Page 26 of Joint Custody

Ooh! There were coals beneath my feet, pinching me to jump up and throw as many insults at him as I could. I wanted to make him as mad as he made me, wipe that smugness off his face, and I thought of just the thing to thrust his way. I didn’t stand from my seat. No. I managed to stay seated.

Instead, I held his gaze as I spoke. “You could still get a heart attack in your midthirties, you know? You should really learn to relax some more. I’m going to assume there’s been some kind of misunderstanding here. Maybe you didn’t get the news, so let me just be clear. I am a new employee of Crawford & Beam.” I smiled, crossing my hands before me.

He rubbed his hand across his mouth as his eyes widened. “You’re either dumber than I thought or delusional as hell. Okay, well, I’ll just call security,” he said moving toward the landline on the desk I was sitting at.

I clamped my hand down on the phone. “Fine, but before you do that, I think you’ll find that I was hired by Mario and Anthony—”

Before I could even finish speaking, he began to laugh out loud. “They don’t have any authority to hire you.”

I cut him off before he continued, riling me up even more with his mocking. “Maybe so, but the fact is that I’ve signed a contract which legally binds me to this company in the form of an employee. Since I was not employed by you, but rather by two of your partners, I think you’ll find that your issue is with them, not with me. So, I suggest you go and sort that out, instead of standing around glaring at me, trying to cower over me. As for me, I have a lot of work to do for my bosses, and I’d like to get back to it, so if you don’t mind, please leave. You’re disturbing me.”

I lowered my head to the briefs, effectively dismissing him. Except, it wasn’t effective at all. He was still standing there.

“I think you’re forgetting something here,” he said, leaning over my desk, looming his shadow over me so that I couldn’t ignore his presence. Heat crawled up my back in disgust, and I wished I could push him out of my space as he threatened to suck all the oxygen out of it. I closed my eyes, tapping my pen against the papers. “They can’t pay you without my approval, so you must be working for free,” he finished.

I could hear the smile in his voice as he began to straighten, and I couldn’t let him leave feeling proud of himself. I wanted to grind his gears because if he was going to ruin my day, I was going to ruin his. I didn’t know I was this petty but there was something about Jared Crawford that got under my skin.

“You know, Jared, I don’t know you, but I’ve heard how you single-handedly saved this company, so I’m going to guess that there was once a time in your life where you were pretty sharp. Hey, maybe you still are and you’re just having one of those rough mornings where you’re off your game? Because, once again, you’re wrong. I’m an employee of Crawford & Beam. Anemployee, just like every other employee at this company, and I’m entitled to all of the same benefits. I think you’ll find something in your bylaws to back me up.” I raised my eyes to his and smiled.

He didn’t have a comeback this time. Well, it was about time he shut up with his confidently uninformed comments. I watched him straighten his tie as he stood up taller, trying to conceal his shock, and I smiled with satisfaction as he stormed out of the file room.

Chapter 17

Jared

“I’mentitled...”That’s when she should’ve stopped talking because that was the only thing she was right about. The nerve of that one! I knew I was right about her. Not only did she not have respect for other people’s time, she didn’t have respect for her superiors. In what world would she think talking to me like that was okay? Did she think that would fly inanylaw firm?

Oh, anger coursed through my veins as I thought about how much I wanted her gone and she just sat there, as if she had all rights to be there, inmyfirm. She was insane. She had to be. Although, I had to give her credit for not allowing herself to be walked all over, to argue her case and stand her ground. That surprised me. I didn’t know she had it in her, by the looks of her. Regardless, I was sure that trait could serve her better elsewhere, but not at my firm, especially as she was a guest here, refusing to leave. We were the furthest thing from a great personality fit.

And what were Anthony and Mario thinking?! Were they out of their minds? Unless they thought this was some kind of funny ass joke, it wasn’t. Did they think I wouldn’t fire them because we’re best friends? I hadn’t personally looked through the bylaws in years, but I’d remember seeing a clause like that and would’ve erased it if I had. It made me start to wonder if something like that did exist, and if it did, perhaps that’s how my father ended up in the mess he was in. He was outvoted when it came to hiring some dodgy people.

It didn’t matter though. Anything could be argued against. Fine, they found a loophole to make her stay. I’d find one to make her leave. Tiffany Levine was going to learn to respect my decision. She was leaving by the end of today whether she liked it or not, and I didn’t care who was upset about it.

And I hoped with everything in me that my friends were just playing a practical joke on me. Otherwise, they were going to have to learn tonevergo behind my back and make such important decisions again. I felt a spasm in my chest, accompanied by a sharp pain, brought on by stress. I stormed into Mario’s office but he was out. So was Anthony, and I turned to the clock to see that it was lunch time.

Needing to put a cap on my frustration made things so much worse for me as my chest tightened harder than I thought was possible. I was about to lose my shit. This triggered me, and for some reason, even though I knew everything was under control because I had it under control, I was still flipping out on the inside as I feared a repeat of the past making an appearance. It could’ve been decisions like those that cost my father his dream, and to think that all it would take was a clause I overlooked to risk the same happening to me. It was too much to handle. I needed to get rid of Tiffany, like my dad needed to get rid of those dodgy employees, but without the people responsible for hiring her in the first place, what I needed more right now was an escape. Thank goodness I didn’t have any meetings within the next hour.

“Hold all my calls for the next hour,” I said with a crooked smile at my assistant. “I’ll be at the pool.”

“Everything okay?” the curvaceous brunette asked. She knew I didn’t make it a habit to head to the pool during the day. It was part of my routine to go in the mornings, very rarely in the evenings, to get my exercise in. But during the day? No. She knew something was up.

“I’m okay,” I reassured her as she looked at me with worried eyes, and I hurried toward the gym housing the company’s pool. I remember when we got it installed. The older, more experienced people thought it was a waste of the company’s money, but it wasn’t just the company’s money, and I thought it was a wise investment. It had been my safe space at this place, and I was so happy I made the decision.

I already went for a swim this morning and didn’t have any extra trunks or briefs. I was desperate though, sofuck it, I’ll just go commando later.No one had to know. And I jumped into the massive clear and pristine salty water in my boxers, feeling the warmth of it hug my skin. We kept the heater running in here because I learned my lesson in the first few years of having it, that it took a while to warm up and it could get pretty frickin’ cold at the drop of a hat.

One guy was just leaving the gym, and I was grateful to be alone here. It was open to employees throughout the day because not everyone had the same work hours, but I was so relieved it was empty now. The quiet was perfect. I made a dash for it in the laps across the thirty meters of water until my lungs were heaving from exhaustion before I allowed myself to just float on my back while the pressure eased off. I didn’t leave the water until I was well and satisfied, when my legs and arms felt like happy noodles.

I got dressed and left the pool, with a smile on my face this time. That pool was magic, and this time, when I strode into Mario’s office, I was in good enough spirits to fake a laugh and clap so loud, he jumped, spinning around to look at me. “Very funny,” I said.

Mario twisted his mouth, trying to disguise his smile.

“Meet me in my office,” I commanded as I narrowed my eyes at him with half a smile. “Tell Anthony to do the same.”

Chapter 18

Mario

AnthonyandIweresmirking at each other as we stood across from an impatient Jared, glaring at us as he waited for an answer.

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