Page 97 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

"Damn, Dee."

Rolling her eyes, she turned her back to me. "I've got to get to work."

"Wait. I still want to help you."

"Fat fucking chance."

"Well, even if you shut me out, I'm not leaving until this is done."

"Fine."

"Fine."

She'd need me at some point. I knew it. We'd already accomplished so much on this project, together, but we only had two fucking days before this big presentation, probably the biggest presentation Annalise had ever done in her life. And knowing her, she was under an enormous amount of stress and pressure that she was probably putting on herself.

For the last few minutes of the workday, she pounded away at her computer, firing off email after email and doing God knew what else, obviously in a frenzy to get everything done.

I sat there on my phone, answering emails, real emails, while I waited. As everyone slowly filed out, I stood up, stretched, and started gathering my things. I had no intention of leaving, only going to get the food I'd just ordered for delivery, but I wanted her to think I was leaving. Sort of as a test.

"You're leaving?" she asked, her eyes full of emotion as she glanced up at me.

"Yep. You don't need me, right?"

Her gaze faltered, and it took everything in me not to laugh.

She compressed her lips together. "Nope. I'm fine. Have a good night then."

"Yeah. You too."

She was the only one left, and I felt just a tiny bit bad about pretending to leave. But I wanted to prove a point to her. Well, hopefully. That we were a team. That we had amazing potential together. That she didn't have to go everything alone.

Without looking back, I left, feeling her eyes boring into my back, wondering if she'd call out to me. But bless her heart, she didn't. Man, that girl had some massive pride.

At the elevators, I bumped into someone unexpected, someone I'd forgotten about in all the excitement of the day—Nina from HR.

"Hello, Nina," I said, drawing out her name as we waited.

She pressed the down button repeatedly, a clear indication of her nerves. "Hello. How's everything?"

"Great. Just great."

"That's good." Her eyes flicked upward, watching the numbers above the elevator doors.

"So I discovered something interesting recently."

"Oh, yeah? Um, what's that?"

So Nina was going to play innocent, huh? "That the woman training me, you know,Cordelia Dole, well, she's doing the same thing I'm doing."

She gulped, literally gulped, appearing almost comical. "That is, um, interesting."

"It is. It sure is. It's also quite interesting that you didn't choose to tell me that when you arranged all of this for me."

Her face went a bit pale as she pressed the button again and again, and I resisted the urge to tell her that wouldn't make the elevator come any faster.

"Oh, um, well... uh, I had my reasons."

What game was she playing at? "Your reasons."

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