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Annoyance ticked at his patience. No way would she want to set up shop there. No way would anything that had happened in the last twenty minutes have actually happened, but it had. He gritted his teeth. “If we could just go over the day, then we can get a move on.”
She dropped her line of sight to the gun holstered on his hip, as if she had just noticed it, then dug through her purse as her phone rang. “If you think I dislike jerky, I have a running list of things—” She stared at the screen before silencing it. “I forget what I was saying. Never mind.”
“Not an important call?”
“I don’t talk to numbers I don’t know.”
That sounded pretentious as fuck, just as pretentious as choosing a new name. “What happened to you?” He turned and walked away before spinning back. “You aren’t the girl I knew.”
And why had he opened his mouth? He shouldn’t broach the topic of their past with everything that had happened to them.
Surprise rounded her eyes because, finally, one of them had said it. Her lip curled as though indignation and disgust battled to take a swing at him. “You think I expected to see you like this?”
“I don’t care,” he lied, but they both knew his nonchalance was total bullcrap. How was this what his Eloise had become? A television princess mixed with an Internet goddess. A new name without a past.
“The girl you knew was young and lost. She didn’t have a way to make sense of how unfair life could be, and she was lonely. So damn alone, you have no idea.”
“Now look at you.” Guilt and anger spiked in his throat. “Not alone anymore, are you?”
“Yeah. Look at me, Bishop.” She stepped even closer, throwing out her arms. “Happy and formidable.”
“In danger and stupid about it—” Her phone rang again, cutting him off, and he shook his head. “That thing is going to kill youtoo.”
Ella slapped him instead of silencing the ringer. “It only took you a half hour to get that out. Bet you’ve been waiting for your opening.”
Stunned, Bishop could have outlined her hand mark on his cheek. The sting bit into his flesh almost as sharply as it reminded him he had no ground to respond. “Screw this gig.” He stormed away, done with all this—her, Titan, everything. Screw it all.
“You used to like me,” she shouted. “You weren’t such a jerk.”
Bishop seethed and charged back until he was inches away from her. “Hell, Eloise, I used tolove you.”
Her mouth hung open. “Don’t call me that.”
The hallway walls closed in, and he moved a head’s distance from her lips—lips that he knew the taste and feel of, how they melted and came alive. His heart surged as he closed the distance between them, but then his boots stepped away from her, somehow thinking on his behalf. Almost every part of him wanted to be up against her. Thank God for boots that had experience running like all hell.
His gaze swept down. Where the hell had he just gone? Nowhere he was supposed to, that was for damn sure. Knowing he’d crossed the line on just about every topic between them, he bottled it up and faced her.
Ella’s bottom lip trembled.
Shit.
He dropped his chin, vowing to tamp down their past and any memory that wanted to unfurl its ugly head. He needed this job like he needed a purpose in life. Titan was an end goal, and in truth, he wanted Eloise—Ella—safe. She deserved that. This would work if he boxed any loose reactions.
Bishop slowed his mind and reached for her arm, trying to offer some manner of compassion that was subpar and long past due. “I shouldn’t have brought that up, shouldn’t have gone there.”
“I, uh. We… we never really talked about…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed her arm once then dropped his hand, knowing he shouldn’t touch her. “You okay?”
Beth and Nicola crept quietly down the hall. As they passed, Ella painted on a perfect smile. Fascinating how well she could put up a fake wall.
“I’m okay …” She shifted her shoulder bag to the other arm. “Is this going to work?”
“Do you want it to?” he asked.
Ella chewed on her bottom lip then nodded.
He gave her a nod as well. “All right, then.” Talk about a change of plans. First thing he needed to do was loop his new boss in about his old girlfriend. So much for having a good first week. “Go back into the bathroom, El. I’ll find you when it’s time to rock and roll. Then we can figure out what our day’s like. Deal?”