In front of me, Jake remained silent. So I asked the question again, quieter this time. "Did you? Bet against me, I mean?"
But it was Trey who answered. "He sure did. Picked almost the exact date too." He chuckled. "Talk about lucky."
I said nothing. My gaze was still on Jake. Coming out of the elevator, he'd looked obnoxiously happy. Now, he was frowning, looking almost pissed off. At who? Me?
I squared my shoulders. If that was the case, so what? He could get mad all he wanted. I still deserved an answer.
So I waited.
When no answer came, I felt my shoulders sag. "You did, didn't you? You seriously bet on me to get fired."
His voice was quiet. "It wasn't like that."
"Oh yeah?" I said. "Then why'd you do it? Is that what you wanted? Or did you just think I was too incompetent to keep a job more than two weeks?"
Jake's gaze shifted past me, looking toward Trey. "Trey," Jake said. "You wanna head out?"
"Nah, that's okay," Trey said. "I'm good."
Jake's jaw tightened. "You sure about that?"
After a long, awkward moment, Trey cleared his throat. "Oh. Um, yeah, I've gotta check on that thing. So, uh, see you in about an hour?"
Feeling suddenly guilty for driving the poor guy off, I made myself say, "No, that's alright." I turned around and told Trey, "Don't go on my account. Jake and I can talk upstairs." I turned back to Jake and said, "Right?"
But Jake was shaking his head. He looked to Trey and said, "Let's call it a day. See you tomorrow, alright?"
I watched, confused, as Trey, with obvious reluctance, gathered his stuff and trudged toward the elevator. I couldn’t help but stare. In my whole life, I'd never seen anyone so disappointed to leave work. The guy seriously needed a social life.
After the elevator carried him away, I turned to Jake and asked, "Why didn't you want to talk upstairs?"
He gave a casual shrug. "I didn't think we needed to."
Like everything else, this made no sense. Why would he choose to kick out his assistant instead of hopping on that same elevator and going up just one floor? Or hell, we could've taken the stairs. It was only one flight, after all.
I shook off the distraction. What did it matter now? Trey was gone. Jake was here. And I had some things I desperately wanted to know.
But now that we were actually alone, getting those answers seemed a tricky proposition.
I was still pondering where to begin when I heard myself blurt out, "I saw that video."
