Page 7 of Fierce-Hyde

“That’s your choice,” Ryder said. “Just letting you know.”

“Thanks,” he said, moving to his office to get to work.

He didn’t even want to think about that incident last month when he’d had too much to drink.

His plan had been one beer, maybe two, but that turned into three glasses of whiskey straight up.

When he got to his car, he was smart enough to not drive and called an Uber to come get him.

Returning the next morning to get his car before work just amped up his embarrassment more over what he’d said.

There were a thousand other ways he could have brought it to her attention that she should watch her drink in a bar, but instead he snapped out an insult and she gave it right back.

Maybe he noticed how attractive she was.

And that she was flirting with the bartender who was doing it right back.

Did the guy want a bigger tip at the end? Probably.

But Hyde hadn’t been thinking straight for a few days, as the anniversary of Shana’s death recently passed and he was struggling to cope.

Not an excuse, just his truth.

But his truth was sucking.

“What’s going on with Hyde?”Grant asked Ryder an hour later when he walked to his son’s office.

“Nothing,” Ryder said. “Why?”

“Come on now,” he said. “He’s been off since he started working here. I’ll admit that he’s somewhat like he used to be, but there is something hidden or closed off.”

Grant remembered the wild child that gave his son Ryder a run for his money, in both behavior and women.

Now Hyde was all but a responsible adult, coming into the office early, staying late, offering to work on any projects needed.

Sure, he loved the initiative. But not from someone he’d known most of his life and felt was acting differently.

“Leave him alone, Dad. If you’re thinking of setting him up, I’m telling you now, he’s being polite on several levels.”

Grant smirked. “Because I’m his boss.”

“No,” Ryder argued. “It’s not that. He’s got a lot of stuff going on in his life. He just wants to do his job and prove that he can.”

“Ryder, I know they fired him from his last job. I’m not stupid.”

Though he’d known Hyde as a kid, what he knew of him wasn’t someone all that responsible. Didn’t mean people didn’t change because his youngest son sure the heck did.

But he checked references just like any responsible business owner did.

He didn’t need to worry because Hyde had been honest with him.

“Yep, he was,” Ryder said. “But you were also told that he was a great employee prior to the previous six months. He had some personal issues and they were affecting his job. He went in hungover a few times, but nothing that you haven’t done in your life either. Or me.”

“That’s right,” he said, smiling. “But that was when I was in my early twenties, not mid-thirties.”

“I know,” Ryder said. “He’s got his shit together, but that still doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff going on in his head that he’s working through. Work won’t be affected. You’ve seen that in the four months he’s been here. Right?”

“I have,” he said.

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