The Stanfield executive said, “Does anyone have any concerns over the prices we’ve set for our share?”
“No, no problems.” Chatterton grinned. “You could probably even go higher. Who’s going to stop us?”
There was laughter from around the room.
“Hot damn,” Maddock breathed. “We’ve got them. Stupid bastards.”
Reese, reentered the room and sat down quietly next to Chatterton. She turned and looked directly at the camera, her expression aloof, but her eyes filled with an emotion Derek couldn’t pinpoint.
He wanted to reach into the screen, grab her and hold her to him, to have her admit she’d made a mistake with the Markson interview and both pretend they could have a future together.
The triumph for the case soured.
When it was all over, he was still going to have a bum knee, an empty apartment, and no one to laugh with.
Ignoring Maddock’s excited chatter and clap on the back, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his antacids. His finger ran over and over across the satiny paper they were rolled in while he watched Reese lock eyes with him.
It felt like she could see right through to him, knew his anger, had her own, eyes staring, wills clashing, always a contest.
Then he broke the contact, the ever present push-pull between them, and flipped the first tablet out and into his hand.
All the antacids in the world couldn’t fix his heart and his hurt, but it was all he had.
FIFTY-SIX
Reese wantedto be excited for Knight. She’d heard the statements Chatterton and the other executives had made. She knew it was good news, possibly the final piece needed for prosecution. But instead all she wanted was to eat ice cream and buy shoes.
There was a very good reason she’d never been in love before.
It sucked.
Maybe her brother Ryan had the way of it, a merry-go-round of dating and casual sex. Or maybe she had been smarter than she thought in the last couple of years by just avoiding men and a social life altogether.
As she trailed out of the conference room behind the executives, she realized there was another reason to be grateful for the close of this case—she could quit this job. If she wanted to spend this much time serving coffee, she’d prefer to do it at Starbucks where at least she could get a discount and meet people her own age.
Which was where she might be in a couple of weeks since once she quit Delco she had no job. For a minute, she debated groveling to Ralph to get her job back at theNewark News.She pictured kissing his ass and shuddered.
Markson slowed down and hovered next to her. “Can I talk to you, Reese?”
Did she need this now? She stifled a groan. Markson was a nice enough guy, but he hovered, getting in her way and complicating her life. Like pigeons.
“Later, Stan, okay?”
“This is important. I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”
That got her attention. She looked over at him, then past him to where Jenkins was listening with no attempt at discretion. The hallway had high ceilings and sound seemed to bounce all around them, sending Markson’s voice projecting way louder than she would like.
“Can we discuss this in private?” she asked through gritted teeth, not wanting to give anything away in front of Jenkins and his big fat ears. Besides, when she told off Markson, she didn’t want witnesses.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Markson had become a really phenomenal liar during the course of this case. She couldn’t imagine why she had ever worried about him, the balding snake. He looked a little nervous, but overall he looked like a wealthy businessman giving his girlfriend the boot in a hotel hallway.
“This was a mistake. I love my wife, and she deserves better than this. It was fun, but now it’s over.”
Then he walked away. Just walked off down the hall, leaving her staring at Jenkins.
The sting of humiliation and rage left her speechless.
Jenkins wasn’t speechless. “Well, now that you’re free, maybe you and I could go out.”