Page 62 of My Orc Billionaire
He was leaving tomorrow? Oh. Well. I mean, I knew that sometimes he would have to leave Eastshore—No. When I took this job, it was with the understanding that he wouldrarelybe on Eastshore, which is why I had to live here. Of course, I’d taken the job on atrial basis, and a lot of things had changed since then.
Hadn’t they?
Abydos wasn’t aware of my own train of thought, and still seemed to be talking through the argument about closing the mine.
“These days, most of Vengeance’s income comes from the refining plant and shipping organization. I could offer the workers places there, or here on Eastshore—that’s why I’m meeting with the developer, to talk about housing options.”
All of that would cost money, though, and I forced my attention back to his concerns. “That’s a lot of funds to drop if you’re actively losing income.”
His smile flashed quickly, his broken tusk catching his lip slightly. “I’ll be fine, Riven, don’t worry. And so will you.”
I sputtered, my hold on him loosening. “What? No, I wasn’t even—I mean, I wasn’t worried about you firing me or anything.” Should I be? My pulse sped up. “You like my cooking too much.”
“I don’t just like your cooking.” In my rattled state, I couldn’t tell if that meant he liked sex with me more than my cooking…or if he liked someone else’s cooking more. When I shook my head, he gently extracted one hand from mine to wrap it around my hip, pushing me away from him a bit. “I’ve gone ahead and made certain you’re all set?—”
“I’m worried aboutyou, Abydos, not me.” Almost frantic to make him understand, I shook my head hard enough that I almost slipped from his lap. I caught myself at the last moment, realizing that he wasn’t going to. “I’m not doing this for money.”
When one of his brows rose in challenge, I sputtered, “I’mnot! You asked if this—thisthis”—I stammered incoherently, gesturing between us—“was me just thinking of you as my boss, but it’snot. I’m doing it because I lo?—”
Thank God my brain caught up with my mouth and snapped the damn thing closed. There’d been nothing in these last weeks that suggested Abydos wanted to hear declarations of my feelings. In fact, these last few days, when he’d been acting particularly strange, I wondered if it was him trying to pullaway.
I swallowed down the panic that thought caused and forced myself to nod firmly at him. “I care about you,” I told him in as no-nonsense of a tone as I could manage.
His grin was rueful. “Thank you. I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
“Ofcourseit matters!” I slid from his lap and stood, still gripping his hand, trying to make him understand. “You need to ensure that you can continue to live the life that you love.”
“No, I just mean, all my big expenses have gone through for the year. The land purchase, of course, and I’ve paid off all your debt, so with that out of the way?—”
“You did what?” I shrieked, dropping his hand and backing away as his words wrote themselves across the front of my brain.
Abydos frowned at me. “I had Sylvik figure out who owned your medical debt, Riven, and I paid it off.”He slowly stood. “That’s what I meant when I said you would be all set.”
Why couldn’t I breathe? My lungs didn’t seem to be working. “You… My debt…” I mumbled, backing away from him, shaking my head.
“Riven.” He slowly stepped forward, one hand out, his expression worried. “That’s why you were working for me, wasn’t it? To pay off your debt?”
On a trial basis…isn’t that right? This job is still temporary?
“Yes,” I blurted. “No. Do youwantme as an employee? Is that what this is about?” None of this made sense, and I still couldn’t seem to draw a full breath. “You’re paying me off because you don’t like my cooking? Is my trial employment over?”
“Oh,dkaar, of course I like your cooking. And if you want to continue cooking for me, my stomach will be very happy.” He was using a soothing voice, but I wasn’t falling for it. He’d paid off my debt because he was trying to get rid of me.
Just like my last gig…he was finding an excuse to cut me free because I’d become too inconvenient?
“I don’t believe this.” I stumbled around the long boardroom table in the middle of the room, finally turning my back to him. “You fucked me and then springthison me?”
“I made love to you,” he called from behind me. “And you weren’t complaining.”
No, I wasn’t. At the door, my knuckles were white from how hard I gripped the handle, I turned to him. The tears were already leaking from my eyes.
“Abydos,” I whispered, my heart breaking. “You don’t want me working for you?”
His face split into an uncharacteristic grin, his broken tusk prominent. “No,dkaar, I don’t.”
Chapter Fourteen
Riven
