Page 111 of The Reluctant Hero

I close the door gently behind me and start stomping forward.

“Take your harpy voice down two thousand notchesright now,” I hiss angrily as I approach Sarah.

“There you are,” she says with relish at full volume. “You are getting fired today, that’s for sure.”

“Probably,” I agree with a dark glare. “Because your dumbass picked the wrong fucking day to start some shit.”

“Oh really,” she smirks. This egotistical shrew!

I throw the highlighters at her smug face.

“Yeah, really, you infected twat waffle!” I bark while she gapes at me. If she wants a fight, I’m willing to go there.

“Shh,” Vanessa hisses with wide eyes, staring at the closed doors behind us.

“Sorry,” I whisper back violently and turn my attention back to the problem. “Get your sorry ass out of here and keep your mouth shut.”

“You just assaulted me!” She screams back in rage.

“That was the tip of the iceberg!” I yell, yanking off my shoe to wave it threateningly. “You’re about to have a shoe to the face. Then I’ll throw you down the stairs, drag your carcass out to the parking lot, andback over you seventy times!”

Wait, I don’t have a car. Doesn’t matter.

“Amanda!” Vanessa gasps and picks up the phone. To dial security, I hope.

“You have five fucking seconds to take your scrawny ass to the elevator andleave. If you’re lucky, it won’t be down the open shaft.”

“You think you can get away with all of this?” She asks me in shock.

“I will hand-make you a bouquet of highlighter flowers if you shut the fuck up and get out of here!”

She gives me a shriek that snaps my last nerve. The hand holding the shoe whips out, and she gets slapped across the cheek. The smack is violent enough that she stumbles back on her heels. The red imprint that comes up has jagged lines in the shape of the treads. I gape at the sight in horror. I didn’t mean to hit her that hard.

“You did that to you,” I defend myself stupidly right as the elevator doors swoosh open and two security guards exit.

I drop the shoe with wide eyes and throw my hands up to signal I’m unarmed.

“Her,” Vanessa jabs an accusing finger at Sarah, who’s still staring at me with her jaw dropped.

“Youhitme,” she whines loudly and touches her cheek in shock.

“It was self-defense,” Vanessa rallies, giving the guards a stern nod. “She was asked politely to leave and became defiant and violent. Look at the mess she made.”

“What?” Sarah snaps at her angrily as Vanessa gestures to the scattered highlighters.

“Come with us, miss,” one of the guys says and reaches for her arm. She yanks herself away from him and hurries to get into Gabriel’s office. My bare foot shoots out to trip her in a last desperate bid to keep her out, and she falls flat on her face.

The pained wail that comes out makes me cringe and yell, “Shut up!I’ve fallen harder than that on the stairs, you pussy!”

The guards manhandle her up while giving me a wide berth. She complains all the way to the elevator until the doors close.

We breathe a sigh of relief until the complete silence hits us. Then we look at each other in horror.

“I yelled,” I whisper with a cringe.

“And assaulted her. I’m impressed, honestly,” Vanessa says in surprise.

“I have to go back in there and pretend it’s just another day.” I look down at my shoe and hop around to put it back on.

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