Page 37 of Hard to Forgive

When Yvette announced thepartners for the next stage of our project, I thought the world was going to end. There was absolutely no way I could work with Silas Morgan. He was infuriating, and there were too many memories and bad blood.

Not that I could tell Yvette that.

It was the same reason I hadn’t been able to just ask to be assigned to another team when he introduced himself that first day. It would look like shit on my professional record. Quitting a good project just because someone I didn’t like was there? That wouldn’t help me in the long run, and I was too young to shoot myself in the foot professionally. I was only twenty-three, and I had a lifetime of working ahead of me. I’d worked too hard to get where I was to fuck it up over Silas.

I would just have to be uncomfortable.

At least I had the boys. I could text them when things got too hard, which I had done immediately after the announcement was made. I’d been close to freaking out, but they’d talked me back down. Or more Matt and Holden had talked me down. Seband Eli had been too busy working to respond to my desperate pleas for comfort.

And then, it hadn’t been that bad.

The first day, we’d actually managed to work together without killing each other or without me having a massive panic attack from the idea of working so closely with him day in and out for the next few weeks.

It probably helped that I had a weekend to sit with the news, to accept it as my reality. I was going to be rubbing elbows with Silas for the foreseeable future. It didn’t matter how I felt about it personally. It was going to happen, so I only had one option: deal with it.

I called my therapist and confirmed our appointment for the next week. I figured I would probably need it.

Except Monday and Tuesday went surprisingly well.

Silas didn’t go out of his way to antagonize me the way he had in the weeks prior. In fact, he was mostly quiet unless we were talking about work. The change in his demeanor made me nervous, but it also made me curious.

Wednesday, after two days of professional courtesy, I realized how uncomfortable it had to be for him to be sitting there quietly while we worked. Every time I saw him when he wasn’t at my desk, he was talking animatedly to Isabel, Logan, and Declan. I’d even watched him saunter over to Larry and AJ’s workstations during one of our breaks. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but he’d come back ten minutes late with a smile on his face.

So it must have been a good conversation. I almost itched to know what they’d talked about. I didn’t ask, but the realization danced under my skin.

Matt

You could see if he’s changed.

Jonas

That would be the mature thing, wouldn’t it?

Matt

It would.

Matt

You should do the mature thing.

Jonas

But I don’t wanna…

Matt

Jonas, be a grown up. Talk to him. Make your life less miserable.

Matt

Or else I’m going to hide clowns in your bedroom.

Jonas

You wouldn’t

Matt

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