Page 12 of A Labor of Hate
What exactly could I say to fully embody the mutual loathing between us?A million endings to that sentence blazed across my mind, none of which were professional enough to repeat at work, regardless of whether Hattie was a coworker or not.We have nothing in common aside from the urge to annoy each other?Being near him makes me want to rip my hair out?Yeah, none of those would cut it.
Finally, I settled on a suitable—and extreme—understatement.“We’re too different.”
“Mhmm, I see.”The lilt in her voice conveyed anything but understanding, and the mischievous spark in her eyes brightened.“I don’t know what you believe married couples do, but I’m pretty sure PDA is on the list.”
The heat in my face intensified, and I had to stifle a gag.“Don’t remind me.Anything I do will be for the assignmentonly.”
And even then, no one said I’denjoyit.In fact, I was confident it would be the exact opposite.Like putting your hand in a fire to save a family heirloom.Or eating a vegetable that wasn’t a potato.Sure, there was a greater purpose behind it, but at what cost?
“Whatever you say,” she teased, hefting the box.
“I’m serious.”I stretched to take the box from her, since it was the least I could do after her help.My arms were just fine, and I didn’t work out every day for nothing.Sure, she seemed spry enough to deadlift a walrus for fun, but she was also, like, fifty.Take it from the fake-pregnant lady: looks could be deceiving.
She shooed me away and kicked the door open with a flourish.“I can’t let you carry this, woman, you arewith child.”
“Hattie, shh, would you not say that so loud?”I looked frantically over my shoulders, ensuring she hadn’t drawn the attention of any agents.“We both know I’m not.”
“It’s called method acting, dear.Helps you get into character completely.If you believe you’re really pregnant, you’ll act accordingly.”
“And end up in the looney bin.”
She grinned over her shoulder at me.“But what a fun ride it will be until then.”
I laughed softly, shaking my head.For all her delusions about Colt and me, I liked her.I had no idea how she’d gotten the security clearance to be in on this, and, frankly, I was a little afraid to find out.But she was fun.A breath of fresh air after the day I’d had so far.“You’re something else, you know that?”
“One of a kind, babe, and don’t you forget it.”
We returned to the conference room, where Colt and McBride had supposedly been going over the details of his “job” at a local accounting firm.Knowing Colt, though, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d had McBride go over other details, too, just so I’d have to play catch-up on my own time later.
McBride looked up first, barely glancing at me before watching Hattie enter.He rushed to take the box from her much like I had, and, just like she’d done with me, she shooed him away.Honestly, for how craptastic the day was, seeing McBride get shooed by someone as small and feisty as Hattie made everything worlds better.
Until I saw Colt, that is.
Just like the first day we met, his eyes combed over me, this time lingering on my new and blindingly obvious bump.And, just like the first time, I could see the judgment there.
I fought the urge to fidget, despite how his drawn-out analysis made my skin crawl.Instead, I adopted my dancing posture, which was admittedly lessI’ve got thisthan it was before I had a silicone stomach strapped to me, and moreI better park well or I won’t be able to get into my car.I couldn’t quite wipe the feelings off my face, though, so I settled for a polite smile while wishing him death with my eyes.
The corner of his mouth twitched.He knew.He’d gotten the message.Was he at all as threatened by it as he should’ve been?Uh… no.But that was business as usual.
“Wow, Lex.You look…” Colt trailed off, leaving me to fill in the blank.
McBride came to the rescue.“Pregnant.You look pregnant.Which is exactly what we were going for.”He nodded politely at Hattie, but I didn’t miss how he didn’t hold eye contact for long.And, if I wasn’t mistaken, his cheeks were a bit pinker than a second ago.Huh.That wasn’t at all like the supervisory agent I knew.“Thank you, Hattie.”
“Anything for you, Jonas.Just don’t wait thirty years before contacting me next time.”She waved a breezy hand, appearing, for all intents and purposes, to completely ignore his guilty expression and uncomfortable shifting.“Now, I’ve outfitted Miss Piper here with a silicone stomach with removable straps for extra stability.As you can see, she’s well-endowed enough that she doesn’t need any fillers up top?—”
I recoiled, broken out of my stoicism by the sheer audacity.Heat flamed through me as I gauged the guys’ reactions.Not that my boobage was news to me, obviously, since the “girls” caused issues every time I went sports bra shopping, but out of all the people in the world Ididn’twant to broadcast that to, McBride and Colt were easily in the top three.The only one missing would be my own father.
McBride looked between me and Hattie, as if unsurehowto react.Colt, to his credit, only looked at the area in question for a split second before focusing intently on something out the window and giving his shirt collar a tug.
Hattie, completely unfazed, continued.“So, I believe all she needs is a maternity wardrobe?—”
McBride nodded curtly, relieved she’d apparently moved on from expounding on my feminine qualities.“Yes.Jewel from accounting will take you shopping tomorrow, Piper.”
“And the rings,” Hattie finished.She pulled two long, thin boxes from the mother box and passed one to Colt and me.“These aren’t actually worth much, but they look nice, and theyarematching sets, so I want them back, you hear?Just pick whichever fits you best and leave the rest.”
I opened mine to reveal a line of identical silver rings with a simple, circular faux diamond in the center.As I found the one that fit and slipped it on my finger, a portion of the feelings I’d been holding at bay slipped through.
While I didn’t give myself much time to dwell on my nonexistent love life, it was pretty hard to ignore with a sparkly ring staring back at me.It wasn’t the love of my life sliding this up my finger.It was me.Just like it was me for every dinner, every Christmas party, every event I never got invited to in the first place—and that was for the best.No one had proposed, I wasn’t actually married, and I wasn’t actually pregnant.
