Page 94 of Twisted Truth

“Brad happened,” I say to Asher and Matthew on the phone, as well as to Emily, who’s still in front of me. “He asked me out after he found out I broke up with Kyle. And I declined because I wasn’t interested in him and didn’t want to date a coworker. But apparently that answer wasn’t good enough because he asked me out like three more times, and I kept telling him no. And so he cornered me just now to call me a liar and a gold-digging whore because I wouldn’t go out with him but I’m dating Asher.”

Asher lets out a string of curse words that makes me feel better that he’s not the one on speaker.

I can hear Brad’s pounding on the office door and his shouts to let him out all the way across the floor as Jenkins stands guard at the door.

A moment later, Asher bursts through the floor’s glass doors with fury in his gaze. Robert, two other security guards, and Matthew hurry after him. All the employees dart out of Asher’s way, and he marches down the aisle between the cubicles, scanning. I step out of the corner and make my way closer to the center of the room, and his eyes find mine. He rushes for me, and I can’t help the feeling of relief that sweeps through me as he grabs me and pulls me into his arms.

“Are you okay?” he demands.

“I’m okay.”

He pulls me in tighter, and I sink into him. I let out a breath and realize my hands are shaking. Logically, I know nothing happened with Brad, but it’s like the rest of my mind is catching up. As a woman, there is an intrinsic fear of having a man corner you in confrontation. Even if nothing physical happens, it’s still intimidating. And the last time a man confronted me . ..

I try to shake away my thoughts of Kyle.

Asher kisses my hair and pulls away to look at my face.

“You’re pale as a ghost,” he says, livid.

“I’m okay.”

He lets out an angry breath.

The door to Emily’s office opens, and Jenkins and another security guard have Brad in hand and are escorting him across the floor. He turns his head and glares at me.

“Whore,”he mouths.

Jenkins jerks Brad, snapping at him that he isn’t to look at me. Asher shifts slightly, as if to go after him, but I pull on his arm, holding him to me.

“Don’t. He’s not worth it.”

Asher waits until Brad has been removed and is in the elevator before wrapping his arm around me and walking me back to the front of the floor. “Bring all of her things,” he orders Matthew on the way. At the glass doors, he turns to the stunned employees who have stood frozen, watching the scene unfold.

“I will say this only once,” Asher says. His voice is deathly cutting and low, but the stunned silence of the room allows it to carry. “If anyone disrespects Ms. Hale like that again, not only will you be fired, but I will press charges and come after you with everything I have. Ms. Hale isoff limits.”

Everyone nods their heads, wide-eyed, and Asher pulls me through the doors.

He holds me tight to him as we make our way from my side of the building to his. Once we’re in his office, he sits on the couch and pulls me down to sit with him.

“I’m fine, Asher,” I say. “Really, he didn’t hurt me or anything.”

“That doesn’t make you fine. Just . . . just let me hold you for a minute, okay? I just . . . need to feel you safe by my side.”

My heart aches. “Okay,” I whisper. And I know this hassomething to do with his past. With whatever happened that makes him so worried about safety.

I lean into him and rest my head on his chest as he wraps his arms around me. His hand brushes down my arm in comforting strokes. His deep breaths flutter against the crown of my head.

After a moment, I can feel his racing heart slow, and his breathing settles down. A flurry of activity outside the glass doors of his office catches my attention, and I turn and see more people than normal for this floor making their way down the hallway just beyond Asher’s office.

“What’s going on?” I ask, sitting up.

Asher reluctantly lets me go and looks out the doors then back at me. “You and your team are moving from the PR floor, effective immediately.”

I raise my brows.

“Welcome to the executive floor, Ms. Hale.”

I laugh. “You can’t be serious. Where will we all work? It’s only massive offices on this floor.”