Needing to talk sounded like there was something I needed to worry about. Or, like he was worried about something.
I hoped he wasn’t about to bring up the past, thinking I was going to behave in any weird way toward him.
I followed him into the room. It had the same sort of executive style like the meeting rooms back in LA where important people met and talked out ideas.
As he lowered to sit on the edge of the large mahogany desk, I sat in one of the chairs in front of him. He’d looked cool and collected in his white button-down shirt and gray tailored pants. I picked up on his demeanor suddenly changing.
“You’re scaring me,” I stated with a slight quiver in my voice. “What is it? If this is about the past you have nothing to worry about. I’m so over that and firmly believe work is work.” I didn’t mean to say all that. It just flowed out and now the blush that had swept over my skin had me all hot and bothered.
“No, it’s not about the past,” he clarified. My cheeks grew hotter.
“Oh, okay…that was embarrassing. I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you to think that I have a grudge or something and would bring it to work.”
“I don’t, and you don’t have to be embarrassed around me for anything.” He dipped his head for a fraction of a second then looked back to me. “I wanted to talk to you about the work here and the way things have been set up for your trial. It’s also the reason why I’ve been here early.”
“What’s happening? It’s just a trial, right? For six months. Standard. You see how I work and if you like me, I stay, if you don’t I go…”
Funny…that sounded an awful lot like what happened to us.
Him thinking it wasn’t a good idea to be with me was just like him not liking me, letting me go.
“It’s…going to be a little different to what you expect and not so standard as what you think.”
“Oh, so…what will it be like?”
“I wanted to tell you before, but the wedding wasn’t the place and I wasn’t really allowed to say more than we are now. But there was another applicant for the position who was as suitable as you are, so it was decided that we’d give you both a chance to trial for the role.”
Numbness took me from the minute he said there was another applicant. And that same feeling from the past, like I was always missing something. This was a big example of that now.
“Who decided this?”
He took a second before answering. “Brad, and Nicholas Eubank, our boss who heads the facility.”
I really wished I didn’t feel that hollow inside my chest. “I have to basically compete for the role?”
That did not sound at all ideal.
“In a sense, yes.” An uneasy expression washed over his handsome face. “You’ll each be judged on two main tasks. The most important is a research project of your choosing, and the next an assessment of how well you work your teams. Nick will make the final decision at the end of the trial period. As your boss I’ll be directly responsible for overseeing your trial and reporting my final thoughts on you. But mostly my job is to support you in any way I can.”
I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to make me feel any better. It didn’t.
The knock on the door cut into the moment and Cole stood.
“Come in,” he called out, and a clean-cut man in a suit came in. He looked to be in his mid-to-late forties. I was guessing he was the other applicant, and from the scrutinizing way he looked at me I already knew I wouldn’t like him.
“Morning. I’m Dr. Kirk Foster,” he said, introducing himself.
Doctor? Shit…he’s a doctor. I’m just Miss Hughes.
Now I felt like all hope was gone.
“Yes, welcome. Please take a seat,” Cole answered and Kirk took his seat next to me.
Cole spent less than a minute informing Kirk the same as he told me.
Two applicants for the same job.
I didn’t take the news well, but Kirk looked like he was ready to hit someone by the end of that minute.
“Why wasn’t I informed of this prior to today?” he threw back at Cole.
Since I’d love to know the same, I couldn’t hold the question against him.
While I might not have seen Cole since the wedding, I’d seen Brad at least ten times. Peter and I even slept over at his house when he came back from his honeymoon. That was two weeks ago. Plenty of time to have given me some kind of heads up.
“We were still finalizing what we were doing,” Cole answered and instantly leaned forward, exerting that bad boy presence I was more used to than the professional face he was wearing. “Our process is to inform our candidates of the potential to work with us but a trial period can always be amended. It is not uncommon to do it this way. The problem is you both have the skills we’re looking for in this role.”
“Oh please,” Kirk said, casting a look of disdain at me. “This is a no-brainer. There’s no way this woman has skills comparable to me. I taught at MIT. She looks like she just finished college…or didn’t.”
I straightened up and glowered at him.
I’d been insulted many times in my life but that had to be the worst.
“Excuse me?” Cole asked before I could answer.
“You heard me. I’m all for fairness but this is ridiculous.”
“How dare you?” I spat and rose to my feet. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“I’m a neurosurgeon with a PhD in neuroscience and a masters in robotics and bioengineering. I have credentials longer than the years you’ve been alive.”
“How do you know what credentials I have?” It was all I could throw back since I didn’t have a PhD.
I was twenty-nine years old and he was clearly older. Of course, he’d have more qualifications than me; at the same time, I was sure the one thing we both had that was required for the role was the masters in neuroscience and experience.
“Just the look of you tells me enough.”
Unbelievable. What a jerk.
I grabbed my purse and stood up to leave. I might have been desperate, but I wasn’t going to sit here and be insulted by this prick. I needed to speak to Brad.
“Laila wait,” Cole said quickly.
“Didn’t realize we were on a first-name basis,” Kirk contended, snapping his gaze from me to Cole.
“Look pal, back off or your journey ends right now,” Cole practically growled.
Kirk didn’t like that one bit.
It didn’t matter though because the situation was still shit.
It was bad enough to have to compete, but against a man like that who was cursing me down even before I opened my mouth to speak?
Cole returned his attention to me and gave me a pointed stare. “Miss Hughes, are you leaving the meeting because you no longer want the job?” he asked me.
If I didn’t want this job so badly, I would have already been out the door.
The pay was obviously a major factor but more than that was what it would represent for me. I’d get to do a job I’d really wanted at a prestigious research center. How could I not want that? Of course, I wanted it. The next plan was to finish my PhD as soon as I could.
This job was supposed to be the thing to set me back on track, back on the path I’d wanted to be on for my career.
“No, it’s not that,” I answered stiffly. “I just refuse to sit in a room and be spoken to with such disrespect. I won’t stand for it.”
“Respect is key here at Remington’s,” Cole responded and looked over to Kirk, who had fury all over his face. “If that is going to be a problem, Dr. Foster, then you can leave now. From what I’ve seen of you, you don’t fit the ethos here at Remington’s and I’m quite appalled that you can look at another professional and speak to them in such a way.”
As surprised as I was that Cole put him in his place, I was still pissed.
“Apologies…” Kirk said. It was fake as hell though and I would have really loved to tell his Armani-wearing ass to shove th
at apology. But…it was fine.
I had to accept it because I wanted the position.
I just wished that everything didn’t feel like it was against me.
I sat back down without verbally accepting his apology. I wasn’t going to. What I was going to do was be careful with this guy.
He already took a dig at me for Cole calling me by my first name. What would he say when he found out Brad was my brother?
Everything really was against me.
Cole
“We should have told her,” I said to Brad.
He just got off the phone and had that blasé look on his face like I was worrying over nothing.
“What happened?”
“What do you think happened?” I threw back as I sat in the chair before him.
His office was bigger than mine with that pompous feel to it I didn’t like.
Brad sighed and leaned forward on his desk.
“Cole, we knew this was going to be an issue. You think I wanted to keep such a thing from my sister? She was so happy when I told her about the job. I didn’t have the heart to go into the nitty gritty of it and wear her down.”
“Brad, you should have been the one to tell her.” We’d had this conversation before because I knew what took place this morning was inevitable.
What happened after that was more shit, but the problem stemmed from the lack of detail on the fine print that there were two people competing for the job. I actually still couldn’t believe that Brad was making her compete. She was more than qualified for the position, but he just wanted to look good to Nick for that damn promotion to the board of governors.
“I’m sticking with protocol. In business it doesn’t matter who the person is. We follow what we need to and everything runs as it should. We can’t talk about stuff like that. Even if it feels like we should. She knows now.”
“And she’s not happy about it,” I filled in. “And just so you know, Kirk Foster is a prick and a half.” It was Brad who liked him from his application and interview. Brad carried out the interview and that was how this whole thing came about.
When Brad put the idea of Laila working here to Nick, his one stipulation was that we had to do the recruitment process properly. Advertise the role and interview. That was all.
That was also when Brad interviewed Kirk, liked him, and decided on a competition. I’d known this guy for a long time, so I knew when he was doing things to make himself look good. This was one of those times.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s a prick, he’s very qualified too. Like we always say, work is work. So, if they want the job they will have to compete for the permanent role. We need to remember that work is work and not allow certain emotions to cloud our judgement.”
Emotions.
He straightened up and stared at me harder. “Cole…I’ve been doing my best to brush the past aside, but I think I need to warn you to just let Laila be. I don’t want you making things worse for her, especially not here. If she didn’t know us, she would just accept that she would need to compete for the role, no problem. So, going forward, please just try to be professional with her.”
All I could do was stare at him, wondering if he was being serious.
“You seriously think I’m going to make things worse for her? How?”
“You know how. Please don’t make me go back there with you because I hated being so mad at you. You’re my best friend and I can’t be that way with you, but I will when it comes to her. And definitely now that she’s been through so much.”
Laila was divorced to a guy that I was pretty sure was an asshole. I heard by accident that he walked out on her and the baby and they hadn’t heard from him since. Two years now. What kind of man did that?
“I have no intention of making things worse for Laila, and I never did. Not years ago, and not now.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear it. So, you won’t mind me telling you to keep your relationship professional with her and leave her alone in every other respect?”
“Stay away from your sister,” I filled in, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
“This is ridiculous but yeah, stay away from her. She needs to rebuild and I won’t allow you to get involved with her again and tear down whatever strength she’s managed to gain back after the divorce. She has a child now.”
I stood up. I couldn’t take any more of this shit.
“Yeah, she has a child now. I’m not sure what you thought it was I planned to do, but for the record it wasn’t just her who was upset about the way you decided to do this competition. Kirk was too and he was right to be upset. There’s always a better way to do something. This was an instance where we should have found one, and since Laila has ‘been through so much,’ I’m surprised you couldn’t make this as smooth as possible on her.”
He just looked at me, not answering, but I knew he wouldn’t give one. It was days like this when he decided to be an ass that I couldn’t deal with him, so I left.
Stay away from Laila.
Right…
I planned to. It was time I laid this whole thing to rest.
That didn’t mean that I had to be a prick like Brad and disconnect.
He might be the boss of me at Remington’s but I wouldn’t allow him to be the boss of me in my life.
Instead of going back down to my office I got ready to leave for the day. It was already six.
Laila and Kirk left at four. I thought I’d give them an easier day today since it was the first day, and the most pressing, to get over the shock.
All I’d done today with them was give them the tour and induction of the facility. That was like pulling teeth because Kirk was getting on my nerves.
I couldn’t understand how a man like that, who was supposed to be professional, could just attack relentlessly—and within the first five minutes of meeting me.
He was the kind of guy I would have decked back in the day for being such a prick. In fact, one look from the old Cole and he would have righted himself before pissing me off. He’d know right off the bat not to come at me with any crap.
It was clear he didn’t like Laila because she was beautiful. I knew his type. It was the only explanation for his viscous attack and that comment of his about me using her first name. In that same five minutes of meeting him, I knew he was going to be a problem, and I knew he’d have a problem with me.
Laila, on the other hand, I knew when she was really upset. She was upset when Kirk made his rude comments and she was upset about the competition.
I couldn’t be all businesslike as Brad was and just assume Laila would get over it.
Since one of us should have said something to her, one of us should go and check on her to find out if she was okay.
That person would be me.
I got her address from her file and reached her little house an hour after I left the center.
It was a long journey considering I rode my motorcycle.
I’d bet that asshole Kirk would hate that I rode around like a biker, like some drifter going from one town to the next. Sometimes I wished I was exactly that.
I walked up to the door and rang the bell. It took a while before Laila opened the door and when she did, surprise suffused her pretty face.
“Hi,” I said first, trying to act cool and collected.
“Hi there.” She wasn’t as vibrant as this morning when she first saw me. The way we spoke then made me almost think we could have some kind of relationship that resembled what we had prior to Vegas.
“Please tell me you aren’t here to deliver more bad news,” she added.
“No, I came to check on you.”
She released a little breath and ran a hand over her hair. It was now up in a messy bun with loose dark brown tendrils hanging about her cheeks.
“Do you want to come in? The place is a mess but it’s not too bad.” She offered a kind smile.
“Thanks. And I’m good with mess, you know what my whole house looks like.”
That made her smile brighten and I took it as a good sign.
I walked inside and followed her through to the living room.
The place looked like her, although there were toys everywhere.
She sat first on the long leather sofa. As I sat, a screech rang through the house and a little boy came running in wearing a Captain America costume. He had a little bike in his hands too.
“Mom…there’s a motorcycle outside the house!” he cried, and stopped abruptly when he saw me.
“Oh no.” Laila winced but I smiled.
“And who is this?” I asked him.
“I’m Peter Thomas and I love motorcycles.”
“Peter, this is Cole…Mommy’s friend,” Laila explained and I was grateful to be called a friend.
“Glad to meet you Mr. Cole.” Peter said, putting out his little hand for me to shake.
Already he fascinated me. I shook his hand and he smiled brightly.
“Please call me Cole. Can I call you Peter, Mr. Peter?”
His little head bobbled up and down as he nodded. “Is that your motorcycle outside?”
“Sure is. If your mom says yes we can check it out in a little while.” I looked over to Laila, who was gazing on at Peter. She seemed surprised by my comment.
There was no way she could say no to Peter, who made that screeching sound again as he bounced over to her.
“Mom please, can I please? You know how much I love motorcycles. I want to ride around like Captain America on my bike. Vroom, vrommmmmmm.”
I didn’t know how she managed the little bundle of energy by herself. He seemed like fun.
He pulled off his mask and I could see the resemblance between them immediately. He was like a mini boy version of her. Same dark brown hair, same champagne brown eyes that reminded me of autumn.
“Yes, you can, but only if it’s not too much hassle for Cole. It’s already late,” she said, shooting me a look.
“Point taken.” I chuckled. “We’ll be quick.”
“Yay!” Peter ran around in so many circles he made me dizzy just watching him, and the little jumps he did after were so fast I wasn’t sure how he didn’t throw up.
Cole Page 4
