Page 11

CHAPTER 10

T ristan risked another glance at Marty, making sure that she was okay, only to find her staring down at the file in front of her and realized that he’d finally managed to push her away for good. No wonder he felt like shit. That, and his shoulder was fucking killing him, but at the moment, he really didn’t fucking care.

A knock sounded at the door.

“What?” he snapped, in absolutely no fucking mood to deal with any more bullshit today.

Rosemary walked into the office, carefully staying away from Tristan’s side of the room. She looked at Marty expectantly as she set a huge bouquet of baby pink roses in front of her.

“Are these for me?” Marty asked as she reached for the card.

“Whoever sent them didn’t bother signing their name. It only says congratulations,” Rosemary said, shrugging it off as Marty’s hand stilled on the card.

“You read her card?” Tristan asked, his tone thoughtful and cool. It was the tone that everyone around here knew meant that he was pissed, really fucking pissed.

Rosemary nervously licked her lips. “I had to find out who they were for,” she explained, trying to act innocent but he wasn’t buying it.

“Her name’s on the envelope,” Tristan pointed out.

“Oh,” Rosemary said with a nervous chuckle. “I didn’t realize that.”

“Uh-huh,” Tristan said, not believing one syllable of bullshit coming out of her mouth. She was one of the biggest gossips and troublemakers in town and if she’d had her way, he would have been fired a long time ago.

“It’s okay,” Marty said with a forced smile.

“No, it’s not,” Tristan bit out.

“It’s fine. Really,” Marty said tightly, shooting him a look that clearly told him to let it go.

Tristan rolled his eyes before looking back at Rosemary. “Anything else?”

“It’s eleven-thirty,” she said, looking at Marty as though that was supposed to mean something.

“And…” Tristan prompted.

She looked imploringly at Marty as she shifted anxiously, obviously expecting Marty to somehow save her. Marty looked up from her work and sent the woman an apologetic smile. Then, she looked back at the clock and sighed. “I guess it’s my turn.”

“Um, yes,” Rosemary murmured, once again licking her lips nervously even as her gaze flickered between him and the door.

“Turn for what?” Tristan demanded.

“Just something that her father asked her to do,” Rosemary quickly said, too fucking quickly.

Marty began gathering her things as she said, “To cover the phones and finish the paperwork from this weekend.”

Rosemary’s face turned bright red as she tried to back out of the room, but Tristan held up a hand to stop her. “What is she talking about?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just the things that Hank wanted her to do,” Rosemary quickly explained.

Tristan gestured to the computer. “She’s already doing what Hank wanted her to do.”

Rosemary cleared her throat and made one last attempt to save her ass. “He thought that she could help out with the daily reports.”

“Bullshit,” Tristan snapped.

Marty’s brows arched up in surprise. “Tristan, what’s your problem?”

He ignored her as he continued to glare at Rosemary. “Get the hell out of my office.”

The woman just about tripped over her own two feet trying to flee from the room while Marty glared at him. “You didn’t have to be so mean to her. What is your problem?”

“Nothing except for the fact that she was trying to get you to do her job. Daily reports are her responsibility.”

“What about the phones?” Marty asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

He shrugged. “It goes to voicemail during her lunch break if no one else answers the phone. It’s not the emergency line, Marty. She just didn’t want to have to deal with returning phone calls when she got back from lunch.”

“Oh,” Marty mumbled, frowning as she glanced at the door where Rosemary just made her escape.

“You have to be careful. She tries this bullshit with all the new secretaries. Just check with me before you agree to do anything and you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I’m just covering my own ass,” Tristan said as he pushed away from the desk and stood up.

“Why am I not surprised?” Marty mumbled to herself as she went back to what she was working on.

His jaw clenched as the realization that the one person who used to mean the world to him now hated him along with everyone else. He was now truly alone in this world. There would never be anyone else that cared about him. He had his family. They loved him and he loved them, but it wasn’t the same. The one person that meant the world to him hated him.

For the rest of his life, he would be sought out by restless spirits. He would never be able to hide it from her, which left him with no choice but to push her away. He couldn’t risk her finding out the truth, Tristan thought as he crossed the room and leaned back against the wall, staring out the large window overlooking the playground across the street. After a few minutes, he looked back at Marty and-

This wasn’t going to work.

He wouldn’t be able to work in the same station with her for the rest of his life. Even knowing that they’d only be sharing an office for a few weeks was killing him. Years ago, he’d accepted the fact that she’d move on and marry someone else one day, but did he really want to be around to see it? No. He didn’t want to see her with another man and he sure as hell didn’t want to see her stomach round with another man’s child. It would be too much even for a cold bastard like him to handle.

“I think that it might be a good idea to look for a desk for you in the pit,” Tristan said, knowing even that wouldn’t be enough to make him stay. It might be enough to keep him sane until he got a transfer and was able to sell his house.

Marty didn’t bother to look up as she said, “No.”

“What do you mean by ‘no’?” Tristan demanded.

“This is my office,” she mumbled absently as she wrote something down.

“No, this is my office,” Tristan bit out coldly.

At that, Marty finally looked up. “No, this is our office. It will remain our office even after I officially start my new job.”

“Says who?” Tristan demanded even as he told himself that this couldn’t be fucking happening.

“My father. Half of this office was meant for my position. I thought you knew that,” she said, looking back at her screen.

For a moment, he could only glare at her. Then, finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he was able to manage a coherent sentence.

“Oh, fuck no.”