Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 59287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
“Can you join me in here please?” His words were a command, not a question. “We need to talk—again.”
“I’ll wait on Mara to get here.” I looked up at him. “I’d be more comfortable with her around.”
“I can fire you without cause, Miss Spencer,” he said. “It’d be silly for me to have to do that over a simple instruction.”
The look in his eyes made it clear he was on edge, that serving him a line of sarcasm might lead him to snap.
“Bring your notebook,” he said. “You have one hell of a list of things to handle today.”
Obliging, I slowly walked toward him and into his office, and he eased off the doorframe and shut the door behind him.
I waited for him to move behind his desk, but he remained standing with me.
Close enough to touch, he let his eyes wander from my hair to my heels before looking right into my eyes.
“Take out your pen,” he said. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”
I remained still.
“Fair enough, then,” he said, “One, you’ll pre-order my dinner from Logan’s and you’ll leave here around eight this evening to get it.”
I didn’t write that down.
“Two, you will stand in for Mara all next week, as she deserves a vacation and the other clerks will still be out.”
“You gave them another week off?” I felt my chest tighten. “I barely survived last week without them.”
“But you did survive, right?”
He didn’t give me the chance to answer.
“Three, I thought about what you said regarding a rental car and I definitely can afford that so…” He hesitated. “You can rent one and use that to pick me up until my personal cars are working again.”
“Four, you will—”
“No.” I threw the notebook to the floor before he could finish his sentence. “I can’t take any more of this from you.”
“That notebook is rather small for the rest of my list.” He glanced down at it. “You should pick it up and go get a bigger one.”
“I’m not getting anything.” I kicked it instead, feeling a familiar surge of hatred rush through me. “I’m done putting up with you.”
“Good to see your true vigilante colors coming through again.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” My chest heaved up and down. “Better yet, can you just tell me why you keep treating me like I’m beneath you?”
“You are beneath me.”
“Like I’m beneath everyone else.” My blood was boiling. “You’re purposely trying to drive me insane, and I swear, if you do one more petty ass thing, I might have to check myself into an asylum.”
“Be careful, Miss Spencer.” He pressed his hand against the door. “The insanity defense hardly ever works on anyone, especially me.”
“You are a terrible boss and an even worse human being.”
“With your writing degree, I’m sure you can come up with better insults than that.”
“I would like for you to reassign me to another judge’s chambers.”
“That’s never happening.”
“So, you’d rather me stay here under you and remain miserable?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“Can you get the other notebook now?” he asked. “I’m not exaggerating about the length of my list.”
“Then you should probably ask some other people to help you with it.” My blood was boiling. “I’m done with the whiplash under you, and I honestly haven’t done anything to deserve how awful you’ve been to me, so—”
“Cut this emotional bullshit.” He interrupted with a hiss. “You stalked me at my fucking condo and took a crowbar to not one, but two of my cars.”
My jaw dropped to the floor and all the air left my chest.
He KNEW?!
“You honestly thought you’d gotten away with that shit?” He glared at me. “Did you think I would never figure it out?”
“I…” I couldn’t breathe. “I…”
“Go ahead and finish your little speech,” he said. “Tell me how I have no idea how to treat you, but quickly follow it up with how the fuck you treated me…”
I was utterly speechless.
“Yes, I treat you worse than everyone else here,” he admitted. “Yes, I will continue to be very petty and ‘mean’ to you, but if we’re keeping a running balance, you still owe me about two hundred thousand dollars in damages.”
I felt like a deer in headlights, but there was nowhere for me to run.
“Don’t you have something to say for yourself?” he asked.
“I, uh—I…I swear I…” I stuttered, attempting an apology, but the words stalled on my lips.
“Don’t worry, I’ll wait.” He clenched his jaw. “Unlike you, I have all day.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I snapped…And I tried to get you to change your ruling, remember?”
“Yes.” His voice was terse. “I remember that shit, too. Apology unaccepted.”
“So, this entire time—” My mind was still putting together the pieces. “You’ve been working me to the bone because you secretly want revenge?”
“It’s not a secret,” he said, towering over me. “And that’s only forty percent of why.”