The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy #2) - Tijan by Tijan

He was brushing some of my hair off my shoulders, and I saw the top button of his pants was undone. I put it back in, and he paused at my touch, his forehead coming to rest on mine. His chest rose, held, then fell back, and he cupped the back of my head. A kiss to my forehead, and he murmured there, “One hit isn’t enough.”

I knew what he meant, but I tipped my head back. “I think you mean a drug.”

His eyes were dark, holding mine. He was all serious. “No. I don’t.”

I got his meaning, and I swear, the oxygen left my lungs.

We need air to live.

I so got his meaning. “Oh.” My throat swelled up.

His eyes were starting to smolder, so he pressed one last kiss to my forehead, then to my neck, before he picked me up and walked me to his couch in the corner. It was in the dark and he’d only turned on one lamp in the entire office, the one on his desk, so it was possible I could sit where I was and Hoda would never even know I was there. I didn’t know if that’s what he intended, but he deposited me down, leaned over me a second. His mouth twisted in regret before he straightened and went back behind his desk.

“Okay.”

The door opened, and just as Kash was pulling his chair out, Hoda entered the office.

This wasn’t a Hoda I’d ever seen before.

Her shoulders were curved in. Her head down. Her face pale. She wore her sleeves over her hands and she was tugging at the corners of each of them. She was almost shuffling in. Her hair was in a simple braid that started at the base of her head and trailed down to where her hair ended, just beyond her shoulder blades.

“Sir,” she started, her voice tentative.

He didn’t waste time. “Why did you lie on your application?”

Her throat jumped. “Sir?”

His gaze was intense on her. He didn’t sit, but he didn’t speak or anything. He was waiting for her. He also didn’t explain his question.

“I … uh…” She lifted her head, blanched, and looked back down.

He spoke. “The timid look doesn’t suit you.”

Her shoulders straightened and she looked up. “I lied because I didn’t think I’d get the job as a woman. I knew someone who worked here before. They said the hiring was a joke, that I could apply as a man, show up as a woman, and they wouldn’t even notice. So, I did it. I was hired on paper, with my résumé, and when I showed up, they didn’t question me.”

Kash’s eyes narrowed. “Those staff members are no longer with us.”

“I know.” Her voice was clearer.

Kash leaned back against the wall behind his desk, his head lowering, but his eyes remained on hers. He crossed one ankle over the other and motioned toward her before his hand went into his pocket. He was the image of relaxed. But his eyes weren’t. I saw the heat running behind the mask he had in place.

“I saw the tape. I heard her voice.”

Her eyes widened. “You can’t have video in the women’s restrooms.”

“Who said I did?”

Her eyebrows pulled down. Her head lowered an inch. She was thinking, confused. Then she stiffened, and she jerked back up. “You tapped my apartment?”

“You called the Camille Story blogger in the hallway of your building. Your building is owned by a subsidiary of Phoenix Tech and there is security in all Phoenix Tech buildings. It took a moment to locate the video, but we got it, and we have your voice on tape telling the blogger that you will send over the list.”

She was thinking, her eyes locked down. “‘The list’ could’ve meant anything. I could’ve been calling about my grocery store list.”

“You could’ve, but we also found your email, where you sent the link for where she could download the Hawking University student emails. I’ve had staff look into it, and you were thorough. You didn’t just send the main email that every student is given. You looked into second and third emails for students, especially students in your program. You added certain staff members onto the email. You wanted to make sure everyone knew about who Bailey Hayes was, including who her family and her boyfriend are. You wished to humiliate her, though I don’t know why you would want to make an enemy of her.”

She was seething. “You have no proof of any of that. If you did, you obtained it illegally. I can fight you—”

“You’re fired as an employee from this nightclub, and we can fire you on the simple grounds that you lied on your application. We have copies of your first application, and the changes you did yesterday, and we have you on video making those changes. I have not asked Bailey to search, but if I did, she would be able to find proof that you were the one who released that image of us months ago.”

She was standing so rigid. Her chest was heaving. “You’re lying.” She spoke through gritted teeth.

“No.” Fuck. He almost sounded sorry for her, as if he pitied her. “You have made enemies where it was very foolish of you to do that.”

I’d had enough with being quiet. If she didn’t know I was there, she was about to. I stood up and spoke from the corner. “Did you tell Calhoun Bastian where and when we ate lunch?”

She jumped, half screeching. She hadn’t known I was there. She’d been so focused on Kash. Whirling, a hand to her chest, she fell back a few steps. “Oh my God! What are you doing—” She saw my face, and got right. “No! I would never do that. Out you in a stupid email, yes. But not Calhoun Bastian. Jesus. How stupid do you think I am?”