Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 #1)(28)

I hit the front lobby and narrowed my eyes, my hands fisting.

“…Shondra was given the position,” the man continued to lecture Rowen. “Even though I’d intended to give it to you.”

The man’s final words had Rowen inhaling deeply.

I knew for a fact that she already had a job with my friend. He’d called to tell me thank you and had even offered to buy me a beer for my thoughtfulness.

So the fact that this man’s words were making her this upset was pissing me off.

“Yo, babe,” I said, getting Rowen’s, and the man’s, attention. “Do you need me to grab your box?”

She took a deep, steadying breath, then looked at her boss.

“Where is my stuff?” she asked politely.

The old man seemed to get even more pissed.

“In your old office,” he said. “I haven’t had time to pack it all up. Shondra started this morning after your call last night to tell us that you would be here this afternoon.”

Rowen stiffened, then turned her back on the old man and started marching in the direction of her office.

I followed at a much slower pace.

“Look at her face right here,” I heard a catty woman say. “She looks like she’s constipated.”

Rowen sped up.

“And this one,” the woman continued to snicker. Her voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “That man she’s with looks like he’d rather be anywhere but. I bet he had to paper bag her.”

“He didn’t paper bag me,” Rowen snapped. “First of all, that’s my brother and me in that picture and that would be disgusting. Secondly, get the fuck out of my office.”

Shondra stiffened and turned, her eyes going wide at the appearance of both me and Rowen in the office she’d thought she was alone while putting on a show for her fellow co-workers.

“Get. The fuck. Out,” Rowen repeated.

That’s when I saw the moment that Shondra wasn’t going to be nice about it.

She narrowed her eyes, her head tilting, and stared at Rowen with a laughing smirk on her face.

In any other moment, I would’ve found Shondra beautiful.

She was tall with long blonde hair, slate-gray eyes, and a pair of lips that were full and kissable.

But that gleam in her eyes as she looked at Rowen? I could see the petty jealousy there. Could tell that she fucking hated everything about Rowen Roberts.

Shondra shoved two boxes onto the floor from where she’d filled them—or had started to anyway. The only thing she’d accomplished in getting in the boxes was a sweater and a couple of photos. I wondered how long she’d been ‘working’ in here on getting Rowen packed.

I stepped farther into the room and dropped a kiss onto Rowen’s head, causing her to still.

She took a deep breath and then blew it back out.

“All of you please leave so I can get this done as fast as possible,” Rowen said, a lot more friendly this time.

She was looking at the other ladies in the room. The ones that hadn’t spoken up at all when Shondra had been speaking her filth.

They all stood as one, then hurried out of the room.

Shondra was a lot slower at it, shooting me a wary look before she aimed a scathing one at Rowen.

“Who is this?” Shondra asked. “Your other brother?”

I laughed at that, unable to help myself.

“Oh, I’m most certainly not her brother,” I cooed. “Otherwise the things we do with each other would be sick.”

Shondra stiffened.

“Out,” Rowen snapped.

Shondra still hesitated.

Rowen and I decided to ignore her as I helped her pack her things.

“Do you need anything off the walls?” I asked.

I could feel Shondra getting more and more pissed.

“No,” Rowen answered. “Those aren’t mine. They’re the company’s. I just need the decorations and stuff. The things off the top of my desk. The computer is mine, too.”

I looked at the computer that was on. The screen was on the welcome screen where you had to type in your username and password.

“The boss would like to have that wiped,” Shondra snapped.

Rowen snorted.

“He could try to make me,” Rowen taunted her. “But this is my personal computer, and I don’t have to allow him into it.”

Shondra opened her mouth to refute that but quickly shut it when she realized that Rowen was right.

Sucks for her.

Shondra crossed her arms over her chest and practically glared holes into the backs of our heads while we quickly moved to pack up her shit.

“It was nice of you to provide us a box and all…” Rowen trailed off. Hoping to get Shondra to take the hint.

She didn’t.

“That hat looks awful on you.” She commented snidely. “I don’t know what Theo ever saw in you. But he’s obviously seen the light.”

Rowen stopped at those words, her head turning slowly.

I watched as she straightened her spine, turned only her head, and stared coldly at Shondra as if she could rip her apart with just her gaze alone.

“Let me tell you something,” Rowen said in a deceptively calm tone. “Do you honestly believe that I don’t know it was you?”

Shondra’s lips tilted up at the side.