Page 6 of The Reading

She glanced back and forth between me and Cash again. “Well, I’ll let you guys get to it.”

“We appreciate it,” Cash replied, and I was back to wanting to beat him in the head with one of those wooden planks.

“Don’t forget that we’ll be in town all week,” I reminded her.

At least, I would be. There was still a chance of Cash coming up missing later in the week.

Chapter 3

Vivian~

It ended up taking us three hours to gather all the pictures and information that we needed from the site, and we had managed to do it without killing each other. As soon as Mrs. Ramos had driven off, I had thrown Cash the cold shoulder, so that I could concentrate on what I was doing, and he let me.

We also hadn’t uttered a word the entire ride back to the hotel. Nor had we spoken in the lobby, in the elevator, or while we had unlocked our hotel doors. However, my slamming door would have spoken volumes for me had the door not come equipped with one of those silent hinges that prevented pissed off women from slamming their doors.

The only problem that I had now was my anger. Even though we were done at the site, we still needed to work on compiling all our data together, and we had to be in the same room in order to do that. However, I didnotwant to be in the same room with Cash Daring right now. Nevertheless, the dick didn’t give me a choice when the adjoining door to our rooms burst open, and he came striding in my room, misplaced attitude in each step.

“What the fuck, Vivian?” he snapped. “The silent treatment? Really?”

I slapped my hands on my hips, ready for him. “I thought you might prefer the silent treatment to being called a dick,” I fired back. “I was also trying to be professional. You are my boss after all.”

“We have a job to do, Vivian,” he bit out. “Krusade doesn’t fly us out here to comfort the client. They fly us out here to assess the damage.”

“They’re people, Cash,” I almost yelled.

“Yeah, people that have access to our emotional support line,” he reminded me. “You know, the option to speak to people that are actually equipped to handle emotional turmoil?”

“Did you honestly expect me to just ignore her emotional breakdown?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Only an asshole does something like that.”

“No,” he growled. “However, I do expect you tonotencourage it.”

I gasped like a true thirteenth-century virgin. “I didnotencourage her,” I denied. “I simply listened.”

“It’s the same damn thing,” he argued. “By not shutting her down, you encouraged it.”

“How can you be so damn cold-hearted,” I shrieked. “She lost theirhome.”

He waved his arms over his head haphazardly. “Theyalllose their homes, Vivian,” he shot back. “If we start comforting every single client that loses their home, then we’re never going to have time to do the job that Krusade actually pays us for, Vivian. So, we start thinking with our hearts, where’s the finish line? How do we determine which family deserves more comforting than another? When are we able to turn off our phones when they’re calling us in the middle of the night, crying and carrying on, looking for an answer that we can’t give them?”

I hated how there was logic in his argument. “Look, I’m not an idiot,” I spat. “I know that this is our job. I know that we’re not out here as counselors. Still, do you have to be such a dick about it?”

“Yes!” he thundered. “If not, then they can’t take the hint. They’re too lost in their grief and stress to acknowledge that we’re here to do a job, not comfort them.” I watched Cash let out a deep breath. “Have you ever been so upset that reason and logic don’t register, Vivian? Because that’s what’s going on with these clients when we show up on the scene, and us coddling them like lifelong friends doesn’t help anyone.”

“I can’t be cold like you,” I fired back, still refusing to give him credit for his logic. “It’s not me.”

“Then maybe you’re in the wrong job,” he shot back. “While you might be good at what you do, if it makes you miserable, then maybe you need to find another line of work.”

That pissed me off.

“It doesn’t make me miserable,” I argued.“Youare what makes me miserable. You and your refusal to give a shit.”

Cash’s head reared back like I’d slapped him, and he looked genuinely thunderstruck. “Are you serious?”

I wasn’t, but I was being an angry woman right now, my emotions controlling my mouth. “Yes.”

Cash raised his chin, his hazel eyes locking in place. “I’ll put in a request for your transfer as soon as we get back to California,” he said, and that’s when I realized that I’d just crossed a line.

“Cash-”

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