Page 40 of Lahaina Noon

He held up a finger indicating they should hold on. After a few minutes he printed out some pages and waved them over. “Jorrie, as the owner and CEO of Drake Enterprises, I would like to congratulate you on your offer of employment as Director of Foreign Relations. I will need you to work closely with our new division’s VP, one Ms. Bridget Ridgeway, as we are launching a new global VR operation. I trust the benefits and pay would be to your satisfaction?” He sat on the edge of his desk, grinning at them.

Jorrie looked at Vaughn and stared down at the pages in her hand. She read through them, and he saw several emotions cross her face. She finally settled on anger.

What? He was confused. Why was she mad? He thought she would be perfect for the role, it would give her the chance to be with Bridget, and she knew about the shadow situation for which she’d already proven she had valuable insight. She was a sharp lady, and he valued people like her, independent thinkers who didn’t back down from roadblocks. He looked at Bridget and saw she was watching Jorrie, too. She also saw the anger on her face.

“Jorrie!” Bridget stepped in front of her, “Slow your roll firecracker. It’s not what you think. Vaughn doesn’t do pity. He offered you this because he knows you are sharp. He values independent thinkers who don’t back down. Plus, he thought you would be perfect for the role. We can be together, and you can really help us with our fight againstthe shadows. I promise Jorrie, he’s not trying to demean you. This is a good thing.”

A strange look crossed Bridget’s face. She turned and stared at Vaughn.Where the hell did that come from,she thought.How did I know all that?She saw that Vaughn’s face had gone pale, and he was staring at her like she had turned purple. She was suddenly a little nauseous and sat down quickly.

He jumped up, “Bridget, are you okay?” Concern was etched into every feature.

She waved him back, “Yeah, yeah, fine, just a little dizzy all of a sudden. My head feels weird.”

Vaughn dropped his hands like he’d been shocked. “I’ll, uh, go get you some water,” he stammered and rushed out of the room.

Jorrie watched him go, “I don’t know what just happened there, but something sure as hell spooked that man.”

Bridget couldn’t help but agree.

Chapter 23

Vaughn pulled himself togetherand brought Bridget a bottle of cold water.

She gratefully sipped it, claiming she was much better.

Jorrie had apologized for misjudging his kind offer and accepted the position, signing the offer with a flourish. She was so excited that she emailed her resignation letter from Vaughn’s desk and stabbed the send button with a vicious glee.

He showed her the empty office next to Bridget’s and told her she had free reign to set it up and get him a list of supplies she needed, mentioning the catalog he’d already given to Bridget. She seemed mollified so he left the two of them talking about color schemes and standing desks. He sought out Liam and Killian in the rec room where the little party had started to wind down.

Liam grinned at his boss as they walked to the café area, giving him an update. “It’s a hit, boss. They loved it as predicted. The ogre dimension was epic; they ate it up. Real stroke of genius that.”

Killian nodded in agreement; his team had done well.

Liam’s smile slowly turned into a frown as he watched his boss and mentor pacing across the café floor. He looked like a man haunted rather than someone celebrating success. “Boss.” No response. “Drake,” he tried again. “Vaughn!” he said louder and grabbed his shoulders.

Vaughn responded by grabbing Liam, bunching his shirt in his fists and snarling. He was breathing heavily and looked wild.

Killian pulled Vaughn back while Liam patted him on the chest, “Vaughn, Vaughn, it’s me. What the hell, man, you’re kinda freaking me out.” He spoke soothingly.

Vaughn finally relaxed his grip and thrust both hands into his hair. “She heard me,” he whispered. “Bridget, she heard me.”

Liam looked at Killian in confusion, and the wielder just shrugged. “Yeah, man,” Liam spoke slowly and clearly, not wanting to spook this dangerous man in front of him. “She hears you all the time. Every time you talk to her, she listens.”

Vaughn waved his hands impatiently in Liam’s face. “No, no, not listens to me. Sheheardme,” he pointed at his head. “I offered Jorrie a job here and —”

Liam broke in, “Jorrie? Here? Did she accept? What’s the —”

“Not important!” shouted Vaughn, startling some of the kids walking to the bathrooms down the hall. He waved them on with a smile. He turned back and took a deep breath. “Sorry, this just has me off balance.”

Killian nodded and wisely kept quiet. He’d never seen Vaughn this worked up in the decades he’d known him.

“I had offered the job to Jorrie, but she got angry. I wasn’t sure why, but Bridget knew. Of course, she did. That woman is simply amazing! But she stopped Jorrie and started telling her about how it wasn’t pity and the reasons why Jorrie would be great for the job. But,” he grabbed Killian’s shirt this time, “I didn’t say any of it out loud. She got it from my head.”

Vaughn watched as Killian looked at him in confusion and saw the moment it clicked.

“Oh shit,” Liam said under his breath as he also understood.

Vaughn nodded. He agreed.

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