Page 82 of Fierce-Hyde

“Sorry. I can be a big kid.”

He was looking at the books on her shelf. Lots of things about bullying and drugs. Social media and tobacco.

“We educate the youth on multiple topics,” she said.

“Did you do all this?” he asked.

“At one point or another,” she said. “Now I supervise staff that do it. Not everyone does everything. I mix it up so every staff knows the curriculum so they can fill in.”

“How often do you go to the schools?” he asked. They never really talked about her job much. His either, but he figured she knew what he did since he worked with her best friend.

“When I’m short-staffed like earlier in the school year. I enjoy it. I miss it too.”

“You like kids, don’t you?”

“I love kids,” she said.

“Do you want kids?” he asked.

She looked at her watch. “Kind of a deep conversation right now, don’t you think?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said. “It just came out of my mouth.”

“The simple answer is yes,” she said. “You?”

“Yes,” he said. “Keeping it simple.”

“Speaking of simple,” she said. “Give me a sweet kiss and get out of here before you distract me from my job even more.”

He laughed. “Glad to know I’m not the only one.” He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, then turned to walk out with her.

“I’ll talk to you later,” she said.

“Bye,” he said, walking out. He was sure he would hear all about the conversation later that night.

He was waiting at the elevator and when the doors opened there was Grant Fierce.

“Hyde,” Grant said, smirking. “Did you get off on the wrong floor?”

This was what one might call an opportune moment.

“Nope,” he said. “Just went to talk to Tori.”

Grant frowned. “Tori Miller? Raina’s best friend.”

“Yes,” he said. “That is the only Tori I know.”

“Are you two dating or something?” Grant asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “You didn’t know? It’s not a secret.”

The look on Grant’s face had him laughing when the doors opened on their floor. He walked off and went in one direction while Grant took off in another.

He imagined Ryder was getting an earful right now, but when he got back to his desk, he sent Tori a text to just let her know what happened.

She replied quickly with a laughing emoji.

“Why didn’tyou tell me Hyde was dating Tori?” Grant said as he walked into Ryder’s office. He should have waited to see if his son was alone or not. He didn’t happen to be and had a client with him. “Sorry, I’ll be back.”

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