Page 124 of The Encore’s Crown

I lean just close enough to sniff it. Behind him, Suri drops something. A glass tester hits the floor and shatters and everyone turns. Celeste’s office door opens. Suri stares at the broken bottle, then at Ryder and me.

“Sorry,” she says. Her voice is shaking.

Ryder looks over his shoulder. “You okay?”

That tiny show of concern comes too late. Suri’s face changes.

“You don’t have to pretend now.”

Ryder frowns. “Pretend what?”

“That you care whether I’m okay.” She looks at me. “Do you always need everyone to pick you? You couldn’t just let me have one man I liked?”

“Ryder isn’t something I can let you have. Trust me, if I could, I would.”

His eyebrows rise, then Suri’s face twists.

“You know what I meant!” she snaps. “You act like everyone else is too stupid to see you. The flirting, the little comments, the way you walk around like every room belongs to you.”

Celeste reaches us.

“That's enough.”

Suri points at me. “She’s been causing problems since she got here.”

My temper finally breaks through.

“You’ve been setting me up to look incompetent because a man who barely remembers you wanted me instead.”

Suri goes white.

Celeste turns to her. “What?”

“I didn’t—”

Ryder lifts both hands. “This is insane.” He gives me one last, knowing look. This is exactly what he came in here to do. “Clingy's not a good look on you, Nat. Call me when you calm down, babe.”

“Die waiting.”

He walks out. The silence afterward feels enormous. Suri wipes beneath her eyes, smearing mascara across one cheek. Celeste looks from her to me, then at the broken tester on the floor.

“My office,” she says. Suri starts to follow. “Not you. Clean this up and return to your station.”

Suri stares at me as I pass. I don’t know whether she hates me more now or less. Celeste closes the office door behind us.

“This placement's been one disruption after another since you arrived.”

I already know what comes after a sentence like that. I stare at her. She holds my gaze without flinching.

“I’m ending it effective immediately.”

For a moment, all I can think about is the time-off request sitting in her system. The beautiful, convenient refusal I almost had.

“You’ll be paid through today. I'll inform the agency.”

“How wonderful.”

It isn’t. I need the money, the routine, a reason not to go to Los Angeles. I pick up my bag from the locker while everyone pretends not to watch. Janae gives me a pained look. Melina mouths sorry. Suri stands behind the fragrance area with her arms folded tightly around herself, face still blotchy from crying. I stop beside her.