Page 64 of The Bargain

Pierce’s drawl rolled through the room, and I cursed my bad luck. Why did it have to be Pierce who came searching for me? Why couldn’t it have been Declan? He would have been content to sit in silence, letting me wallow in my misery. Good ol’ Dec didn’t offer commentary or judgments regarding my shitty choices in life.

Of course, Declan had been around to check on me twice and might have tired of my moping and whining, so he’d probably called in Pierce to force me out of my funk. Rome was usually willing to cajole me, but Pierce would throw punches if I gave him too much attitude.

“What are you doing in here? You having your bedroom remodeled?” Pierced strolled in and gave the guest bedroom a questioning glance, as if he were trying to decide if it was nice enough for him to sit in. He definitely didn’t need to know this was the same room where Byron had slept that first time he’d come to my house.

Three days had passed since that horrific disaster and since Byron had declared we’d needed to go our separate ways for a time. Because I couldn’t go into the office, I had taken uphaunting my house. I wasn’t sleeping, and had no interest in eating. That left me with wandering the house and staring at the walls.

Today’s walls were the ones in Byron’s room. Not that it was really his room. He’d slept there one time. Thrown up in the toilet. And a little on my shoes. We’d chatted for the first time as people and not employer and employee here. I’d had my first glimpse of Byron as a real person here. I might have been infatuated with him from the moment I met him, but I knew talking to him at the table, hearing his personal story, that was when I’d actually started to fall. Now I was just left with that stupid marble egg in my pocket.

“Get up. Let’s go,” Pierce ordered, turning to the door.

“Where?”

“I’m getting you out of the house. You need some fresh air.”

“No. Go away.”

“Are you fucking serious right now?” Pierce complained. He plopped his hands on his narrow hips and glared at me, his dark hair falling forward onto his prominent brow. “I don’t understand this at all. Are you this upset about being put on leave? Declan says you’ll be back in the office by next week. The board is already asking for its maverick to return.”

I could only stare at him in open mouth shock for a second. “No! This has got nothing to do with work. What the hell!”

After shoving out of the seat I’d been sitting in at the table, I stalked out of the room, roughly brushing past him. I didn’t want Pierce in that room, anyway. He didn’t belong in there.

“Wait! It’s about that guy?” Pierce said, chasing after me. His hard-soled shoes slapped on the floor as he picked up speed until he could finally grab my arm. I tried to shake him off, but he pulled and swung me around. As I did, I brought up my fist. I was not in the mood for his shit.

“Whoa! Whoa! Stand down, asshole!” He released me in an instant and backpedaled a few steps. “I’m trying to find out what the fuck is going on with you. You’re not returning anyone’s texts or calls. You’ve holed up in your house.Declanasked me to check on you.”

Okay, so maybe that was enough to get Pierce worried. Declan was very hands off, letting people figure their shit out on their own. He didn’t get involved in problems unless you specifically asked him to get involved.

“Besides, when have you gotten emotional over some piece of ass? You could teach a master class in the art of the one-night stand.”

“Byron isn’t like that.”

Pierce sighed long and loud before grabbing me by the shoulders and turning me. He pushed me toward the kitchen and forced me onto a stool at the island. “Wilkins told me you’ve been skipping meals, and that Carol has been making sandwiches for you, hoping you’ll eat something soon.”

“I’m not hungry,” I grumbled.

“You know, she’s scared she’s going to lose her job. She’s convinced you don’t like her cooking anymore.”

I narrowed my eyes at his back. “You’re making that up.”

“Am I? I think I even heard that you were cooking in here one night.” He turned to me with a plate holding a carefully wrapped sandwich, a bowl of fruit, and another bowl of pasta salad. “Carol is a nice lady and a superb cook. If I didn’t love my chef, I’d consider stealing her.” Pierce slid the plate in front of me as he spoke.

Annoying. He was so annoying.

And he was definitely making up the entire story about Carol being worried about her job. That didn’t matter. The seed had been planted in fertile soil. Talking to Byron had made it clear how fragile someone’s life could be when they depended soheavily on that next paycheck. Not that I thought Carol was in that situation, but I also didn’t want her to worry.

Without a word, I peeled off the wrapper and started eating the sandwich. Thankfully, Pierce didn’t feel the need to comment or gloat. He dug into the fridge for a bottle of water for me and one for himself.

“Okay, tell me about this guy.”

“Byron,” I supplied.

“Byron. He’s your assistant.”

“Was,” I bit out. My stomach was souring, and eating felt like a bad decision.

“So, he got shit-canned because everyone found out you were dating.”

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