“You would know,” I toss back.
“And you would know how to cheat to win.” He says it softer, but he could whisper, and I’d still hear it in this blasted room.
Ice slices down my spine.
I have dealt with his immature ways for the last four years. I’ve put up with his incessant teasing, his conceited comments at school and in the office. But calling me a cheater?
I roll my shoulders, holding myself higher, and push out of the room.
“That egotistical jerk,” I mutter under my breath.
I’ve worked as hard as everyone else in this office to get here. I put myself through my undergrad by playing collegiate volleyball, and I worked my tail off every day in law school, all while helping my best friend raise her son. “I’ve never cheated to get ahead.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
My head snaps up, and my eyes connect with Bri’s. There’s a gleam in her eyes, as well as a hint of mischief.
“Excuse me?”
She pushes from the counter housing the coffee pot. “Oh, do you not know?”
I swallow hard. I don’t like where this is headed. “Know what?”
She flicks an invisible piece of lint off her shoulder. “That case you got the first week on the job. Newbies don’t get high-profile cases.”
Is she referring to the case where my best friend was almost kidnapped? The one I got to sit in on at court. I didn’t say two words during that trial.
“I guess the boss made an exception.” I shrug and reach around her for a mug.
“Or…” She steps closer to me, blocking my access to caffeine. She pauses, dangling that single word above me until it’s time to strike. “Youcheated”—her eyes rove down my body then back up again—“to get to the top.”
It takes a full ten seconds for her words to sink in. My ankle gives out, and I stumble back, trying to gain footing on the solid ground. “Are you insinuating that I…?” I can’t even bring myself to say it out loud. Does she really think I would stoop to that level?
She takes a nonchalant sip of her coffee. “That’s the story going around the office.”
My heart drops like a rock, burying itself somewhere in my stomach. That’s why I keep getting winks and whistles from a few of the men, and why none of the women will talk to me. Everyone thinks I’m the office skank.
“That’s a lie!” My voice borders on hysterical. “Who would start such an awful rumor?”
Bri tilts her head to the side and gives me a pitying smile. “Who do you think? Everyone knows you and Connor hate each other. But if it is indeed a rumor”—she picks lazily at one of her fake nails—“even I’ll admit he went too far.”
The devil.
I barely register my feet moving until the door to the conference room slams shut behind me.
Connor glances up at me.
“What is your problem?” My jaw barely cracks open.
His eyes narrow like he’s been waiting a long time for this moment. He stands and stalks toward me; every step he takes closer puts him in dangerous territory, but it doesn’t slow his approach.
When he’s less than a foot away, he stops and folds his arms. The actiondoes notdraw my attention to his very average-sized biceps or his veiny forearms. He really needs to wear clothing the appropriate way.
“My problem is you.”
I clench my fists at my sides. “That’s your excuse? That’s why you did it? Do you truly hate me that much?”
A touch of the flame in his eyes dies, and his forehead scrunches. “What are you talking about?”
