“That’s brilliant, Bailey.”
His head was bent close to hers to watch their hands, so he’d spoken softly, and the timbre of his voice made a pins and needles shiver-tickle her neck. She kept pulling the floss under the ring, moving it. She could smell his aftershave, woody and green. His knees were close to hers. His hand was warm under hers, his skin surprisingly soft, except for a row of calluses across his palm.
Like in the conference room, she felt overpowered by him. This time there was no menace, but he was scaring her in a different way. Being close to him did strange things to her. The flutter of tiny wings in her chest was back, her limbs felt liquid and free floating, and she had an overwhelming desire to look in his eyes. How could a man she didn’t like make her body react this way? With interest, with heat, with excitement.
She needed to think of something else. She picked yesterday’s photo. Another fluke shoot, a cockatoo and a kookaburra screeching angrily at each other. And MacGuffin’s post, a quote from Plato, ‘Arguments like men are often pretenders’. Fitting. MacGuffin had to be a woman, she got it. But thinking about arguing birds and men who were pretenders, did nothing to make it easier to breath. Bailey concentrated on pulling the floss and tried to ignore the uncomfortable ripple deep in her abdomen.
She was making progress, easing the ring towards Aiden’s knuckle when it stuck. She pulled and jerked his hand. They both looked up, eyes caught, held. He was watching her closely, his gaze moving across her face. She almost tilted her head to allow him the access to explore he seemed to want. Her breath caught, a lump in her throat, making it hard to swallow. His eyes were very dark green, almost olive, he had fine smile lines at their corners, and the start of a crease between his brows. She had an urge to touch it, to smooth it away. His jaw was strong, his mouth relaxed. She was appalled by the knowledge she wanted to kiss him. She bit her own lip and he exhaled sharply.
“Bailey, I want...”
She yanked the floss and it unravelled quickly across his palm, the ring bumping over his knuckle dropping to the floor between their feet, bringing Bailey’s senses back to order. There was no way she should be so rattled by a pretender like Aiden. “There, now it won’t be so embarrassing for your girlfriend.”
He straightened up, “What?”
“Bailey, can I see you?” They both turned towards Tony Jones in the doorway, irritation showing in the rigid way he stood and the edge in his voice. He was a timely interruption. She didn’t want to hear whatever excuse Aiden had for wanting the ring removed. It was clear it cramped his style with his short skirted conquests.
“Whatever you have to say to Bailey, can be said to me,” said Aiden.
“No, Riley it can’t. Bailey is our temporary human resources person and I want to speak to her not you.”
Aiden stood, he walked towards Tony. “No.”
Bailey was on her feet too. “You don’t speak for me, Aiden. What can I help you with, Tony?”
Aiden swung back towards her. “I’ve got this. Stay out of it.”
Who did he think he was? “No. I don’t think so.”
Tony laughed, one of those caustic judgemental sounds. “You think you can forbid Bailey and me from talking. That’d be something you’d try on.”
“I will try to stop you manipulating Bailey, or anyone else here.”
“Oh that’s rich coming from you. Mr Knee Jerk, Mr Shoot First Ask Later. I run this place. Not you. I run the creative. I have the respect of our largest clients. It’s a big mistake to treat me like you just did Bailey, like a lackey.”
This was escalating quickly, badly, moving well beyond thrust and parry into zap and pow. Tony was white faced, his arms folded tight across his chest. Aiden looked more relaxed, at ease with his temper, calm with it. Of the two, he was the far more deadly. He wasn’t a lazy seal, he was a calculating shark, and he turned his cold eyes onto her.
“Do you have the three-sixty degree reviews from Tony’s team?”
How did Aiden know Tony’s team hadn’t met the deadline? He had to be guessing. “That’s no concern of yours.”
“That was a simple question. Answer it.”
It was a slap in the face. Bailey choked on her reply. She knew her face was flushed with the embarrassment of being spoken to like a naughty child. That was the way her father often dealt with her. She didn’t come to work to be spoken to that way and certainly not by Aiden.
Tony got out, “Its inspirational watching you work, Aiden. Such finesse and respect for your colleagues. I can only aspire to being so professional.”
Aiden ignored him and flashed his shark teeth at her. “Bailey, is the question too hard?”
She snapped out, “I don’t answer to you,” biting back the swear word that belonged in that sentence.
“Leave her alone, Riley. I have them here,” said Tony, his contempt obvious in his tone and the look on his face. “That’s what I want to talk about.”
“Then start by telling us why you have reviews that were supposed to come to Bailey directly?” said Aiden.
Through her haze of anger, Bailey could see that was a good question. The whole purpose of the review process was to allow staff to appraise their manager honestly and openly without fear of retribution, because their feedback would be anonymous. If Tony had the reviews, he’d have read them, and what’s more, the promise to his staff that their views would be secret would’ve been broken.
“Of course I have them. It’s a flawed process. You think I’m here to be friends with people. I’m here to do a job and if that means making people unhappy, well so be it. I’m sure you understand that, Aiden. You seem to operate under that principle.”
Aiden had the gall to laugh, breathing out scorn and derision.
Bailey said, “Why do you have the reviews, Tony?” There was nothing flawed about the process. It was best practice. If Tony had manipulated it there was a problem.
“People were confused.”
“What were they confused about?”
“About what to say obviously.”
“They get to say whatever they want—that’s the whole point.”
“That’s ludicrous. That would expose people to all manner of unfair criticism.”
“The idea is to flush out those issues, to make sure no one feels unfairly treated.”
“I suppose Aiden won’t mind me reviewing his performance, openly and honestly, and without fear then.”
“I don’t have any problem with that, Tony,” said Aiden, cold voiced. Bailey had almost forgotten he was there. She’d been so focused on Tony, seeing a side of him she realised she’d been trying to ignore. Because if Tony wasn’t all good, perhaps Aiden wasn’t all bad.
“I guess we’ll see if that’s true,” said Tony. He held out an envelope; the compromised reviews. “I’ll come back later, Bailey, when you’re not so busy.” He made the word ‘busy’ sound dirty, like he’d caught Aiden violating her on her desk. He sent a stun-gun stare in Aiden’s direction and left.
Though they were in her office, though it was humiliating, Bailey went to follow him. She wanted to be as far away from Aiden as possible. She wanted to find something to kick that didn’t kick back, somewhere to scream where she wouldn’t be heard. Somewhere she could be blind to the sight of Aiden and deaf to the sound of him.
“Bailey.” His voice gave authority ambition, stopping her mid-stride. She hesitated, her back to him.
“He’ll have pressured people, sanitised the whole process. Read between the lines, talk to his people.”
“I don’t need you to give me instructions.” She was oddly proud that her lackey’s voice didn’t waver.
“I think you do. While you’re working here, you do answer to me, like everyone else. I’m concerned you thought you had a special leave pass.”
Bailey rotated back around to face Aiden. She had to see his face so she could focus her rage. “I don’t need anything from you.”
“Good. One more thing. Don’t
second guess me again.”
“Second guess you?”
“You work for Blake and me, not Tony. We made it clear that he was not your issue. You indicated you understood that.”
“What are you saying?”
“That you sided with Tony against me, and you did it in front of him. That can’t happen again. Do you understand?”
Bailey barked out a laugh, in the key of disbelief and derision. Her brain was screaming profanities, but she kept her mouth firmly shut as she turned to leave.
He didn’t hesitate to have the last word. His purpose very clear. He wanted to dominate, belittle and humiliate her. “Let me know if that’s too difficult for you.”
If Aiden could’ve seen her face, he’d have been under no illusion about the impact of his words. From the back of her head he’d have no such satisfaction.
25: Hot Weather
It took Bailey thirty minutes to calm down and resolve that Aiden Riley was the biggest arsehole she’d ever met. It took another two hours to realise the bitter taste in her mouth was the knowledge he was right.
She had agreed to back off where it came to Tony, yet she’d sided with him against Aiden and, therefore theoretically against Blake. When that realisation hit her she felt sick to her stomach. She could disagree all she wanted about Aiden’s manner, but she couldn’t argue the truth of it. She did work for Aiden as much as for Blake, and the only power she had was to choose not to.
She spent forty minutes stomping along the foreshore, frightening the seagulls and debating whether to quit or not. Doug would be very pleased at all the energy expended physically. When she got back to the office she knew she needed to fill in the puzzle pieces before she made her decision.
It took another two hours to review Tony’s team’s appraisal forms, to talk privately to each of the team members, and to feel like she’d been the one walking around with blinkers on. It wasn’t Blake who had the blind spot. She needed to apologise to him, but Aiden—he could go hang himself.
When the three of them were in Blake’s office with coffee Cara served, she explained what she’d learned.
“I understand about Nigel. I know why it had to be kept quiet.”
“Who’s talking about it?” said Aiden.
“No one.” She needed to protect her source, “But there’s an understanding it was the right thing to act quickly. No one thinks it was unprovoked anymore.”
Aiden and Blake exchanged a look. Some of the anxiety coiled in Aiden appeared to unfurl. He unfolded his arms and leaned against the wall. She wished he’d fall through it and choke in plaster dust.
“And I understand about Tony. In Tony’s direct team there are nine people, there were ten with Nigel. Five of them are clearly supporters, but the rest have nothing good to say about him. When I looked at staff turnover records, I could see that staff who’ve resigned in the last three years, all came from Tony’s team, with the exception of two people who were moving overseas.”
None of this was a surprise to Blake or Aiden. She had to steel herself to go on, because it meant admitting she’d been in the wrong. “I’m sorry. I should’ve found out more before I sided with Tony. I understand now.”
“No biggie, Bails,” said Blake. He was pushed back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head.
“Hold on, Blake.” Aiden dragged a chair from the meeting table forward and sat beside Bailey in front of Blake’s desk. He swivelled it to face her and she braced for a fight. Found herself hoping Aiden would be aggressive and confrontational, so Blake might see him in action. He leaned towards her and what he said was utterly confounding.
“We owe you an apology.”
Blake brought his arms down and his chair forward. He made a grumbling noise as if to warn Aiden off. Aiden ignored him. “We should’ve told you what we suspected about Tony.”
She looked at Blake. His magnanimous acceptance of her apology felt suddenly surplus. Yeah, why the hell hadn’t they clued her in? They’d let her walk into this mess, and make it bigger. “Why didn’t you tell me about Tony?”
“Well, you know, it wasn’t...”
She cut Blake off, “Why did you let me think Tony was the good guy?” And Aiden was the bad guy. Though he was still the bad guy. An aggressive, in your face, take no prisoners bully. That hadn’t changed. There was still a negative vibe about him in the office, despite what she now knew about Nigel, and had learned from Dominic and Evan, and now Roberta. People were uncertain about Aiden’s motives and didn’t trust he’d be a supportive leader. But now everything Tony said about him had to be re-evaluated. Aiden was a bad guy, but exactly what density of black he was—was open to debate.
“It wasn’t your job.”
“Blake, that’s a piss poor reason. I nearly gave Tony a free pass on manipulating the staff appraisals because I thought you trusted him.”
“We wouldn’t have let that happen.”
“But you’d let me get played for a fool.”
Blake frowned, opened his mouth to bite back, and Aiden did the confounding thing again, he said, “She’s right. That’s what we did. That’s why we’re apologising.”
Now Blake was on his feet. Bailey knew ‘sorry’ wasn’t a word that tripped off his tongue easily. “We’re running a business not a social club. It’s a need to know environment. You didn’t need to know about Nigel or Tony.”
“I can accept you had no choice with Nigel. But you’re saying it was ok Tony tried to use me to get to you.”
Aiden said, “No,” at the same time Blake said, ”Yes.” She looked from Blake, clearly agitated, fists jammed into his pants pockets, to Aiden, calmly watching her, and back to Blake again.
“Which is it?”
“This is not a game, with winners and losers, Bailey. If you think that, maybe you shouldn’t be here. Maybe I was wrong to ask you to help out if you can’t keep to your brief.”
She’d already had her ego battered and her self-esteem rocked today. She’d even been humiliated enough to be chased out of her own office, but wow that hurt. Rabbit punch to the kidneys, bamboo spike under the fingernail. Bailey couldn’t meet Blake’s eyes. Did he really think so little of her?
From beside her Aiden said in that quiet deadly voice, “Blake, you don’t mean that. You’re pissed off she’s right again. Don’t take it out on her.”
Now Blake turned on Aiden, hands jabbing. “Fuck off. This is between me and Bailey.”
“Yeah that’s the problem.” Aiden did the low voice tone thing that added gravity to what he said. “You don’t see her clearly.”
“Oh and you do? What would you know, Aid? You guys don’t even like each other.”
“We don’t have to like each other. Stop making this about something else.”
Blake was like a chip fryer, hot oil and stinging sizzle. “What am I making it about? This is simple.”
Bailey wanted the heat turned down; it was doing none of them any good. Blake was right about one thing; this was a business, not a place to play out awkward interpersonal issues. Her decision was made. It was too hard to work here. It was time to go.
“It’s very simple. We all know about Tony. You can act as you see fit without needing to tell me anything. I’ll finish up the appraisals and the salary benchmarking by the end of the week and I’ll go.”
Blake met this with an upper lip rippled in agreement. “If that’s what you want. Great.” Bailey read it as a dismissal and moved to stand, but the cold authority in Aiden’s voice stoped her. He had a head of steam. It came from his reservoir of calm and boiled over. It was pure and directed at Blake.
“If you truly want Bailey to go you’re a frigging idiot.”
“She’s only here another month or so anyway.”
The whistle on Aiden’s kettle was almost shrill. “God, you can be a spoilt kid.”
Why was Aiden fighting Blake, why did he care? He thought she was insubordinate and disloyal, and he’d had no trouble telling her that, so why was he
defending her? Last time they’d been together in Blake’s office, she’d been the one ganged up on. Now inexplicably, Aiden was gunning for Blake on her behalf. She could fight her own battles without his help.
“Aiden, you don’t have to do this.”
“Yes I do.”
“It’s between Blake and me.”
“Not anymore.” He glanced at her only briefly, but it was enough to see he wasn’t mucking about; he was committed to fighting this. He was genuinely on her side.
“Blake, are you really saying you want Bailey to finish up early? Because I don’t. I don’t want her to finish up at all.”
Bailey stared at Aiden. What he was doing made no sense. He’d torn strips off her earlier, and now he was virtually arguing her merits. She could see his chest rising and falling quickly but evenly. His mouth was set in a determined line. She’d stood against his tenacity and come unstuck, now it was her champion, and it confused the stuffing out of her.
She followed Aiden’s eye line till she was looking at Blake. He was wearing his bad temper like a woollen jumper in the February humidity. It scratched him, it made his temperature soar, but it was so easy for him to cool down. All he had to do was choose to take it off. Bailey figured he was going to continue to sweat instead.
She stood to leave, here was nothing else to say, but Aiden’s hand shot out and closed over her forearm to hold her in place, not aggressively, not possessively, surprisingly gently.
Blake growled out, “Fuck no.” He threw himself in his chair and Aiden released her arm, adding, “That’s better,” as if he’d known all along the heatwave would pass.
“Don’t go, Bails. I don’t want you to go. We need you here,” Blake tapped his chest, “me,” pointed to Aiden, “and him both.”
Bailey studied Blake. There was a fine slick of sweat above his top lip, and he wore an unhappy expression. He slumped in his leather chair with an open palm on the desktop, as though overcome by heat exhaustion. But he was telling the truth and that helped.
From the moment he’d rejected her and she’d resolved to finally, for real, walk away, she’d felt a deep sadness. Things weren’t necessarily easy between her and Blake, but he was hard to leave. The problem was she loved him, for all his bluster, and in spite of his failure to see her clearly, and she didn’t like the idea of never seeing him or working with him again. And Aiden, apart from clashing over Tony, they’d had very little to do with each other and it could stay that way.
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