56. Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Six
Kat
Ihad Tam packed off to the airport once more, refusing every time she tried to talk to me about what we’d been talking about before Bex called. There was work to do, after all. For her, for me. For us all.
I got myself to my conference room and got my headphones on. We had today. We only had today. Tomorrow was the start of Practice for the first race of the year.
Australia.
And the software wasn’t ready for the car sensors, yet.
Fuck. I’d be working all night.
I’d been working for a few hours when the garage started to come alive. I figured I’d quickly hit the bathroom before there were enough people wandering about that I’d actually have to TALK to them.
Gross.
But when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I sighed.
I’d forgotten to cover up the hickey with makeup in my anger and haste.
And I looked like I hadn’t slept in a week.
But I was also fucking glowing. Between being wildly sexually satisfied and actually keeping sustenance down for once, this was the best I’d look in weeks.
Besides the bags under my eyes, but no one’s perfect.
I was back in my room but not sitting yet when Andy popped his head in. He grinned at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Hey! Long time no see! I think last time I saw you, you were making an entire room of men wince and cover the family jewels in perfect sync,” he joked. I groaned, then laughed. Fuck, that was not even that long ago.
It felt like ages.
“Yeah, well, someone had to do it,” I said, deadpan, shrugging. He laughed and gave me a small side-hug.
“You want some coffee?” he asked. I was so grateful he’d offered. I was nodding, putting my big pleading eyes on again, when a knock sounded at the doorway behind Andy. I glanced over his shoulder as he turned around. And sighed. He spoke before I could, though.
“Oh, hey man, what’s up?” he asked casually. Then, “Well, it looks like you don’t need coffee, Grace. I’ll see you later,” he said with a knowing smile and a mock salute to the person in the doorway.
The person in the doorway holding two mugs of tea.
The person in the doorway holding two mugs of tea that I’d said I’d absolutely accept.
Fuck. Me.
“Wait no I do want…” Coffee. But he was gone. I looked at Henry.
He smiled.
I didn’t.
I sat down in my chair, pulling my headphones toward me. Henry sat next to me, sliding a mug of tea towards me. I sighed, pushing it back toward him. I glanced up. He looked confused. He fucking shouldn’t be.
“I don’t need you to do shit for me,” I mumbled, looking at my computer screen and pulling my headphones around my neck. He slid closer in his wheely chair. It squeaked.
“What?” he asked, having the audacity to have hurt in his voice. I sighed again, getting irritated now.
“Take your tea and go, Henry. I don’t need a fucking babysitter,” I snapped. I pulled my headphones over my ears and nudged my laptop toward me one-handed. My hand really fucking hurt today. I’d been using it way too much.
I just needed to not think about what I’d been using it FOR.
He took my headphones off of my ears and held them away from me. Ass.
“What the bloody hell, Kat?” he asked, sounding a little pissed. Yeah, well, same here, buddy. I felt heat rising through my chest into my cheeks and I knew it wasn’t desire.
It was anger.
“Sorry, children get cranky when you keep them up past their bedtimes,” I snapped back at him, my snark coming out in full force. He grabbed one arm of my chair and swung me toward him, pulling me flush to his chair.
“Kat, what the fuck are you talking about? I asked if I could bring you some tea. And you said…” he trailed off at the look on my face. He swallowed. Nodded. Stood. And picked up both mugs of tea.
“You only said that so I’d let you leave. You only said ALL of that so I’d let you leave. Got it. Sorry,” he murmured, his face crestfallen. I wasn’t done, though.
“No. You don’t get to do that. Because this entire week has been…” I trailed off, gulping back a sob. Fake. It’s been fake.
“You don’t need to look after me just because Tam is gone again. I’m fucking FINE. I don’t need your help. I don’t need your tea,” I started, just getting warmed up.
“I don’t need you to wash my hair or feed me or hold me while I’m high or in pain. You don’t need to do any of that anymore. Tam told me, okay? So, just go,” I snapped, finished. For now. If he stuck around for too long, though, I might get a second wind.
“So, you weren’t lying. Something happened after you left,” he stated, sounding like this was a puzzle he wanted to solve. But he didn’t need to bother. I was fucking FINE. I rolled my chair away from where he was frozen, half-standing from his chair. I ignored him.
“So, you do want tea. Or coffee. You just don’t want it from me. Because Tam told you? That you were a child? Baby girl, I can promise you, I KNOW you’re not a bloody child,” he said, his voice getting low. And dangerous. In several ways. Too bad I was more dangerous right now.
“Don’t FUCKING call me that,” I snarled. Not even because it had the word ‘baby’ in it. Not even because we were in the garage, even though that was problematic.
But because he didn’t deserve to fucking call me that. Not anymore.
He visibly flinched.
“Kat, I don’t understand,” he said quietly, fully standing. He sounded really upset. But I couldn’t deal with HIS upset. I was upset, too.
And I was the one who deserved to be.
I refused to look at his face, knowing he looked sad. I couldn’t handle when he looked sad. I found myself looking down at my hands, instead. A tear fell down my cheek. I felt so fucking… used. Ashamed. Handled.
When I looked back up, he was gone.
But a steaming mug of tea was still sitting there.
And it was still sitting there, four hours later, cold as ice. I hadn’t touched it. Not to drink it. Not to dump it. I was stuck in limbo with it, even as I had paper cups of coffee around it.
But I didn’t drink any tea, today.
And I didn’t see Henry again, either.