Page 59 of Boss Me

“Could’ve fooled me.” He pulled around the trucks parked at the site, right in front of the building.

My gaze arrowed straight to Cooper. They had him applying another coat of stucco. As unhappy as he looked about the stucco, his eyes went even darker when he spotted Mateo reaching into the car to help me out.

“What the fuck, Mateo?” His trowels clattered to the grass as he strode toward us.

I clung to Mateo’s shoulder until I was steady. Then I crossed my arms and looked Cooper straight in the eye. He had pink dust on his shirt and in his hair, even stuck to the stubble on his cheeks. “This is on me, not him. We need to talk.”

Cooper narrowed his eyes at his cousin. Mateo’s cheeks went blotchy red. “I’ll, ah, finish that stucco for you,” he said. “It has to be done in one application.” He skulked toward the building, rolling up the sleeves of his linen shirt.

“Let’s go sit in the shade,” I said, pointing to the trees where I’d camped out last time. “You probably haven’t had a break all day.”

He shook his head, and I knew he wasn’t admitting he hadn’t had a break. He was denying he was human enough to need one.

“Are you all right?” He scanned me from the middle of my chest to my feet, avoiding my eyes the way he’d done since we kissed that night.

“I’m fine. Synergy isn’t.” I took a few limping steps toward the trees—my ankle was stiff after sitting in the car—but Cooper wedged his shoulder under mine, supporting me until we sat in the shade. He reached into the cooler and handed me a bottle of water, then he took one for himself.

“We have to talk about the company. They need you back there.”

He chugged his water, staring so intently at the building he could’ve burned a hole in the stucco. He wiped his mouth with his fingers. “Who needs me back?”

“Well, Marlee, for starters.” But I had to go for broke. “And J-Jackson.”

“Jackson does not need me.” His jaw twitched.

“Of course he does. He can’t stand up to Weston without you.”

“He doesn’t need to stand up to Harris. He’s getting out. Besides, Harris can handle things until I’m ready to go back. And I’m not ready yet.”

“Are you sure?” Although Harris Weston gave me the creeps, he’d been around a lot longer than I had. Cooper looked up to him. And Cooper was a smart man.

“Positive. He’s been the leader Synergy needed since the early days. He’s never led me wrong.”

“But Marlee didn’t say anything about Jackson leaving the company.” What would she do if he did? Probably spend all of her time coding rather than babysitting fucking Jackson Jones. She’d never admit it, but she’d be better off without him.

He shrugged. “She might not know. I didn’t tell you when I sold my shares. There are rules about what insiders can disclose.”

A tiny pain erupted in my chest. Finding out from lurking in his goddamn email had sucked. “Would you tell me if you decided to sell more?”

He turned his head to look at me then. Below the flecks of pink dust in his eyebrows, his eyes softened. “I don’t think I could give you advance warning. Not without violating some federal laws and our own code of ethics.”

“Oh.” I scuffed my sneaker against the spiky grass. “Would you tell Jackson?”

He huffed out a laugh. “Maybe I should’ve since he’s my business partner and my friend.”

“But that’s not all.” I winced, wishing I could take back the words.

“What’s not all?”

Why had I said that? I’d crossed about a zillion lines. He could fire me for what I’d implied.

He waited.

“I just meant—” Fuck, there was no good way to say it. I might as well type up my résumé. But I’d gone too far. “I meant that you care about him.”

His expression blanked. “Of course I care about him. He’s my best friend.”

The pain in my chest popped whatever had been holding my anger inside me. “Friends? I think it’s more than that.” If my ankle were stronger, I’d have jumped up and stalked off. Instead, I sat fuming at my Chucks.

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