Page 15 of Hard to Forgive

“I don’t think we did.”

“Come on, Jonas. It’s been seven years.”

Had it really been seven years? The humiliation of it all felt like it had been yesterday. In fact, it had just been yesterday when all of the memories of Silas came out of their locked box in my brain and poured salt into wounds I’d thought were long closed.

“And if I had my way, it’d be another seven years before I had to deal with you. And then another six hundred and fifty-nine after that.”

I was channeling my inner Sebastian. I could be strong. I could be a little catty. I could stand up to this nightmare of a man. I mean, sure, the only thing that was making it possible was the bite of my nails into the palm of my hands, but there was no reasonheneeded to know that.

Silas got the memo and walked away. I watched as the broad shouldered blonde went back to the desk that I’d claimed, grabbed his bag, and went back to the desk he’d had the day before. I grabbed my bag and walked back over to my preferred desk. I started setting up and pointedly ignored him until Yvette called for our morning huddle.

That was the second time he decided to get under my skin. There were seven of us on the team, eight if we included Yvette. There was no reason he had to force himself into the spacebetween me and Declan. I almost traded spots with the man on my other side, but I figured that might be childish.

Instead, I had to attempt to focus on Yvette while being suffocated by a combination of Silas’s presence and the cologne he wore, which had the unfortunate effect of making me remember the best sex I’d had in years. Why did the best sex I’d had in years have to be with Silas Morgan? Was it some sick, cosmic joke?

It felt like a sick, cosmic joke.

“Everyone’s assignments will be in their inboxes,” Yvette ended the meeting. I realized I hadn’t paid nearly enough attention. Hopefully, the assignments would have all of the parameters laid out. Otherwise, I was going to be making a shitty impression on my project manager. “I want to see some write ups by end of day tomorrow.”

She clapped her hands and everyone dispersed back to their computers.

I followed back to my own desk and opened up my inbox. There were a few emails waiting, company announcements and a message from a coworker on my last project asking what I’d ended up getting saddled with. I typed back a quick response, answering his question, and pulled up Yvette’s email.

There was a list of tasks, each with a name assigned to it. My task was a simple bit of research. She wanted to know what common complaints were on the current dating and hookup apps already on the market. She also wanted my opinion on various app’s UI designs.

Luckily, I’d heard more than a few complaints about Swyper from my friends. I could start there. I opened a Word document and started my project.

I was a few hours in when the sound of someone clearing their throat broke my concentration. I almost jumped out of my skin.I flushed red when I realized who it was. “What do you want now?” I demanded.

Silas didn’t even look disturbed by my tone. Rude of him, really.

“I’m putting in an order for lunch for the team. Did you want anything?”

I hadn’t even realized it was lunch time. I also hadn’t realized that I was a little hungry. I just wasn’t sure I was hungry enough to let Silas be the one to order food for me, even if he was ordering for everyone else. “I brought lunch,” I told him. At least that was the truth.

He could hardly claim I was being petty for eating food I’d brought in from home.

“You sure?”

What gave him the right to sound concerned?

“I’m sure.”

“You don’t have to be rude about it. I’m just trying to be a good team member.”

“Well, don’t worry about being a good one to me. I know who you are, remember?” Let him suck up and try to win over everyone else on the team. I remembered all too well what he was capable of.

He didn’t say anything. He just shook his head and walked off.

I wished I could say that meant he got the hint. Instead, a few hours later, he was back at my desk with another attempt at conversation. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t just leave me the fuck alone. Didn’t he have anything better to do?

Actually, scratch that, I knew he did. He was supposed to be researching the back end structures of other apps similar to the one we were building and thinking of how they could be implemented or improved upon. I remembered seeing his boring ass assignment on the email. There was no way he couldalready be done with that, or even far enough in the process that he had the time to be over here harassing me.

“You’re researching opinions on the current apps on the market, right?” he asked. I watched as he perched on the corner of my desk like we were friends.

Had I not been clear enough?

It was times like this that I wished I had Eli’s blunt nature. He’d never let this slide. He’d probably make some snarky comment about ass prints on his desk. Either that or Eli would attempt to get Silas in the bathroom for a blow job.

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