Page 41 of Game Change

“Well, bye,” Heath says, waving his hand in her face.

Ernestine glares at him again but then finally exits the conference room.

“What the fuck is her problem?” he whispers.

“Don’t worry about her.”

“She should be worried aboutme.” When all I do is shake my head slowly at him, he says, “If that’s all, then I guess I’ll grab us some breakfast and meet you in your office, Mr. Kincaid.” He gives me a subtle and quick wink.

“Colin’s fine, Heath.”

“What is with those two?” Heath asks a few hours later. “You should have seen the way they were looking at me. You’d think I slept with their man or something.” I start to choke on my coffee. Seeing as though I’m one of the people Brynne has slept with, I’m glad that’s not the case. “Who am I kidding? Those two have no man. Little Ms. I Should Be Boss has quite an attitude on her. Not to mention her bodyguard from hell. Well, if they think they can intimidate me, they have another thing coming. I grew up under the manipulative eye of Uncle Colin the First. I went to the most elite private schools and dealt with the meanest of the mean girls. I will have those two for breakfast and wash them down with a café au lait made with my French press.”

“Okay, Heath,” I say with a chuckle, but I’m just so happy to have him here. “You’re here to assist me, not take down my employees.”

“All I’m saying is, with that attitude, it’s no wonder Uncle Milty didn’t—” I clear my throat.

“It’s no wonder Mr. Kincaid didn’t put her in charge. All she does is scowl, which is unfortunate because she’s kind of pretty.” I don’t answer. She’s beyond pretty and hasn’t looked at me all morning. “In a movie villain type of way. The type of villain we should hide our dogs from.”

“Enough of that. Get your laptop and sync my calendar to your desktop. You can sit in here with me until you’re ready to be on your own.”

We work until lunch is delivered to the office. Since it was his first day, I let him choose where to order from and let him make his first order. Now, he’s in the kitchen setting it up.

My stomach growls, having been neglected since I was training Heath. He spent the last three hours talking nonstop about his mother and other family members, none of whom he can stand for various reasons. One includes a cousin his age over a slight that happened when they were eight. Due to my stomach's constant growling, I decide to get up and follow my nose to the employee break room. Everyone is filtering in, and a few stop to thank me for the lunch.

“I’m looking forward to your input at today’s meeting,” Joel says. “The notes you sent back were helpful. Much more helpful than anything Brynne would have contributed.” He walks away before I can say a word.

There’s a long line, and I decide to run home and make myself a salad since I hate eating food that’s been picked over, but just as I step out of the breakroom, I see Ernestine and Heath having what looks like a hostile encounter.

“Is everything okay, Heath?” I ask.

“Oh, it’s all good in the hood,” is all he says.

“Ordering lunch is my job,” Ernestine says, turning to me. “Mr. Kincaid, I was explaining to Heath what his duties are, and I suggested that—”

“I don’t understand why you’re explaining anything to me. I report to Mr. Kincaid, not you,” Heath responds with more hostility needed for the occasion.

“Why are you so rude?” Ernestine asks.

“Why are you so bossy?” Heath counters. “Older women like you always try to—”

“Older?” Ernestine whispers in outrage.

“Heath, that’s enough,” is all I say. “Ernestine, if you have any issues with Heath, talk to me. Whatever he does, it’s at my request. I’d appreciate it if you made him feel welcome.” Before I fire your ass because you’re not going to stress out the only person I can count on in this fucking office.

“Mostly everyone has been extremely nice, Mr. Kincaid. And for the one who hasn’t been, I won’t lose any sleep over them tonight.” He walks away without another word.

“Rude,” Ernestine says.

Not wanting to deal with her right now, I walk away, too.

I should have timed my exit better because someone sticks their boot in the door right before they close. I know those boots. She’s the only one who wears heels that high in this office.

She seems shocked when she sees me standing there but gives me her back and looks straight ahead until we get to the lobby. A man is standing there waiting for her. I recognize him. It's that same fucker she met at the lounge on Saturday. The asshole who sat next to her the entire night. She even slow-danced with him twice. He left soon after, and I was relieved, but I see things didn’t end on Saturday like I thought.

He greets her with a hug, and she looks into his eyes. I let out a derisive snort, and her head whips back to look at me.

The guy’s short. She’s looking down at him. Maybe she should have thought twice about wearing those high heels to go on a date with a stump of a man. I turn away and go through the front door before I do something I might regret.

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