Page 23 of Octane

“Obviously,” she responds sarcastically, but her smile is genuine.

And breathtaking.

“I’m really not sure. Which one do you like?”

“Jackson, are you even paying attention?” she laughs, and the biggest smile I’ve ever seen from her graces her face.

The sight of it puts a smile on my face.

“I am, I promise,” I look at the three idea boards on the table in front of us.

“If you don’t like any of these, we can dig a little deeper and see what else we can come up with.”

“No, that’s not it. These are all so good,” I reassure her, watching as a genuine smile returns to her face. “Umm… I think I like—”

“Excuse me,” we’re suddenly interrupted by an angry voice coming from the doorway of the conference room.

We look up to seehimstanding there, a severe look on his face. The air in the room shifts, and I can feel the fear emanating from Sawyer.

Shit.

“Sawyer, my office. Now.”

“Sure,” Sawyer replies, quickly. “Coming right away.”

He waits in the doorway as she gets up from her seat and walks out of the room. The whole time, her face is turned down toward the floor. Daniel looks back and forth between us with a threatening scowl.

I watch as he follows her into his office then closes the door forcefully. Grateful that I am still able to see their interaction through the glass pane of his door, I watch while on the edge of my seat. Daniel has a look of rage on his face as he speaks to her. I can tell that he’s yelling, even if no one can hear him. No doubt he doesn’t want anyone in the office to know how poorly he treats her.

I wonder if he treats his other employees just as bad?

He waves one of his hands in the direction of the conference room, and I watch as Sawyer chances a glance in my direction. Her eyes don’t meet mine, but I see that all of the light that was in them a moment ago has been dimmed.

How often does this happen? Considering this is the second time that I’ve seen them together and the second time that he’s spoken to her with such immense disrespect, I’d say it happens too often for my liking.

Even one time is too much.

When he finally finishes speaking, I wait to see if she will try and defend herself. Not that she needs to. She was just doing her job. But she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she pulls the door open and exits his office. Her eyes shoot to mine for only a brief second, however, there is no way I could miss the anguish in them.

Standing, I round the table and head to the door. I pull it open as she grabs her purse from her desk.

“Sawyer,” I call out to her, but she turns away from me and walks in the direction of the reception area.

I begin to follow her, but thenhesteps into my path.

“Get out of my way,” I order him. “Sawyer!”

It takes everything in my power not to punch him in his ugly face.

“Ms. Stone wasn’t feeling well and needed to take the rest of the day off,” he informs me quietly.

“That’s bullshit. What did you say to her?” I grind out, attracting the attention of the staff around me.

I need to be careful. I don’t care what happens to this asshole, but I have to remember that Sawyer works here. She has to come back here and show her face in front of these people. I don’t want to embarrass her any more than she already is.

“I assure you, I was nothing less than professional. I simply told her that we require someone more senior and well-suited to work on your account.”

I need to close my eyes so the shit-eating grin on his face won’t cause me to lose any more of my control.

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