Page 83 of Bite Me
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When Anthony himself entered our cubicle after lunch, I had an eerie feeling ofdéjà vu.
This is how it ends.
“Eddie, do you have twenty minutes? Come with me, please.”
I exchanged a look with Cat. Her eyes were wide, telling me she had no idea what this was about. But I knew, and dread turned my stomach. Swallowing compulsively, I followed Anthony through the hallways until we reached his office.
“Please, close the door and take a seat.”
I must have looked bewildered because Anthony folded his arms across his chest, measured me with his cold stare, and said, “I’m not firing you.”
I opened my mouth and closed it.Shit. That was good news, right? Why was he looking at me like this, then?
“Russel talked to me this morning. He gave his notice.”
My mind went blank.
“Judging by your face right now, I assume he didn’t speak to you about this beforehand.”
I shook my head on automatic. Russel…gave his notice? This morning?
“He seems to care about you a lot.” Anthony’s expression was so sour that it took me several seconds to understand that what he’d said was a good thing.
Russel gave his notice because he cared about me.
He’d wanted to tell me he was falling in love with me, and I’d been too scared to hear it. But love wasn’t something one could pause at will and return to when the weather cleared.
We were in love, and it meant so much to Russel that he gave up his job for me.
I needed to process this, preferably without my boss dissecting my every move.
“I’m annoyed, Eddie. Exceedingly annoyed. You two were at the core of my new strategy, and now I must rethink everything.” He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “But he’s right. Given the choice between the two of you, I should hold on to you.”
“I’m so sorry, Anthony. I…apologize. I didn’t mean to…”
He didn’t let me finish. “This means we don’t have a team lead for personal brand. I’m facing another recruitment process, and I don’t have time for that nonsense again. I would love to just make you the team lead and be done with that, but I can’t, can I?”
My eyes almost fell out of my sockets. “Um, I’m not…ready.”
“You need a few more years.” He grimaced. “And management courses. Youdohave the brain, but you need to build your confidence. See, my second choice for Russel’s position was someone named Hannah Kassem, who also happens to be a vampire. She’s a little more experienced than you on paper but hasn’t held a leadership position before either. She also has a more cautious approach, and I believe you two could balance each other out. So here’s what we’re going to do.”
He paused and scrolled on his laptop while I waited with my heart in my throat.
“I’ll give Miss Kassem a call,” he finally said. “I’ll ask her if she still wants to join Fowles & Tito, and you two will meet. If you like her, I’ll offer her a job as a senior strategist, and you’ll work side by side, answering directly to me. You’ll share what’s now Russel’s office. He told me he would be available as a consultant.”
Somewhere halfway through Anthony’s explanation, my brain restarted and was now running at a hundred miles an hour.
“Thank you for trusting me. I won’t let you down.”
He flashed me another of his signature scowls. “I know. If you two break up in a few weeks, and this has all been for nothing… But no pressure, huh?”
Was he joking?
Then, Anthony laughed.
I’d barely ever witnessed him laughing, but now he let out a merry chuckle, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “You need to work on your poker face, Eddie. Now go. I’ve got work to do.”
