Page 103 of Company Ink

"Come in." Neutral. Professional. Void of any familiarity.

I open the door and step inside. The air is icy, distant. God, he's pissed. "Good morning," I begin, striding to his desk and placing the letter down. "Umm...here's my resignation."

Blake doesn't look up from his computer, but I can tell that he's tired, drained.

"You printed out an actual letter?" he asks flatly. "You should've just sent an email."

My jaw tightens. "You said to have itonyour deskfirst thing this morning."

Blake rotates his head, his blue eyes landing on my face, serious and heavy. "It's a figure of speech, Cassandra," he sneers. "Don't take everything so literally."

Wow. Okay.

"Noted," I huff. God, he's being so fucking salty right now. "I'll be clearing out my desk if you need anything in the next hour."

"I'll be fine," Blake says bitterly. "But maybeAdrianwill need a hand with something. I'm sure you'll be more than willing to help him,right?"

My eyes narrow, anger spiking. "Why are you acting like such a dick?" I ask, my voice rising. "You have no right to be mad at me. I didn't do anything wrong."

Lie. Big lie.

Blake scoffs, letting out a frenzied chuckle. "Really? I think that engaging in an office romance with your superior is the definition ofwrong."

I shake my head. Unbelievable. Such a hypocrite.

"And what? Kissing me wasn't 'wrong'? Aren't you my 'superior' too? If I recall correctly, which I do,youkissedme. So don't sit there, all high and mighty, acting like I'm this tramp and you're some wounded little dove!" I pause. "Why did you kiss me? Hmm? Why? If getting involved with your colleagues issowrong, why'd you, do it?"

Blake stiffens. "Momentary insanity comes to mind," he jeers. "I don't know what I was thinking; must have been all the ocean water in my ears."

"Oh!" I let out a frantic laugh. "Really? Because it sure as hell felt like something more."

"Well, it wasn't," he seethes.

"Are you sure?" I cross my arms. "Really?"

"Yes, really!" he barks, his eyes alarmingly vivid. "Why are you still here anyway? Why don't you go and run along to Adrian? I'm sure you two will be very happy together. I mean, he's completely unstable but you seem to like that. You've made your decision perfectly clear."

He's joking. He has to be.

"Oh,mydecision? Like I had a choice?" I ask, my body tensing. "Really? When? When you kissed me and then fired me ten seconds later? That wasmychoice?" I run a hand through my hair. "God, you're unbelievable, Blake! You didn't even give me a chance to explain, you just flipped out and left. Funny, I guess we'rebothrunners, huh?"

"Explain what, Cassandra?!" Blake shouts, slamming his hand on the table. "He was in your room, holding fucking flowers and champagne. I'm not naive so don't patronize me. Why else would he be there if you two weren't involved?"

How do I explain? How?

"I texted him," I say, my tone leveled, calm. "Because I was mad at you. I know that's juvenile but—"

Blake throws his head back, exasperated. "You weremadat me? For what? Telling you the truth? Reassuring you that Ness's accident wasn't your fault? You were mad at that? Really? Jesus fucking Christ, Cassandra." He shakes his head. "You're so immature. I can't believe I thought we had a future."

"What?" I blink, my heart dropping into my stomach. "You thoughtwhat?"

Blake stills, his jaw clenching. "I think we're done here."

"No! Repeat what you just said," I demand. "Go on. Say it, Blake. I thought you said that kiss meant nothing. Tell me the truth, why'd you kiss me?"

Future. He said it. I heard it. Say it again. Do it!

"Leave." Blake balls up his fists. "Now!"

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