Page 118 of The Last One to Let You Down

“Tom, you’re the best. I don’t care what Scott says about you.”

“Thanks.”

“My alarm isn’t on,” Scott mumbled deliriously. “I already turned it off.”

Earl stood up from the desk, shaking his head. “I’m gonna drag him to the nearest sofa. I’ll let Bosco know you’re covering for a little bit.”

“No problem,” Tom said, smiling wearily. “See you later, Earl.” He waved farewell as he left the office, navigating his way back through the hallway. He could feel a new lurch in his gut, trying to plan out how he was going to tell Cypress what he had gotten himself into now.

When he reached for the doorknob to leave, he heard the keypad on the other side beep. He stepped back to make way for whoever was coming, smiling when he saw it was Aaron. “Oh, hey.”

“Hey!” Aaron said. “Already leaving?”

“Yeah, I’m done, and then I got guilted very easily into covering on call for Scott tonight,” Tom replied, rolling his eyes as he stepped past Aaron to the open door.

Aaron narrowed his eyes, his jaw suddenly tense.

“You okay?” Tom asked, holding the door open so it wouldn’t shut between them.

“I was hoping you were gonna stick around for a minute,” Aaron said as he stepped back outside.

“Oh.” Tom shrugged, letting the door close and glancing over to the parking lot. He could see Cypress’s van from here.

“I need to talk to you about the watch,” Aaron said.

“Uh.” Tom could feel his eyes bugging out.

“The family has been asking about it, and Gerald is gonna lose his shit.” Aaron’s voice started to rise as he stepped right into Tom’s space. He was flushed and angry, his hands curling into fists as he snapped, “I need that fuckin’ watch, Tom.”

“Wait, wait!” Tom backed away, holding his hands up to keep Aaron at a distance. He had never seen him so upset before, pleading, “Hey, will you calm down?”

Behind him, Tom could hear a car door opening.

“Tom, this is serious,” Aaron went on, still fuming. “We could both lose our fuckin’ jobs.”

“I don’t have it!” Tom nearly shouted, continuing to backpedal. He jumped when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, whirling around to find Cypress right behind him.

“You got a problem?” Cypress growled, deftly sliding Tom out of the way and glaring down at Aaron.

“Hey, hey, he’s okay,” Tom insisted, grabbing Cypress’s arm. “This is Aaron, he’s a friend.”

Aaron looked acceptably terrified since Cypress could have squashed him like a bug, stammering, “I’m sorry. Hey, I wasn’t trying anything, I swear. It’s work stuff, okay?”

“He was asking about the watch,” Tom tried to explain. “Gerald’s been on his ass about it, and—”

“Exactly!” Aaron chimed in. “Please don’t kill me, HFG. It’s all a big misunderstanding, I swear.”

“You tell Gerald if he has any questions about the watch, he can call Agent Fox Sanderson,” Cypress growled.

“Understood. Yup. Got it.” Aaron cowered, wringing his hands. “I will totally do that.” He looked at Tom. “I’m sorry I got so mad. It’s been crazy around here, you know?”

“It’s okay,” Tom said sympathetically. “I get it.”

“I’m gonna go now.” Aaron pointed at the door with an awkward smile. “I’ll… uh… I’ll see you later, Tom. Thanks for coming in.”

“Yeah, sure thing.” Tom waved. “See ya’ later, Aaron.”

Letting out a loud sigh, Cypress didn’t budge until the back door closed. “The fuck is his problem?”