Page 46 of Disciplining Dana

“Well, guess what?” he retorted hotly, stepping close to her. “You’re wrong. I’m not angry, Dana, I’m fucking furious!”

“Okay, okay, fine, I get it, but you need to calm down.” She reached toward him in appeal. “Kurt… I found it. I found the indication.”

“I don’t give a shit what you found!” he growled with exasperation. “I couldn’t give a single fuck what’s in there! There’s only one thing I care about.” He stabbed his finger at her. “You.”

She gaped back in bewilderment. “What?”

“You heard me. You and I are supposed to be… partners. Co-workers, and—yeah—sometimes friends with benefits. Well, guess what, Dana? The most important part of that statement is in the first fucking word: friends. And I’m so fed up with you claiming to be my friend but then ignoring everything I ask that doesn’t fit your agenda. Hiding things from me, doing things that get you in serious trouble, then turning around and expecting me to just forgive and forget. I’ve done that up until now, but…” He stopped, shaking his head.

“But, what? Are you going to try and force the issue with me, Kurt? You preach to me about friendship; is that what friends do? You don’t own me. You can’t force me to become someone I’m not.”

“No, you’re right, I can’t, and you can’t force me to be someone I’m not. But I’m not gonna lie; you need someone holding you accountable in a way you’ll accept, otherwise you’re just gonna keep doing the same shit over and over, and one of these times you’re not gonna make it out of the mine.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means something’s gotta give, Dana,” he said with quiet firmness. “I can’t keep doing this with you.” He ran his hand over his head. “We need to come to some sort of an understanding, but…” He heaved out a frustrated sigh. “We can’t do it right now.”

“Why not? If this is that important to you, I’m more than willing?—”

“We can’t do it right now, Dana,” he said forcefully, “because Derek Hawkins is waiting for us in his office, and the biggest problem we’re facing at the moment isn’t sussing out our relationship, but what he’s gonna do about what you did tonight.”

Dana set her jaw. “I’ll take care of Derek Hawkins,” she responded with a glower.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. I can deal with him, trust me.”

Kurt contemplated her for a long moment before slowly shaking his head. “I don’t know about that, Dana, but for your sake, I hope so.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You heard me tell him he doesn’t intimidate me.”

“Yeah, I did,” he agreed, “but if he doesn’t like what you have to say, and he gets on the phone and tells Gary what you’ve done…” Kurt shook his head. “You and I…”

Now Dana’s eyes went wide, as if she knew what he was about to say.

“We’re finished. For good.”

CHAPTER 11

Dana

For good.

As she and Kurt made their way to Mr. Hawkins office, those two words kept reverberating in her head. It wasn’t so much the words themselves, but the finality he’d put behind them. This wasn’t the first time Kurt had expressed frustration with the methods she’d used to get her end results, but this time… this was different. She’d known him long enough to recognize that this wasn’t simply some garden-variety “oh, Dana, you crazy scamp, you” irritation. She’d stepped over a line.

What she wasn’t sure of was exactly how to step back across it.

She couldn’t focus on that right now, however. They were headed to Derek Hawkins’ office, and the concern she needed to deal with was how to convince the man that what she’d done was in his best interest, even if it’d been done without his permission.

She glanced around the lobby of the main building as they crossed through it. He was a businessman, so… that would be her approach. Don’t make it personal, or a challenge to his authority. Instead, admit she’d been wrong, play a little submissive to his clearly dominant characteristics, then seal the deal by telling him she was going to help make him richer than he’d ever thought possible.

Easy-peasy.

She and Kurt reached Mr. Hawkins’ office wordlessly, where Kurt knocked twice on the door. A muted, “Come in,” came from the other side.

They both entered the same room as before, but this time rather than asking them to sit, Mr. Hawkins regarded them coldly as they came in and stood in front of him. The man Kurt had told her was Jagger was there too, his welcome just as cold as Mr. Hawkins’. He stood off to the side in silence, next to a rather large armoire, his gaze disapproving.

“You lied to me,” Mr. Hawkins pronounced after a long moment. “I made it clear to both of you that my terms were you were to stay out of that mine until I heard back from my lawyers, and then I’d let you know if you could go in or not.”

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