Page 29 of Playing with the Boss

FOURTEEN

Mason

“Alf. Have you got a minute?”

Something sits unsettled in my chest as I lean a hand against the old bastard’s doorframe. Is it anger? Shame at being rejected? Or regret?

I can’t pick it. All I know is it’s an emotion I’m not accustomed to. A feeling that comes with defeat.

I don’t like losing. I make a point not to lose. Which is why I won’t give up.

So here I am, being gallant despite Lisa’s evident disinterest in me.

“Of course. Come in.” Alf waves to the seat against the wall.

I drag the threadbare chair in front of his desk, noting that his workspace looks as though it was last updated in the eighties. Guess the money isn’t lost here, then.

“I need to talk to you about Lisa.”

“Mmm.” He nods, distracted by whatever paperwork he tries to find on his desktop. “I do too.”

“The message was a—”

“It was ideal for her to resign.”

What? “Pardon?”

Alf stops shuffling the mess before him to cast a glance my way. “Her resignation. It’ll look much better on her resume that what would have transpired anyway.”

“Redundancy?” Have they made decisions already that I’m not aware of?

“Dismissal,” he states s though confused why I would have thought otherwise.

“Sorry?” I seriously need to back the fuck up out of this room and start again, because I have no goddamn idea what the old man is on about.

“You made a point of getting under Tony’s skin the other day,” Alf explains as he folds his hands on the desk before him. “Did you think he’d sit back and take it?”

“I expected him to be a professional about it.” My hands fist on my knees.

“Like you were?”

This cryptic shit is getting old, fast. “Spit it out, Alf.”

“Your relations with Lisa didn’t go unnoticed.” His fingers fidget, cheeks reddening as the broken blood vessels swell.

“We haven’t had ‘relations,’” I snap, making air quotes. “We socialized outside of the office. Last I heard that wasn’t frowned upon otherwise I’d be accused of entering into a relationship with half of the upper management.”

“There’s no need to get defensive.”

“Isn’t there?” Can’t tell me he wouldn’t if he was in the same position. “What proof does Tony have?”

“He hasn’t told me.” Alf reclines with a sigh. “But it’s not my place to challenge him on it, either. You know how he is.”

Yeah. I do. An arrogant asshole that needs taking down a peg or two. “Tell him to grow a fucking spine and speak to me about it.” I rise from the seat, shunting it roughly back where it was. “Until then, disregard my message about Lisa’s job; she’s not resigning.”

Alf huffs out his nose, a frown settling in place. “I’ll leave it undecided. If this goes south, she may still want the option of walking first.”

“It won’t go south,” I promise with a jab of my pointer finger his way. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”