Page 16 of Work with Me

“Good job. I miss you, you know. Work isn’t nearly as fun when you’re not here.”

“My work isn’t nearly as fun without you, either.”

“Aw. But remember what I said: no hiding. Make friends. Go out and have fun. I bet Austin has amazing food.”

“Yeah, it’s not bad.”

“You’re remembering to eat, aren’t you?”

Shit, she sounded like my mother. Notmymother, but someone’s mother who worried about more than her family’s perfect appearance. Without a mother of her own, Marlee had taken on the caretaking role at home for her dad. And since she’d joined Synergy a few years ago, she’d done the same for me, even though she was younger than me.

She must’ve interpreted my silence as a lack of recent nourishment. “I’m going to set a reminder on your calendar for mealtimes. Anything else you need, boss?”

“Yeah. If you get a minute, could you check up on Sam? I don’t think she’s sleeping.”

“You got it. I’ll drop by the university tomorrow.”

“Thanks. I’ll call you again soon, okay?”

“Yeah, right. Take care of yourself, Jackson.”

“You, too. Tell your dad I said hi.”

I stood, stretched, and went to the counter, where I ordered a sandwich. While I waited for it, I made another call.

“Hey, Jay.” Jamila’s familiar husky voice came through my wireless earbuds.

“Why the fuck do you sound so smug?”

“I may have made a bet with a certain friend of ours about how long it’d take you to call me.”

“Cooper had more faith in me than you did?”

“My money was on our girl Alicia.”

“So you did send her to be my kryptonite.” What kind of game was Jamila playing? Cooper had said jobs were on the line.

“No, honey. Don’t get your cables in a twist. I sent her because I think you two will work well together. She’s smart, right? A stellar coder?”

“She’s not as good as me. Or you. Better than Cooper, though.”

Jamila’s voice gentled. “She doesn’t have to be as good as you. All she has to do is bring out your best. And the best of the rest of the team.”

Before Alicia, that had been my job. And as Marlee had pointed out, and Cooper before her, I’d fucked it up.

“Look, I’m trying, okay? I just needed more time. Not some Stepford programmer to take over my team and make me look bad.”

“From what I understand, Jay, you’re out of time. Alicia is there to save your project and make you look good. When are you going to realize that you have so much more to offer than your programming skills? That it’s time for you to step up and lead?”

The heat that had bubbled inside me ever since Alicia forced us to do goddamned pair programming boiled over. “When Cooper fucking gives me a chance to lead and stops putting babysitters in charge of me!”

My own labored breathing hissed through my earbuds. Jamila said nothing but left my angry words—unfair words, really, since he’d given me three months to prove myself and I’d blown it—echoing in our ears.

“Jay,” she said at last in a voice so soft I put my hands over my earbuds to block out the other sounds in the coffee shop. “Alicia is a professional, a damn good one, and her job is to get the team working together to produce results. Including you. She won’t be your babysitter unless you act like a child.”

Serious Jay hadn’t worked, so it was time to pull out fuckboy Jay. I tried to make my voice light, careless. “Me, act like a child?”

“I’m going to tell you this once. Don’t fuck this up for her. She needs this job, this testimonial, to build her business. I’m going to be back out there in two weeks, and I’m going to check in with Alicia. If I find out you’re sabotaging her—”

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