Page 163 of One Bad Idea
Darla and I turned to look. I wasn't sure who he meant.Her? Or me?
Thankfully, his gaze was firmly trained on Darla. "You've got the rest of the day off," he said. "Use it to cool down, alright?"
Her mouth fell open. "What? You're kickingmeout? Forher?" She said "her" like I was some sort of contagious disease.
"No," Jaden said in an eerily calm voice. "I'm kicking you out because you can't control yourself."
Darla gave another snort. "Oh, likeshecan. Do I need to remind you, she jumped you the first day you met."
"Hey!" I said. "I did not. Nothing happened 'til later." As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized my mistake. Obviously, she'd been talking about the day of my job interview, when I'd taken a flying leap in Jaden's direction.
But I'd been so distracted by my own crazy, mixed-up feelings, I hadn't thought before speaking.
And now, there was dead silence.
Darla's gaze shifted between me and Jaden. Her lips pursed as the pieces slid into place.
I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. Already, I'd said far too much.
My face was flaming, and my spine was twitchy. I looked toward my own office and mumbled, "I'll uh, just give you the messages later."
I turned to go, only to stop in mid-motion when Darla yelled, "You fucking tramp!"
Tramp?
Oh, for God's sake.
Something inside me snapped. I whirled to face her. "Yeah? Well so what?" My voice rose. "Yeah, I fucked him. And it was fabulous!"
I jerked my finger toward his desk. "We did itthere, multiple times. And just so you know, it was the best I ever had." My breath was coming in short, ragged bursts as I stepped closer and finished by saying, "There, you happy now?"
If happiness was a murderous rage, she looked like the happiest person on Earth.
Her fists were clenched, and her shoulders were tight. She looked dangerously close to punching me in the face.
If so, I was ready. "You wanna hit me?" I made a forwarding motion with my free hand. "Bring it on, granny-pants!"
She looked down. Shewaswearing a pantsuit today. And yes, the waist was quite high.But since when did I care about that?
I didn't.
It suddenly struck me that I'd not only insulted her, but semi-threatened her, too – or at least threatened to defend myself if she took a swing.
Fine.I didn't like this job anyway.Much.
And now, Jaden was reaching out toward Darla's elbow. His voice was very calm as he said, "C'mon, I'll walk you out."
"Walkmeout?" she sputtered. "Why don't you walkherout? Or better yet, have security do it."
He smiled. "Hey, Iamsecurity."
That might've been a joke, but I was too distressed to laugh. None of this was funny.Not at all.
As I watched in stupefied silence, Jaden gently, but firmly, began leading Darla toward the suite's door.
She protested, "But what about my purse?"
He replied, "I'll have someone deliver it."
