Page 85 of Implode

She lets out a sigh, and if she had something in her hand to throw, it probably would be aimed directly at me. “We can’t keep doing this. Graham and Angie know. We can’t do this to them days before their wedding. K’bye.” She gets up to leave but I beat her to the door.

“Hold up,” I say, lifting my hands to mimic a peaceful surrender. “How does Graham have anything to do with this? Keep him out of our business.”

“He’s protecting Angie from any fallout that may occur from us. We need to stop. Cut ties and just learn to coexist. It’s not like our paths really have to cross while I work here. So just stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours.”

“Is that what you really want?”

Her eyes dim and she tucks her bottom lip under her top row of teeth, while she nods.

I smack the door with my curled-up fist, startling her unintentionally. I inwardly scold myself. I would never hit her. Why is she so timid all of a sudden? “Dammit, Claire. When are you going to stop doing what everyone expects you to do and follow your own path? What has you so afraid right now?”

“You don’t get it, Nic. People like you just don’t.”

“What do you meanpeople like me?”

She turns away from me and paces, brushing her hair back over her shoulder in a nervous gesture. “I can’t find a new job. This is all I have. And I need the money. You probably don’t understand what it is like to live from paycheck to paycheck, but that is where I’m at right now. I have no safety net to fall into—none. So please do not push me so much that I am forced to leave the job I have and love right now.Please. Just let me work, and stop showing special interest in me by hiring workers in-house to spy.”

“If you need money, I can—”

“No,” she says with finality. “I am an adult. Adults handle their own problems. Right now I need to focus on working and getting through the rehearsal dinner and wedding without Angie noticing any of this tension that we keep building between us.”

“It’s called chemistry,” I add.

“You are insane.”

“I like to refer to myself as spirited.”

Claire stops pacing to look at me. Then her lips curve into the most beautiful smile. She looks so pretty with her face slightly flushed from all of the movement that I want to scoop her up into my arms and make all of her troubles disappear.

I don’t have all the answers—no one does—but everything inside me is screaming for me to not let her slip away.

“I’ve got to go,” she mumbles, allowing the smile to fade.

I watch as she exits my office, and the void is almost unbearable. I have so much to process but one thing is for certain—my feelings for Claire are not going away. If anything, they are just getting stronger.

* * *

I cut out early from work for the first time since becoming the head. I just can’t do my job efficiently with the amount on my mind. Tyler requested to meet up, so I take him up on the offer and join him near the waterfront, where we will have some privacy to hash things out.

“I have a gnawing suspicion that you don’t trust me anymore,” he says solemnly. He kicks up some stones with the toe of his shoe. “And I wanted to meet to discuss things man-to-man.”

“Have you been completely honest with me?” I ask bluntly.

“Yes, sir. I have.”

Tyler doesn't answer too quickly but he also doesn't hesitate with his response. From his eyes, I can tell that he is genuinely concerned that I don’t believe in his integrity.

“Good. Because if you ever think about crossing over and becoming disloyal, then there will be hell to pay.”

“I have no idea why there is any controversy between us. You hired me to watch Miss Nettles, and so far, I have done just that. I report to you every finding. I follow your orders. I’m in shock that there is anything wrong, except there is, isn’t there?”

I clear my throat. “Yeah.”

“I know you have taken me off my typical duties,” he says softly. “I’m not an idiot.”

“The day that there was a power glitch at HH, I found some stills of someone who looked like you trying to enter through the back door without permission.”

“I would love to look at the photos. Whoever it was, wasn’t me. I swear it. I’d never do that. You’ve been more to me than just an employer, and while I wouldn’t go as far as saying we’re friends, I felt like it was moving in that direction.”

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