Page 102 of Isolated
Working for the enemy, the competition.
I shuddered at the thought. Felt sick over it.
How I made it to Harper Security Ops in the state I was in without crashing my car was a mystery. I could barely see through the tears that clouded my vision.
Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.
I was almost there.
Throwing my car into park, I turned it off and hopped out as quickly as humanly possible. Then I ran. And I was so distraught, so close to full-fledged sobs, I missed the curb and tripped.
I went crashing down, my hands and knees connecting with the ground first. My palms instantly burned with the scrapes I’d acquired as a result, but it was the impact to my right wrist and knee that hurt the most.
Seconds away from the meltdown I could feel coming, a pair of hands touched my shoulders as a masculine voice said, “Whoa, that looked painful. Are you okay?”
My body tensed, and I twisted my neck to look at the man. He must have seen the terror and panic on my face, because he immediately went into protector mode. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re safe. Nobody is going to hurt you. My name is Hart. Why don’t you let?—”
“Hart?”
“Yes.”
Landen told me about Hart. They were friends.
Tears spilled down my cheeks, and I rasped, “I’m Iris. I was… I need?—”
“Landen.”
I nodded.
“Okay. I’ll get you to him. Can you walk? That was a nasty fall.”
“I’m not sure. My knee is throbbing.”
Without giving it a second thought, he commanded, “Put your arms around my neck. I’ll carry you inside.”
I was about to protest, but the next thing I knew, I was up in his arms. And somehow, the door opened for us to walk through.
A feminine voice asked, “What happened, Hart?”
He ignored that question and countered, “Is Landen in his office?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
Hart continued to move through the office, and the next thing I knew, Landen’s voice filled the air. “What the fuck happened? Iris?”
I thought Hart would set me down on my feet, but he handed me off to Landen like I weighed no more than a feather and said, “I was coming in when I saw her running to the door and take a spill. She said she hurt her knee. And I think her hands are all scraped up, so I’ll go grab the first aid kit for you.”
Landen said nothing to him as Hart left the office. He sat down in the chair, settled me in his lap, and brushed the hair out of my face. “What happened? You’re crying. How badly did you injure your knee?”
His hand went to my leg to inspect it, and I blurted, “They fired me.”
Landen tensed. “What?”
“They fired me,” I repeated. “They canceled my meeting this morning, and when I went to find out why, Robert fired me.”
The next thing I knew, Landen’s hand was at the side of my face. He swiped at the tears that wouldn’t stop falling before sliding his fingers back into my hair and urging me toward his chest.
Knowing I was safe with him, the fight went out of me, and I slumped against his chest with exhaustion and heartbreak. Landen peppered kisses to the top of my head as he stroked his hands over me to offer comfort and reassurance.
