“Alanna?” I freeze a few steps away from my desk, my stomach churning at the sound of his voice. Ryan. My heart starts to race, a familiar ache making me take a step back. The last time I saw him was when I overheard him talking shit about me… the night I slept with his brother.
“Alanna, what’s going on? You broke up with me over text and I haven’t been able to reach you since then. What happened? Did someone do something to you? Honey, there’s nothing we can’t resolve together. There must be a misunderstanding of some sort.”
He looks at me with the same gaze that won me over in the first place. When he looks at me like that, it feels like he’s laying his soul bare to me, showing me vulnerability that no one else gets to see. He looks so distraught that I find myself second-guessing what I heard that night.
“It’s nothing,” I murmur, aware of the curious looks we’re getting from my team. “This isn’t the right time or place to talk about this.” Silas must really have had his car towed, or Ryan would’ve been far more angry with me. Too bad he never saw the damage I did.
Ryan stares at me for a moment and grits his teeth before nodding reluctantly. “Fine, but I won’t let you avoid me any longer. We need to talk. Today.” He walks past me and straight into Silas’s office, and my stomach drops. Surely Silas wouldn’t say anything, right? I shouldn’t care, but the thought of Ryan finding out what I did fills me with shame.
“So you’re the boss’s brother’s girl, huh?” Josh says. “I was wondering how you got into the Ψ division. We’ve never had a rookie join.”
I stare at him, unsure what to say. “I’m not his girl. I get how this looks,” I tell him. “But I can assure you that I applied to join Sinclair Security long before I started dating Ryan. Give me a chance, and I’ll prove to you that I belong here as much as you do.”
I sound much more confident than I feel, and I wonder if Josh realizes it. He looks into my eyes as though he’s assessing me, and then he nods before sitting down, dismissing me.
“Don’t mind him,” Jessica says. “He’s just mad he’s no longer the youngest on the team. Silas mentored him because he was our newbie, but you’ve stolen that role and his mentor. He’ll get over it at some point.”
“Silas used to mentor Josh?”
She nods. “He always mentors our newest team member himself. We’ve all had the privilege of learning from Silas, but Josh definitely had him as his mentor the longest.”
I bite down on my lip, embarrassment washing over me. I accused Silas of mentoring me so he could get rid of me, but that isn’t what he’s doing at all. He’s granting me a privilege, yet I treated it as punishment.
I look up when Ryan storms out of Silas’s office. “Alanna!” Silas shouts immediately after, his tone filled with barely restrained anger.
I jump up, and Josh smirks at me. “You’re crazy if you think you’re going to be treated differently just because you’re the boss’s sister-in-law. He’s going to be just as tough on you as he is on us, so good luck with that. You’ve just made a terrible impression by letting your boyfriend come here during working hours. You’re doomed.”
“Shut up, Josh,” Jessica says. “The only reason the boss hired you is because he’s friends with Grayson Callahan, and you had a personal recommendation from him. So sit your ass down and mind your business.”
Josh glares at her, but she merely smirks at me, making me smile in return. “Go,” she says. “Best not to keep the boss waiting. He doesn’t get mad often, but he has a zero tolerance policy for unprofessionalism. This really wasn’t your fault, but you’ll be implicated nonetheless. Just beg for mercy. He’s not as bad as he seems.”
I nod at her gratefully and rush toward Silas’s office. Whatever Ryan just said to him can’t have been good. Is Ryan going to cost me my job?
“Close the door,” Silas snaps.
He grits his teeth and runs a hand through his hair as he walks around the desk. The anger in his eyes has me taking a step back, until I’m backed against the door.
“Explain to me why the fuck Ryan just asked to be transferred to the Ψ division.”
He walks right up to me and rests his forearm against the door, caging me in. Silas leans into me and looks into my eyes, a mere inch separating his body from mine. The scent of his cologne washes over me, the familiar smell sending a rush of desire through me. My heart starts to race, memories of the two of us dancing through my mind.