As soon as the door shut and the sound of the door locking echoed around us, Mystic let loose on me.“How dare you?”she cried, her voice full of fury. “This is myjob, Gage. I do not appreciate you airing our dirty laundry in front of my boss. Especially, since it’solddirty laundry.”
I jammed my fists into my pockets because I didn’t trust myself with her. I haven’t laid eyes on this woman in years, and the last time I did, I stood outside her classroom as she told me she loved me and would see me later.
Later turned out to be now.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I roared, not caring who was on the other side of the conference room. “You got a lot of fucking nerve, Mystic.”
“Igot nerve?” she shot back. “Why couldn’t you have just shaken my hand and acted professional? Why did you have to let my boss in on our old drama?”
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I stepped to her and stared down into her perfect fucking face. “Because had I touched you, after what you did to me, I would have probably beaten you to fucking death, Mystic.”
I was serious.
And Mystic’s eyes widened because she knew I was.
Chapter 23
Mystic~
Iwas feeling too many things at once, and I felt like my skin was going to rip open with everything that was trying to break free.
Yeah, I was the one who left, but Gage hadn’t waited not even two weeks before blocking me completely from his life.
Two measly weeks.
He might not have been able find me, but he had killed us when he had made sure I could no longer find him. He hadn’t even given me a chance to explain or had come looking for me. He let me go, and now he was acting like the victim. Ten years later, when it didn’t even matter anymore.
The horrible part was that he looked every bit as gorgeous as he had when we were kids. The same chocolate colored hair and stormy blue eyes. His face was sharper, and he looked lethal as sin. He also filled out a suit like nobody’s business, and he towered over me.
As he was doing now.
And, even though, it made me look like a coward, I took a step back. I couldn’t be so close to him when my mind and emotions were a jumbled mess. Gage was the heroin addiction I had kicked, but that didn’t mean I was strong enough to be near the temptation.
Of course, he hated me, so there was that.
I took a deep breath and tried to focus on the subject at hand. Yes, it was a shock to my system to see Gage after all these years, but I needed this job, and I was not going to play games with my livelihood. I’ve already lost so much, I wasn’t about to lose what very little I had left. “Be straight with me, Gage,” I said. “Are you going to give me a real chance on this project, or are you going to string this along just so you can be a dick?”
His lip curled and I was flooded with unwelcomed memories of our past. I was also flooded with reminders of how I haven’t been able to make the same connection with anyone else in all these years. My body was screaming at me to let him pounce, but my sanity was reminding me that my body was stupid and the rest of me wasn’t suicidal.
He crowded me until my ass hit the conference table. It put me in a very awkward position, knowing it was the perfect height for what would be a nightmare come true. Because that’s what Gage was; a beautiful, addicting nightmare.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Mystic,” he snarled. “You’re not worth risking a multi-million-dollar project on. Not to mention, I don’t play games when it comes to money.”
I gave him a tight nod, ignoring the insult. “Okay. I’ll just let Mr. Cavanaugh know that we’ve come to an agreem-”
Gage smirked and it made him look evil.“Wedidn’t come to an agreement,” he said, his voice like a whip. “I don’t know what you think this is, but I’m the boss here, Mystic. We don’t agree on shit. You do whatever the fuck Itellyou.” It took everything in me to squash the feelings of longing, love, and, yes, arousal, because Gage was standing before, being everything that had drew me to him when we were younger.
Except, now, he was a grown man capable of so much more, and my body has been starved for him for so damn long, it was a miracle I wasn’t begging him for it as we speak.
Of course, that was never our game.
Gage took.
Gage took while I surrendered.
If he touched me, I’d push him away.
