AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Why wouldn’t I feel like I’m about to fucking vomit everything I’ve consumed since the last time I felt this way?
“Stop it,” Evie hisses from her position directly in front of me in our Frost Luxury Hotel suite living room area. “You’re going to start sweating again.” She less than gently dabs at my forehead. “Hair and makeup just fixed you.”
I poorly swallow my grumbles and glance to the left where I catch Bryn finally ending her call on a polite note. “I’ll be in touch.” She carelessly tosses the device on the nearby bar counter, flicks a messy loose strand away from her blue mascara coated eyelashes, and exasperatedly sighs, “Gotta admit. That shit went better for me than it did when Kirk faced the Academy Board.”
Leaning into the urge to smile isn’t resisted. “It should’ve considering you weren’t the one who cheated in this scenario.”
“Uh, I’m with Kirk on that one. You creating a ‘no-win’ test is cheating.”
“I’m with Spock,” I effortlessly counter. “He missed the point the test was trying to make.”
“Is this heaven’s lobby?” J.T. interjects from beside me around light chuckles. “Are we really all engaging in a highbrow Star Trek debate?”
“Not all of us,” Evie sneers.
Grateful for the distraction, I redirect the conversation back to Bryn, “What happened?”
“Well, after Renee Drake, the head of the entire board, felt reassured that I wasn’t going to sue the organization, which would practically bankrupt them-”
“Wouldn’t it just be Wilcox money either way?” my best friend ponders out at the same time he crosses one, navy blue covered pant leg over the other.
“-she offered me Raquel’s job.” A small tug at the belt of her bright yellow, floor length, gathered shirtdress is given. “And educationally I’m beyond qualified to do it. Experiencely-”
“Not a word.”
“-on the other fin, I’m not so sure. Running an entire department is vastly different than running a rescue team.”
“Vastly might be an oversell, little prey.”
Her quirked eyebrow indicates she’s listening.
“To effectively run a department, you are running a team. It may be bigger, there may be more on the line, and there will ultimately be larger scale consequences as well as rewards; however, the fundamentals are the same. The skills that make you great at R&R are what will make you fantastic as head of the department. You know the employees. You know the animals. You know the handbook and the aquatic governing laws you must abide by.”
“That was the least amount of fun I’ve ever had playing trivia,” J.T. announces on an adjustment of his rolled pant leg. “Just FYI.”
I hate that I wasn’t a part of that preparation.
I hate that I wasn’t around to help her study.
Focus.
Build her confidence.
I hate that my own blindness prevented me from being involved in such a crucial transition for her.
And I hate that my own ego almost fucking impeded me from another.
There won’t be a third.
That’s my word.
“You want the job?” I bluntly question.
“I don’t know that I want the paperwork,” she sassily teases. “Then again, I could just hire an assistant to handle all that shit right. That’s all Zaidee does for you, isn’t it?”
“Incorrect.”
Laughter bounces between us prior to her professing, “Honest to Spock? I do want it.”
