Page 79 of Set Me On Fire

“I don’t want that. I don’t want you.”

“That’s what all you bitches say.” He stopped where he was, which wasn’t where I needed him. I eyed the gap between the boxes, remembering the Gates of Thermopylae from Ancient History in Year 11. “You don’t mean it. You say no?—”

“And we mean it.”

The stages of grieving are strange ones, because that’s what I was doing, I realised. Letting go of the Millie I had been, because she’d burned away, just like The Stafford had.

Well, most of her.

My brothers had taught me more than just how to change a tyre. They knew all too well what men could be like, and they wouldn’t allow me to walk around without knowing how to defend myself. I’d lured Dave back until he was wedged between two boxes, then stepped in, wincing in anticipation, before driving my sore knee right into his balls. At the sound of his groan, I slammed the heel of my palm into his nose.

He went down like a sack of shit.

“I’m not here to get spit roasted in the appliance bay, you fucking dickhead.” I was pissed, so I was saying things I had no business talking about. “I never intended to come back here at all, but my parents were going to stage an intervention and force me to move back home.”Shut up, I thought dimly,shut the hell up. My mouth was too busy writing cheques my body couldn’t cash. “I’m pregnant.”

I never intended to say a damn thing about it while working in this place. The plan was to keep my mouth shut until I was showing too much for people not to notice, then work out what to do next. The next step, I could only focus on the next step. Dave took that from me, and right now I hated him for it.

“I’m fucking pregnant, and so I have absolutely no interest in your pathetic dick.”

Of course that was the moment the door creaked open and Charlie stepped into the gap looking way too pale.

“Charlie…”

I’d extended the invitation to him about dinner as well but hadn’t heard back yet, which was perhaps what brought him by.

It wasn’t now.

His jaw locked tight, his eyes blazing molten blue as he stepped forward, grabbing a still moaning Dave and dragging him out of the office.

Well, fuck.

Chapter 38

Charlie

Millie was pregnant…

My mind stuttered, threatened to stop altogether, on that statement, needing to explore the ramifications of what that meant, but of course, dickhead Dave started to squirm in my grip. I twisted the back of his collar viciously, cutting enough of his air off to stop him fighting me. I knew what he was doing in there the moment I walked in. He figured he’d go bravely where the three of us had gone before, whether Millie was up for it or not. That reality had me twisting harder, but unless I was happy with a homicide charge on my rap sheet, I needed to back off. I dropped him to the floor, watching him gasp.

“What the fuck do you think you were doing?” I snarled, a strange kind of fury taking over me. I could be a hothead, but right now, I was ice cold. Nothing short of dismemberment would placate me.

“Pregnant…” He flopped back onto the floor, gasping in breaths as I prowled closer. “So who’s the father?” The stupid prick rolled up, his smile faltering for a second as he rubbed thered spot on his neck, but it returned when he looked at me. “Do you even know?”

I knew nothing, I wanted to snap. One minute I was in heaven, and the next Millie had slunk away, as if what we’d done was somehow shameful. I’d come back to the possible reasons why over and over like a sore tooth. She wasn’t that into us. She had a boyfriend. She just made a habit of finding three guys who were into her and banging them. None of those scenarios felt right, so I was still waiting for answers.

But right now, I needed to focus on this.

“I know this.” I crossed my arms. “You’re going down, you fucking prick. I saw everything.” I didn’t. If I had, I’d have put Dave through a wall, not dragged him out here, but this was better. Brent was just waiting for an opportunity to fire the bastard. “HR is going to have a field day.”

“Same goes for your baby mumma.”

Millie came staggering out into the hall looking way too pale. I rushed towards her, noting the limp, and went to hold her upright when she marched forward.

“What did you say?”

He licked his lip, and that had me moving into the space between them. If he was gonna leer at anyone, it’d be me.

“Seems like we’ve both got a lot to talk to HR about.” Dave tried to look past me, but I moved, making sure to stay in his line of sight. “Not sure if they’d be real keen to offer a permanent position to a woman who’s just gonna go out on mat leave.”

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