cozied up with him. These rooms are assigned to teams and project groups, Gage. They’re larger and more comfortable than the offices.”
“You mean more private,” I accused. “Of course, I could see how it would be uncomfortable to have him in your office with everyone working right outside your office door.”
“Mr. Evans, you have this all wrong,” David injected. “Mystic and I-”
“Mystic? Not Ms. Anderson?” I asked like a lunatic.
He paled as Mystic made her way around the table to stand in front of me. “Stop it!” she yelled. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but David and I are colleagues on a project, only. You have no right to come in here an-”
“No right?!” I thundered in her face. “I have every right to do whatever the fuck I want when it comes to you!”
“Gage, this is my workplace,” she argued. “You can’t come in here acting as if you own the place and causing a scene.”
Ignoring her, I addressed David. “David, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll walk out of this room right the fuck now.”
“You can’t-”
“I can,” I bit out, interrupting her. “I’m his fucking boss, Mystic. Make no mistake. I can tell him what the fuck to do.”
“You’re being ridiculous!”
“No,” I denied. “Since you haven’t agreed to marry me, I’m just making sure you’re not spreading your legs for anyone else but me.”
The slap echoed throughout the small room.
“You bastard!” she seethed, and we both ignored the slamming of the door, announcing David’s departure.
“Maybe,” I conceded, my cheek throbbing like a sonofabitch. “But you’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to let you make a fool of me by hanging all over another man.”
Mystic took a step back, shock all over her pretty face. “Are you kidding me, right now?”
“It’s all Reagan Contreras could talk about,” I told her. “How you guys can’t keep your hands off each other.” Her face went from shock to a flash of pain before she schooled her features.
But it was the emptiness in her big, brown eyes that told me I was in trouble.
Chapter 37
Mystic~
I stood in the middle of the room, wondering how in the hell did I find myself back in time. A time where, once again, my word wasn’t good enough. Where the people-or person, in this case-believed the word of someone else, rather than coming to me and asking me to explain their confusion.
Like my parents, Gage heard something he didn’t like and charged liked a rhino, instead of trusting me.
My heart’s been broken only twice in my life and both times by the same person.
The only difference was that, this time, I wasn’t a confused, scared girl. I was a strong, empty woman. And if I didn’t take this shit from my parents, I sure as hell wasn’t going to take it from Gage Evans.
“Let me get this straight,” I said, shock and emotion gone from my voice. “Reagan, mind you, a woman who doesn’t like me and you know this, came to you and told you I was all over David, and instead of asking me about it, you assumed it was true, and so, you, what? Barged in here to catch us?”
Gone was the anger. In its place was resignation. “Mystic-”
“No,” I spat, cutting him off. “It’s a yes or no question, Gage. Is that or isn’t that what happened here?”
His jaw clenched as he bit out, “Yes.”
This is the part where you’d think tears would be flowing, but they weren’t. I was too numb for that. I was too heartbroken for that.
I was too empty for that.
I arched a brow. “I guess you owe my parents, my sister, and Margot an apology, huh?”
His lip curled in fury. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Yes, it is,” I argued. “Just like they took Margot’s side over mine, without a thought to asked me, you just did the same thing. But, even worse, at least Margot had been my best friend. My parents had no reason to think she was lying. You took the word of a woman who hates me and would love more than nothing to cause problems for me.”
“Why would she lie?” he asked, another nail in the coffin. “It’s not like she knows about us.”
I shook my head, ready to end this. “Of course, she knows about us, Gage,” I told him. “Damn near everyone in this building does.”
His head reared back, disbelieving. “How?”
“That day in the conference room? People heard and saw us,