Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
cedarwood
REY
There’s a flutter in my stomach as I enter the bright and colourful office this Monday morning.
Spending time with Mark like that was so unexpected, I haven’t had much brain space to process Robin letting me down.
Before I round the corner of our creative area, I need to stop.
Why the hell am I so nervous to see him?
He was just being nice, and he’ll probably pretend it didn’t happen. Why would he acknowledge it?
It’ll be back to how it was before, but maybe without him being so prickly with me.
I brace myself for seeing the formidable figure of Mark in his office, sitting behind his desk, frowning at his laptop. He’s had the door open lately, as if he’s trying to be more approachable, which means I’ve had a clear view of him every time I come this way.
Finally, I take the step around the corner.
Oh.
He’s not there.
The adrenaline that had been rushing through me in expectation now pools as cold disappointment in my stomach.
I try to shake it off. Why do I care?
Horace is at his desk in the office on the other side of Mark’s, and I pop my head in to say hello.
“Rey,” he says, smiling. “You won’t believe it!”
“What?”
“Mark has asked me to showcase the idea of a fresh design concept. Isn’t that amazing?”
I gape at him. Mark listened to me?
“Yes, it is. When did you speak with him?”
“This morning, he’s in the upstairs office this week. Focusing on something, he said.”
The disappointment-pool turns to rock. He’s hiding?
No, what am I thinking? It’s a coincidence. I’m nothing to him.
Nothing to hide from.
“Okay, when are you presenting? Do I need to make something else?”
“It’s today at two o’clock, and no. I’ll talk him through my vision and keep it simple. We don’t need him to accept the design or the concept. We just need the go-ahead to continue exploring and testing things out.”
“Great,” I say, wishing I could be a fly on the wall in the session to see Mark’s response.
“There’s something I’d like you to learn and try out on your art,” Horace says and turns to his screen, gesturing for me to come and see.
“This tool can help you add basic movements to your backgrounds to convey the ambiance even better. Check this out,” he says, pointing at the screen.
It’s a dark landscape with smoking volcanoes and lava, and when I look closer, I spot the lava is flowing, and the smoke drifts across the sky.
“Silas made this,” Horace continues. “He can teach you, and I’m sure you’ll pick it up easily. ”
“Sure, okay,” I say, and hide my dislike of Silas behind my smile. How bad can he be?
Silas is bad.
He takes every opportunity to inch his chair closer, and I keep rolling further away.
We’ve been doing this dance for an hour now, and I’m getting tired.
At one point I’m certain I hear footsteps behind us and think someone will come and interrupt, maybe Horace will tell me I don’t need to learn this after all, but when I check I see Mark walking in the opposite direction.
Just the sight of his back does something weird to me.
“See this?” Silas asks, pointing to something so small on the screen I need to lean over to see it properly. He moves his hand across the desk, grazing against my left breast.
“Oh, sorry,” he says, as I jump back. “I was just reaching for the mouse.”
I gape at him, but then close my mouth, not sure what to say. Am I overreacting? Was it really an accident?
“I need a coffee,” I say and push away from the desk.
Waiting for the coffee machine, I close my eyes and rub my temples.
I’ll let it go. I’ll just try not to sit so close.
There’s a tingling in me, and I’m certain someone is watching me. My eyes snap open as a familiar scent hits me. That mild cedarwood mix. It makes me think of Robin and I’m struck with a surprising sadness that closes over my throat.
Fucking hell. I really miss talking to him.
I told him things I’ve never told my closest friends.
We were more open with each other sexually than I’ve been with anyone; albeit mostly over the phone, but that night at the sensory event I felt a spark like no other. He made me feel so wanted and sexy.
The coffee finishes, and I turn to head back to my dreaded work partner for the morning.
I stop in my tracks as I again see Mark walking away. Where did he come from? Did he see me here and leave again so he wouldn’t have to talk to me?
I’m imagining things, I’m sure. Why would he do that?
Slowly, reluctantly, I move back to where Silas is sitting.
“Have you shown me what I need to know?” I ask once I reach him again. “I think I get the gist of it.”
“No, I still need to take you through how to apply it to existing artwork. Come here,” he says and pats the chair next to him. Ugh, how does a twenty-six-year-old get so sleazy? That blond slick hair and too-white smile.
Alright, I’ll get through one more session.
It doesn’t take more than a few minutes, and his leg presses against mine. Now, I’ve had it.
“Silas, you’re making me uncomfortable.”
His eyes feign innocence, but there’s a twitch at his mouth that reveals he wants to smile at me.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
It sounds so sincere, I almost believe him.
“Well, please stop, okay? Just stay out of my personal space.”
“You’re the one pressing yourself up against me, leaning over me and making this whole thing quite the ordeal, to be honest,” he says, frowning at me now.
“Excuse me?” I can’t believe this.
“Oh, come on, the way you’re smiling at me all the time, you’re clearly flirting.” He leans forward and puts a hand on my bare knee.
The next thing happens so fast I can barely grasp it. There are loud footsteps coming closer. Silas looks up, and suddenly he’s on the other side of the creative corner with Mark looming over him, his hands on the armrests on either side of the pale young man.
I can only see the back of Mark, but judging by how the muscles strain under that tailored suit, I’d say he’s furious.
His voice is a growl, and I can’t fully make out the words.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” I believe he said. Blood rushes in my ears, a mixture of the anger adrenaline from Silas’s dick move and the surprise of having Mark intervene so abruptly. How did he read the situation so quickly? He must be on it like a hawk after Damian.
The rest of the exchange between Mark and Silas is lost to me. All I see is Silas nodding.
Mark turns to me and his lovely lips, I mean his mouth, is moving. He’s talking to me.
I shake my head. “Umm, sorry, I didn’t hear that.”
“Go to Nia and tell her what happened.”
Behind Mark, Silas’s eyes are the size of plates.
“What?” I swallow, not daring to look directly at either of them. “What will happen to Silas?”
“What will happen to Silas?” Mark steps towards me, and I back up instinctively. “What should happen. He gets a formal warning. Another wrong move and he’s fired on the spot.”
“Oh,” I whisper and finally dare to look Mark in the eye. There’s a sharp frown on his face, a line cutting between his thick eyebrows. Silas mutters something behind Mark.
“I’m so sorry, Rey,” he whispers.
“Too late, Silas,” Mark barks at him and looks back at me. “Go now. Don’t pity him, and don’t be afraid of him. Do the right thing.”
I stand up too fast and stagger. Mark’s strong, warm hand finds my arm, and I look up at him again. His eyes are much softer now, but the worry crease is still there.
“Are you okay?” he asks, and when I nod he drops his hand, leaving my skin cold.
“Yes, just a head-rush. I’ll go to Nia now.”
As I pass him, the cedarwood scent hits me again, and I glance back at him, catching him looking after me with that fierce gaze of his. He’s doing things to my insides today. I’m feeling thoroughly confused.
Two days later, and I’ve not seen Silas nor Mark again, which feels odd.
Silas has been moved to another team, which is a bit extreme, but I’m not making the rules.
He’s lucky he’s so skilled, or he’d be out on his arse, Nia said when I reported him on Monday.
But I don’t know where Mark is, and I shouldn’t care.
Yesterday I pretended to need something from upstairs just to stroll past his main office, but he wasn’t there either, and I guess that’s for the best, considering I didn’t have any reason to be up there. I’d look a bit suspicious.
I’m grateful this new tool is keeping my brain busy, because now it’s been four days and three hours since I last heard from Robin, and I’m wondering when it’ll be okay to text him again. He said he needed time, but what does that mean? How much time?
“Are you okay, Rey?” a small, monotone voice sounds from my right, and I turn to find Kaia. Although she’s been based with development pod three, we have lunch together almost every day. She, Tolu, and Noor are really growing on me.
“Yes? Why?”
“You just looked so profoundly sad. Even your hair isn’t its normal happy self.”
“Oh?” I can’t help but smile, imagining what sad hair looks like, and Kaia’s lips twitch. “Is that an Estonian expression, perhaps?”
“No, it’s the truth. You look sad, and I wanted to tell you that you can talk to me.”
“Thank you, Kaia, I appreciate that.”
She sits down on the vacant chair next to mine and rolls closer.
“Oh, you meant right away?”
“Yes.”
Do I want to talk to her about this? Even though we’re becoming friends, she’s still my colleague.
Ah, fuck it, at least I can share something.
“I met this guy … and he’s not texting me back.”
She nods.
I shrug.
“That’s it?” she asks, and her eyes dart around. She shifts in her chair and cranes her neck. Is there someone behind me? I turn to check, but I can’t see what she sees from this angle.
“I guess I’m just sad about it, you know. I felt he liked me, and I could be myself with him.”
She nods again. “I thought it was because of Silas. I heard you guys had a fight. He told me he switched to the Dragon Trials expansion team so you wouldn’t have to pine over him.”
I laugh, but it’s a cold, loud sound. That absolute bellend.
“That’s incredible. Did you believe him?”
“Not for a second,” she says, emphasising each word.
“Good, thank you.” I smile at her. “So what else is happening that I’ve missed?”
“Mark is being weird.”
“He’s what?”
“You haven’t noticed?”
I shake my head. “Well, I saw him a couple of times, but Horace said he’s up in his other office for privacy.”
“Okay,” Kaia says, shrugging again. “I’ve seen him here all day, walking around. He’s different.”
Her words make my stomach do a flop, and I curse myself for it.
If only Robin would text me back. Why does Mark have to be so fucking beautiful? I can’t stop thinking about Saturday.
I must.
If only they could be the same person.
No, I can’t have that. I work here.
But it hits me how many similarities there are. The cologne. The shape. The intense eyes. It can’t be, can it? I struggle to catch a breath at the thought and push it away.
“I made a character from your dog sketches, by the way,” Kaia says.
“Really?” I’m so grateful for this distraction. I was going down a dangerous train of thought.
“Yes, and the dev team is loving him. Can I show you?”
“Please do!”
I follow Kaia and relish the feeling of having contributed something creative to this place. And seeing Beanie in action on a screen will be a dream come true.
Kaia turns to me as we walk. “How are you doing with the animation tool?”
“I’ve been working on the trees. The leaves are moving, but I just have to figure out this shadow thing. I might have to stay late tonight so I can finish it.”
I don’t have to, but I’d rather be here in the office than sit at home alone and think about Robin.