“You knew that I would probably say something to my friends about our amazing night, right?” he said.
“Which part of it? The nice French dinner?” I asked sweetly, and guy two grinned. “Or where you tried to do me in your car for your security buddy to get us on tape?”
Mike took a step toward me, his face still a little too smug.
“Or how about when I bitch-slapped you?”
Guy two’s mouth dropped, and finally he got the hint. He made his way toward the exit, where I stood, but I put a hand out and said, “Stay. Really. You might want to hear how Mike called me a whore when I did not put out.”
His face paled, as if this was the last place on earth he wanted to be right now.
“And would you like to hear about how he got aggressive because I didn’t open my legs for him? Or how he left me stranded in the middle of nowhere? Speaking of, jackass, I broke my most expensive heels because of you and sprained my ankle.”
Then I looked at my coworkers and sternly added, “I’m going to see both of you in one hour in my office. I better not catch you in this type of conversation again or you’ll be heading straight to HR. Am I understood?”
They nodded and darted away as I hobbled toward Mike. “You owe me fourteen hundred dollars.”
“I don’t owe you a damn thing.”
“Oh, you think that? I’m going to give you thirty seconds to leave my building.”
He clenched his lips and stood over me, as if that intimidation worked. There was a certain nauseating feeling that Mike might’ve done this before. He seemed way too cool and confident, which made me wonder if other women had been too scared to speak out against him.
“What are you going to do, Mike? Hit me?” Yes, Mike, anger me even more so this nagging sliver of fear slips away. I could do rage all day. I couldn’t do fear. Not again. Never again.
“I have plenty of friends in this building. You can’t stop me from talking to them.”
“Why are you such a dick?”
“I thought you liked dicks.”
I fumed hotter by the second. My knuckles turned ghastly white as I made fists, and if I didn’t walk away right now, I would certainly be fired…and then arrested for assault. He wasn’t worth the trouble or the jail time.
I sneered. I calmly whipped out my cell phone and took a picture.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Leave now, jackass, or you’ll be removed and handed over to the police. Your picture will be with security. Oh, wait. There’s security.” I flagged down the broad gentleman in uniform.
James, playing his position with authority, looped his thumbs into his belt and marched over. “Hi, Liya. Need something?” he asked in a baritone voice.
“Hello, James. Do you mind showing this man to the exit?”
He eyed Mike when he asked me, “Is there a problem here?”
I glared at a suddenly very restrained Mike. “Is there a problem?”
“No.” He spoke carefully. “I’m leaving right now.”
And although I didn’t ask James to walk him out anyway, he followed Mike and glanced back at me. I gave him a reassuring and thankful nod.
As soon as Mike left, I released a shuddering breath. I absolutely hated that he had me shaking, even if it was just one sigh.
Chapter Eleven
Jay
The small and packed restaurant smelled divine—at least according to an empty, rumbling stomach. At this rate I’d eat that unappealing split pea soup on the counter. For a second, I considered taking something up to Liya, something better than green soup, of course, so she wouldn’t have to spend half an hour limping back and forth to get lunch, but she had an assistant for that. And why did such a thought even cross my mind?
While stuffing my face with enchiladas and salad, I read over some of my notes at a small table in the corner. The crowd had thickened in the last ten minutes, and so had the lunch hour commotion. I was distracted by a pair of loud guys to my right.
“She was pissed,” the first said.
“I thought she was going to fire us,” the second added.
I shook my head. Well, if they made a mistake big enough to upset their boss, then maybe they deserved a scare. Also, maybe they needed to quiet the hell down.
“Do you think she slept with him?”
“I have no idea. Mike didn’t even look fazed when she caught him talking about her.”
Mike? Huh. Couldn’t be the same Mike who had asked Liya out. She had turned him down.
“She was probably just pissed because Mike was blabbing about their night.”
I clenched my jaw unexpectedly, reeled into their conversation as if it were a blow-by-blow play of the Super Bowl.
“Yeah, for sure. No girl likes that. I don’t know, and by how scary she was, I don’t even care anymore. Mike can keep his sex scandals to himself.”
“She is fine, though.”
“Yeah, no doubt.”
“There’s got to be something with those Indian chicks.”
I exhaled. How many Mikes around here recently asked out an Indian woman?
I clenched and unclenched my fists. Had he done something to Liya that night she showed up at the diner?
I couldn’t finish my lunch. It was about to come up any minute with the disgust and anger raging through me.
The guys went into details of what “Mike the man” had said. The things she did with her mouth, with her tongue, things only pros knew how to do so well.
I slammed down my drink, startling them. Our eyes met, and they clamped their mouths.
“Are you talking about Liya?” I growled.
“Uh, you know her?” the first asked with a snicker.
“Yeah. Are you talking about Liya and Mike?”
The second guy nodded.
I wiped my mouth with a napkin and crumpled it over my plate. “You do realize you can get fired for malicious gossip and defamation of character?”
He raised his hands. “Look, man. We’re just talking about something that happened today. We are not interested in them anymore. That’s way too much drama.”
“I better not hear you talking about Liya or anyone that way.”
“Sure…”
I eyed them for another moment, keeping my glare intense. They seemed both awkward and agitated, glancing away but without apology. “Where’s Mike?”
“Um…”
“Um, what?”
They looked past me at the building across the street. I turned and saw him, the same guy who had been flirting with Liya at the café. He’d emerged from her building with a very stern security officer. Mike spoke to James, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood. Not with those crossed arms and stoic features.
I stole a few calming breaths as I marched across the street to a near irrational Mike, who claimed, “Come on, man. I have friends in there. You’ve seen me all the time. She’s just mad at something. Nothing happened. This makes me look bad when I didn’t do anything.”
But James wasn’t having it. He’d been the security officer who cleared me for special access for the next few months while I worked with the company. He was extremely friendly, but also intimidating when the situation called for it.