Page 75 of Mine

I cleared my throat. “Hi. I have a meeting with Rosethorn Records? Simon Salt. I was told to get a visitor's badge at the front desk.”

“Give me one second,” she said, clicking her mouse rapidly. “Ten a.m.?”

“Yes.” My fingers drummed against my thigh.

“Can I see your ID?”

“Sure.” I pulled out my wallet and handed it to her, glancing around. Fuck, why was I nervous? Why did I even care?

After everything that happened with Pepper earlier this week, I needed to move on. I needed to go after this opportunity with everything I had, and pretend that the woman I wanted most wouldn’t be my fucking boss if I got it.

If I didn’t take it, Pepper would have no reason to keep resisting the spark between us. But I’d meant what I told her. I loved a good primal chase, but I wasn’t going to hunt her down and force her to be with me like some fucking caveman.

But if, for whatever reason, the meeting went well… If this was something I wanted…

I wouldn’t be able to walk away. I owed myself that much, didn’t I?

Maybe it was some sort of sign that my birthday was next week. It was my least favorite day of the year. Without fail, I always spiraled into a miserable pit of eternal despair that took a couple days to pull myself out of.

So maybe I’d get a deal.

And that would make me feel at least a little human next Sunday.

Or I wouldn’t.

And I’d go piss on my father's grave.

“Sir? Sir…”

I blinked, coming back to the moment. “Sorry. I’m anxious.”

She smiled. “I’m sure you’ll be okay. Here’s your ID and visitor badge. Take the elevator on the right, Rosethorn is on floor fifteen and sixteen. You’ll go to fifteen.”

“Thanks.”

I took the ID and badge and moved out of the way for the person behind me. After I got myself situated, I headed for the elevators.

Everyone around me was dressed like a lawyer. I felt painfully out of place in a denim jacket, black jeans, my boots, and a shirt that usually went over well on stage. Now, I was second guessing all of those choices.

The doors slid open and I stepped in, others filing in. I jabbed fifteen and pressed my back against the wall as more people joined. My heart pounded as I wrestled with my anxiety.

“Good morning, Ms. Jones.”

The energy in the elevator shifted, and so god help me, I knew without evening opening my eyes that she was here.

Can’t fucking escape her.

I opened them, and was proven right. Pepper stepped into the elevator, her gaze moving over me, expression cool and unreadable. This was the Pepper everyone else knew.

“Good morning.” Her voice was so cold. Stiff.

The doors slid shut, caging us together. I stared at the back of her head, watching as she shifted uncomfortably. The elevator lifted within a few seconds, the doors slid open and a few people got off. Then it repeated, until it was just Pepper, me, and a man I didn’t know.

“So you’re just giving me the cold shoulder now?” the stranger muttered.

Pepper’s shoulders stiffened in a way that made every alarm bell in my head go off. She turned, casting him a glare that would shrivel the balls on any other man. “What did you say, Jeff?”

“Cold shoulder?” he quipped. “You know?—”

---