Page 48 of Unbound

“Lindsey doesn’t work here anymore.” I keep my explanation simple, hoping it will stop him from trying to get me to elaborate.

And it works. He doesn’t attempt to get any more information out of me.

Instead, he starts spewing bullshit.

“Seriously?” He shakes his head. “Man. We were having a real good time together here too.”

I stare him down, almost hoping he’ll continue. It might feel good to punch something. I feel fucking twisted up today and I don’t know why. Like my skin is too tight. I need to purge something, and throwing a few right hooks might do the trick.

“She was so fucking hot for my dick.” Caleb continues on, oblivious to how close he’s coming to losing his front teeth. “Practically begged me to give it to her.”

I know he’s lying. There is no chance in hell Sybil would ever touch this dude.

I’m still struggling with the thought of him trying to get his hands on her. Of him thinking about what it would be like to have her. Imagining the way she looks⁠—

“You’re fired.” I don’t even look at Caleb as I say it, just thumb over one shoulder in the direction of HR as I stalk away. “I’ll let them know you’re coming to turn in your badge.”

I don’t stop walking as he yells at my back, initially laughing because he thinks I’m kidding and then starts cussing as he figures out I’m not.

I didn’t fire him because of what he was saying about Sybil.

Okay, I didn’t only fire him because of what he was saying about Sybil. I would have terminated him for talking that way about anyone who works here.

I just might not have considered beating his ass before sending him on his way.

I hit the door to my office hard, knocking my way into the room, fully expecting to have to go toe-to-toe with Trevor’s girlfriend next. But when I step inside, it’s only Sybil staring at me with wide eyes.

I scan the room. “Where’s Maren?”

“She left a few minutes ago.” Sybil gives me a wobbly smile. “I don’t think she likes me very much.”

“Fuck her then.” I stomp straight to the coffee maker, hoping caffeine will help me get my head on straight. I’m not normally reactive like this. I usually manage to keep everything I’m thinking and feeling tamped all the way down. But for some reason I’m struggling right now.

“I’m pretty sure your cousin has that covered.” Sybil lets out a sigh as she stands from the chair behind my desk. She hasn’t been working long enough to get annoyed by her hair, so it’s still loose around her head, waving past her shoulders as she pads across the floor in her socked feet to where I stand. “And I can’t really blame her for considering me the enemy. I’m sure if I had someone I cared about the way she cares about Trevor, I’d be pretty pissed off if he got shot too.”

“Do you?” The question is out before my brain even registers it. Even more evidence I’m not my fucking self today.

Sybil opens the door hiding my mini fridge and retrieves a bottle of the apple juice I know she loves, cracking the lid as she asks, “Do I, what?”

“Have someone you care about.” It shouldn’t matter to me if Sybil has a man waiting for her wherever she came from, but the thought of some unnamed, faceless prick thinking the same things about her Caleb did has my hands clenching into fists as she swallows a gulp of her beverage.

I can’t seem to breathe as I wait for her to answer me. On one hand, I want a reason to keep holding her at arm’s length. To maintain the boundary I’ve established between us.

On the other hand…

I can’t think about what’s on the other hand, outside of knowing it would be a really bad fucking idea.

Sybil smacks her lips, swiping the tip of her tongue along the glistening line of juice clinging to her mouth as she screws the lid back into place. “I have my mom, but we aren’t really super close.”

I don’t know if she’s purposefully torturing me, or simply doesn’t understand exactly what I’m asking. I’m not sure I do either, so I don’t know that I can hold that against her. All I know is the more I think about her having a boyfriend or husband, the less in control I feel.

And I don’t fucking like that.

“But if you’re talking about boyfriends, then no.” She blows out a sigh. “It turns out most guys don’t love when a girl forgets they exist because she’s been too focused on a self-assigned digital scavenger hunt.”

“So, not Caleb.” Why the fuck am I even bringing this prick up? I know she didn’t fuck him.

I still need to hear her say it or I think I’m going to peel my fucking skin off.