Not to mention the fact that we’d met when he kidnapped me and tied me to a chair in his basement. Everything about our relationship was wrong. I needed to purge Max from my life. Once I banished my new nightmares, I might be capable of it.
“Going to brown-nose again, Freckles?” Gavin’s hissed taunt snaked around me from behind, and I jolted at his sudden, menacing presence at my back.
I should’ve kept walking to Mike’s office, but instincts for self-preservation made me turn to keep my eyes on the threat. Gavin’s navy-blue eyes practically glowed with hatred, and his lips peeled back in a smile that was so tight it looked more like a vicious baring of teeth. He loomed over me, barely keeping to the edge of my personal space.
My bully hadn’t cornered me in weeks, not since Max had beaten him up. Gavin’s face was fully healed now, but his arm was still in a sling. He’d told everyone that he’d been mugged, and I hadn’t breathed a word about the truth: that he’d followed me home and drunkenly assaulted me.
I remembered the heat of his groping hands on my body, and a small shudder of revulsion made my limbs twitch. Gavin noted the small sign of my fear, and his mouth curved at the corners. The hatred in his eyes sparked into satisfaction, and he drew in a deep breath, taking in my fear like it was a hit of his favorite drug. He’d been deprived of the pleasure for weeks, and judging by the way he swayed toward me, he’d craved to torment me, to see me squirm.
I squared my shoulders and forced myself into a falsely confident posture, ignoring the way my skin crawled. I wouldn’t take a step back. I couldn’t let him win even that small victory.
“Do you need something, Gavin?” I asked in my most professional voice, pretending he hadn’t insulted me mere seconds ago.
“I need you to stop being such an uptight bitch,” he said in an undertone.
We were alone in the hall that led to Mike’s office. Half a dozen senior colleagues worked nearby, but they were too focused on their own caseloads to bother monitoring two interns.
“You think you’re so much better than me,” he continued, his eyes glittering with malice. “But you’re with that ugly freak. Couldn’t find anyone prettier who’s willing to fuck you, huh?”
Max. He was talking about Max.
A burst of righteous, defensive anger was tempered by a flare of pain at the center of my chest. The insult about Max’s scar made my blood boil, but the reminder of what was broken between us twisted my bruised heart.
I swallowed the unpleasant emotions and carefully schooled my expression to the genial mask I wore at my dad’s fundraisers. “My personal life is none of your concern,” I said coolly. “If you don’t have anything professionally relevant to say, please don’t approach me.”
I was a breath away from telling him to stop harassing me, but I wasn’t ready to resort to that kind of language just yet. Harassment implied the threat of official consequences. No matter how much Gavin triggered me, I wasn’t prepared to get him fired. His father’s political support was too important to my dad’s career for me to risk a rift between our families. Our dads had been friends in college, and Gavin’s father, Kelvin McCrae, had been the one to connect my dad with the Ivanovs. There was too much at stake for me to antagonize Gavin.
The sharp smile that curled his lips twitched into a grimace. “Listen, Freckles,” he seethed, his imposing form swelling with barely suppressed rage. “I don’t know what you—”
“Mr. McCrae.” Mike’s booming voice shattered the tension between us. “Is there a problem here?”
Gavin blanched and reeled back a step, hastily retreating from my personal space.
“No, sir,” he said quickly. “No problem.”
Mike came to a stop beside me. He wasn’t a tall man, but he drew himself up to his full height. He somehow managed to look down his nose at Gavin, who had several inches on him.
The corners of my mouth twitched when he practically withered beneath Mike’s glower, but I quickly smothered my vindictive smile. It was an ugly emotion, but I couldn’t deny that it felt damn good to see my bully squirm for a change.
“Allie?” Mike asked, his gray eyes softening as they flicked toward me. He kept most of his imposing attention fixed on Gavin. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, Mr. Callahan,” I said quickly. “Gavin just had a question for me, but it wasn’t work-related. Everything is fine.”
Mike’s brows drew together. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir,” I said firmly. I didn’t want to be the reason Gavin got fired. Mike had already indicated that he’d love an excuse to get rid of my tormentor. I couldn’t allow that to happen on my account, not if I wanted to preserve the good relationship between our families.