“Why are you here?” Maybe I could turn the tables on him and not get a lecture. “You said you couldn’t make it in for the shoot?”
“I got an anonymous call that you two were going to tear each other’s throats out…or have sex in the middle of the shoot. They weren’t sure which, but both options made them nervous.” It might have been funny if he wasn’t so serious.
Damn it.
I was going to have to figure out who’d tattled.
“We got the pictures.” I wasn’t sure what else Preston expected me to say.
We’d gone back and forth about what to do over and over but never came to a conclusion. One on hand, sales were up and the site was busier than ever. On the other, the rest of the staff couldn’t seem to decide if the circus the shoots had become were scary or entertaining. Some, like Reece, had tried to stay neutral, but it was getting harder. Even I could see that.
Not that I could stop myself. He made me nuts.
“It can’t keep going on like this. You’re miserable, and most of the time you leave shoots ready to crash the website. I was expecting to have to make another panicked call to Reece. He’s going to kill us both if you keep crashing it.” Preston sighed, rolling his eyes. “I already owe him enough time off because of all the overtime that he could swim to England.”
“I behaved.” I waved my arms, gesturing to the computer and then back to myself. “See, I’m calm. I’m going to head over and have lunch with Reece and Houston in a few minutes.”
Preston made a strangled laughing sound and shook his head. “Houston’s talking to you already?”
I sighed and slumped down. “Reece promised to keep him from tearing me limb from limb.”
“Reece did, huh?” Preston sounded pleased at hearing that. “Well, maybe they’ve patched things up, then.”
“They’re perfect for each other.” I’d known that the first time I’d seen Houston watching Reece. They’d just needed a push.
“Maybe.” Preston seemed to know I was right, because he gave me a smile and changed the subject. But the smile faded, and he leaned casually into the desk, wearing hisyou’re not going to like thisface. “I need to talk to you about Roman.”
Shit.
I wasn’t even sure where to start. “It just got out of hand.”
“It’s more than that, and you know it. The photos are great, and the sales have been even better. I’ll admit I only let it go on this long because I thought you two actually liked each other and just needed to learn to communicate. But it’s not working. You’re both miserable.” Preston looked more conflicted about all of it than I’d seen in a long time. There were circles under his eyes, and I knew it was lack of sleep that had done it to him. He hadn’t looked this stressed since the first couple of months we were trying to get everything off the ground.
“I’m sorry.” I shrugged, still at a loss for words—which was really unusual for me. “The pictures will probably turn out great, if that’s any consolation.”
“It is…but, Eli…” Preston’s voice trailed off, and he looked away.
Shit.
When he started talking again, his voice was quieter. “Do you remember when we first started the company, and you said that you thought I should handle most of the hiring?”
“Yes.” I could tell I wasn’t going to like the direction the conversation was taking.
“Do you remember around that same time we were talking about roles in the company and our strengths?” He finally glanced back at me, and when I nodded, he kept going. “You said I would probably have to be the one to fire someone because you had a tendency to keep people, even when they were bad for you and should have been chased off a long time ago.”
I’d been thinking of my family in that conversation. It wasn’t one I would forget. “Yes.”
“I need you to think about why I made this decision, Eli.” His quiet voice had my stomach going in circles. “I fired Roman.”
It was like a tornado came roaring through the room. I got light-headed, and suddenly the room started to spin. When I could think again, I found my head stuck between my knees, and Preston yelling at me about being agoddamned drama queen.
He was so cute when he worried.
It only took a second for my brain to clear as I sat up. Shit. “You fired him?”
The sentence didn’t make sense, even though I understood the words. “Why?”
Preston looked at me like I was an idiot. “Because you two have scared the rest of the staff so badly that I had a couple of the models come to me and ask me not to put them in the same shoots as you guys. They weren’t sure what was going to happen, and they were freaked the fuck out.”
