it, but what the fuck was I supposed to think? It’s my job, and she knows what it means to me.”
“I’m guessing by her reaction that it also means something to her.”
Not the job itself, but maybe what it represented—confirmation that she’d succeeded in the position despite the environment I’d created for her. Calling her unqualified had been below the belt. It wasn’t true. She deserved the offer, I just wished it wasn’t at my expense.
The worst part was that it’d even occurred to her I might exploit the thing I liked most about her—her authenticity, generosity, the way she considered others. I didn’t know how anyone could see that as weakness, but that was what Neal had taught her.
I had a lot to apologize for when she got in.
“She’s not planning to take the job,” I told Justin. “At least, she wasn’t before this morning. Who knows now.”
“Ah.” Justin extended an arm along the back of the sofa. “I wonder if that’s why she’s talking to Vance.”
I froze in the middle of booting up my computer. “Right now?”
“Yeah. She didn’t even put her stuff down, just went right to his office.”
“Fuck.” That was it, then. I’d pissed her off enough to accept the position. I’d barely had time to process all this, much less dust off my résumé.
Who was I kidding? I’d worked my way up as an intern. I didn’t have a fucking résumé anymore.
And yet, as Georgina had pointed out, maybe moving on from Modern Man wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It had certainly opened my eyes finding out that, after I’d sucked it up and played ball when they’d hired Georgina, I still wasn’t valued by Vance or the board.
I rubbed the inside corners of my eyes. “I should go in there.”
“I wouldn’t.” Justin shook his head. “Let her cool off. Maybe just keep your mouth shut until she comes to you.”
“That’s not how dating works,” I said. “You ever heard of communication? Honesty?”
“Dating?” Justin arched an eyebrow. “So yesterday must’ve gone pretty well if you’re still thinking about her that way.”
All this time I’d felt threatened by her presence, assuming the worst-case scenario would be losing control of the magazine.
Losing Georgina, though? Somehow that seemed worse.
I hadn’t wanted yesterday to end. No question, I’d never been on a better date, and to top it off, I’d woken up happy and ready to do it all over again. Especially the part where I’d had her gorgeous, naked body ready and willing underneath me.
If I was mad about anything, it was that I’d barely gotten one last glance at her mouth-watering tits before she’d covered them up with a child’s t-shirt.
I steepled my fingers in front of me. I could tell Justin to fuck off and mind his own business, but I didn’t want to. He was my closest friend and when something was important to me, he was part of it. “I like her, man. I really do. I know you’ll say you told me so—”
“No need,” he said, “as long as it’s established that I did.”
I sighed deeply. Georgina had been a pain in my ass since I’d met her. It shouldn’t have surprised me that that hadn’t changed simply because we’d slept together. She’d also pushed me in ways nobody had in a long while. She’d gotten me to open up about my mom, something I usually reserved for Libby and her husband or Justin.
And there was this one detail I hadn’t been able to get over since yesterday—Georgina had adopted a sick dog.
Maybe that had signaled weakness to her ex, but to me, it was pure strength. Losing my mom was the hardest thing I’d ever been through, and since then, I sometimes questioned how I could fully love someone knowing I might lose them too one day. Georgina, on the other hand, had faced it head on. She’d chosen it so she could give Bruno a life.
“I don’t want to fuck this up,” I admitted. “Yeah, maybe things didn’t come out right this morning. I was pissed, and I couldn’t see much beyond the fact that I was getting fired. But if she wants to take the job, I’m not willing to lose her over it. I’ll support her—I just wish that wasn’t the only option.”
“Man, do you have any idea how awkward that would be? Dating someone who replaced you?”
I ran my hands over my face, sitting back in my seat. Maybe he was right, but what other option was there? Was I supposed to let her go after we’d gotten this far? We’d pushed and pulled each other into this mess, and now I didn’t want to be anywhere else but knee-deep in it with her. “It’s fucked up,” I said, “but what hasn’t been about Georgina and me? We’ve been through a lot already. We could handle it.”
“All right, then let’s get serious here.” Justin leaned his elbows on his knees and lowered his voice. “If you want me to find out what’s going on, just say the word.”
“Meaning?”
“I have eyeballs, ears, heads, shoulders, knees, and toes all over this place.”
“You’re a creep.”
“You want info or not?” He looked offended. “Pfft. I’ve got operatives everywhere and dirt on everyone in this office, including you.”
“Then I guess they know about my recent, NSFW night in the copy room with your mom.”
Justin’s face fell. “Why would you say that, man? You know I’m sensitive about that.”
His mom had always been a total babe, which had caused him some problems in high school. “You make it so easy.”
“Whatever. You want me to have the nerds in IT hack Georgina’s e-mail?”
“First of all, ‘nerds’? You wish you knew how to hack someone’s e-mail. You can’t even dial out on the first try.”
He flipped me off. “It’s a new phone system.”
“Secondly, do not ever hack an employee’s personal e-mail.”
“Got it. Just work then.”
“Not that, either. Stay far
away from IT.”
Justin pointed to his ear and then to the ceiling, indicating that we were being listened to. “Understood, boss.”
“I’m not giving you some secret go-ahead. Stay out of Georgina’s business.”
He winked. “Loud and clear.”
I rolled my eyes. “Get out of here.”
“It’s Monday. We have a standing date to do some dickstorming before the meeting. We could do it undercover in the men’s bathroom so Georgina doesn’t know.”
“You realize how gay you sound right now?” I asked. “Dickstorming is done. For good. We don’t need it—we can do better.”
I expected Justin to sulk, but he just nodded. “Sounds good, boss. Do whatever it takes to get back on George’s good side.”
“That’s not why I’m banning it, and I’m not on her bad side.” She was upset with me, but we’d gone head-to-head plenty of times over the past couple months. She’d get annoyed. I’d get frustrated. We’d duke it out. Except unlike before, now we had the bonus of making up afterward.
I’d get myself out of this.
I stood and gathered the mockup poster boards my team had dropped off Friday and rounded the desk. “Let’s go to the meeting.”
On our way into the hall, Justin slung an arm around my shoulders. “You really like her, don’t you? Never seen your confidence this shaky.”
That was just what I needed to win Georgina back—shaky confidence. Women loved that. Fuck.
I squared my shoulders as we entered the conference room.
Vance stood at the front. Georgina had pulled a chair off to the side behind him. Using her closed laptop as a surface, she scribbled in a notebook, then paused to fix the collar of her blouse, some silky cream thing with tiny sparkly buttons that looked like they’d pop right off in my hands.
She glanced up. I gave her my best remember-how-you-screamed-my-name stare, which she held for a few moments before returning her eyes to her lap. Was she shy or still genuinely pissed? Maybe I was wrong, and this situation didn’t call for confidence. After the way she’d asked me to drop the act last night, I’d still resorted to peacocking to get her attention—and still, Georgina was immune to it.
Vance fumbled with the projector as I approached. He nodded at the conference table. “Why don’t you have a seat, Quinn.”
It wasn’t a question. Was it my imagination, or were Georgina and Vance giving me the cold shoulder? I set the boards against a wall and sat far enough from Georgina so as not to seem threatening, but close enough that I could still count—or recount—the sexy freckles on her knees. I hadn’t been bluffing the night before. Georgina’s freckles had frustrated me. They’d been one of the first things I’d noticed about the utterly adorable and off-limits woman I’d instantly disliked. They’d tempted me. Teased me. Called to me when I’d had to keep my distance.
And her ex had hated them? I’d better not ever come face to face with the emotionally abusive asshole.
Georgina crossed her legs and pulled her skirt down. That was as clear a message as any. Eyes to myself.
I’d been shut out.
Even now, I was being heckled by freckles, made worse by the fact that I’d tasted them.
I needed to cool down. I reached for the tray at the center of the conference table and poured myself a glass of water.
Vance called our attention to the head of the room. “Morning.”
Laptops opened all around me. I uncapped my pen and opened my notepad to a rough outline for today’s meeting. “Hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend,” I said.
“Not as nice as yours,” Albert said to me. “I hope you had a great fucking-weekend.”
He said it with a knowing smile, as if a fucking-weekend were an event I’d attended. Which meant he knew about my date. Justin had probably opened his fat mouth.
I’d gotten my wish. Georgina’s face got so red, her freckles disappeared.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked Al, injecting a healthy dose of irritation into my tone so he knew better than to answer honestly.
“Nothing, boss,” he said. “Just being polite.”
“You have the manners of a caveman.” I tapped the capped end of my pen on the page in front of me. “First item of the day—”
“Hang on, Sebastian,” Vance said. “Georgina and I have something to say.”
Well, fuck. They wouldn’t have a secret meeting, decide to fire me, and then announce it this way—would they? Just how badly had I pissed her off? I stuck the end of my pen in my mouth and sat back in my seat.
Vance twisted back to Georgina. “Would you like to speak?”
She smiled brightly. “Thank you for asking but go ahead.”
He turned forward again. “With this being George’s last week, she and I just debriefed. She wanted to let me know how impressed she is with how you’ve all handled this difficult transition.”
“With the exception of Albert, of course,” Georgina added. “For him, I recommend a very skilled and patient therapist.” Everyone at the table laughed, myself included, but the usual small smile Georgina wore when she landed a playful insult wasn’t there.
What exactly was happening?
Whether or not we’d actually become the good boys Georgina wanted wasn’t the issue. We all wanted to hear that we’d been cleared of our charges and were better men now. We’d only needed Georgina to say it to believe it.
Vance frowned. Was it sadness? Disappointment? Was he losing something—me? Her? “Georgina believes you lot have made some of the greatest progress she’s seen in this amount of time.”
“Easy, Chewbacca,” Justin whispered behind me. I’d gnawed my pen cap to a pulp.
“I’m grateful to you all for making this work,” Vance continued, “and to Georgina for taking on what probably sounded like an impossible position.”
Justin snickered and whispered, “No less possible than the one she was in last night.”
I glanced back at him. He was on his phone, scrolling Facebook. As revenge for getting me in even hotter water with Georgina, I took his cell, updated his status to “When everyone keeps telling you you’ve got Little Dick Energy :(” and dumped it in the pitcher of water.
“Hey, what the fuck?” Justin dove in after it. “You better hope this shit is waterproof.”
“Guys,” Vance warned. “I just complimented you on how mature you’ve been. Don’t make me take it back.”
“Thank you for the kind words, Vance.” Georgina held a tight smile in place. “I’m only as good as my team.”
She had molded us into something better, and she did have what it took. She was qualified. I inhaled a breath and tried to think of how I could possibly respond to being fired in front of everyone who’d counted on me the last few years. She kept any emotion from her eyes as they roamed the room, grazing right over my head, giving me nothing.
“Well?” I asked.
“All right, all right, Sebastian,” Vance said. “I know you’re eager to get the meeting going. We just wanted to thank you all. Georgina’s going to start wrapping things up around here, so if you have any final questions or concerns, see her in the next day or two.”
She was leaving?
She was leaving.
Right on schedule, if not earlier.
“But you can always e-mail me about anything,” she said. “If things go smoothly today and tomorrow, I’ll be out of your hair even sooner than planned.” She finally glanced at me. “That’s how much confidence I have in you all.”
Her words from the night before hadn’t left me. “If you take over, I become obsolete. Walk in with me as a united front tomorrow morning.”
She’d been looking out for me instead of herself, and after her history with Neal, no doubt that scared her.
“I’ve got a breakfast meeting to get to,” Vance said. “Over to you, Quinn.”
Over to me—if I still even wanted that. She wasn’t taking the job. It was all mine. Why didn’t I feel re
lieved?
The answer to that was right there in her expressionless eyes.
I had no idea where I stood with her.
* * *
After the meeting, Georgina hung back to talk to Nicole. I didn’t want to wait another minute to hash out this morning’s argument and move on, but the longer I lingered, the more desperate I seemed, so I returned to our office to wait for her.
I raised the window shades. The office became an oven in the afternoon when they were that high, but Georgina liked natural light, so I’d gotten in the habit anyway.
I’d outlined most of our talking points for the first episode of the podcast we were set to record next week when my impatience got the better of me and I went looking for her. Not only did I need her help on this podcast thing, but I wanted it. This was the closest I’d gotten to sports broadcasting, what I’d thought I’d do after college. For the first time in a long while, I was nervous in my role at Modern Man.
I checked Justin’s cubicle first, simply because he hadn’t bothered me in the past hour, which meant he was either annoying someone else or napping. Oddly, I found him hunched over his laptop working on an article Georgina had assigned him about male aestheticians.
“Need something?” he asked, glancing up only long enough to take a sip of coffee.
Despite the fact that the article would require Justin to get his back waxed by a dude, the topic was bizarrely fitting. He’d been more engrossed in his work lately, and it was all thanks to Georgina. I wasn’t about to jeopardize that. “No, just seeing if you needed a refill.”
“Sure, I’ll take a—hey!” he said, but I was already on my way to the breakroom.
That was where I found Georgina, posted at a small round table and surrounded by the meeting’s notes. Her laptop lit up her face and the shiny buttons of her blouse.
I went to the vending machine closest to her table and dropped in some change. “You should be careful in here,” I said. “People can see your laptop while they pretend to buy Starbursts.”
She brushed two fingertips down the trackpad as she scrolled. “I have nothing to hide.”
“Yeah? Then why are you camped out in the back corner of a dark room?” I punched my order into the keypad. Sadly, there was no 100 Grand, so I went for what I hoped was the next best thing. “No windows in here.”
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