Fuck, some kind of crazy intervention.
I rolled my eyes, not bothering to hide my frustration. “I already got that part.”
They all had matching looks that said they didn’t believe my front for a minute. Preston’s frown deepened. “Eli, don’t be an ass.”
Reece gave Preston the “you’re not helping” look and turned his focus back on me. “You’ve been miserable.”
“I’m fine.”
Okay, so maybe I’d said that sentence a lot over the past week, but I wasn’t going to back down from it. I might not be fine yet, but I knew I would be eventually. Everything was just mixed up in my head, and I had to get past it first.
“Bullshit.” Houston’s stern voice made me shift in my seat. I wasn’t turned on, but something about his voice had the sub inside of me rolling over and begging for attention.
Needy little bastard.
Houston shook his head. “You’re fully dressed in a real adult outfit and haven’t even tried to crash the site in a week.”
I looked down, a little offended. “There’s nothing wrong with my clothes.”
Maybe I was a bit boring today, but every guy needed a casual day once in a while. If my version of casual happened to be slacks and a button-down shirt, there was nothing to be ashamed of about it. “I look good.”
“You look like a banker on casual Friday.” Reece flicked his eyes at Preston. “You’re dressed nicer than Preston.”
Preston finally cracked a smile, but it quickly faded. “Your casual Friday outfit a few weeks ago was to show up almost naked. Now you look like you could go to lunch with those stockbrokers down the street who walk past the office too many times on their lunch break.”
I fought to keep a straight face, but inside I was almost smiling. He was right. But the little finance guys were funny, so I didn’t mind the comparison. “The stockbrokers are cute. And that was a bet. I had to show up in panties.”
They were getting ridiculous. “Besides, since when is being nicely dressed and functional at work a crime? Even around here.” Trying to push the discussion of the bet away, I headed toward safer topics. “Preston, you said the other day that you were tired of me dressing down all the time and not getting anything done.”
I waved my hand at the computer and then down my body. “I addressed both of those complaints, and now you’re worried because I listened to what you said? Lord.”
“Yes.” Preston spoke, but all three men nodded like those little dolls that were stuck on car dashboards.
Closing my eyes, I didn’t have to fake frustration. Jesus, I couldn’t please any of them.
“Just the fact that you tried to please him by changing your behavior is enough to make us think you need help.” Reece’s voice was filled with concern, and I fought the urge to look at him as he continued. “I heard the story about what you did last time Preston lost it and told you to function like a real adult from three different people this week. You’ve got most of the company so freaked out they don’t want to come to work.”
“Fuck, you just can’t please some people.”
“That!” Houston’s voice made me jump and glance at him. “Since when do you do anything to please other people?”
“I was trying to make things easier around here. Like I was asked to do.” Fuck. “Just find someone else to bother, I have work to do.”
Reece waved a hand, gesturing toward the screen. “You’ve been staring at it for hours, and you haven’t even turned the page in the last thirty minutes. You also haven’t written a blog post in days, and you haven’t wanted to do any shoots lately. You haven’t even posted any selfies or pictures that you took yourself. It can’t keep going on like this.”
“I’m only required to post a few times a month. We don’t make any of the guys blog more often than that.” I found myself rolling my eyes. “You can’t bitch because I’m following company guidelines.”
“Yes, we can.” Preston gave me a pointed look. “You take pride in never following directions.”
I was too tired for their drama. “I’m going to go home, and you guys can be all overbearing and nuts on someone else.”
Reaching for the computer, I stopped when I felt Preston’s hand on my shoulder. The words came out soft and meaningful. “You have to talk to us, Eli. You wanted him gone from day one, but now that he’s not here, you’re miserable.”
I shrugged. “So I’m fickle.”
“You know that’s not the point.” Reece was trying to be nice, but Houston was frustrated because his voice came out rough and almost angry.
“You liked the guy but didn’t want to like him, so you tried to make his life miserable.” Houston folded his arms over his chest and gave me a look like I was a misbehaving child. “Well, you won. He’s gone.”
