Daniel’s brows lowered menacingly. “Over your documented approval of torture and violence against gay people? Absolutely. I’m just embarrassed it took this much money and outside influence for me to come to this conclusion.”
Eddie slammed the flat of his hand on the table, rising up, kicking the chair out behind him so it hit the wall. “This is bullshit, and I will sue your ass off.”
Dolores cleared her throat. “Does that count as ranting, raving, pissing, or moaning?”
A genuine smile crossed over Daniel’s face at that. “It’s dangerously close.” He jutted his chin at the door. “Get out if you want any chance at keeping your severance package. Not one more word.”
Eddie’s jaw clenched, but he did back off. Glaring vitriol at CJ on the way out, but silent as he left.
That silence hung in the space for several seconds, until Norman’s quiet, weary voice broke it. “I second the need for coffee if we’re dealing with this bullshit before eight in the morning.”
CJ pulled out his phone and flashed it. “Eight-o-two.”
Dolores laughed, and Daniel stood. “I hope you don’t mind if I ask you to write a statement for us. We’ll be paying you extra regardless for the runaround. And for the…images you had to see while doing this job.” Daniel’s face twisted in disgust. “I was only tangentially aware of what he’d actually written and shared. In the future, I’ll be more aware. I passed the buck on to my assistant to actually…compile that information for you.” Another cringe. “I’ll give her a bonus as well.”
CJ could have chided him for not being active in the first place, for trying to save face over something he didn’t fully understand. He could have expressed anger at how much time they all could have saved.
But at the end of the day, it wasn’t the worst thing CJ had seen on the job. Close, but not the worst. They’d made the right choice when the chips were down. And the extra time had given him a better chance to get to know Percy on a deeper level.
“I have a rough draft written already. Since I was hopeful you would arrive at this decision.” In point of fact, he had about two-dozen boilerplate apologies that he could pretty masterfully massage and splice together into something that would work. “I’d just need a few hours to polish it up and you can put it out. If there’s any way to keep a lockdown on Eddie so he doesn’t spout on social media, that would be good.” The threat of losing his severance package was a start, but CJ knew that pissed off employees often wanted vengeance.
Norman rose with a groan. “I can handle that.”
“You?” CJ shot it out before he could think about, filter his own thoughts. Immediately, his face heated and stomach flip-flopped. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
“I don’t think it did.” Norman smiled softly. “I’m not planning to intimidate him. I just happen to have access to every device attached to our network.” He glanced at Daniel. “Not that I’m implying I’m about to do anything untoward.”
“Of course not.” Daniel nodded. “Carry on.”
Norman slipped out the door, leaving them with just three. The silence continued to bear down, but not angrily or anxiously. Heavy, to be sure. Something major had just happened. But CJ didn’t feel any need to rush out of there or shout.
A definite improvement over their last meeting.
Daniel’s chair creaked as he leaned on the back of it. “If you have any recommendations on consultants to help keep me on my game a little more in the future, I’d be all ears.”
CJ didn’t necessarily think he needed outside help. Dealing with this sort of thing tended to be enough of a wake-up call. But he nodded. “I’ll send over anything I think might help. If you don’t need me in person any longer, I’d like to get back to my computer. And my…new boyfriend.”
Strange, his soon-to-be-ex-employers being the first people in his life CJ had said that to, but it still thrummed warmth through his chest and belly to get to say it at all.
The flash of despair across Daniel’s face, as he parsed the extra depth that information added to the situation, was also kind of worth it.
Chapter 15
They pulled up in front of Percy’s house after those few blissful days in Spokane, and Percy tried not to completely empty his stomach right out the window. Every mile they’d driven closer to Hydrangea Hollow, he’d felt the magic slipping away, the spell breaking. There was no way there was anythinghere. Nothing real between them besides good sex.
Percy would have liked to think he was the sort of person who could simply be okay with that. A nice dalliance, nothing more. But the quivering in his knees as he turned off the engine and the dry scratch in his throat as he forced himself to swallow confirmed he was not that person. Or at least he hadn’t gotten over it just yet.
Somehow, he made it out of the pickup and inside his house, CJ trailing behind him. He took off his coat, slipped off his shoes, and only then, once he had no choice in the matter, did he turn to look at CJ.
He was standing right next to the door, hands in his pockets, smiling quietly. “So good news, bad news. Which one do you want first?”
There it was. Almost a relief to know CJ was going to rip the Band-Aid off and get it over with. “Bad news. You always pick bad news first, that’s the rule.”
He nodded. “I have to go soon, and we’re going to have to rain check that date for a while.”
A rain check he’s never going to cash.Percy shouldn’t have let himself get tied up in the possibilities here, but he had. Somehow, he’d convinced himself there was some possibility of him and CJ moving forward. Of being…boyfriends. All because of a stupid snowstorm and some coffee.This is going to be one hell of a Christmas.
Percy blew out a long breath, doing his best to keep his face placid. “And the good news?”
