Page 109 of Toxic

And it was all my own doing—my own stupid decisions!

I felt a surge of anger toward Skye. Why did that bastard even come into my life and mess with my already confused, poor head, only to ignore my emails, deny me a chance, just disappear, leaving me shattered, broken, crushed?

Why did I let him influence me so much? Why did I let him get so deeply dug in my very soul, breaking through all my defenses? Another mistake I’d made in my life. One thing was for sure, no matter what decision I made, everything led to disaster.

We walked into the building and took the elevator up to the 17th floor. Liam was talking about beach activities and what we should bring, but I barely listened, staring blankly at the elevator buttons.

I felt relieved when we reached my floor since we’d be splitting up; the data department was a floor above the mobile app department.

"See you at lunch," I muttered, quickly turning away to avoid any sappy goodbyes. I’d caught him a couple of times leaning in for a kiss, and it really bothered me.

It was five past nine when I walked into the office. One of the employees I worked with called out to me, "Director Nolan asked you to head to his office as soon as you got in."

"Okay, thanks," I muttered, dropping my briefcase on the desk. Then, without hesitation, I turned on my heel and headed to Nolan’s office.

I knocked and heard some noises inside; it sounded like several people were gathered there. Nolan's voice called me inside. I turned the doorknob and stepped in. The director was sitting behind his desk, and five people were seated in chairs along the wall. I glanced at them briefly.

And then… reality seemed to glitch, like someone had paused a film, rewound it a bit, and played it again.

I blinked, not believing what I saw.

Skye was sitting in one of the chairs, staring at me with those bright turquoise eyes of his, and a soft smile warming his handsome face.

This had to be a dream. I rubbed my eyes and wiped them again, but he didn’t disappear. Everyone was staring at me, not knowing what I was doing, and suddenly…

…everything went black.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor, with Director Nolan's face hovering over me.

"Soren? Soren! Wake up!"

Wait, what? I felt embarrassed. Was I asleep? How could I have fallen asleep at work? Nolan’s hand gently shook my shoulder. I blinked and saw that face, the one I couldn’t believe was real, just over his shoulder.

Yep. Real. Still real. Skye’s concerned gaze was fixed on my face.

"Am I dreaming?" I asked stupidly, realizing I was making a fool of myself.

"No, you’re not. Can we talk in a more vertical position?" Nolan asked with a very official and stiff smile.

I forced my unwilling body to move. How did I faint? What was even happening? Was I in some movie or alternate reality?

Slowly, I sat up with Director Nolan’s support. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, his pale gray eyes watching my face intently.

"Yeah, probably just low blood sugar. I skipped breakfast," I lied, trying to come up with a plausible explanation.

Nolan gave me a strange look, clearly not buying it. He raised his eyebrows and made a sound like a soft snort.

"Somehow, I don’t think you have diabetes. I suspect there’s another reason, but it’s not the time to discuss it," he said, taking my arm and helping me to my feet. He guided me to a chair positioned directly across from his desk. I didn’t know why I’d been given such a prominent spot; the chair was alone in the center, while everyone else sat in a row lined up against the wall.

I blinked, avoiding looking in Skye’s direction. He had returned to his place and was now sitting with the others.

"Alright, let’s put that fainting incident behind us and get to the reason I wanted to talk to you," Nolan began.

I sat there stiffly, listening to him, but it felt like I was watching him on a TV screen. His words didn't seem real to me; didn’t fully register.

In the room with me was Skye. That was all I could think about.

"As you may know, we've been considering creating a dedicated, separate team for some time now," Nolan explained. "The ByteBites project is large enough and distinct enough that it should be handled somewhat separately from our other initiatives. So, we've decided to finalize the formation of this team to make things easier for you all. Since you’re the most experienced with this project, we’d like to try you out in the role of team leader."

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