Our Broken Pieces - M.E. Clayton Page 0,37

everyone out, to see who would be in less trouble; me or Reagan.

However, as much as I despised Reagan, and Lacey was turning out to be a coward, I couldn’t sit by and not take responsibility for my part in this shitshow. “Mr. Cavanaugh, while it is obvious Reagan and I didn’t exactly follow procedure, I benefited from this...uh, arrangement every bit as she did. Reagan may have received all the credit, but I gained a lot of experience doing her-uh, working with her.”

I refused to be a coward.

I refused to be intimidated.

I already did that once before, and my life was one that lacked happiness because of it.

His silver gaze was sharp, and I could tell he was doing his best to mask his anger, but he wasn’t being successful. He didn’t care about our explanations. We were here, so he could let us know we were found out. We were here, so he could remind us who was boss at Cavanaugh Industries. We were here to be put back in our place.

“Was that an admission to breaking Cavanaugh Industries employee policy, Ms. Anderson?” he asked, sure that it wasn’t an admission, but still trying to make his point.

“Yes,” I admitted, taking away some of his power.

But before he could comment, Reagan started saving herself, like I knew she would. “Mr. Cavanaugh, Sir, let me assure you that Mystic does not speak for me. She may have known she was breaking policy, but I assure you I wasn’t aware-” Mr. Cavanaugh’s fist came down on the table, shutting Reagan the hell up, but his eyes never mine. Grey eyes clashed with brown.

After a heartbeat of silence, he turned towards Reagan and pointed out her stupidity, once again. “Are you telling me that an employee of only two months knows Cavanaugh Industries policies better than an employee who has been with us for years, Ms. Contreras? Are you suggesting that Ms. Anderson knew enough to know that what you two were doing was against policy, but you didn’t?”

“Uh...I...well…” Reagan was drowning, and she looked over at Lacey for a life jacket to be thrown her way, but Lacey was only saving Lacey. Once it was clear to Reagan that Lacey wasn’t going to help her, she turned back towards Mr. Cavanaugh. “I…”

Once again, I overstepped, and jump from the frying pan into the fire. I wasn’t sure why I was being insistent, only that I wanted to be the type of person who did the right thing, regardless of how much I disliked Reagan. “Mr. Cavanaugh, I didn’t have to agree to the extra workload,” I pointed out. “I chose to take on the extra work. I think it’s fair to say that we, both, used poor judgement equally.”

His resolve snapped.

He snapped, and that’s when I realized I wasn’t defending myself, so much as challenging him in front of others. “I didn’t ask you, Ms. Anderson,” he snapped, confirming that I was pissing him off just as much as Reagan was. “Or do you not only do Ms. Contreras’ work but speak for her as well? Because I’m asking her to explain the situation, not you.”

“My apolo-”

“Get out,” he snarled at Lacey and Reagan. “Get out. The both of you.” What. The. Hell? “Since Ms. Anderson believes she has all the answers, I don’t need either of you in the room any longer.”

Holy. Shit.

I sat silently as Reagan stood and Lacey gathered her stuff. Neither woman spared me a second glace as they made their way out of the conference room.

With the final click of the door to the conference room being closed, Mr. Cavanaugh leaned towards me and asked, “Now, would you like to explain to me why you feel Cavanaugh Industries rules don’t apply to you, Ms. Anderson?”

I did my best not to stumble on my words. However, since the odds were pretty high that I was going to get fired, there was no sense in lying. “I don’t believe the rules don’t apply to me, Mr. Cavanaugh,” I denied.

He arched a brow and leaned back in his chair. “Really?”

“Really,” I insisted. “That’s why, when you fire me, I’m going to walk out of here with my head held high. I take responsibility for breaking procedure, and there’s no excuse. There’s a reason, but no excuse.”

“And the reason?”

“I don’t want to be a file clerk for the rest of my life. I have a business degree and my talent and knowledge is wasted by filing paperwork and answering