Right Man, Right Time (The Vancouver Agitators, #3)(65)

“That’s not why I’m here,” I say, standing up for myself. “I’m here because I wanted to talk to you about it and be honest.”

“Honest about your intentions of fucking me over?”

“What? No. Why the hell would I do that?”

“I don’t know, Ollie. Why wouldn’t you tell Roberts no?”

“Because . . .” I stumble, trying to find the right words. “I just thought at that moment that I could think of a better solution. He’s my boss, Silas. This internship, it matters to me.”

“I understand that, but you’re never going to get anywhere without integrity.”

“I told you I wasn’t going to write the article. Jesus.” I stand from the couch. “I came here hoping you could help me think of a different angle. But I guess I was wrong.” I move toward his front door and slip my shoes on. He remains seated. “You know, Silas, you can sit there and judge me all you want, but you’re not fucking perfect either.”

“I never said I was.”

“You act like it. You can’t tell me that in my position, you would have told your boss no.”

“I would have told him to fuck off.”

“Bullshit.” I laugh sardonically. “You couldn’t even tell Sarah to fuck off when you saw her at the event. No, you practically ate her with your eyes. You tell me you don’t care about her anymore, but I don’t believe it for one second. So don’t go throwing stones in glass houses. You tell me to stand up for myself, for what’s right. Well, where the fuck are you when it comes to Sarah?”

“That’s different,” he says.

“No, it’s not.”

“The fuck it is.” He stands from the couch now. “I was going to fucking propose to her. Of course there will be feelings. I can’t just shut it off.”

“Yeah, well, Roberts holds my future in his hands, and I can’t just turn off my goals and desires to make something of myself. Out of everyone, you should understand that.” I slip my backpack on and head toward the door. I glance over my shoulder one last time to see if he’s going to say something or stop me, but he doesn’t, so . . . I leave and go right to the elevator, where I press the down button.

My lips tremble, and my throat tightens as I hold back my tears. I will not cry.

Not over something as stupid as this.

Silas was being an ass, and that’s on him. I was coming here to find a solution, and he wouldn’t even listen.

That’s no reason to cry or get emotional.

It just means . . . I don’t need him.





Chapter Thirteen





SILAS





I haven’t slept well for the past three days.

All thanks to fucking Ollie.

I’m still pissed.

I’m pissed that she didn’t tell her boss to fuck off, and I’m even more pissed that she brought up Sarah. She has no fucking idea about the bullshit I went through with Sarah, so she shouldn’t be speaking a word about her.

Water bottle in hand, I walk into the weight room, knowing I’m not going to be alone, and head right to the wind bikes, where I set my drink down and hop on to warm up.

This is fucking ridiculous. I’m not even dating the fucking girl, and she’s driving me nuts. I should just tell her the deal is off. I thought this was going to be a good idea, but I was wrong. This is more than I think my mind can handle. I’ve stayed up until the early morning hours going over our conversation in my head. She claims she wasn’t going to write an exposé, but it almost seemed like she was seeing if I could be okay with it.

Never.

I would never be okay with it.

“Dude, you okay?” Posey asks. “You’re riding that bike pretty damn hard for a warm-up.”

I didn’t even realize. I slow down and say, “Looking for a good burn before I get started.”

“Brave,” Posey says. “I never look for a burn.”

He’s such a liar. Being one of our defenders, Posey is always in the weight room, trying to keep a leg up on the competition.

“Is Ollie excited about going to the sponsorship party tonight?” Posey asks.

“I don’t think she’s going to attend.”

“Oh . . .” He slows down his pace. “Is there something going on? Is that why you’ve been in a shit mood the last few days?”

Yes.

“No,” I answer. “I think she has other plans.”

“I see.” He pauses. “Dude, are you not bringing her because Sarah will be there? I hate to admit it, but Pacey said he saw how you looked at Sarah at the ice-skating event. He thought it was concerning, like . . . like you were still in love.”

I stop my bike. Sarah will be there tonight? Fuck. Why did I think she wouldn’t be a part of the event tonight? Of course she is. And then I register what Posey said after that.

I hop off the bike. “I’m not in love with her.”

Posey follows me over to the weight rack, trailing closely. “Are you sure? Ollie seems pretty cool, and I don’t want you hurting her.”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” I say as I stack weights for warm-up squats.

“Okay . . . because she seems really young.”