Page 92 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

Oh, my God.

Just like that time we'd had the hot sauce challenge, I suddenly felt wretchedly sick, and I wondered if I'd have to make another run for it.

Max pulled back and scrutinized my expression, which I desperately tried to mask, his brows pulling together.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Oh, no, not the soft, sweet, caring voice. How dare he hit me with that. "I... I need the ladies' room. Meet me in the storage room in five."

I didn't wait for a response, just hightailed it out of there as quickly as I could without actually running, the whole time chanting to myself, "I won't be sick. I won't be sick."

Amazingly enough, it must have worked. The awful twisting in my stomach was still there, but I thought I could at least keep the few sips of water that I'd managed down.

Grasping the edges of the sink, I stared at myself in the mirror, the paleness of my skin, the panic in my eyes, wondering if my dizzying, frantic pulse could be seen by others or only felt by me.

Of course, no one could see it. What was wrong with me?

What they could probably see, actually most definitely could see, was my rapid breathing, my chest rising up and down, desperate for more oxygen, on the verge of a total meltdown.

I'd never expected anyone to find this out, let alone Max fucking Sterling, not only my former little crush, but the CEO of the entire company.

How on earth had something like this happened? How could I have completely lost sight of my ultimate mission? I'd let myself get distracted by a dick.

Truly, I deserved everything I had coming to me. Whatever it was.

Max held all the power in this situation, and he'd probably fire my ass. Everything I'd worked so hard for down the drain. And if he was anything like most CEO billionaires, he'd totally humiliate me along the way. My family too. Drag the Stratton name through the mud.

Fuck.

My phone buzzed, and I glanced at it to see a text from him.

"I'm waiting."

A shudder went through me as well as another wave of nausea. What a fucking disaster.

I heard footsteps, and it startled me into acting. Acting. That's what I had to do.

Taking a deep breath, I shoved off from the sink and forced my shoulders back right as someone from design walked in. I gave her a smile and nod and kept on walking. Kind of like I was heading toward my execution.

Straight to the gallows. Or storage room. Fury and fear making a strange and poisonous mixture inside me.

Because sure, I was petrified. But I was also pissed as hell still that he'd lied to me.

With adrenaline pumping through my shaky limbs, I made it down the long hallway to the storage room. Was it only yesterday that we'd met in here for a completely different reason?

My God, how much things could spiral in less than twenty-four hours.

I opened the door to find him leaning against the wall, a half smile on his face. The asshole didn't look worried in the slightest. Did he not have any emotions at all? Or was he just really great at hiding them?

"So..." he began.

At his smug expression, I decided to cut him off immediately. "So..." I said, mimicking him. "We might as well get this over with. You might as well just fire me right now."

His brows went up in surprise. "Fire you? You think I'm going to fire you?"

"Absolutely yes. It'd be the wise thing to do."

"Well, what if I'm not very wise?"

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