Page 48 of Trouble

“Don’t youdaresay my name!” It came out in an angry hiss, even though everything inside of me was agony from the monumental sense of loss and betrayal. None of it had been real. “You’ve had your fun, you sick bastards. I never want to see either of you ever again, youhear?”

“Audrey.” This time it was Liam. He took a couple of steps toward us, his face drawn with tension. “Listen tome—”

“No!”I screeched. “No! I am done, you hear? No more bullshit excuses! I’mdone!What kind of sick perverts are you? I loved you, you sick pricks! Ilovedyou, and youletme! Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it! Leave mealone!”

When I spun around and ran into the parking lot to find my car, neither of themfollowed.

* * *

“Idon’t knowwhat to say, Audrey. You left your client’s event not even halfway through—we’re lucky Mr. Perkinson isn’t leaving Caslik. What were you thinking?” Lennard Blue, my department manager, looked at me through his half-moon glasses with a nearly paternal disappointment as I did my best not to cower from the other side of his imposingdesk.

“I’m really sorry, Mr. Blue. I think it was food poisoning.” I managed to keep my voice even, despite the pang of pain even the mention of last Friday brought with it. I’d cried pretty much non-stop throughout the weekend, so at least I knew I looked as crappy as someone who’d had food poisoning for the past few days. It was only the threat of losing my job if I didn’t show up that somehow made me able to crawl into work Monday morning—where I’d promptly been called into Mr. Blue’soffice.

“You know there’s no excuse when it comes to this important a client. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to place you on probation for the next three months. You could have cost the company a lot of money.” Mr. Blue leaned back in his comfortable-looking leather chair and steepled his fingers. “Don’t make any more mistakes, or you’ll be having a very serious chat withHR.”

“But, sir,” I protested, shocked by the severity of my punishment. I’d expected a stern talking-to, but probation? The event had gone smoothly, despite my disappearance halfway through. “Icouldn’t—”

“That’s enough, Audrey,” he interrupted me. “You’re very lucky you’re not looking at a dismissalnotice.”

If I hadn’t felt so completely crushed already, I’m not sure I would have been able to rein in my outrage at the injustice of it all, but as it was I only just managed to hold back the tears as I nodded silently and left Mr. Blue’soffice.

Eileen waited for me with a cup of freshly made tea in our shared office. She’d heard—as had the rest of the office—about my meeting with the head honcho. At the sight of me, her comforting smile fell. “Was it thatbad?”

“I’m on probation,” I croaked as I sank down in front of mycomputer.

“What?That’s ridiculous! Clement Smith fobbed off his last client’s meeting to get a damn pedicure, and it cost them hundreds of thousands. He just got told not to do itagain!”

I sniffled into my mug and shrugged half-heartedly. “Smith’s a senior account manager. There’re different rules, Iguess.”

“Screw that, Audrey! No one works as hard as you, and you’ve been here nearly as long. They can’t do this toyou.”

I don’t know if it was Eileen’s outrage on my behalf that finally cracked the thin shield I’d pulled up around me to be able to make it into work today, but suddenly, I couldn’t hold it together anymore. With a loud sob, I surrendered to thetears.

“Oh, honey.” Eileen got off her chair and hurried to my side to wrap her arms around my shoulders. “It’s going to be okay. It’s just a dumbjob.”

“I-it’s noh-ot!” I sobbed into her shoulder. “It-it’s Liam,too.”

“Liam? What now? I thought it was going well between you two, the way you’ve been beaming this pastweek.”

“I thought so too,” I sobbed. And then I told her the whole, humiliating story, from how I’d taken him home to see my family to climbing St. Paul’s Cathedral and falling in love with what turned out to be a couple of twins who’d just been having some fun on myexpense.

“Really? Twins?” Something about Eileen’s tone was way too excited. I gave her a baleful look before I blew my nose, and she replied with an apologetic grimace. “Sorry, I know you’re hurting, honey. It’s just… are you sure it was just a game to them? Itsoundslike they really liked you, too. Maybe they just didn’t know how tosuggest—”

“Stop it, Eileen,” I sniffled. “This isn’t some weird fetish porn, okay? It’s my life, and I let them ruin it because I’m so pathetically needy andstupid.I actually thought—I thought I’d metthe one.As if life is a damn romancenovel.”

My friend patted my hair and sighed. “I know it sucks, sweety. It’ll get better soon, Ipromise.”

* * *

It didn’t.By the time Friday rolled around, I was still as miserable as ever. I couldn’t even escape into my work as I’d always done when something got me down, because every moment at the office was just another reminder of how unfair my probation was—and the instance that had brought it down uponme.

I was so lost in my own misery that it wasn’t until I got off the subway on my way home that I realized I was beingfollowed.

There was something about his reaction when I turned my head and caught the stranger’s gaze that made all the small hairs on my body stand on end—something in his cool eyes and the way he quickly averted them when he realized I’d noticedhim.

My heart sped up to double its regular pace, kicking my lizard brain into hyper drive as I realized he’d been there since I left work. He’d been outside my office, had followed me across the park and down the Tube, always just outside my field of vision, but close enough that the instincts currently screaming in my head knew it wasn’t just acoincidence.

Making a snap decision, I got out of the line to the bus and jogged the few yards to the taxi ramp, quickly hailing a cab. Whoever he was and whatever he wanted, I wasn’t about to findout.

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