Page 8 of The Catcher

Matt turned to me and shrugged apologetically. “Sorry,” he said.

I was frightened of Tanner, but for some reason it irritated me that Matt was, too. Someone should stand up to him. Not me, of course.Itried to avoid Tanner, which was hard since I was hired to be his personal PR agent.

Matt mitigated my annoyance by leaning closer. “Can I get your number?” he asked.

I didn’t feel anything in particular for him, but it was flattering and he seemed like a nice guy. I faced him and started reciting my digits. I had reached the last one when I felt a shadow fall over my arm.

Startled, I jumped. Tanner put a hand on my shoulder, gripping it so tightly that I yelped with pain.

“Ouch!” I cried. “Let me go!”

But he only twisted me around and began to march me out, propelling me in front of him with swift, angry strides.

Matt followed us for a few seconds. “You don’t have to do that,” he said, but Tanner didn’t even bother to look at him. “Don’t interfere unless you want the shit beaten out of you,” he said harshly.

I glanced back behind me, and I saw Matt hesitate indecisively. I felt a cold clutch of fear, and I tried to wiggle away, but Tanner held me too tightly.

He marched me to the entrance and then shoved me through it. I staggered and had to grab the door to regain my balance.

“Stay off the field,” he said, blocking the entrance with his body.

“God, you’re such a bully,” I said, goaded into speech, even though I tried to avoid speaking directly to him as much as I could.

“You’re here to fucking serveme, Emrys Finnegan,” he said. “Not the other way around.”

I opened my mouth to protest again but he glared at me.

“And don’t think you’re going to be a team dickrider,” he snarled at me, before slamming the door in my face.

“I don’t want to be a team dickrider!” I howled, but he was already walking away, his arrogant ass not even bothering to turn around to acknowledge me.

4

The next day I hurried into the usual conference room, juggling a big stack of binders and printouts, my nerves already twisting at the prospect of having to be alone with Tanner. It was so boiling today I had skipped my usual pantsuit, and was only wearing a light pale pink shirt, and I could feel it sticking to my skin, a trickle of sweat rolling down the small of my back.

As I shut the door behind me, I stopped short. For once, Tanner was there already, leaning back in a chair and getting his dick noisily sucked by a blonde woman on her knees in front of him.

“Oh, s-sorry!” I stuttered, rapidly backing out of the room, my face flaming with embarrassment, but Tanner stopped me.

“Get back in here.”

“You’re b-busy,” I said, trying to make my voice come out louder than a whisper. I wasn’t going to sit around waiting for him to get his cock sucked.

“Get thefuckback in here, Emrys,” Tanner said. “This is the only time I have all day. Take it or leave it.”

I gritted my teeth. Iknewthat absolutely wasn’t true, and my hand twisted the knob of the door to escape. I could hear herloud, enthusiastic slurps, and there was a strange, tight heat in my chest.

He had done this on purpose to humiliate me.

“If you don’t get back in here, I’m not going to do whatever your dogshit suggestion is,” he warned, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head, with that stupid cocky smirk that was the only amusement that seemed to cross his face.

I hesitated. If he would just do what I suggested, I could be on my way to finishing this job and leaving the Phoenixes stadium never wanting to see or hear about him ever again in my life. I gritted my teeth and edged slowly back into the room, my hands convulsively clutching my binders. Why did Tanner always seem like he took up all the oxygen in the room? I could barely breathe with that mocking smirk on his face.

The woman in front of him turned partway around as if to stop, but he knocked her with his knee and said, “Keep going.”

I suppressed a gasp, but I sat as far away as I could get from him. He rested his long hand on the table, tapping impatiently and looking at me.

I would make this quick.

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